A couple horses could be seen here and there, along with a few that was
being worked on the track this early morning. A young girl in her early
teens leaned against a fence near the far pasture watching a few mares and
foals. From where she stood she could see the two story house along with
the barns quite clearly and was sure no one could see her. The sound of
hooves behind her started her and she turned and ran, "Stop!" A quite
powerful voice called out to her, and the horses pace quickened. Out of
breath and tired from running the girl slowed down and stopped awaiting for
the horse and rider to approach.
"What were you doing near my horses?" The girl turned and looked up at the rider, in a moment she knew who it was that had chased her, "I..." she fell silent at a loss of words as the rider dismounted, "My name is Alec Ramsey and I just wanted to know what you were doing near my horses." As Alec finished speaking he noticed that she carried a backpack in her hand and a duffel bag in her other. "My, name is Anna Elise Maria Jessica Elizabeth Montonova." She began to giggle at the look on his face as she recited her name, "Please pick one and call me that. I was only looking at your horses."
Alec turned back towards the way they came and gestured towards that direction, "May we walk and talk I need to keep this hot head moving," He waited till she nodded and then he began to lead the way. "Why were you looking at my horses," he glanced back at her as she fell in step beside him. "I love them, my father used to train thoroughbreds to race." "Used to? Why do you use the past tense. Did he retire?" She shook her head no, and they walked in silence for a while. When she began to reply the training track and the broodmare barn stood ahead of them.
"My father passed away from a riding accident, Broken Nova threw him at the starting gate and trampled him. I feel like it is my fault; and that I should have warned him about shadows. You see Nova hates shadows he was partially blind. He still saw, but shadows made him terribly nervous, my father usually pays attention to such details but he only kept saying. Mejia I trained his sire and dam, he will do fine in the shadows. I will show him there is nothing to fear. Nova's owner wanted me to ride him so he alerted me to his handicap, my father wouldn't listen to me when I told him about it."
Alec nodded and motioned to one of his grooms to take his mount and care for it. "What does your mother do, Jessica?" Jessica looked off at the mares and a few foals being brought in for the night, "She died when I was born. I was coming here to ask you if I could work for you. I know how to groom them, assist with foaling, break them. I know a lot." Alec stopped walking at the back door to the house and opened it, "Come on in, I'll let you stay here for awhile, at the moment I am a groom short. One of them left me for another farm."
Around midnight Jessica awoke with a feeling that something was wrong. She got up and quickly dressed, then silently made her way down through the house and out side. Heading straight for the broodmare barn she paused, leaning over to ease a pain that ripped through her stomach. Only once before had this ever happened to her, but the connection had been lost. Once the pain subsided she ran into the barn and looked for the mare that was foaling. Once figuring out who it was she went to the barn phone and called up the main house alerting Alec to the situation.
Before Alec reached the barn she had helped the mare through her difficult birth and sat patting the mare as the foal lay beside her. "Jessica how did you know she was having a difficult birth?" As Alec asked her the vet arrived and came over quickly asking questions about the mare and what had happened. "Well its lucky you helped her young lady if no one had found her both of them would have died." The vet turned to Alec and shook his hand, "Well you have a healthy little filly. Watch them both for a few hours and call me if anything happens."
Alec shook the vets hand and agreed to call if anything happened. Jessica had sat down against the stall's wall and whispered, "Black Star..." before falling asleep, Alec hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep and spoke to her, "What did you say?" Jessica murmured in her sleep, "The filly...her name... is... Black Star..." "Alec that would be a pretty good name for the filly if she wasn't as dark as night. Well get a hold of me and toss a blanket around her, she's fallen asleep."
When Jessica awoke she found herself back in her room in the main house. She threw back her covers and got up, looking out the window trying to remember where she was. Then it dawned on her she was staying no working for the famous Alec Ramsey. Making her bed she headed down stairs and out the door, running straight into Henry. "Whoa you finally woke up have you." he stated gruffly, Alec walked up behind him and smiled at Jessica, "Jess, I thank you for saving Lucky Us, and her filly. Follow me if you want to see them."
