(Let’s try this again! I had a huge thing typed up yesterday and went to
post it when my computer froze! :evil: That’s just my luck tho.)
Bridgette sighed
with content as she walked from the training track @ ISI towards the barns. She paused when
she saw the powerful dark bay stud racing around his paddock, tossing his head, pausing every
now and then to look towards the track where morning workouts were just ending. She whistled
sharply as she reached the fence and the stud’s regal head shot in her direction. He quickly
trotted her direction and gave a whinny of greeting.
'Hey there, pretty boy. You
can’t miss it already, Worth. You’ve only been retired a week!’ Bridgette laughed and
stroked the big stallion’s velvety nose. It was always sad to see a great racehorse retire.
Of course, now Bridgette got to see plenty of Worth The Wait babies racing around. And she
always had that pile of tapes with every race Worth was ever in to relive the great moments.
Bridgette sighed. 'Thank you for the years of hard work, boy. You’re the one who proved I
could breed um as well as race um. I’m proud of you.’
Bridgette heard the crunch of
gravel as someone walked up behind her. She turned to see Jake, her stable manager, who was
in charge of making sure every horse, groom, jockey, and everyone and everything else was in
the right place at the right time.
'I know how you feel, Bri. He was amazing. But I
got something that’ll cheer you up. We’ve got a new groom for the yearlings, young girl
with blonde hair. Why don’t you show her around the farm?’
‘Yeah! Great!’
Bridgette smiled and started towards the Broodmare/Yearling Barn.
'Yeah, I know you
love to show off.’ Jake laughed as Bridgette turned and stuck her tongue out at him before
racing off to find this new groom.
Bridgette found the new girl waiting
outside the office in the Broodmare/Yearling Barn. The blonde quickly stood up as she
recognized Bridgette, not that it was hard. There weren’t many trainers with flaming red
hair.
‘Hi!’ Bridgette said, slightly out of breath from her quick run. 'I’m
Bridgette.’
‘Cassidy. Nice to meet you.’ The girl said as she shook Bridgette’s
hand.
'Kay. Let’s get started with your tour. This is where we keep our broodmares,
weanlings, and yearlings. Right now they’re all outdoors though so we’ll go introduce you.
Don’t worry about remembering all their name for now. You’ll get them all down eventually.
First we’ve got the fillies’ paddock.’
Bridgette gestured to her right where
several yearlings were playing and grazing. 'There’s Ap (Approaching Fires), Baby (Georgia
Legend), Sunday (Dixie Sunday), Rainbow (Golden Rainbow), Kit (Snowing Starz), and Z
(Zig-Zag).’ Cassidy looked slightly overwhelmed but Bridgette reassured her and moved on to
the next paddock.
'Here’s the colts. Those two dark bays are the trouble-makers. The
little one is Director and the big one is The First. Then there’s God (God Bless America),
Roger (River of Justice), and The Patriot.’
Bridgette continued to move on to another
paddock. This one was filled with younger foals, weanlings. 'These are mostly weanlings
we’ve bought from other farms. I don’t wean my babies until about now most of the time. I
think the longer they’re with their mothers, the better it is for them. Anyway, we’ve got
Amy (After Hours), Spain (Asesina Pequena), Celt (Celtic Knot), Diana (Deadly Princess), Fox
(Foxygurl), Honor (Medal of Honor), Cash (Run For Your Money), Shadowed, The Phantom, and Big
P (What’s Your Point).’
'Over here are the broodmares without foals. Boston
(Bostonian), Ellie (Electronica), Kiss (Kiss of Time), Heaven (Moment In Paradise), and Gal
(River Gal).’
'Our broodmares with foals are divided into two paddocks because,
well, some of them don’t get along too well.’ Bridgette laughed and pointed to the first
paddock. 'Here we’ve got Frenchie (Au Revoir) with Whirl (Whirlwind), Dixie (Dixie Fantasy)
with Barz (Starz ‘N’ Barz), Georgia (Georgiaonmymind) with Goddess (Georgia Goddess), and
Snow (Snowcapped) with Blue (Blue Snowdrift).’
'Then we’ve got Lady (First Lady)
with Miss B (Lady Barton), Gold (Golden Flames) with Essie (Admiraless), Queeny (Queen’s
Victory) with Cleo (Cleopatra), Shine (Rise And Shine) with Beauty (Beauty Affirmed), and my
babies.’ Bridgette proudly pointed towards the pair of roans near the fence. 'Starz Afire
with her first baby, Stormz Afire. He’s a little stud rocket, too. We call him Prince cause
that’s who he thinks he is. He’s full of himself, the little devil.’ Bridgette led them
away from there towards the Stud Barn.
'We’ve got six stallions but only three are
breeding. Worth The Wait was just retired and won’t breed until next season.’ Bridgette
gestured towards the paddock where the muscular stud had finally settled down and started
grazing. ‘Southern Justice is on trial right now and in temporary retirement.’ Bridgette
pointed towards the big red stallion in a paddock to their right. 'Storm Approaching is in
temporary retirement too.’ They looked at the dark grey stud as he lifted his head at the
sound of his name. ‘The three that are breeding are inside right now.’
Bridgette
sighed as they entered the cool barn. It was getting rather warm outdoors. After all, it was
almost July and nearing noon. It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dark even
though the lights inside were on. A small chestnut threw his head over the stall door as he
heard them approaching. Bridgette patted the star on his forehead.
'This is Starz
‘N’ Stripes. He’s covering Lady, Kiss, and Heaven this year. And down here,’ Bridgette
walked across the aisle to the stall of a little, solid black stallion, 'is Black Legend.
He’s covering Boston, Gal, and Ellie. Of course, those are just the homebreds.’ Bridgette
explained as they walked over to another stall. 'And this is our new boy, Heza Gallant
Gent.’ The bay looked towards them and gave a snort at those responsible for interrupting
his nap. ‘He’s got Queeny and Shine this year.’
They turned their head at the sound
of a whinny from the end of the barn. A bay gelding tossed his head and gave a little rear.
Bridgette just laughed. 'That’s Game. He’s our only retiree so far. We gelded him a few
weeks ago but he still thinks he’s a stud.’ Bridgette blew him a kiss as they walked out of
the barn.
As she chatted with Cassidy, Bridgette smiled to herself. Jake was right.
Giving the tour had cheered her up. But not because she got to show off her babies. Because
there was only one thing that could draw you out of the past, and that was the future.
Bridgette grinned as two foals raced around their paddock. Just a few more years. Just a few
more years guys, Bridgette thought to herself, and then you’ll be doing that big time.