Please Don't Wake Up..

[Emily Ward]

‘Please don’t wake up, please don’t wake up..’ thats all Emily was chanting in her head the whole drive to Pinewood stables. She glanced in her rear view mirror at her triplets sleeping in their car seats. Abby, her 5 yr old was staring out the window in the the dark, misty morning. Okay, so taking four children to your first day a work wasn’t ideal, but you have to do what you have to do.. ‘Yes, you do..’ though Emily absently as she slowly turned into Pinewoods main driveway, then right down a smaller lane which, according to Mr. Lovasz was the way to the racing shedrows. As long as the triplets didn’t wake up things would be fine, and Abby would be in the van reading her book to watch them. Yeah, alright, a 5 year old baby-sitting three two year olds, again not ideal, but Abby wasn’t your average 5 year old either.. She saw one barn with lights on and figured that’s where the race horses must be. She parked her van close to the barn and took a deep breath. She was nervous..

“Ok Abs, I’ll be as quick as I can” she said as she turned around to face her daughter. “I’m sure they won’t wake up, so don’t worry ok?” She leaned back and kissed Abigails pale, freckled skin and smiled. “I love you.” The little girl nodded “I love you too, Mommy. Good luck.” Emily grinned, she was lucky to have such a beautiful, smart and wonderful daughter. “Thanks sweetheart” She said with a wink as she quietly slipped out of the mini van and into the cold foggy spring morning. There was something in the air at 4:30 in the morning, thought Emily as she took in a deep breath of damp air, something refreshing, cleansing.. Emily’s boots clicked on the cobblestones as she walked up to the half-open door to the barn. She peeked her head inside and saw six of horses staring back at her. She smiled softly and stepped inside. One young colt stretched out his neck to brush against Emily’s cheek with his velvety muzzle. She stroked his face softly and inhaled the smell of horses deeply.

The colt pulled on the collar of her coat playfully and she whispered “Oie, you!” giggling at his antics. She gave each horse a pat and realized from the way they were looking at her that they were waiting for their breakfast. The spunky colts nickered at her as if to say “Hey, were starvin’ over here!” and when Emily heard rustling in a room at the end of the hall, she knew that her new boss must be preparing the horses’ feed. She walked past all the stomping hooves and the tossing heads to the little room on the right at the end of the shedrow. She peeked her head around the door frame and saw a man scooping oats into various buckets. He looked young, about her age actually, but younger than she had expected. Most horse trainers were old. And he was definitely jockey sized. When the man looked up from his work she offered him a friendly smile “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said, her accent noticable, but barely. “I’m Emily Ward, it’s very nice to meet you.”

[Anthony Lovasz]

I'm sorry, Mr. Lovasz, we've decided to go another route, we feel that our horse will run better with a rider he knows. We will keep your in mind if we have an opening. He couldn't say how many times he had heard that in the past two years. Most of the time, they actually hired a rider that had never ridden the horse before and just hoped that he wouldn't find out... which, of course he always did since he was an avid follower of all things horse racing. It was frustrating, to say the least, but not something he couldn't handle. He was well aware of the roller coaster ride of a jockey's career and success, but after two years and meeting nothing but opposition, he knew that he had to make his own luck somehow... it just so happened that his own luck would come in the form of an old friend who he hadn't seen in a number of years who just happened to need someone to train his racehorses... and just happened to think of him first. This was one of those "make it or break it" moments. He could keep trying to get rides and follow the race meets around the country, or he could go back to Pinewood and start working as a trainer. He chose the latter.

He hadn't been in Pinewood for long before he just had to tell Sebastian that he simply could not ride his horses. It had absolutely nothing to do with his skill or the horses being unridable... just that, for Anthony, a horse that wasn't going to try to kill you, wasn't the kind of horse he would excel on, and if they wanted their horses to excel in the racing world, they needed someone who was a better match for a more "complacent" horse, which meant hiring on an exercise rider. Fortunately for Anthony, Sebastian and Chey knew him well enough to know that they knew better than to not take his advice. Anthony was just about always right... when it came to everything.

