HOME | DD

Description

Yo, okay, that hiatus was not intentional but it was good for me. I needed a bit of a break.

But now, welcome to the new season! Season 11 is going to be a bit weird--at least for me. I've done monthly segments for so long, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of writing individual image posts. But each horse will have 1 image spanning the entire season. That way each pone gets their chance to shine!

Because I'm a bit rusty, I recycled some already-made lines and colored the line sketch. Don't judge me. *hides*

Onward to Season 11!

Previously:

"I am not a woman. I am an inferno, I am a tempest. I am venom and fangs and claws. I am lightning and starlight, and I am hell in high heels."
Season: 11
SNOWBIRD

Snowbird hit the ground with a solid, resounding bang at the start of her five-year-old season with a run in the Grade II Santa Monica S at Santa Anita Race Park. She took to the track just as ferociously as she ever had, pounding down the stretch in stunningly spectacular fashion to clear the field of nine by twelve astronomical lengths. It made jaws drop across the board.
She was in such fine form that Cyrus threw her into another race not a month later--the GII Barbara Fritchie--which she secularly dominated as well. It was like she was an unstoppable machine, stomping over whatever competition they threw at her.
Naturally, this made people turn to look at Kanelbulle with avid, hungry eyes. After all, if Snowbird was doing so well, surely her common defeater would be fairing even better.
That was not to be the case, however. Bulle seemed surprisingly tired after his win in the Breeder’s Cup Sprint last October. He was underweight and slow to get going when they worked him lightly in the mornings. After a month of this, Cyrus called it and sent Bulle home to Kentucky to rest until the summer meets.
“There’s no point in pushing him,” Cyrus told the racing press when they swarmed. “He’s proven himself time and time again. He deserves a break.”
And so the sprint division was left wide open to Snowbird who devoured race after race with ease. She was quite possibly in the best condition she had ever been in, and her race record was proving it. After the Barbara Fritchie, she took on the boys once more in the Grade III Count Fleet at Oaklawn. This field put up a bit more of a fight than the fillies, but Snowbird refused to give an inch. Under a harsh, thrilling ride with Dani in her saddle, Snowbird shoved her nose in front the win the six furlong race by half a head.
One would think that, with all these wins marking up her proverbial belt, Snowbird’s attitude would have improved. That was not the case, unfortunately. She was just as fussy and snappy as normal. On the tracks she was a dream, Dani claimed to anyone who would listen, but the minute the saddle came off? Chaos. It came to such a point where she wasn’t even able to use the hotwalker anymore, too prone to popping up with a buck or a rear. Her poor grooms were forced to walk her around the barn during each cooldown, resulting in quite a few bloody shoulders and ripped sleeves.
Cyrus wasn’t having it. The last time a filly gave them this much trouble, they employed the age-old tradition of bitch-slapping her back into place; not them, of course--no human could take Snowbird on--but Goose could.
Ky was a full-time exercise rider for BCC now but his palomino mare, Golden Goose, was always near, stabled alongside the thoroughbreds at whatever track the main string was housed at for the season. With Ky’s permission, Cyrus tossed Snowbird into a resting paddock with Goose on a warm late-Spring morning. The resulting squeals echoed across the shedrow, trumpets of anger and dismay that went on for what seemed like hours.
And then, silence.
The grooms, watching the spectacle with wide eyes, just scurried away when Cyrus approached with a cocked brow. Ky leaned casually against the paddock fence, chin in his hand and boot propped up on the wooden rail like nothing had ever been amiss to begin with.
“Well?” Cyrus asked. “How did it… go?” A stupid question, honestly. He had heard the commotion himself. Everyone within a five mile radius probably had.
But Ky just shot him a grin and shrugged. “Easy as pie,” the man replied with a drawl. He pointed to where Goose stood dozing in the sunshine in the middle of the paddock, then turned and gestured to Snowbird. The thoroughbred in question was sulking alongside the back fence, ears pinned to her skull and eyes glaring at the ground.
Goose, it seemed, had tamed another one.
***
Following their rather unconventional means of sorting Snowbird out, the young grey mare went right back to dominating the racing division. Her next victim was the Grade II True North in June, of which Kanelbulle was the reigning champion. Without the pale grey colt blocking her way left the victory wide open for her to claim with only a little bit of struggle. The Win-And-You’re-In GII Princess Rooney Handicap in July followed much the same pattern.
That, unfortunately, was where Snowbird’s good luck seemed to end.
A bruised foot from stepping wrong on a rock took her out of training for a surprisingly long time. It was a month and a half before she was deemed raceable again--the minor injury undoubtedly aggravated by her tendency to flail about when forced to endure stall rest.
The down time played havoc with her brain and not even Goose’s presence managed to calm her down. Her frustrations bled into her training, and then again into her next race. It was a simple stakes race, ungraded, near the end of September. The field was laughable at best, and yet still Snowbird came in a shocking sixth place. It was the worst she had ever placed in her career.
An allowance race in the middle of October showed similar behaviors and she flashed across the board in fourth. Still, she was a champion in her own right despite these losses, and she had an automatic in to the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Thus, BCC made its annual pilgrimage to the hallowed, ever-changing grounds of the Breeder’s Cup Championship and sent their young mare back into the frey.
It was a disappointment. Snowbird clearly hated the going. The field ran through slop and pelting rain; mud flew into Snowbird’s and Dani’s faces as they hunkered low to the earth. It was unclear whether Snowbird was blinded by the muck flying into her eyes or if she just stopped caring that day, but she never kicked into a faster gear when Dani asked her to at the turn for home. She placed seventh.
It would be the final race of her career. Just like her sister, Canaan, her championship status was marred by a disappointing conclusion. Still, Snowbird was welcomed home with open arms as she was added to the broodmare band. In this environment, she began to thrive once more, quickly making herself the lead mare of the band she was placed with. The other mares avoided her like the plague, much to her visible glee.
She was content.

