Derby Dreams (Acropolis #1)

Chapter 12

Kat dragged a towel through the wet tangles of her hair then secured it in a messy bun at the back of her neck. She had dressed super fast, having gotten distracted by her big, grey filly who was in a playful mood. Dove had danced aroung, trying to play with the hosepipe and stamping her feet to send up great splashes of water, when she was in a good mood Dove was adorable. Now, however, Kat was late. She pulled on a pair of boots, two inch heels to make her look a little taller, and jogged down the stairs, all but two at a time. She grabbed the keys to her car, something she'd bought with her Breeders Cup prize money, and headed out to the drive. The sun had now risen, low in the winter sky but up nonetheless, bathing the training track in light. Kat paused for a moment, there was one dark speck that was racing along the inside rail. She made an educated guess that it was TC, the two year old champion was proving that he was ready to race again. The colt flashed past the post and Kat made a mental assessment of the work. Good, was her verdict.
"Hey Kat!" She turned at the voice calling her name, Carla was running up the drive; red faced and panting.
"Uh-huh?" Kat asked.
"Can you give me a lift to school? I'm running late and the bus will be gone now!" Carla gave Kat a pleading look.
"Sure." She shrugged, "Hop in." She expected Carla to do so immediately but instead Carla also glanced down at the track.
"Was that Tooth and Claw?" She asked.
"Yes."
"He's really fast, he distracted me."
"He is fast." Kat agreed, "Wish I'd been the one on his back."
"Was he as fast as Dappled Dove? I saw her run as well this morning."
"Weren't you riding?" Kat asked.
"I was too late to ride, I think I'm getting ill." Carla blew her nose for emphasis.
"Don't give it to me. He might have been as fast as Dove, I couldn't tell you, Dove felt like she was flying this morning."
"I bet, everyone watching was amazed."
"They'll just get more amazed," Kat said with a half smile, climbing into the driver's seat, "You ever ridden a racehorse before?"
"No." Carla shook her head. Kat paused, chewing her lip.
"You should, I'll teach you."

They arrived at St Catherine's Post 16 Centre with two minutes to spare before tutor.
"How do you normally get here?" Kat asked as they walked through the front door, ignoring the warning bell and heading straight for the common room.
"There's a bus from Appleby that comes into town, it takes about half an hour."
"In the future I can just give you a lift if you like?" Kat offered, studying the notices on the notice board.
"I don't want to hassle you..." Carla began.
"We're coming from the same place, it's no hassle." Kat cut her off sharply, "Where do you sit at lunch?"
"I mainly hang out in the library," Carla told her, "Get my homework done and all that."
"Come sit with us at lunch. It's me, Violet and a couple of other horsey girls. I think you'd like it."
"Okay." Carla smiled, "I'll see you then."

Carla left psychology with a tonne of homework, her only relief coming from the fact she had a free period this afternoon. She stepped into the common room with an air of trepidation, it was unknown territory. No one really noticed her and she spied Kat, sat beside the red headed Violet and a couple of other girls; their chairs were arranged in a neat circle.
"Hi..." She offered hesitantly and to her surprise Kat smiled up at her.
"Hey, wanna grab a chair?" She shifted her chair out to make space and Carla readily moved into it.
"Hi Carla!" Violet gave a massive smile, stunning Carla into silence. Violet was a polar opposite of Kat, she was outgoing, bubbly and rarely seemed to take anything seriously.
"Carla, this is Melyssa and Laura," Kat introduced her, "Lyssa, Lau, this is Carla. She's taken up my eventing string."
"Oh my God, I bet you can ride!" Lyssa grinned excitedly, "Which is your favourite? I always loved Pebbles but then again, she was the only one Kat would let me ride."
"Well, I offered you and Lau Reams of Summer and Pebbles between you, not my fault you preferred Pebbles." Kat interrupted.
"Pebbles is a lovely mare but my favourite is Fiesta," Carla paused, "Or maybe Diamond."
"You've ridden Diamond? As in Black Diamond?" There was an awed expression on Lyssa's face, "She's so gorgeous! You must be a really good rider for Kat to let you on her."
"She's taken over my string, like I said." Kat replied, "How's Mattie getting on Violet?"
"Mattie is fine, I've brought her back into work for the rest of the year and I'll put her in foal again next year. Dad doesn't want her foaling in the weeks before my A-levels."
"I can see why," Laura was well aware of how Violet didn't sleep for the weeks leading up to her mare's foalings, "By the way, I was talking to Belinda Mockingwood," There was an array of pulled faces, "And she said there's a fun ride over at Larkrise Court in two weeks time, do you guys want to go?"
"A fun ride?" Carla asked.
"It's like freestyle cross country. There's a load of jumps and you just jump what you want, it's, like it says, fun." Violet filled her in, "You should come. Pick one of your horses."
"I don't know, could I?" Carla glanced across at Kat. Kat nodded.
"Yeah, it would be great. I'm in, providing I can borrow a horse off Carla for the day." Kat's smile was warm and Carla rolled her eyes with a weary sigh and nodded, pretending it was a big deal but she was grinning.
"Yay!" Lyssa grinned, "Vi, can I borrow Mattie? Jacob threw a shoe and I won't have him fit in time, the farrier is on holiday."
"Sure, I'll take Breeze. Bear in mind I'll be about twenty jumps in front of you though, she doesn't have breaks."
"Don't worry, I'll be with you, Fiesta doesn't even slow down to jump." Carla told her and Violet nodded, sharing a familiar problem.
"Lyssa, what about you? Got a horse?"
"I have Pumpkin." Lyssa grinned, "But I would appreciate loaning a horse that's actually a horse, not a barrel on legs that barely reaches thirteen hands." There was a giggle at this.
"I'm sure you could borrow Reams of Summer? He's a nice ride, forward going at least." Carla asked and Kat nodded.
"Yeah, I'll take Diamond. What do you have this afternoon?" She glanced at Carla, "I have a free so I might head home early."
"I have a free too." Carla told her quickly, "So you don't have to worry about me getting home."
"How come you two get frees? I have two more lessons...I have an afterschool lesson!" Laura sighed loudly. She was the clever one in the group, doing five A-levels and hoping to be a vet.
"Guess we're just lucky. I think we'll slope off early?" Kat raised an eyebrow at Carla, "Might even teach her how to track ride."
"Oh, so lucky." Lyssa sighed, "See you tomorrow. I'll get the details off Mrs M for the fun ride. Laura is bound to forget."
"I will not!" Laura said indignantly as Kat and Carla headed off, leaving the group bickering.

