Chapter seven

That day I left the stables feeling happy, Alec was responding quit well to the fact that Bokay had chosen me as a rider, I knew deep down he still had some trouble with it. Henry dropped us off and that evening I rang Kay. “hi, Joan! How are ya?!”
“I’m fine! I…” I told him about Bokay, he was happy for me but also sad that I was having fun without him. I went to bed early and so I was up early. “hey there, Joan”
“morning”
“say, I’d love to dent your files in today, you know for school. Can you check them first?”
“ok”
I sat down and checked the papers, after that I had to go waking Alec.
“morning! Don’t you set a biological clock or so?” you always have to be awake the same hour..”
“mmmm”
“hihi, see you downstairs Alec.”
“hmmf”
The day past as the ones before, only this time Bokay stayed in his box. As he did the day afterwards. I was riding Chinook when I noticed Ty looking. A bit later I put her back with Napoleon. “it looks amazing.”
“uh, what?”
“I hadn’t seen western riding before”
“oh.. euh thanks, I guess, if you want to you can give it a try soon.”
“I’d love to!”
“Alright” I smiled.

The following days weren’t to spectacular. But then Henry and Luke were leaving. “you go winning there!” Alec said
“I will don’t worry, bye pretty girl, seee ya next week” he winked at me “bye ty”
“bye”
They left with two horses in the truck.
“Well, I guess you can go saddling Bokay, Joan” I ran of to immediately do that and warm, in the mean time Ty did a stable and Alec moved some horses around. By the time I and Bokay were warmed up, Ty and Alec came towards the pen. Bokay head went slightly up. He expected I’d get off, but in stead I got a whole explanation of what was important about racing. “You need to be good in timing, but before we start speeding things up, I want you to do a nice and slow gallop, alright?” Alec spoke I nodded and walked the horse then easily made him trot three meter and them galloped him. Bokay was excited and after fifthy meter he wanted to take a run, he began to widen his passes, but I held the rains and he slowed down again. Then, just because I felt like it, let go of the rains a bit and felt Bokay passes widen, then took back the rains, he was now not galloping slow, nor fast. After another hundred meters, sitting nice and steady I let go the rains a bit again. The feeling I got was amazing, his passes stretched out further and further, the manes blowing in my face. Then I released the rains even more, stretched out my arms, gave him all the space he had and whispered “there you go boy, come on!” The horse now stretched out in total length, his legs moving so damn fast that another horse would have fallen. I’d always like speed, but that was al nothing compared to this! Almost against my will I pretty soon sat down again and got the rains back a bit, the horse increasingly slowed down. “that’s it easy now” By the time I passed Alec and Ty again, he was galloping just as slowly as he’d started. I ran past them a bit to slow down to a normal walk and then turned back. “Joan, you…” Alec started. “damn it! I told you to go slow!”
“well I did…”
“that, Joan, wasn’t slow!” I shrugged. “it was pretty damn amazing, but that’s not what I told you to do!! You’re going to have to!”
“ok, I’m sorry won’t happen again.”
“no big deal, you probably feel those thins better when you’re on the horse, and know we know you’re good capable of controlling him. It’s been enough for today though, walk him out, Ty, get Kumara”
A bit later Alec was warming up Baringa, one of the stallions that was in the races of this year already, while I saddled Kumara. Ty got on Kumara to warm her up, “ok Joan, you’re timing is very important,.. but even more important is a good start. So Baringa here is already used to the start benches, don’t let him surprise you by doing good ok? Now I want you to let him go fast, but controlled until the first quarter, then you take him back, to slower, until the half a mile, same speed as the beginning to the three quarter and full speed until the one mile, ok? Then get her back, of course.” He gave me the exact times he wanted me to reach.
And so I got Baringa in the start box. He stood awfully still, waiting. I sat, leaning forwards, with my knees strongly against him and my hands grabbed in his fully manes. “ready?” Alec yelled. I nodded and then realised he couldn’t see it. “yeah!”