It didn't take long before they got a response to the ad, and not long before the day was set for the new rider to arrive. When she readily agreed to meet him at 4:30 in the morning, Anthony had a feeling he was going to like her. Most new exercise riders coming to a new program would try to negotiate the time and plead with a trainer for it to be a little later since they had the track pretty much to themselves, but if there was one person who was set in his ways, it was Anthony. Mr. Fently, the trainer who had brought the 16 year old Anthony to the States and trained him to really ride, had always insisted on 4:30 am. If you came at 4:30, you were already late. If you came at 4:31 you were fired. That was so drilled into his head that he could not, under any circumstances, sleep in past 3:45, even if he tried to. Since Emily had jumped at the chance for the job and not asked for a minute later in the day... Anthony decided she was the one... after a 5 minute phone call. He hated phones.

When the time came, he was in the grain room meticulously measuring each horse's grain to perfection. He was just finishing when he heard her voice and looked up to see a young redheaded woman standing there. He was about to respond, but a shockingly loud bay erupted as a spectacularly large bloodhound leaped up from his spot wedged in between two grain bins where he always sat while Anthony got the grain ready (yes, he was a bit of an odd dog), causing the man to cringe just slightly at the sudden sound. Algunos de vigilancia que se. Anthony muttered to the dog before turning to her with his ever present grin. Likewise, he said to her, his own accent noticeable... so much so that a lot of people forgot to actually listen to what he said they were so surprised by the heavy Spanish accent from such an American looking man, I'm Anthony, though you probably already knew that. he added, offering her his hand, grabbing onto the collar of the large dog with his other hand without breaking eye contact with her. The dog out-weighed him by about 15 pounds, but despite straining against his collar in an attempt to drag his disgustingly slimy tongue over the stranger, made no progress in advancing forward. Sorry about him, he also added after a moment, He's more pest than dog... about as harmless as one too. Everyone in Pinewood knew Cowboy. The lumbering mammoth of a dog went everywhere Anthony did with very few exceptions, and could be seen any number of places throughout any given day. They were quite the pair, the two of them, but they certainly fit into the Pinewood scene perfectly, like this was where they were meant to be.

[Emily Ward]

Emily was used to being up early. In fact she was used to being up late too. She was just plain used to not getting very much sleep. With working full time and having four children who had time to sleep? Being completely and utterly exhausted didn't cause her to be grouchy or look even a bit as tired as she really was though. She smiled brightly as Anthony turned to face her. She hadn't seen the large dog sitting beside his master and though she wasn't afraid of dogs she did jump a little as he leaped forward and let out a rather silly sounding howl. It only took her a moment to realize the dog wasn't the slightest bit mean. She had just startled him. She smiled and offered her hand to the bloodhound "Sorry boy, didn't mean to spook you" she said with a grin. She then offered her hand to Anthony. "Pleasure to meet you Anthony. He's no problem." She said patting the dog gently. "My father used to raise bloodhounds back in England. I love dogs." She couldn't help but giggle at the dogs face. Bloodhounds had the silliest looks to them. All long ears and puppy dog eyes, and floppy, drooly jowls. She dog licked her hand and she laughed outright then as she wiped the drool on her breeches. "Though they can make a mess can't they?" She said cheerfully as she began to help clear up the buckets the dog had knocked over.

Once they had all the grain sorted out, Emily helped Anthony carry the buckets out to the now hysterical horses. They were 10 minutes late for their breakfast, and they were letting the two humans know just how they felt about that. The little black colt let out a squeal and a kicked the wall. The crash of shoes on the barn wall echoed around them. Emily shook her head, what a silly horse he was. She guess he was probably a two year old, though he could have been three. She quickly glanced out the barn doors to her mini-van. She knew the girls were alright in there. Abby was there and so was Nana, the family's St. Bernard. Yes, she was indeed named after "Nana" from Peter Pan, Abby's favorite movie at the time that they rescued the loving 200 lb dog. Emily looked around at all the horses, she was so excited to ride. At one point in her childhood her dream was to become a jockey. She was almost small enough at only 5'3" and only 115 lbs. And she loved the rush of cutting through the wind at what feels like the speed of light atop 1200 lbs of pure muscle and speed. Racing was very big in England where she grew up and she can remember many a weekend going out to watch the races. She turned to Anthony and gestured to the buckets. "Which one goes where?" she asked, referring to the horses. "We better get some oats in these guys before they tear the barn down" she chuckled.

