Chapter 3. The Races.

Groyke was talking to Aisha while he unharnessed her, "you are doing very well Aisha, I’m proud of you. If you continue to make the progress that you have we will think about racing you in two or three weeks. I’m having a meeting with everybody including Leilah tonight, and I’m going to suggest we put you in the novice cup at the Chargon races, which are to be held in three weeks time. What do you think about that?" Aisha would have agreed that jumping into the mouth of a volcano was a good idea if Groyke had suggested it. She nodded her head and whinnied happily.

At the meeting both Groyke and Leilah expressed how pleased they were with Aisha and her ability to absorb and carry instructions. They told of how Aisha had been commanded to stand and had remained in the same place after being left for an hour. Leilah informed the meeting that Aisha had been deliberately placed in the paddock after a morning on the track in order to find out whether she would forget any of the instructions she had been given on the following day. She explained to the Council members that most new ponies take a while to retain the instructions they are given and giving them a break is designed to ascertain how retentive their memories are. Both she and Groyke were of the opinion that Aisha is of high intelligence. After a lengthy discussion it was agreed that provided Aisha came up to expectations in her training she would be entered in the novice cup at Chargon.

Over the following few days Aisha was put rigorously through her paces and came through with flying colours. It was with both pride and pleasure that they noticed that Aisha remembered all her instructions without needing any reminders. She turned out to be the best that either Groyke or Leilah had ever trained. They even put her into mock races with other ponies and she won each race convincingly. Her entry into her first public race was confirmed.

* * *

On the day of the race Ligren stables had four ponies running in various events, so Aisha along with the other three ponies were loaded into a horsebox and taken to the racetrack. The journey wasn’t a long one as the track was only some 30 miles from the stables. The ponies were taken straight in to the stable complex, placed in stalls and allowed to settle down. Groyke stayed with Aisha, talking to her and telling her that there was nothing to be afraid of. Aisha was a little agitated but Groyke put that down to the pre-race nerves that ponies and drivers get occasionally. He went off to find Leilah and discuss Leilah’s tactics for the race, which was being run over five furlongs.

It was traditional for the ponies to be paraded for the race goers at least 15 minutes before the start of a race. Groyke, who had been so careful to see that Aisha was spared any undue fright while she was being trained, was completely unprepared for what happened when he brought Aisha into the parade ring. The crowd was so eager to see this new pony, who it was rumoured was going to save the species, that they rushed to the barrier and spooked Aisha. She promptly bolted. Aisha ran blindly. She had no idea where she was going but she had to get away from the crowd. It was lucky that Leilah had been talking to another driver further down the track and admiring his mount when she heard the commotion and saw Aisha hurtling towards her. She realised that she couldn’t just step out in front of Aisha, as she could cause her some injury. So she used her colleague’s mount to get alongside and, like some gladiatorial rider in olden days, with one leg in each sulky, grabbed Aisha’s reins and gradually pulled her to a halt.

Aisha was promptly taken back to the stall and examined by the course vet. She was shaking and clearly distressed but not physically hurt. Groyke was beside himself with rage at his own incompetence but calmed down when he saw the she wasn’t hurt, just shaken. The vet said that she just need a little time to settle and that he would suggest, in view of the importance of the situation, that the race be put back for half-an-hour and that he would ask that the public be told to give Aisha room and not crowd her.

The next time that Aisha went into the parade ring Groyke had tight hold of her reins; she had been fitted with blinkers and Leilah was with them, both were talking to her and keeping her as calm as possible. This time also, the crowd was kept well back from the barriers. Aisha was walked round the ring a couple of times and then it was time to go to the start. There were six runners in the race and Aisha was drawn four, which meant that she was towards the outside of the track. Leilah watched Aisha keenly while waiting for the start, she saw that the pony was reasonably still, just a few twitches of her flanks. That was alright, just so long as there wasn’t any shuddering or shaking.

As she stood waiting for the start of the race Aisha was thinking that she had been foolish bolting like that, it was partly the fact that she wasn’t used to being naked in front of lots of people and partly the thought that she was going to be trampled on. She realised that Groyke would not put her in a situation where she would get hurt. The blinkers were helping as she could only see directly in front of her and not all the crowd. There was a lot of noise. But that didn’t cause her any problems, as part of her training had included lots of noise.

There was a hush round the course as the starter raised his flag and they were off. Leilah settled Aisha into a steady pace and at the end of the first furlong they were in third place. The pace was quite brisk but Leilah knew that her mount could handle it. She kept Aisha in the same position for another two furlongs and then with a flick of the whip asked her for more speed. She responded effortlessly and they moved into second place. With two more furlongs to go Leilah could feel that Aisha was in no trouble, her rhythm was steady her shoulders were not moving from side to side and she could tell that her breathing was even. They came into the final furlong and with a flick of the whip Leilah asked for the final effort. Aisha just upped the pace and flew into first place leaving her opponent standing. They won by two lengths.