Jessica nodded and followed after him, Alec lead her over to a smaller paddock that was right outside the barn. "You slept for about a week, may I ask how you knew Lucky was in trouble?" Jessica leaned on the fence and grinned at the mare and filly, "Sometimes I get a bond with a horse, a gift I was born with. My father had it, and so did his father. Some thing just woke me up and I began to feel like I was in trouble. Funny thing is, I don't know who I have the bond with the mare or foal." Alec nodded, "I had a bond sort of like that with The Black. Did you know you told me the name of the filly?" When Jessica shook her head no Alec continued, "Yeah you told me her name was Black Star." Jessica opened her eyes wide and looked back out to the mare and foal, the mare was a dark brown with a white sock on her right hind leg, and a lopsided star on her forehead. The filly was at the moment black, but Jessica knew she wouldn't be showing her true color till she was about a yearling. "Who was her sire?" Alec looked at Jessica for a moment and then looked out to the two horses, "She is The Black's grand filly, daughter of Satan."
Jessica nodded, and then turned to face Alec "So, what do you want me to do, I mean which horse am I supposed to take care of?" "That's the funny thing, she is the mare I was going to have you care for. Well I need to go exercise a few horses and see how the training is going for a few others. In a couple of weeks we have some races coming up, then I will be reassigning you to another horse. So enjoy these two for now and don't get attached to them."
As the days turned into weeks, Jessica groomed fed and watched over her charges proudly, and every once in awhile she helped another groom care for his horses. Alec had told her that she was a great asset to him at that time, and that he also liked her work. Soon the last day came, and Jessica found her self saying good bye to the mare and foal. "Henry, where are they headed off too?" She found herself asking as the trailer drove down the drive way and turned carrying them out of sight. "To Lucky Leaf Thoroughbreds Racing and Steeple chasing. The foal will probably be trained to flat race, much like her dam did. Well come on lets go, we have to get some yearlings and two year olds ready for auction. Tomorrow you have a race to head off to with Alec." Jessica nodded and followed Henry off to the yearling barn.
In time Jessica found herself very busy, Henry had begun to teach her how to train the two year olds for flat racing, and was very happy that she was a quick learner. She even trained one colt by Satan out of Keshna Fire from his first halter to his first race. One after noon Henry and Alec walked over to Jessica, "Say Jessica, how long have you been working here?" Jessica tilted her head and thought for a few minutes "Its nearly three years now. Yes it is about three years because Redman has been winning quite a few races."
Alec smiled down at Jessica, "I'm glad to have you here. What I want to ask is if you'd be willing to come to the auction with me and Henry, tomorrow. Were hoping to pick up about three new horses." Jessica smiled from ear to ear, "I would love to go with you Alec, but I am afraid I'm going to have to decline. I just got a letter and its my grand mother, she..." Jessica frowned and looked back down at the letter she was reading before they walked over to her. The words in the letter broke her heart in two.
~*Letter~*
Dear Anna Elise Maria Jessica Elizabeth Montonova,
I want you to stop ruining you life at once and come home.
You have no right to be working with those killer animals. Do you want
to die by having one of those dumb animals trample you to death as it
had your mother and father? I order you to return home at once, or I
shall have to come after you my self. It may have taken me three years
to find you, you ungrateful child. But I can and I will make you come
home with me.
Grandma ~*~*
Jessica looked down at the letter once more and then tore it into tiny pieces. "I would love to go, I don't care what my grandmother thinks of horses." Henry and Alec exchanged glances and then both patted Jessica on her back and told her to be ready at dawn the next morning. Jessica promised she would and then headed off to check the horses she looked after.
The next morning dawned cloudy and foggy, which in turn caused Henry to be in a bad mood. As they pulled into the area where the auction was to be held it began to rain steadily. "Good thing the auction is going to be held indoors Hunh Henry?" Alec commented to his friend as they got out of the truck. "Yeah good thing Alec." Jessica wandered ahead of them, and walked down an aisle. Every once in awhile she would stop and peer inside a pen then glance down at the booklet in her hand make a note then head onwards.