[Anthony Lovasz]

Anthony was liking her already. She showed up on time, she wasn't bothered by the excessive amounts of drool or the obnoxious baying from Cowboy, and she went right to work as if she'd been doing this job for months and didn't need any direction on what to do or where to start... which was good, because despite having been hired to work as the head trainer, Anthony wasn't exactly your "born leader" type. He was more the independent sort. He knew what needed doing and he would typically just go about it himself. He had always figured things got done more quickly when he just did them himself, that way he knew they were done and done right. Of course, he never had any objection to people helping out, he just preferred it when they didn't need him to help them help him. She, apparently, could jump right in head first without needing assistance.

They're all numbered by stall, He responded to her question. Keep an eye on the chestnut in 4, he'll bite you if you aren't careful, and the other chestnut in 5 is blind in his left eye so make sure he knows you're coming before getting too close on that side. Other than that, they're mostly not that bad. Of course, Anthony saying a horse wasn't that bad could often mean that the horse was an uncontrollable devil that only wanted to hurt people really badly instead of killing them. To him, the crazier the horse, the bigger the challenge, and the better the thrill. That was why she had this job... Anthony was too bored with Sebastian's horses. It was a good thing he had Shock and Chase to give him hell, otherwise he probably would have gone crazy on the very first day. Not that Sebastian's horses weren't nice... they were exceedingly nice, a bit high strung like most racehorses... they just weren't problem animals.

Feeding didn't take long, and by the time they were finished giving the last horses their feed, the first horses were already finishing theirs. You would think that they were never fed the way they practically inhaled their grain. The first to finish was Shock, the pushy gray who had found his way into Anthony's hands by deliberately running into other horses while on the track no matter how hard his rider tried to keep him straight. He figured before doing anything more he should probably introduce her to each animal to make sure she was aware of each one's personality quirks, just to be safe. Most of these guys won't give you a problem, he said, Storm is the only filly. he said, stopping outside of the rose gray mare's stall. She's mostly good, but she's a mare and can throw a pretty good fit when she's in a mood. Charmer there in the second stall is an all around easy going guy, he was gelded early so he doesn't have any stud traits.

As they moved down the aisle, Charmer looked up from his food, looking for attention more than likely. He was one of the only ones willing to stop eating for a moment to greet the people. We call this guy Beggers, and he can be a real pain sometimes, but he's not nasty by any means, just a handful, likes to buck... a lot. He can be a bit spooky on the ground, but he tends to be good about not running you over... most of the time. He'll unlatch his stall if you don't put the lock on it, and he'll get himself out in about three seconds, so you really can't turn your back on him if it's not locked. The big black colt was really the only one of the three horses owned by Pinewood that Anthony could have seen himself having any success with riding... but he knew that he could get bored on Beggers fairly easily as well. Sebastian liked horses with good personalities, and for good reason... if Anthony was just handling the horses on the ground he would want them to have good personalities... but when he was the rider, he usually wanted something that would put up a good fight.

Chase is definitely not friendly, he said, deliberately moving away from the stall as he moved to stand in front of it. We keep his door closed to keep him from killing people who come through here, he added in explanation as to why the bars of the top door on his were up while all the other horses' were down. Inside the stall, Chase stood in the middle with his ears pinned, just looking like he would lunge at them any second. He's made it his life goal to take a chunk out of anyone he can reach. We put King next to him because he doesn't get along with Shock. The two of them just don't care for one another.. He moved over to King's stall, the chestnut reaching out over the stall door as far as he could. Like I said before, King is blind on the left side, but as long as you talk to him and he makes the first physical contact he's fine. He's retired now and usually wanders around the barn loose while the other horses are being worked. The half bald faced horse was just begging for attention. He was more lover than anything else, possibly one of the best natured horses on the property.

Last but not least is Shock. He doesn't get along with any of the other horses and we have to do our best to keep him away from all of them. He's got a nasty tendency of deliberately running people over, and he fouls the other horses in his races no matter what his rider does, so he is restricted to working alone for the time being. He's not all that bad, but I'd watch out for him too. Shock was a fairly decent horse, if he didn't have a fetish for running anything and everything over. Some had suggested that he would make a good jumping horse... but Anthony knew better... He would just crash through anything anyone put in front of him. Like I said, most of them aren't bad, but the only ones I would really turn my back on for more than a split second are Charmer and King, the others are a little less predictable. He was sure she already knew that racehorses could always be a handful, a few of these ones more so than the others. He had a love-hate relationship with them, and he was fairly sure they felt the same way about him.

