Arepas Racing Stables | Literate | Thread | OPEN

     "One at a time Snow, I can't answer them all at once, " Diva said, but her tone was different than what it usually was. Diva looked at Snow who was in the stall in front of her. "I did win, and so did Vinn. After the race was when the incident happened. I didn't see much since the stall I was in was far from the track. I don't really know what's wrong." she said. 
     Diva's ears drooped and she lowered her head as they were perked towards Snow and she was holding her head high. She may have won a race, but was it the start of the life she wanted? Could've just been luck she thought to herself. The mare turned around in her stall hoping it wasn't just luck.

     Snow followed Diva's actions, allowing her ears to fold. "Don't worry, I'm sure Vinn is fine! If it's just an inflammation, it should heal in about a week" She said. She saw Diva turn around in her stall and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Congratulations on winning. I'm sure you feel very proud of yourself. Your first official race and you've won! I'm sure the humans are very proud of you, too."

     "It's not Vinn," she said as she turned her head a little to look at Snow, "and thanks." Diva turned back around as Charlotte came over with a lead rope. She opened the stall and attached it to Diva's halter leading her out of the stable. Diva walked slowly holding her head down low, and her walk was not proud like it usually was. Charlotte undid the lead rope letting Diva into the pasture as she trotted to an oak tree. She stood underneath it and held her head down low, not cause she was going to graze, but for another reason. 
     Charlotte came back into the stable and did the same with Snow. Once Snow was in the pasture Charlotte shut the gate and stood there watching. She noticed Diva and wondered what was wrong with her. She should be acting different, she did win that race yesterday. Maybe she's just exhausted Charlotte thought. Diva paid no attention to Snow or Charlotte.

     Snow was excited to be let out in the pasture. There were a few things she wanted to do, but she settled for galloping around the large space as fast as possible. She'd improved the amount of time it took to change between gaites, but she still wasn't very fast. At least, not as fast as Diva or Vinn. She vouched she would work as hard as possible, and this was the first step. One day, she would be let out to race, and when that happened, she hoped she would be ready. After a while, exhaustion began to catch up to Snow. She knew she could keep going a bit longer, but she decided to slow down and trot over to where Diva was. She noticed Diva had been... not as vain as she usually was, and that worried her. 
     "Hey Diva, you alright?" She asked as she neared the mare under the shade of the large oak tree. "You don't seem like yourself today. Or did you get hurt like Vinn did? Maybe I should call Charlotte over to see if you're doing okay."

     Diva was a bit spooked as Snow approached her, as she seemed to be trapped in her own head. "Oh uh, I'm fine," she said looking at the mare. "It seems as though you've improved a little," she said quietly. Diva didn't really know what to do or say. No one has ever cared about how she felt. Diva didn't know why this mare cared about her. Why was she 'changing?' 
     Diva couldn't stop thinking of her past, and that if she was on the right track to the life she wanted. Maybe I was never meant to a champion she thought. The mare looked at Snow and sighed.

     Snow looked at Diva giddily. "Well, if you're sure your fine... and thank you. I've been working for as long as I can, both by myself and along with these humans. But... I still need to work on my speed" She muttered. She looked up at Diva and nudged her head toward the large area of grass. "I'm going to keep galloping for a bit. Would you like to join me?" She asked. 

     Diva gave and nod, and lifted her head a little and looked at Snow. Nobody has ever asked her if she wanted to join them, she was always alone. "Oh uh s-sure," she said not really knowing what to say as the words came out of her mouth. Diva started to walk where Snow pointed to and picked up to a trot.

     Snow neighed happily and sped up to a canter, then a full on gallop. She looked back once to see how far Diva was from her, but after that, she didn't look back again. Instead, she focused on speed and keeping her breath. She would inhale every two strides and exhale every two strides. If she had a breathing pattern, she thought, it would help her not get exhausted as easily. She kept her posture slack and let her muscles do all the work as she focused on her breathing. 