The gate flew open and with an amazing Baringa flew out off the box. I had the rains held up and I felt he listened and didn’t go the fastest he could, but he couldn’t keep this up either so I crabbed the rains tider and tider until he slowed a bit, I made him slow even more passing the post. I kept him at what I though would bring me in about the time Alec wanted, pasted an other post and gave more rains, he speeded up and at the final post I made him take a run, give all he had. He did go alright, amazingly fast. Before I knew it we past the post and I slowed him down again. To finally turn back at Alec. “Very good Joan! Near to perfect! though to fast in the end, you ran him very fast, didn’t expect that to be completely honest. Now Kumara has to learn to race other horses, there fore we’re going to race each other, ok two miles, each quarter we switch leading position, ok? Ty will time, first mile slow second I want faster time. Go!” So we got both of the horses in the boxes. “you’ll take the first lead, Kunama is only learning to start and has never raced, ok don’t start him up to fast, Kunama has to do something, but not everything, ok?” I nodded. “good” We both went sitting in the right position “ready?” Ty asked. “yeah” we answered at the same time, but it didn’t distract me. Baringa was ready to set off, while kumara, just stood in the box, doors flew open and Baringa flew away, Kumara pretty soon following. I had two whole lengths of a head start, at the first post I took my rains and Alec and Kumara came closer to then next to us, Kumara was a bit alien to this, but Alec succeed in passing us before we past the next post. I knew he had to let Kumara give a lot more then he wanted, so he, better then me I realised, slowed us up a bit. At the next post I easily got passed Alec and after that he easily could passed me. The next mile I didn’t hold back Baringa anymore, he ran quite fast and Kunama had to speed up a lot to pass, as the other way around. We came over the ‘finish line’ at the same time, we’d agreed on that. “good job, Joan very good, now we walk out the horses and then we go eating.”
After that I rode Chinook, Alec rode Black and Ty went cleaning some gear. Kyle ran around grumpy, but didn’t say a word, though probably complaining all he could to Nick, the other stable buck, he was a silent type, seemed ok. The four stale bucks and Alex all had about my age, Henry of course was older so was Tony, owner of Napoleon, he to was helping to do some stables, because there weren’t much bucks left. When I brought Chinook back I ran in to him. “o hi Tony”
“hi there girl, see your horse is Napoleons new mate?”
“they get along fine don’t they?”
“yeah they do, hell they do, but your mare needs a younger friend, she needs a game time to time, right?”
“yeah well” I shrugged and Alec joined us.
“hi Tony”
“hi Alec, heard you’ve got some trouble with one of them new horses?”
“o yeah, Bokay, yeah he never gave any trouble, strange, only wants Joan on his back now.” Tony raised his eyebrows and looked at me. Alec decided at that at of the day I actually was good enough to start training Bokay. “Are you sure you’ve never rode a race horse before?” He asked in the car. “yeah I am sure, not one of these at these speeds wit this gear, no”
“amazing, you did race horses, I mean regular horses.”
“I like to let them all they’ve got once in a while, yeah.”
“anyone ever comment on that?”
“how do you mean?”
“no one ever said you made the horse get real speed?”
“yeah, but that’s because I was the only one racing. Though I don’t need much to get them going, even a horse they’d ride whit whip, I got walking faster without one. Why?”
“Well, to be honest, we never use whips, but the time you had with Baringa today, I never got with him, trying all I could to make him go as fast as possible. It’s not much, but it is.”
I just raised my eyebrows, not sure what I should say. “I want you to ride Kunama tomorrow, Henry said he thought she didn’t give it all, may be you can get it out of her. If you learn some tricks, are smart and have an eye for them races, you might become one of the best jockeys!”
“Alec himself is one of those to” his father said.
“yeah, because of the horse I rode.”
“the fact that you sent Luke for these races…”
“very smart, makes them know we or have something coming up, or had low expectations.”
I smiled “ or both”