[Emily Ward]

This was Emily's favorite part. She loved meeting the horses. Learning their names and personalities. She stepped from stall to stall beside Anthony. The stalls were large, at least 12 by 12, Emily guessed. Each stall had a run out paddock, which was nice, thought Emily. She had been to many racing barns where the horses never went outside except to train. It seemed cruel to her, to keep such beautiful animals that were so obviously meant to move inside 23 hours a day. All the stalls were bedded deep with fresh shavings. She inhaled deeply, the scent of pine filling her. Was there a better sight than a beautiful horse laying on a deep bed of shavings? As Anthony introduced her to the first horse, Storm, she read the brass name plate on her stall door 'PW Perfect Storm' the mare was a beautiful rose gray. She was slender with long legs and she was one of the tallest horses in the barn, towering above Emily's 5'4" frame. She's beautiful Emily stated. She was introduced to Charmer, and as he stuck his pretty little bay head over the stall to say hello she knew instantly they would get along great. She nearly giggled when she read his name plate: 'PW Charmed I'm Sure' because she really was.

Next up was the black colt she met on her way in. He was just finishing his grain and was obnoxiously striking his feed tub with a front hoof. Emily grinned Yes, we've met she said eyeing Beggers' nameplate 'PW DontMakeMeBeg' She liked that name. Emily wasn't the least bit surprised with Anthony's description of Beggers. She had him just about figured out on their first meeting. She made a mental note about the lock on his door as they moved on to the next stall. The next horse was one of the meanest looking horses Emily had ever seen. She was secretly hoping that 'Straightnochaser' wasn't a horse she would have to work with on a regular basis. She wasn't scared of horses, but she wasn't suicidal either..

When she was introduced to 'King's Last Stand' she knew he was her kind of horse. Gentle and kind and beautiful. She stroked his white face softly. He is lovely.. she said, half to Anthony, half to herself as she gazed into the horses good eye. King had kind eyes. She let him blow his hot breath into her frozen fingers as she silently bid him goodbye. As they came to the last horse and Anthony gave her the description, Emily was beginning to realize something.. As she looked over 'Starshocked's muscular gray body she gave Anthony a quizzical look. It seems like you have a thing for misfits Emily said with a grin. Did you rescue all three of them? She asked, referring to Anthony's three horses. She glanced out the doors to the track. The light was just starting to show over the horizon. Surely it was time to start work, wasn't it?

[Anthony Lovasz]

All of Anthony's racing career, people had told him he was crazy... Sebastian and Charlie had been at the front of the line to remind him every time he got himself hurt. When he had first come to work for Mr. Fently, he had been here at Pinewood. Sebastian was about 5 years older than him, and Charlie was 3 years older than him, but for whatever reason, they just sort of adopted him into their group. Admittedly, it was probably because he didn't drink and they knew that when they got wasted or arrested he would come bail them out or drive them home. He couldn't count the number of times they had called him in the middle of the night. Most of the time they didn't remember calling him. He was the responsible one... even though he was years younger than both of them. That was the way it always worked... they called him crazy... and he bailed them out of jail.

When he took on all three of these horses, people had again told him he was crazy. With King, it was because of the blindness. There were plenty of horses that were successful racers, but since King had gone blind, he had failed at racing. No one thought he would be able to come back from it. He ha proved them wrong. There was no telling what would happen with the other two. I guess you could say that. He said, really in response to both the comment and the question. I've been at this for 10 years already, and I get a little bored with a normal horse. I prefer a challenge... Of course, that's probably why I'm back here instead of at the race meets riding horses. He said it with a smile, clearly not terribly bothered by that fact. As long as he was riding he was happy.

Anyway, He continued, I keep a chart for each horse on the clip board on their stall, He motioned to the one on Shock's door, Basically just to keep track of everything... whether they eat all their food, if they're drinking enough water, any abnormalities you feel during the work, their times, how quickly they cool out... anything that you can think of that might be of note. I'll generally do most of it, but if you have time please feel free to add any remarks of your own. Back down at the other end, Storm was watching them intently, waiting to go out. He always worked her first then continued down the aisle doing them in order... with the exception of King who he typically saved for last, just because he was the least likely to get hurt on King, so when he was exhausted and hurting by the time he'd worked all the other horses, he could count on an easy relaxing ride at the end.