"You can ride in that?" Carla looked at the light work out saddle in disbelief, "You can actually ride in that?"
"Yeah, no problem." Kat nodded and handed it over, "You'll learn. It gets easy after a while and then a normal saddle feels awful." She picked up a bridle and handed it over, looping a second one over her shoulder.
"So, who are we riding?" Carla asked.
"I thought you could ride TC and I'd take Dove." Kat told her. Carla stared with a mixture of delight, fear and horror.
"What?"
"I'm joking. We've got a pair of old geldings out the back. They're ex-racers, make good pacing horses for youngsters. You can have one of them." Kat led the way through the yard to a couple of stables.
"I'll introduce you to Shattered Vow." Kat lifted a hand to stroke the face of the horse who stuck his head over the door. He was a beautiful golden chestnut with a darker red mane.
"Shattered Vow?"
"Won a couple of races, nothing too big but he ran at Ascot once so he's seen it all. Lovely, calm beginners horse." Kat kicked the kick bolt and opened the door, "Go tack."

Half an hour later Carla was perched in the saddle of Shattered Vow. She was currently thanking the heavens that Vow was a kind natured horse because she'd never felt so unbalanced in her life. Beside them walked Kat on Flash of Magic, a grumpy dark bay; Kat looked totally relaxed, practically like she didn't notice how her legs were folded into a quarter of their natural length.
"How you finding it?" Kat asked as they walked through the empty warm up arena and through the massive gate that led to the track.
"Uncomfortable." Carla replied, "Is it meant to feel so...cramped?"
"Well, it's harder for you because you're so tall but you'll get used to this sort of posture, it's all about pushing your weight back. On a really headstrong horse you can completely anchor yourself against the horse's mouth with your heels nearly vertical to the floor."
"Wow." Carla decided she didn't want to ride one of those horses.
"Pick up a trot?" Kat pressed on and Carla nudged Vow with her heels. She didn't like the way she couldn't wrap her legs around the deep girth, instead she just twitched her heels against the middle of Vow's rib cage. It was strange to bounce in the saddle in time to the short strides but gradually she worked out she could still rise to the trot, even if it felt like a lot more effort. Kat pulled up at the top turn and turned to look at Carla.
"Right, we'll try a canter and then a gallop. To canter you just need to stand in the stirrups, keep yourself up and balanced, maintain a contact. Gallop is where it can go wrong. You need to shift your knees so that they are against the withers, bringing you into a jockey crouch. If your horse is running hard you should have your heels up as you urge them with your arms. If your horse is running easy then you shouldn't need to push on, you should just sit tight and enjoy the ride, find your balance." Kat took one look at Carla's face and smiled slightly, "I can't explain it right. You have to learn by doing." She turned Magic and clicked her tongue, the horse took off immediately and Carla found herself clinging to Vow in her first ever racehorse jump start, it was the horse equivalent of zero to sixty...only better. It took her a moment to find her feet, giving Vow plenty of fun as he careered around with no rein contact at all. However, after a moment she found herself stood in the saddle with her heels down and enjoying the smooth movement of Vow's canter.
"You're a natural," Kat called over, "Press on a little, we'll gallop to the half mile post." Carla wasn't quite sure where the half mile post was but she pressed Vow on to keep up with Magic. Before she really knew what was happening they were at full stretch. Vow and Magic here eye to eye and both Kat and Carla were urging on, the movement came naturally with the horse. Suddenly it wasn't a training session but a competition. The two geldings were flat to the boards with loud, heavy huffs of breath stinging betwen thunderous hooves. Magic, the lesser horse but with the better rider, was keeping his nose just in front whilst Vow, minorly hindered by the occasional jerk that Carla gave the reins, kept coming at him only to be pushed back.
"Half mile." Kat called, standing instantly in the stirrups and pulling back Magic to a canter. Carla followed suit, her cheeks flushed and her face split by a massive grin.
"That was awesome." She told Kat, "Absolutely awesome."
"It's cool isn't it." Kat gave Magic a slappy pat on the neck, "You have potential be a real work rider."
"Ride real racehorses?"
"Yeah, you interested?"
Carla took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart.
"Yes."