Name: Snowbird
Barn name: n/a
Gender: Mare
Age: 5
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 17.1hh
Color: Liver chestnut sabino (will gray out), flaxen carrier
Genotype: ee/aa/Gg/nSb/Ff
Markings: 4 long socks, crooked blaze with chin cap
Build: Large and muscular, built more like a stallion than a filly.
Temperament: Vicious and hard-headed, Snowbird challenges everyone she comes across, person and horse alike. She takes no shit but is sure to give it in spades. She is quite possibly the exact opposite of her older sister. She is unpredictable and unruly and seems to be worsening with age.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Neverland x Abaddon , Azrael

Art, Characters, and Story (C) me

Next on:

Description

Yo, okay, that hiatus was not intentional but it was good for me. I needed a bit of a break.

But now, welcome to the new season! Season 11 is going to be a bit weird--at least for me. I've done monthly segments for so long, I still haven't quite gotten the hang of writing individual image posts. But each horse will have 1 image spanning the entire season. That way each pone gets their chance to shine!

Because I'm a bit rusty, I recycled some already-made lines and colored the line sketch. Don't judge me. *hides*

Onward to Season 11!

Previously:

"I am not a woman. I am an inferno, I am a tempest. I am venom and fangs and claws. I am lightning and starlight, and I am hell in high heels."
Season: 11
SNOWBIRD

