Hi everyone! A very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you!
I thought I would provide you with a sneak peak into my latest horse
series, Thoroughbred Breeders. Below is some text from the first chapter of
book one, New Blood. Enjoy!
 |
New Blood (Thoroughbred Breeders #1)
by Christine Meunier |
1. Tuesdays
Savannah Reynier couldn’t decide
if she liked Tuesdays or not. On the one
hand, she was working with horses – like any other day – so how could she
not? On the other, Tuesdays were farrier
days. Each Tuesday on the stud she
worked on, the farrier was booked to do whatever horses needed a trim at that
time.
Today it was the yearling fillies
that needed their feet looked at.
Standing half the day holding horses for the farrier wasn’t high on Savannah’s list of
favourite horse chores. When the class
of horses needing a trim was barely handled, this task fell a little lower down
the ladder.
She wondered which apprentice
would be along with Rick and Jay this time.
Hopefully not Flynn again.
He was a terrible flirt. Plus, her workmates had so much fun teasing
her afterward no matter what she did around him. She’d tried being polite. Then she’d tried ignoring him. Rudeness hadn’t discouraged him either. She wondered if she could swing things so
that her co-worker Kathy ended up holding for him.
If he comes.
It seemed that Rick and Jay had a
different apprentice each week. It made
sense she supposed, that they would take on as many as they could.
As the cars pulled to a stop
outside the holding yards Savannah
made her way into the first yard. She
was able to catch one of the fillies by moving slowly and talking quietly to
the dark brown with a star on her head.
“Hey sweetie,” she said, rubbing
her gently on the neck, “the quieter you stand for the man, the quicker we get
this done.”
“Not to mention that the man
would really appreciate it, too,” an accented voice said from not too far
behind her.
South African, Savannah decided as she turned to face the
latest apprentice that had obviously been dumped on her. She tried to school her features to an
indifferent glance as she felt her stomach do flip-flops. She nodded politely as she took in the
scruffy brown hair, small amount of stubble and curiously green eyes.
Wow.
“These girls have been handled on
a regular basis, but they are yearlings…” she found herself offering and then
felt her face warm as he grinned at her.
He can probably tell that for himself.
“They do look young, but it’s
their feet that really interest me,” he offered, stepping closer to offer his
hand to the brown filly.
She sniffed at him before looking
toward the other horses, disinterested in the man before her. The exact opposite of Savannah’s sentiments. She grinned at the thought before quickly
schooling her features again as she realised she had an audience.
He was looking at her with a brow
raised in question. Savannah internally sighed.
Awkward.
“So I’m Craig and you’ll have to
put up with my lack of social skills – but not farrier skills – for the next
couple of hours, I’m sorry,” he said by way of introduction.
This immediately endeared him to Savannah.
A self deprecating farrier – who would have thought it? Then again, false humility works well for
some…
With a start she realised he was
waiting for her to introduce herself.
Now who’s lacking in social skills?
“Everyone calls me Anna,” she
responded quietly, thinking if Craig didn’t start trimming, she was in for a
ribbing from her workmates for sure.
“Well, almost everyone,” she
muttered, more to herself as Craig ran his hand down the filly’s near fore to
pick up her hoof.
She couldn’t help but take in his
frame as he worked. He was easily taller
than her, but not too much so. His
shoulders were broad and arms strong.
She stared at his back, refusing to continue her perusal.
“So who doesn’t call you Anna?” a
voice interrupted her thoughts.
It took a second for the question
to register – and then for her to realise that although the comment hadn’t
exactly been made for him, Craig expected an answer.
“Aah… my boss. Nev
calls me Savvy.”
She could hear him clipping off
excess toe before he picked up his rasp and started around the edge of the
hoof.
“Because of your knowledge and
ability with horses?” he asked with a grin as he put the filly’s hoof to the
ground and assessed how it sat.
Clever with words – check.
“I’m sure Nev
would agree with that statement because it makes him look particularly clever
when people discover my full name happens to be Savannah.”
Craig’s eyebrow rose again and Savannah questioned what
he was thinking. That she was rude in
the way she talked about her boss? That Savannah wasn’t a common
name?
Probably that he still has three feet left to trim.
As if sensing her thoughts, Craig
moved around to the other side of the filly, running his hand down her off
fore. Following him, Savannah made sure she was standing on the
off-side of the horse before he continued his work.
Why didn’t he do her hind leg?
Of all the farriers that she had
seen trim feet, they went in the same order.
Start with the near fore, move onto the near hind. Following this, complete the off fore and
then finally the off hind leg.
Surely he’s not that new to trimming feet that he hasn’t been taught
that.
She assumed it was something they
got taught anyway, much like people getting taught to mount horses from the
left hand side.
Not that the reason why is relevant to recreational riding.
Mustering up some semblance of
courage, Savannah
decided to ask.
“So I tend to like learning all I
can about horses…” she started, unsure how to ask without seeming stupid – or
like she was trying to make him look so.
“Mmmhmmm…” came the response from
under the horse.
“Is there a reason why you’re
doing both forefeet first?” she asked before she lost her nerve.
Craig finished rasping the hoof
before letting the filly stand on all fours.
He gave Savannah
a grin before checking that the hoof was balanced on the ground.
Dimple – check.
“You think I should have done
them in a different order?” he asked her, still smiling.
She frowned, wondering if he was
teasing her. Eventually she shrugged.
“I suppose you can do them in
whatever order you see fit. I’ve just
noticed a particular pattern that farriers seem to follow,” she responded as he
moved onto the off hind leg.
“When I’m doing most horses for
the first time, I do their front feet first.
You never know how well handled they are going to be and I’ve had a
couple of incidences where I get one foot done, move to the back and all hell
breaks loose. For whatever reason, it’s
impossible to get the back foot done and by this stage the horse is so worked up,
they won’t let me touch their other front foot.
At least this way if there are issues with the hind feet, the horse is
balanced in front.”
Savannah pondered this as Craig finished the
off hind before moving back to the filly’s left side. He made short work of her near hind before
declaring he was finished.
“Thanks for telling me the
reason,” she responded lamely before going to get another horse.
Craig had finished before the
other two men. Savannah wouldn’t have been surprised if he
paused for a cigarette like the majority of the other apprentices seemed
to. She was pleased to find that instead
he stepped up to the group of skittish fillies and kept them from breaking away
from the corner while she worked to get a head collar on one of them.
“Thanks,” she breathed as she led
the young horse toward the gate out of the yard to where there was more room
for him to work.
Craig ducked through the rails
and then held the gate open for her. Savannah decided in her
next glance that he was somewhere in his mid twenties.
Old for an apprentice.
Jay and Craig ended up with the
last two fillies. Savannah wasn’t surprised to find Rick
observing the apprentice as he worked away.
She knew she would have been
intimidated by such a gesture but decided Craig didn’t seem the least
perturbed. Instead he continued working
whilst talking with his boss about the filly’s feet. Savannah
listened keenly, eager to pick up any new bits of knowledge. Plus, she decided, Craig’s voice and accent
were extremely pleasant to listen to.
Gorgeous accent – check.
Savannah
concluded that once all the trims were complete and the two familiar vehicles
made their way back down the drive that Tuesdays had drastically improved. In fact, she would go so far as to say that
she liked Tuesdays.
*this is a shortened version of the first chapter of
New Blood. You can
purchase the book at Amazon. There are currently 2 in the series and the 3rd is on it's way!
Things are changing…