"Jessica, find any good prospects?" Alec asked when he had finally caught up to her. "Alec its her, the filly I saved when I first met you." Alec looked at a dark brown filly and then back at his book nodding, "Yep, looks like she didn't cut it as a racer and they want to wash there hands of her. Well that's one to bid on, we might retrain her and get rid of the habits she learned and see what we can do."
Jessica nodded and watched the filly pace nervously around her nearly empty pen, when guessing she had enough turned and ran straight for the fence jumping it and clearing it with two inches to spare. "Wow, she sure can jump." Jessica mused before pulling a lead shank out of her pocket and running after her screaming 'loose horse.'
Alec and a few others ran after her to help round up the filly when they spotted her and Jessica walking back towards them. The filly was slightly limping, and Jessica's face was pulled into a tight grimace. "She is showing signs of heat in her leg, probably hurt it when she jumped." "Well she is being lead up to the auctioneer now so you don't have to worry about this animal anymore." Jessica frowned and held on to the lead shank, "I have two thousand dollars, I will give it to you for her." The owner thought for a moment and then nodded, Jessica reached into her pocket and pulled out her money. It was all she had, what was left after her father died and what she made working for Alec.
Alec told her to go put her in the trailer and care for her, the moment they got out side the mare stopped limping and began to prance, "You big faker!" Jessica laughed and slapped her filly playfully. Once at the trailer she grabbed some of the grooming tools left inside and began to groom her. Lightly singing as she brushed Black Star, she hadn't noticed time had passed greatly until Henry and Alec's voices reached her ears. "Hey Jessica are you in there?" The doors opened and Jessica smiled down at them, "Yep! Hey those are some great horses you got there." Alec looked back at a sable brown mare, then over to a red roan mare that Henry held.
"Yep, there blood lines are good. They have raced and won a couple but there owners went bankrupt and had to sell out. I also found out why your Black Star is here. Turns out she was a great racer, she also constantly jumped fences. Then she began to fake limping and loosing races for what seemed no apparent reason. So she was sold to another person who tried to race her and got the same results out of her. No winnings, no placing. She might not have the heart to race."
All the way back to the farm Jessica sat in silence, thinking about what Alec had said. No heart, but she carries the black in her blood, Satan is her sire she must have racing in her blood. Her dam, was a great racer then got into an accident that ruined the rest of her racing career. I have got to figure out what is with my Black Star.
"What were you doing near my horses?" The girl turned and looked up at the rider, in a moment she knew who it was that had chased her, "I..." she fell silent at a loss of words as the rider dismounted, "My name is Alec Ramsey and I just wanted to know what you were doing near my horses." As Alec finished speaking he noticed that she carried a backpack in her hand and a duffel bag in her other. "My, name is Anna Elise Maria Jessica Elizabeth Montonova." She began to giggle at the look on his face as she recited her name, "Please pick one and call me that. I was only looking at your horses."
Alec turned back towards the way they came and gestured towards that direction, "May we walk and talk I need to keep this hot head moving," He waited till she nodded and then he began to lead the way. "Why were you looking at my horses," he glanced back at her as she fell in step beside him. "I love them, my father used to train thoroughbreds to race." "Used to? Why do you use the past tense. Did he retire?" She shook her head no, and they walked in silence for a while. When she began to reply the training track and the broodmare barn stood ahead of them.
"My father passed away from a riding accident, Broken Nova threw him at the starting gate and trampled him. I feel like it is my fault; and that I should have warned him about shadows. You see Nova hates shadows he was partially blind. He still saw, but shadows made him terribly nervous, my father usually pays attention to such details but he only kept saying. Mejia I trained his sire and dam, he will do fine in the shadows. I will show him there is nothing to fear. Nova's owner wanted me to ride him so he alerted me to his handicap, my father wouldn't listen to me when I told him about it."
Alec nodded and motioned to one of his grooms to take his mount and care for it. "What does your mother do, Jessica?" Jessica looked off at the mares and a few foals being brought in for the night, "She died when I was born. I was coming here to ask you if I could work for you. I know how to groom them, assist with foaling, break them. I know a lot." Alec stopped walking at the back door to the house and opened it, "Come on in, I'll let you stay here for awhile, at the moment I am a groom short. One of them left me for another farm."
