PEOPLE: Melanie Mackenzie & Charlie Burke Jr.
PLACE: Akita Rose Stables Dirt Track
DATE: January 9 2014 (February Week Two)
Getting a feel for her
and starting a new partnership
Melanie chewed her lip as she focused on getting the three year old filly under control. Alana let out a screaming whinny as she saw where Melanie was taking her. "Oh come on you big baby. You have raced many times, it is time to get over it." Gone Wild tried to veer to the side in disobedience. Melanie tasted blood on her lip from biting down so hard. She narrowed her eyes and tried to concentrate even harder. This filly was definitely a stubborn one.
Gone Wild was still new at the Akita Rose Stables barn. She comes from one of their old sires but has never raced under ARS colors yet. She was a feisty dark bay three year old filly with a lot of talent. If only she would put all her energy into racing instead of wasting it all on the starting gates. Melanie usually welcomed a challenging horse but today's workout was just going no where.
Despite the filly's issues with the metal contraption she had run well last year and had much potential, her first race as a three year old was this weekend but first Charlie wanted to see how Alana can handle the gate. She was failing miserably today. Melanie sighed. She NEEDED to do this, if Alana knew she can get away with this type of behavior it would ruin all her training. She just needed to get inside the filly's head and really get a feel for her.
Maybe she should try sweet talking... Melanie rolled her eyes. She wasn't Kirsten for goodness sake. Still the small idea nudged her conscious. Ah whatever. Melanie leaned over and started to smooth talk the filly. Alana shook her mane and flipped her ears forward. Nope, she wasn't buying it. So be it. They can't say she hadn't tried.
They were closing in on the gate. Come on, come on. Gone Wild stopped and reared straight up in the air. Melanie hung on with her life. They barely touched the ground before she was up in the air again. "Easy does it." She wasn't going to get thrown that easily. Suddenly, Alana dropped to the ground and shot into the gate. Melanie heard the worker close the door behind them.
Alana shifted from hoof to hoof, impatient and already worked up in a sweat. "Okay Melanie I'm going to open the back. Back her up and do it one more time. We need to end on a better note. Don't let her get away with her behavior. We'll do this until she goes in calmly." Melanie heard the voice of their head trainer behind her. Yeah, fat chance of Alana ever going into the gate calmly but whatever floats his boat. She will do what it takes to get the filly in top form for the season.