If you're ready we can get started with Storm. He said, looking back towards the mare. He figured it worked out well to ease her into it with Storm and Charmer then get to Beggers. She wouldn't have to worry about Shock or Chase. He had a bone to pick with Chase, and he didn't want her to be killed by him or run over by Shock, so he would be handling those two. King... well, he was sort of an exception to everything. If she wanted to ride him, she was more than welcome to... anytime and whenever she wanted to. If the horse went out more than once in a day, he was more than happy. He was so easy going, and just loved to run. It was really not necessary that he get worked, but Anthony still took him out every day. Some people would say that there was no such thing as a relaxing ride on a racehorse, but to Anthony, there was nothing more relaxing than a big powerful horse that would do whatever he was asked to do without throwing a fit.

[Emily Ward]

Emily listened carefully and took mental notes of all the instructions Anthony was giving her. She smiled at him and nodded enthusiastically. Truth was, Emily was actually really excited to be working here. After a string of crappy jobs, hours and bosses, she finally found work doing something that she loved. And she really liked Anthony. He was friendly and easy-going and actually quite handsome. His modesty was very refreshing for Emily, who was so used to cocky "macho-man" guys. What struck her most about Anthony, was how he actually cared about and generally liked his horses. This was so different from what she was expecting. Many race horse trainers are in it for the money and don't have any compassion for horses at all. Emily picked up Shock's clipboard and studied the scribbles written in blue ink. Most of it mad sense to her, but she had to admit, she didn't have a whole lot of experience with the actual training of a race horse. She'd exercise ridden lots, because of her small size and good riding ability. But as for how fast to go she was at a loss..

She looked up at Anthony I don't have a whole lot of experience with going actual training miles.. I'm more of an exercise rider-slash-stall mucker she said with a grin But I'd be happy to learn she told him brightly. She wanted to be completely honest with Anthony.. Well, she thought, glancing back to the car, almost completely honest. It wasn't really lying, she hadn't mentioned her kids. In fact, she'd almost forgot about them. No, not forgot about them. It's just.. The last time she'd been alone with some one she actually liked was forever ago. She hadn't had a moment away from her girls in ages.. Not that she wanted to be. It was just a nice break. She dreaded the day she'd have to tell Anthony about them. Some people felt sorry for her, some people were put off by it. But most, especially any one remotely interested in Emily in that way, were never heard from again. Yes, Emily had pretty much come to terms with the fact that at the age of 26, she was looking at a life alone.

When Anthony suggested she get to work with Storm, she couldn't help but smile in anticipation. The last time she'd been able to work with horses other than her own, Dahlia, had been ages. Emily gathered her strawberry locks into a low pony-tail and strode towards the gray mare's stall. She grabbed the leather halter with Storm's name on it and slipped it gently over the tall filly's ears. The mare snorted as Emily lead her from her stall. Four shoes clip-clopped down the concrete aisle to the cross-tie area. Once she had the mare settled in the ties, Emily grabbed the wheelbarrow and picked out her stall. She could tell when a stall was done twice daily and this one definitely was. It only took her about five minutes before she was back at Storms side. She brushed the mare's roan coat until it shone brilliantly. She combed through her short mane and thick tail. After picking out her feet Emily reached for the saddle Anthony had set out for her. She giggled at it's lightness. Good thing Emily liked riding bareback because there wouldn't be much between her seat and the massive silver mare out on the track.

[Anthony Lovasz]

While Emily got the horse out and cleaned the stall, Anthony set about gathering up Storm's tack, meticulously checking every buckle and strap for any signs of wear and tear. He had been the victim more than once while still in Mexico of broken reins, girths, and leathers. It was a dangerous enough job, riding racehorses in tiny postage stamp sized saddles with very little aid should you lose your balance, so to have worn out tack... that was just ridiculous. Anthony was well known for his insanity when it came to riding crazy horses, but even he wouldn't get on a horse with less than perfect tack. Granted, when he had been much younger he didn't really care... simply because he didn't know any better... but now that he had been in enough accidents to wisen him up a bit, he was a stickler for tack inspection. He had, of course, checked over all of this after the last ride on Storm, but you never knew when a mouse might get into the tack room and chew through a rein or a billet or something.

