Post by Morgan on Jan 18, 2010 21:08:44 GMT -5
A RAVENS SHADOW
The day was on the colder side, but winter was starting to thin out, allowing a bit of warm wind to drip in and keep the barn warm. The birds had gone a while ago, but a few still remained, as if to not believe summer could have gone. A light layer of snow still covered the farm, keeping everyone in a wintery mood. The track had been plowed and was ready to be run on, although it was still a bit slick. A few stable hands began to take the horses out to their paddocks. The two young yearlings were bucking and rearing, happy to be out and about. Morgan smiled as she watched them frolic along the edges of their pasture. She knew the two yearlings would definitely help Riverwood Acres in it's career. She turned her attention back to Raven, getting him ready for a small workout before bringing him back to racing.
Raven was a bit jumpy. A groom dropped a bucket by a few stalls as he fed them their breakfast. Raven immediatly ducked to the side, which wasn't like him at all. Morgan decided a quick and faster workout would calm him down, so she asked him to a trot towards the dirt track. The snow was hardly any different than rain, and proved to make the track indeed a bit slick. Morgan urged Raven onto a slower gallop. His feet slipped out beneath him a few times and he stumbled. Morgan slowed him down a bit to a faster trot to allow himself to regroup. Once ready she asked him again and he jumped forwards. He started to sprint full on, still slipping like crazy. Morgan held the reins tightly between her white fingers as she tried to slow him down. She did half halts, tugs, jerks, but nothing worked. "Whoa Raven boy, slow down Raven," she tried to say, but her words were carried away in the wind. She tried to turn his head to get him to do loops to slow down, but his head was stiff and he wouldn't stop. Morgan began to relax a bit, but knew this wasn't normal for Raven. She tried again to stop him, but it was no use.
Suddenly his back leg slipped too far back. His flank fell back as his other leg tripped over the first. Morgan leaned forwards to try and pull him up, keeping a tighter grip on the reins as she kept his head off the ground. But her efforts were in vain. Raven's rump hit the ground at 40 miles per hour. His front legs crumbled beneath him and Morgan went flying about ten feet in front. She landed in the softer poly track dirt, dirt flying in her mouth and swallowing her face. She froze for a second, face down in the dirt and moved her fingers, toes, arms, and legs to make sure nothing was hurt. She heard yelling and soon someone lifted her up carefully. "You okay?" Owen asked, his eyes full of worry. Morgan nodded, "Fine, just a little bruised. Raven?" she asked, fearing the worst, she turned around, but luckily found Raven standing on all fours, swishing his tail in annoyance as a groom pulled off his saddle and girth. "He's okay, Milo is calling the vet now, he should be here soon," Owen reassured. He helped Morgan up and walked her over to Raven. She rubbed his nose as he snorted. "I don't know what was wrong, he just freaked and went full speed ahead, I tried everything but nothing worked. Then he slipped and I went over," Morgan said sadly. She could only hope he was okay.
About a half hour later, the vet arrived. He checked Raven over, making sure nothing was wrong. Morgan stood rigid with fear in the stall with Owen. So far everything seemed fine, but it didn't seem that way with the doctor as he looked at Raven's front left foreleg. He stood up and petted Raven's dark neck. "Everything seems fine except for this leg," he said. He took x-rays later on and it was discovered Raven has a hairline fracture down his front leg. The vet said with time and patience, that Raven could possibly recover and continue racing. But Morgan and Owen both decided it would be safer for Raven to become retired. The vet agreed and then left, leaving them with medicine to care for his fracture.
Raven is now retired and lives in the Settled Down Meadows. He was the second injury in Riverwood Acres, and luckily both injuries ended with happy endings. Raven is offered for stud, but because he didn't get far in his racing career, being a stud won't be his true career. For now he'll be living the life in a 10 acres paddock of freedom.