van & persia's first adventure. ( open. )

[BAMON!]

van snorted softly as he threw his head up and down, bouncing along the path with excitement. the sound of his hooves clattering against the earth was absorbed by the dew covered grass and moist soil beneath it. the sun flooded over his dark chocolate bay frame, the wind gently blowing through his mane and tail causing his tail to flag out behind him. his big hazel eyes fell upon his stablemate persia. the tack upon the two thoroughbreds were spotlessly clean, as much so as the jockeys that rode upon their backs. persia was the total opposite to his friend, van. whilst van was bouncing with playful energy and excitement, persia was striding calm and slightly lazily beside him. it was hoped that persia would be able to calm van with his lazy demeanor outside of racing, but it seemed that was near impossible although van was a far cry from being 'unhandable'. he was a good boy, he was just a big playful and affectionate puppy in a thoroughbred's body. he didn't have a mean bone in him.

the sun flooded over persia's bright bronze frame as he strode deeper into the large meadow. the second he felt a flick of the whip in the air - not touching his pelt - the gelding's entire posture changed. he stood erect, his ears pricked and every muscle ready to spring. the focus could be seen in his eyes and it was clear persia knew exactly what was going to happen. van, after a quick tug of the reins, found his own focus also. his bouncing ceased as he turned his head to look at persia before looking ahead of himself. racing. the mere thought of beat in time with each beating of their heart. they needed it. they loved it. they were born to do it. brought to royal standards as mere weanlings, they had been raised on the yard for the majority of their life. it was only now that their racing careers were beginning although they had been training for it a while now. all it took was a quick 'cluck' of the tongue from their riders for the two geldings to bolt off. their legs propelled them forwards at amazing speed, their lungs synchronising with each thud of their hooves as they stretched themselves out side by side.

this is what they enjoyed.

[tyra]

Feisty, the black stallion struggled with the handlers, throwing his body and weight around. He knew he was bigger than them, stronger than them and he was sure as hell going to make sure they knew it too. No one got it easy when it came to him. Snorting happily as one of the humans fell to the ground he reared and crashed grey flints on the floor heavily. If humans could read horse emotion easily, they would see he was laughing at them. They would see that he was glad to have proven his point. The stress was obvious on the faces of the handlers as Tyra walked out of the stables office, catching the stallions attention. He whinnied to her, pulled the rope free of the handler's and trotted toward the graceful female.

Laughing, Tyra ran her hand softly down the velvet nose of the thoroughbred who returned the affection with a heavy nuzzle. Tyra took the lead rope in her hands and led the creature down to the track nearby, only to see that they were not alone in training thar day. Two other horses were also on the track and Tyra smiled as she mounted the handsome steed, the latest addition to her small stable. "What do you think, Hawk? Think we came take 'em?" Hawk tossed his head happily as he felt Tyra climb onto his back - it wasn't her usual role, he had never seen her ride the others, so it made him feel special, and walked eagerly out onto the turf.

Once they were ready, Tyra nudged Hawk forwards and he flew into a gallop, his long powerful legs moving beneath him as he flew down the straight. Tyra tried to hold him back, but he already had the two horses ahead of them in his sights and there was no way he would back down now. His pace quickened, his efforts increasing as he fought to catch up with the two, only to have no stamina left for the straight. A very disappointed Tyra sighed, patting the stallions muscular neck. Typical Hawk, he took competition too seriously, he pushed too hard. One day she was sure he would calm down.

[BAMON!]

<sub>Augusta found herself grinning happily as Van's hooves slammed against the turf beneath him. Her auburn hair flew out behind her in its ponytail as the sun flooded over her feminine frame. Next to her was Persia being ridden by Maria Esperanza. Life had been full of ups and downs - more downs then ups it seemed sometimes - and so she had sold her stud farm and come to help out her cousin on her racing stable. Maria felt like she needed to take some time out and do less. Her children were already out and about with their own lives. Jackie, her eldest, was married expecting a child, and Daniel was doing well as Jackie's head trainer on her stud farm over on the other side of america. The distance was hard, Maria had always been a maternal person, but she had always known some day they had to fly away from the nest. So, Maria had sold the nest, hating to be alone in that big place, and came over to this small corner of the world to hopefully have a better life. With Perisa between her legs she found herself happier then she had been in ages. She had definately missed racing. Just racing, no other stress, nothing to worry about, just upon a horse's back as he rode his heart out on the track.

Upon hearing some commotion, Maria and Augusta glanced back briefly to see a beautiful black stallion being led their way. They soon refocused their attentions on their own horses. Augusta was learning a lot from Maria, and found herself very happy to have her cousin here. Despite how hard Maria's life had been, Augusta found it amazing how young Maria still looked. She looked in her early thirties and definately not fourty seven years old as she was. Giving Maria a playful grin she pushed Van onwards on the homestretch, putting him into his top gear as he began to inch away from Persia. Laughing, Maria gave Persia his own encouragement and the chestnut soon began gaining on his stablemate not eager to be out done. Van crossed the line first with Persia just a head behind. The two women laughed happily, looking a lot like sisters, as they slowed their horses to a gentle canter.

"Good job Gussie, you've done so well with your stud farm. I'm so proud of you."

Maria responded softly as Van and Persia slowed to a walk. Persia's walk as usual was lazy whilst Van was practically bouncing from hoof to hoof. Augusta smiled happily at her cousin before both women watched as the stallion came across the finish line too. He was a magnificent beast with a lot of potential. Of course like any stallion he did need to calm down a bit and be able to have some self control, but once he had that down both women knew he'd end up being a champion. Turning their horses towards the stallion and his rider, they smiled a friendly greeting to the rider whilst casting an admiring eye over the black stallion.

"Hey, I'm Augusta and this is my cousin Maria, along with Lord Vanquish and Living In Persia, Van and Persia for short. I must say you have a very beautiful stallion. He has so much potential! Whats his name?"</sub>

[tyra]

The wind in her face, the sounds of the meadow beneath the flint hooves of the three horses. It was bliss. Pure bliss. Beneath her, Hawk threw himself into every stride, his firm movements causing a flow of ecstasy in her bloodstream. This was what racing was all about, this is what had brought her into racing. Most thought she was too tall to be a jockey, but some horses just didn't settle beneath the smaller jockeys. Hawk was one of them. There were very few people he didn't mess about with.

Like all young stallions he was feisty, he had a brilliant spark of dominance within him and often let it get the better of him. He liked everyone around him to know exactly who was boss and those at her yard certainly did. Sure, the stable hands did their best to work around the ebony brute but few had escaped unscathed - Hawk just would not allow it. Of course, being the only stallion on the yard currently he was spoiled rotten too, and he certainly knew he was something special.

As they slowed down, warming down after the exercise Tyra found herself breathing at almost the same pace as the stallion beneath her. When they rode, it was almost as if they were one and when she got off she felt proud of her boy. A lot of work lay ahead of them, but he was certainly something to be proud of. She watched the two other jockeys with their mounts and decided the pair were together. Certainly, one was older than the other - a mentor perhaps? Giving Hawk a stern look she led him toward the others who were heading toward her.

"Hi. I'm Tyra, I run Golden Fields Racing and this here is Hawk attack, or Hawk for short." she said, gesturing to the stallion who was now struggling against her and she was unsure whether his attention was cast onto the two geldings, or the riders so she kept a firm grip of his reigns. "He's a little devil, but I love him. Your horses are gorgeous. So, you guys are from Royal Standards, right? I recognise Van and Persia from the course and have been meaning to speak to you at some stage."