Although he still had yet to see her ride, Anthony was already just so impressed with Emily that he had a feeling that even if she looked terrible out there and had no idea what she was doing... he would be more than willing to train her at the same time as training the horse... and that was saying a lot. As kind and patient as Anthony was, he rarely had any tolerance for people who didn't know what they were doing on a horse... usually because if they didn't know what they were doing on a horse they didn't really have much horse sense at all. Emily, he could tell, was different. She did things without having to ask about them. He had said nothing about cleaning stalls... she just did it. He hadn't asked her to help with the feeding, she just jumped right in. She was the kind of person that Anthony found so easy to get along with.

After getting that tack all out for her, he turned King loose, and went out to the track with her. Storm was good, as usual, and didn't have too much of a hissy fit... Charmer was off his time, but with a new rider, Anthony didn't expect them to know each other perfectly yet... Beggar was... well, Beggar. He worked King alongside Beggar, just to start giving the two-year-old a taste of working with another horse. He would deal with his other two nasty little buggers later this evening. He preferred to work them later in the day when fewer people were about to give the horses fewer reasons to act up. He was all for bomb proofing his horses to the things that went on around them... but right now, he needed to work on other things. Once he got Shock and Chase's heads in the right place, then he would work on those other things.

When they came back up to the barn with King and Beggar and started getting the two untacked, he glanced over at Emily. Still planning on sticking around after that one? he asked with a grin. Beggar had certainly been the worst of the three, but he had honestly been pretty good. If the job wasn't what she had wanted, he figured he might as well give her a chance to get out now... though from what he had seen of her already, he had a feeling that she would probably be sticking around. He also had a feeling that the two of them would probably end up being great friends... after all, anyone crazy enough to work for him had to be someone he would get along with.

[Emily Ward]

Emily hadn't had so much fun in god knows when. The thrill of watching the ground be eaten up under her horse's feet. The cool spring air whipping at her cheeks until they stung bright red. And the sheer power of the animal beneath her. It was all like a dream. A ridiculously amazing dream. Emily's favorite ride was actually Begger. Not because of the young horse's antics (although they did make it challenging.) It was because her and Anthony rode together. It was really exciting and fun and she just couldn't put into words how she felt. Emily lead the spunky black colt into the barn and couldn't help the wide grin on her face. She clipped Begger to the cross-ties and patted his sweat-moistened neck. Good boy she cooed to the colt as she slipped his bridle carefully over his ears. She'd learned the hard way that Begger was ear shy when she put the leather bridle on the first time and he reared, straining at the cross ties. She was much more careful removing the headstall and Begger behaved much better. Pawing at the ground in approval.

When Anthony asked his question she poked her red head around Begger's shoulder to look at him. Her ponytail was frizzy and off to one side from her helmet and her cheeks were red as roses. But her eyes were lit with excitment and he smile was a mile wide. Are you crazy? That was amazing! she exclaimed. Emily set to work on the girth of Beggers tiny saddle That was, hands down, the most fun I've had in ages she said to Anthony, her back turned to him. Her shirt was half untucked and her breeches had a big stain on her behind from Charmer wiping his foamy lips on them. Yeah, Em looked a bit of a mess. But if you ask me she looked beautiful. She was in her element now. Once untacked, Emily brought Begger to the wash stall and clipped his halter to the chains there. She turned the tap on nice and warm and began to wash away the sweat and dirt from Beggers jet black coat.

Who's a pretty boy? she cooed to him as she finished squeegeeing the water from his now gleaming barrel. Emily lead Begger back to his stall and giggled as the first thing he did was roll in his soft white shavings. Emily fetched him a flake of hay and tossed it into his feeder. She turned to Anthony Thank you so much, this has been wonderful. She bit her lip slightly as she realized she may not have passed his test Are you sure I'm the person you want for the job then? she asked, her accent prevalent. She was waiting in anticipation for his answer when she saw them.. Four little girls at the barn door. Her face was a mixture of worry and horror. Worry about what was wrong with her daughters, and horror that Anthony had found out she had four daughters, and that she brought them with her to work.