Around midnight Jessica awoke with a feeling that something was wrong. She got up and quickly dressed, then silently made her way down through the house and out side. Heading straight for the broodmare barn she paused, leaning over to ease a pain that ripped through her stomach. Only once before had this ever happened to her, but the connection had been lost. Once the pain subsided she ran into the barn and looked for the mare that was foaling. Once figuring out who it was she went to the barn phone and called up the main house alerting Alec to the situation.
Before Alec reached the barn she had helped the mare through her difficult birth and sat patting the mare as the foal lay beside her. "Jessica how did you know she was having a difficult birth?" As Alec asked her the vet arrived and came over quickly asking questions about the mare and what had happened. "Well its lucky you helped her young lady if no one had found her both of them would have died." The vet turned to Alec and shook his hand, "Well you have a healthy little filly. Watch them both for a few hours and call me if anything happens."
Alec shook the vets hand and agreed to call if anything happened. Jessica had sat down against the stall's wall and whispered, "Black Star..." before falling asleep, Alec hadn't noticed that she had fallen asleep and spoke to her, "What did you say?" Jessica murmured in her sleep, "The filly...her name... is... Black Star..." "Alec that would be a pretty good name for the filly if she wasn't as dark as night. Well get a hold of me and toss a blanket around her, she's fallen asleep."
When Jessica awoke she found herself back in her room in the main house. She threw back her covers and got up, looking out the window trying to remember where she was. Then it dawned on her she was staying no working for the famous Alec Ramsey. Making her bed she headed down stairs and out the door, running straight into Henry. "Whoa you finally woke up have you." he stated gruffly, Alec walked up behind him and smiled at Jessica, "Jess, I thank you for saving Lucky Us, and her filly. Follow me if you want to see them."
Jessica nodded and followed after him, Alec lead her over to a smaller paddock that was right outside the barn. "You slept for about a week, may I ask how you knew Lucky was in trouble?" Jessica leaned on the fence and grinned at the mare and filly, "Sometimes I get a bond with a horse, a gift I was born with. My father had it, and so did his father. Some thing just woke me up and I began to feel like I was in trouble. Funny thing is, I don't know who I have the bond with the mare or foal." Alec nodded, "I had a bond sort of like that with The Black. Did you know you told me the name of the filly?" When Jessica shook her head no Alec continued, "Yeah you told me her name was Black Star." Jessica opened her eyes wide and looked back out to the mare and foal, the mare was a dark brown with a white sock on her right hind leg, and a lopsided star on her forehead. The filly was at the moment black, but Jessica knew she wouldn't be showing her true color till she was about a yearling. "Who was her sire?" Alec looked at Jessica for a moment and then looked out to the two horses, "She is The Black's grand filly, daughter of Satan."
Jessica nodded, and then turned to face Alec "So, what do you want me to do, I mean which horse am I supposed to take care of?" "That's the funny thing, she is the mare I was going to have you care for. Well I need to go exercise a few horses and see how the training is going for a few others. In a couple of weeks we have some races coming up, then I will be reassigning you to another horse. So enjoy these two for now and don't get attached to them."
As the days turned into weeks, Jessica groomed fed and watched over her charges proudly, and every once in awhile she helped another groom care for his horses. Alec had told her that she was a great asset to him at that time, and that he also liked her work. Soon the last day came, and Jessica found her self saying good bye to the mare and foal. "Henry, where are they headed off too?" She found herself asking as the trailer drove down the drive way and turned carrying them out of sight. "To Lucky Leaf Thoroughbreds Racing and Steeple chasing. The foal will probably be trained to flat race, much like her dam did. Well come on lets go, we have to get some yearlings and two year olds ready for auction. Tomorrow you have a race to head off to with Alec." Jessica nodded and followed Henry off to the yearling barn.
In time Jessica found herself very busy, Henry had begun to teach her how to train the two year olds for flat racing, and was very happy that she was a quick learner. She even trained one colt by Satan out of Keshna Fire from his first halter to his first race. One after noon Henry and Alec walked over to Jessica, "Say Jessica, how long have you been working here?" Jessica tilted her head and thought for a few minutes "Its nearly three years now. Yes it is about three years because Redman has been winning quite a few races."