Leilah jumped from the sulky and holding tight to the reins led Aisha into the winner’s enclosure, patting her on the neck and telling her she was a good girl. In the winner’s enclosure Madam Ligren and Mistress Vargan were waiting to greet them, both loud with their praise of Aisha and Leilah. As they left the enclosure several people came up and stroked and fondled Aisha, who by now was coming to terms with the attention. Apparently, so Groyke told her, she had made a lot of money for the people who had backed her, hence all the petting and stroking.

* * *

In the other three races Dorca and another filly called Crano won their respective races but the last pony a stallion called Fenyek was pulled up lame. It turned out that one of his shoes had come away and was only being held on by one nail. His groom received a strong reprimand for failing to notice the fault. All in all though, the day was a great success and the mood was one of happiness. The news regarding Aisha bolting and her subsequent win had preceded them and all the staff that were not actually on duty were there to greet them on their return in order to make sure Aisha was not hurt.

Groyke insisted that Aisha needed to be rested and that he would see to her needs before joining in the celebrations. Taking her into the stable yard he removed her harness and took her over to the cleansing section. Checking that the water was warm, he proceeded to rub the lather over her body, making sure that every part of her was covered. Aisha shivered with expectancy and when he reached her breasts a long deep neigh escaped from her. Groyke moved very slowly down her body, spending time soaping her navel before moving on down to her most intimate parts.

All the time this was happening Aisha was in ecstasy. She had had orgasms before, the times on earth when a boy would grope her in the back seat of the cinema or when in desperation she would do it for herself, but they were nothing compared to this! She had had three orgasms during the time Groyke had been lathering her and she still had the rinsing to come and if it was anything like the last time it happened she felt she would explode. It was not like last time it was ten times better. Groyke played the water over her breasts, into her navel, even into the cheeks of her rump, and allowed it to play on her anal bud. Each new sensation was ever more exquisite, until he moved round to her vagina and she experienced the final explosion - her juices flowed so strong that it was almost like a jet of liquid spurting from her. She was so exhausted from her multiple orgasms that Groyke wrapped her in a large towel and literally carried her back to the stall. He left her sleeping peacefully.

The celebrations were in full swing when Groyke arrived. Everyone was delighted with the progress that Aisha had made and he was greeted like a hero. He insisted that he could only work with the material he had been given; it was Aisha herself who was the hero, or heroine to be precise. She had been uprooted from her home and taken not only to a strange land but a strange planet, she had been turned from a human being into a Sharezeem equine and been introduced to situations outside of any that she had known before. That she had made the transition with so little trauma was mainly due to her resilience and her ability to meet whatever life’s challenges threw at her.

Aisha woke the following morning and it took a little while for her to remember where she was. Then with a smile and a few blushes she remembered everything; Groyke was so good to her. She stretched and stood up going to the door to look for him. She had been here nearly two months now and still she panicked if he was late. She must stop that. After all she may be given another groom or worse she could be sold and be sent to another stable. She had overheard some grooms talking about the horse sales that Madam Ligren attends when she is buying or selling some stock and she felt sick at the thought. What Aisha wasn’t aware of was that although Madam Ligren owned several horses of her own there were quite a number that she was training for other owners. Although she could buy and sell her own animals she couldn’t sell stock belonging to the other owners without their permission, and as Aisha was owned by the Council she couldn’t sell her.

She heard him whistling then. Around the corner he came and into the stalls. "Hello my bonny" he said "you can play all day today, you deserve it after yesterday, we are all very proud of you." Aisha swelled with pride at those words. She didn’t care about praise from the others; she did care really, but praise from her groom that was the best. She waited impatiently while Groyke harnessed her. Eventually he was finished and she trotted out to the paddock. The stallions were kept in another paddock. No matter - she liked to be with the rest of the fillies.

* * *

The following weeks she was kept very busy. It was decided that Aisha would be given one more race over five furlongs and then be entered for longer races, so this meant building her stamina. To begin with she was given logs to pull; she only had to walk with them in order to build her leg muscles. After that she was taken out on to the road and this entailed running up and down hills. She found that running down hill was as difficult, if not more so, as running up hill.

This training was broken by her last race at five furlongs. This time she didn’t panic when the crowd surged forward although Groyke had taken the precaution in having her blinkered. The race was a replica of her first, except that Leilah put her into the lead almost from the start and she won by a distance.

The training for longer distances continued but the log pulling and road running was interspersed with sprinting, and ended with some mock races over two miles. These she won easily. Aisha’s next race was over a mile and a quarter at Chargon. Although Aisha won the race it was not as easy as was expected. Leilah had her in a good position with two furlongs to go and her lead was increasing when out of the blue an outsider, Kronin, came up fast on the outside and Aisha only just managed to hold on to her lead by a hair. This was the only glitch in the proceedings, as her next four races were won convincingly, including a three-length revenge win over Kronin.