Abigail, her five year old looked embarrassed. She held the hand of Paisley, looking rather peeved, a cute little pout on the toddlers face. And with Abby's other hand she held Olivia's, who was sniffling, tears running down her freckled face. Hazel, the shy one, was hiding behind her big sister, poking her head round to have a peek into the barn, before darting back behind Abby. Emily covered her mouth. What happened? She asked, wincing. Mama! Olivia cried out and ran towards her mother. Emily instictively scooped her up into her arms and held the sobbing girl against her shoulder protectively. Abby looked utterly ashamed as she announced Paisley bit her.. Paisley struggled against her big sisters hold on her arm Did not! Emily closed her eyes and took a big breath Did too! Olivia shrieked from over her mom's shoulder. Enough! Emily cried. I'm very sorry Anthony She said softly. I understand if you've changed your mind she said as calmly as possible. Emily turned to leave, another job prospect down the drain. And maybe a relationship prospect too..

[Anthony Lovasz]

Was Anthony crazy? Well... yes, yes he was. You could ask anyone if he was and they would all agree that he most certainly was. He was crazy enough to be riding nasty barely trained horses when he was 14 years old. He was crazy enough to ride racehorses at all. He was crazy enough to keep riding despite some serious injury and pain. He was crazy enough to think that he could retrain those two psychotic horses in the end stalls. He was crazy enough to hire a girl after a 5 minute phone call and trust her to take care of the horses he trained out on the track. Was he crazy, yes? His question, however, was not crazy. This would have to become her life. At the track every morning insanely early, riding some very high strung horses. It was a high risk, and it paid well enough to pay the bills, but not much more than that.

Anthony just grinned and shook his head when she said it had been the most fun she'd had in ages. Anthony had been riding horses for 10 years, and he still never enjoyed himself more than when he was on the back of a thoroughbred stretched out to run full out. He was an adrenaline junkie. Maybe that was why he liked crazy horses so much. The crazier the horse, the higher the risk, and the higher the level of adrenaline. Granted, you would never get Anthony on a horse that was going to jump something. The guy would be more than happy to go 100 miles an hour around the track, but jumping anything... well that was a completely different story. He'd had his fair share of crashes through fences on crazy horses, and the last thing he wanted was to be galloping straight at a fence that was just begging to be crashed through.

He had just finished removing the remainder of the tack from King and was checking over his legs for the second time... a routine he stuck to more with King with his four white hooves... when she asked him if he was still sure that she was the one he wanted for the job. He was going to respond that he was even more certain now than he had been after their conversation over the phone that she was most definitely the one he wanted for the job... granted, he still had to make it all official with Sebastian, but the odds of Seb being up at this hour were pretty darn slim, so that would have to wait until later. But before he could tell her that, several tiny figures appeared in the doorway... and judging from Emily's reaction, those four tiny figures belonged to her.

He couldn't help but smile at the dialogue between the children. At the sound of the little voice's, King's head shot up, which to some would mean alarm, but Anthony knew better than to believe that. If there was one thing that horse liked more than running, it was children. For whatever reason, the large chestnut had a fascination with anything that was small. The smaller the person, the more he liked them, which, of course, meant that he adored kids. He tilted his head to one side so he could see them better with his good eye and nickered quietly, almost sounding like he had lost his voice. I haven't. Anthony said as she turned to leave, You are the one I want for this job. He added, watching her, hoping she wasn't going to just leave. He wasn't sure why she thought he would change his mind simply because she had kids. Besides, even if I had, this guy would probably kill me for sending away his chance of a miniature fan club.

The horse really really wanted to go greet the kids. He was normally very patient, but his enthusiasm for seeing children was growing quickly. He was bobbing his head excitedly and lifted one hoof to paw at the air, practically demanding that Anthony let him out of the cross-ties, or so help him he was going to bust out of them himself. Stop. Anthony muttered, looking back at the horse who immediately set his hoof back down and stood frozen for a brief moment, still staring wide eyed at the children, before letting out a deep throaty nicker and reaching out with his head towards the kids as far as the ties would allow. King had decided, this family was the one, and he didn't care what Anthony might have thought... so it was a good thing he agreed with the horse.