Alec smiled down at Jessica, "I'm glad to have you here. What I want to ask is if you'd be willing to come to the auction with me and Henry, tomorrow. Were hoping to pick up about three new horses." Jessica smiled from ear to ear, "I would love to go with you Alec, but I am afraid I'm going to have to decline. I just got a letter and its my grand mother, she..." Jessica frowned and looked back down at the letter she was reading before they walked over to her. The words in the letter broke her heart in two.
~*Letter~*
Dear Anna Elise Maria Jessica Elizabeth Montonova,
I want you to stop ruining you life at once and come home.
You have no right to be working with those killer animals. Do you want
to die by having one of those dumb animals trample you to death as it
had your mother and father? I order you to return home at once, or I
shall have to come after you my self. It may have taken me three years
to find you, you ungrateful child. But I can and I will make you come
home with me.
Grandma ~*~*
Jessica looked down at the letter once more and then tore it into tiny pieces. "I would love to go, I don't care what my grandmother thinks of horses." Henry and Alec exchanged glances and then both patted Jessica on her back and told her to be ready at dawn the next morning. Jessica promised she would and then headed off to check the horses she looked after.
The next morning dawned cloudy and foggy, which in turn caused Henry to be in a bad mood. As they pulled into the area where the auction was to be held it began to rain steadily. "Good thing the auction is going to be held indoors Hunh Henry?" Alec commented to his friend as they got out of the truck. "Yeah good thing Alec." Jessica wandered ahead of them, and walked down an aisle. Every once in awhile she would stop and peer inside a pen then glance down at the booklet in her hand make a note then head onwards.
"Jessica, find any good prospects?" Alec asked when he had finally caught up to her. "Alec its her, the filly I saved when I first met you." Alec looked at a dark brown filly and then back at his book nodding, "Yep, looks like she didn't cut it as a racer and they want to wash there hands of her. Well that's one to bid on, we might retrain her and get rid of the habits she learned and see what we can do."
Jessica nodded and watched the filly pace nervously around her nearly empty pen, when guessing she had enough turned and ran straight for the fence jumping it and clearing it with two inches to spare. "Wow, she sure can jump." Jessica mused before pulling a lead shank out of her pocket and running after her screaming 'loose horse.'
Alec and a few others ran after her to help round up the filly when they spotted her and Jessica walking back towards them. The filly was slightly limping, and Jessica's face was pulled into a tight grimace. "She is showing signs of heat in her leg, probably hurt it when she jumped." "Well she is being lead up to the auctioneer now so you don't have to worry about this animal anymore." Jessica frowned and held on to the lead shank, "I have two thousand dollars, I will give it to you for her." The owner thought for a moment and then nodded, Jessica reached into her pocket and pulled out her money. It was all she had, what was left after her father died and what she made working for Alec.
Alec told her to go put her in the trailer and care for her, the moment they got out side the mare stopped limping and began to prance, "You big faker!" Jessica laughed and slapped her filly playfully. Once at the trailer she grabbed some of the grooming tools left inside and began to groom her. Lightly singing as she brushed Black Star, she hadn't noticed time had passed greatly until Henry and Alec's voices reached her ears. "Hey Jessica are you in there?" The doors opened and Jessica smiled down at them, "Yep! Hey those are some great horses you got there." Alec looked back at a sable brown mare, then over to a red roan mare that Henry held.
"Yep, there blood lines are good. They have raced and won a couple but there owners went bankrupt and had to sell out. I also found out why your Black Star is here. Turns out she was a great racer, she also constantly jumped fences. Then she began to fake limping and loosing races for what seemed no apparent reason. So she was sold to another person who tried to race her and got the same results out of her. No winnings, no placing. She might not have the heart to race."
All the way back to the farm Jessica sat in silence, thinking about what Alec had said. No heart, but she carries the black in her blood, Satan is her sire she must have racing in her blood. Her dam, was a great racer then got into an accident that ruined the rest of her racing career. I have got to figure out what is with my Black Star.