     Diva sped up to a slow gallop as she was almost shoulder to shoulder with Snow. She didn't want to go as fast as she could, so she kept pace with Snow. Diva was always going as fast as could, and she never slowed down. She enjoyed this, it felt as if her past and her worries were just draining out of her body. After awhile she decided to speed up a little, but not much. 

     As Snow had been going as fast as she could, which she knew by now wasn't very fast, especially since Diva was able to catch up with a slow gallop, she couldn't go any faster when Diva sped up a little. However, she tried anyway. She knew it was a bad idea, but she decided to distract herself from her breathing and focus all her energy on her speed. She managed to go a bit faster, yet it wasn't enough to get her side-to-side with Diva. She snorted lightly before slowing down a bit more and going back to working on her breathing. Right now, she guessed that was very important, too. Hopefully it was the first step to her becoming a faster and better race horse. 

     Diva slowed back down when she realized Snow was having some trouble. She nickered softly, "Try and imagine your racing with the wind. Feel your hooves touch the ground, and the wind in your mane." Diva said in an encouraging voice. She looked at Snow and smiled a bit. Diva did this in her past to try and calm herself so she could focus. It also helped her when racing to keep her focus on the race, and nothing else.

     Snow took Diva's advice. She imagined she was in a large field, even larger than the pasture she was in now, with all the space she would want to gallop around. She imagined wind pushing at her, giving her a helping hand, speeding her up whenever she so wished. She listened to the sound of her hooves thundering against the ground in a rhythmic pattern with every stride she took. It seemed to work because she felt herself speeding up even though she didn't strain her muscles as much. It wasn't by a lot, but progress was progress, and Snow felt satisfied. 
     She continued with that pace, the wind in her main and the thunder in her hooves, until she felt she couldn't take it anymore. She slowed down to a canter and looked at Diva gratefully. "Thank you for the advice, it helped. No wonder you won your race, you have a really good tactic. Be one with your surroundings; take advantage of everything around you and follow your true nature. I like that."

     "Your welcome," Diva replied smiling glad that it worked. Over time Diva slowed still tired from her race the previous day, and not being able to sleep. She slowed to a trot to cool off. She continued to let Snow run, but Diva had one thing in her mind Why am I changing? she thought to herself. After trotting for awhile she went to a walk, and went over to Charlotte who had gotten some treats. Diva greeted Charlotte and gratefully ate the sugar cubes she offered.

     By the time Diva had slowed down and headed to where Charlotte was, Snow had begun to graze. She was quite tired, and also very grateful, for the gallop she had just went on. She had learned a new tactic which she didn't expect to learn and she was quite happy to see it had worked. When Snow first met Diva, she hadn't expected to like the mare. She seemed very prideful of herself, maybe too much so, but over time, Snow had put the effort to warm up to her. It seemed to work because Diva wasn't as insufferable around her and Snow actually enjoyed hanging around the mare. 
     It was a feeling she'd felt many times before, with her old owner, one she hadn't expected she would feel here. Yet... she was glad she did. Perhaps this new life with Diva and Vinn and the humans won't be as bad as I thought previously.

     Once Diva was done with Charlotte she turned around and saw Snow grazing. Diva started to trot up that way when there was a very loud bang. Diva reared and bolted spooked as she jumped over the fence. The mare continued to gallop and gallop spooked terribly down the road as flashbacks of her past came and went in her head. It was getting close to sunset as Diva kept on going. 
     Charlotte watched Diva jump the fence and ran to go get Alaina. "Alaina!," she yelled,"Diva got spooked and jumped the fence. She won't stop galloping down the road!"
     Alaina put everything aside and ran to the stables. She didn't bother tacking up her horse as she galloped out of the stables quickly. She was good at riding bareback and lassoing as she had grabbed her lasso. In the meantime, Diva kept on galloping, galloping from what she thought was her past too spooked to stop. Alaina tried to keep up, but Diva got a massive head start. She was a very fast racehorse and there was no way Alaina could catch up to her before it went dark.
     Once Diva came back to her senses she slid to a quick stop. She looked around, not knowing where she was. It was already too dark to tell where she was. What did I do!? Where am I!? she thought. The mare looked around frantically trying to figure out where she was, but it was too late.