skybound

[S u N f r O s T ~]

<sub>FORBIDDEN TO FLY AND HENNA TURATH
STRICTLY ROYAL AND KRYSTAL YHATE

FLY'S WORKOUT FOR THE UNICORN HORN JUVENILE

The normally arrogant bay three year old appeared to be unusually serene as he trotted alongside the gray two year old colt. Krystal wondered at this behavior of Roy's. Wasn't her colt supposed to be the arrogant one that she had known for their majority of their workouts? But apparently, this time it was different. For some reason, the personality of Forbidden To Fly was calming Strictly Royal. Indeed, Fly was a special colt. Even now, the gray colt was uttering screeching neighs that echoed around the dirt track. It was such a racket that if the horse had been human, Krystal would have told him to shut up, but as it was he was a horse, and horses didn't understand words like that. So instead, Krystal was wondering just how Henna put up with it while carefully holding Roy back in case his aloof, calm facade was just that - a facade, an act to get her to lower her guard so that Roy could just take off.

From beside Roy, Krystal heard Henna's murmured words as she attempted to soothe the colt. Apparently, Fly was more agitated than usual. He was prancing on the spot, that Krystal knew, but weren't his screeches commonplace? After all, that was all Krystal ever heard out of the Flying Colours son. But apparently, this was unusually loud even for him, and Henna was trying to calm him down. The thought made Krystal sigh. At least there was a limit to the colt's noise. Once again, Krystal wondered how Henna put up with it. It was intolerable to Krystal, and she usually dealt with the worst of the worse tempered horses, slowly getting them to become more "human" in a sense. With surprise, Krystal noted that sometime during her thought monologue, Fly had quieted down. It was clear that some sort of deep bond, forged through hours of training, existed between Henna and Fly. Best of luck to them in the Unicorn Horn Juvenile, then she thought.

They were up against tough competition. Two non maidens for sure, the rest of the field Krystal had not done her homework on. But Henna would have. Like all of Forbidden Wings's foals, Henna was carefully tending to Fly like a mother would to a child. Even right now, Henna continued to murmur to Fly. Now it must be the monologue of a teacher trying to get a student to pay attention. Fly had a short attention span and a knack for goofing off. Even now, it appeared Fly wasn't taking the workout seriously. Krystal remembered Henna's comment after Fly's first race; he hadn't taken it seriously until the the final two furlongs, and that had cost him the race. Henna was hoping that a race against older horse Roy would teach him a thing or two about focus, as Roy possessed the competitive focus that Fly lacked.

In order to accomplish this, they were galloping half a mile together. Nothing too strenuous, as Henna wanted her colt fresh to take on the competition. Krystal smiled as Henna finally signaled for the canter. They were off and running, Fly lagging a little behind. Roy appeared happy to take the lead and was off cantering. Henna pushed Fly into a slightly faster pace, not taking his lack of focus for an answer. And thus they went for a four furlong warm up. By the end of it, Henna was ready for the gallop. She signaled, and then leaned over Fly's withers, letting out some rein as she did so. Fly picked up the pace quickly, actually focusing for a second as he entered the gallop and felt the first breezes of wind through his mane. Henna grinned and wished for the day that this kind of focus would be maintained throughout the race. It would take a rival of some sort to achieve that, though.

Roy pulled at the reins alongside Fly. Krystal sensed that he wanted to pull ahead, but that wasn't in the racing instructions. She held him back, and Roy grudgingly accepted after two furlongs that they weren't going anywhere faster. Henna, on the other hand, appeared to be nudging Fly on. She had sensed that the colt was loafing along, and had wondered if this training strategy was even working. She attempted to focus some intensity into the reins, hoping it would register in the two year old's brain. As they went into the final furlong, though, Henna sensed a change. The colt appeared to take notice of the dark bay running on his inside. His stride attained a new sense of power deriving from purpose. Henna grinned as Fly increased his speed, and actually tried to make an attempt to go faster. The exercise was working!

Unfortunately, this miracle had occurred during the final furlong, and Henna could not enjoy it for long. She pulled up Fly, who was actually unwilling to stop, and Roy came up alongside them. Krystal looked at Henna inquiringly, wondering if the workout had done its job. He's sky bound, Krystal. He actually started to focus at the end. At this rate, we'll be golden for the Juvenile stated Henna excitedly. Happy for her friend, Krystal merely nodded and smiled.</sub>