Snowbird hit the ground with a solid, resounding bang at the start of her five-year-old season with a run in the Grade II Santa Monica S at Santa Anita Race Park. She took to the track just as ferociously as she ever had, pounding down the stretch in stunningly spectacular fashion to clear the field of nine by twelve astronomical lengths. It made jaws drop across the board.
She was in such fine form that Cyrus threw her into another race not a month later--the GII Barbara Fritchie--which she secularly dominated as well. It was like she was an unstoppable machine, stomping over whatever competition they threw at her.
Naturally, this made people turn to look at Kanelbulle with avid, hungry eyes. After all, if Snowbird was doing so well, surely her common defeater would be fairing even better.
That was not to be the case, however. Bulle seemed surprisingly tired after his win in the Breeder’s Cup Sprint last October. He was underweight and slow to get going when they worked him lightly in the mornings. After a month of this, Cyrus called it and sent Bulle home to Kentucky to rest until the summer meets.
“There’s no point in pushing him,” Cyrus told the racing press when they swarmed. “He’s proven himself time and time again. He deserves a break.”
And so the sprint division was left wide open to Snowbird who devoured race after race with ease. She was quite possibly in the best condition she had ever been in, and her race record was proving it. After the Barbara Fritchie, she took on the boys once more in the Grade III Count Fleet at Oaklawn. This field put up a bit more of a fight than the fillies, but Snowbird refused to give an inch. Under a harsh, thrilling ride with Dani in her saddle, Snowbird shoved her nose in front the win the six furlong race by half a head.
One would think that, with all these wins marking up her proverbial belt, Snowbird’s attitude would have improved. That was not the case, unfortunately. She was just as fussy and snappy as normal. On the tracks she was a dream, Dani claimed to anyone who would listen, but the minute the saddle came off? Chaos. It came to such a point where she wasn’t even able to use the hotwalker anymore, too prone to popping up with a buck or a rear. Her poor grooms were forced to walk her around the barn during each cooldown, resulting in quite a few bloody shoulders and ripped sleeves.
Cyrus wasn’t having it. The last time a filly gave them this much trouble, they employed the age-old tradition of bitch-slapping her back into place; not them, of course--no human could take Snowbird on--but Goose could.
Ky was a full-time exercise rider for BCC now but his palomino mare, Golden Goose, was always near, stabled alongside the thoroughbreds at whatever track the main string was housed at for the season. With Ky’s permission, Cyrus tossed Snowbird into a resting paddock with Goose on a warm late-Spring morning. The resulting squeals echoed across the shedrow, trumpets of anger and dismay that went on for what seemed like hours.
And then, silence.
The grooms, watching the spectacle with wide eyes, just scurried away when Cyrus approached with a cocked brow. Ky leaned casually against the paddock fence, chin in his hand and boot propped up on the wooden rail like nothing had ever been amiss to begin with.
“Well?” Cyrus asked. “How did it… go?” A stupid question, honestly. He had heard the commotion himself. Everyone within a five mile radius probably had.
But Ky just shot him a grin and shrugged. “Easy as pie,” the man replied with a drawl. He pointed to where Goose stood dozing in the sunshine in the middle of the paddock, then turned and gestured to Snowbird. The thoroughbred in question was sulking alongside the back fence, ears pinned to her skull and eyes glaring at the ground.
Goose, it seemed, had tamed another one.
***
Following their rather unconventional means of sorting Snowbird out, the young grey mare went right back to dominating the racing division. Her next victim was the Grade II True North in June, of which Kanelbulle was the reigning champion. Without the pale grey colt blocking her way left the victory wide open for her to claim with only a little bit of struggle. The Win-And-You’re-In GII Princess Rooney Handicap in July followed much the same pattern.
That, unfortunately, was where Snowbird’s good luck seemed to end.
A bruised foot from stepping wrong on a rock took her out of training for a surprisingly long time. It was a month and a half before she was deemed raceable again--the minor injury undoubtedly aggravated by her tendency to flail about when forced to endure stall rest.
The down time played havoc with her brain and not even Goose’s presence managed to calm her down. Her frustrations bled into her training, and then again into her next race. It was a simple stakes race, ungraded, near the end of September. The field was laughable at best, and yet still Snowbird came in a shocking sixth place. It was the worst she had ever placed in her career.
An allowance race in the middle of October showed similar behaviors and she flashed across the board in fourth. Still, she was a champion in her own right despite these losses, and she had an automatic in to the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Thus, BCC made its annual pilgrimage to the hallowed, ever-changing grounds of the Breeder’s Cup Championship and sent their young mare back into the frey.
It was a disappointment. Snowbird clearly hated the going. The field ran through slop and pelting rain; mud flew into Snowbird’s and Dani’s faces as they hunkered low to the earth. It was unclear whether Snowbird was blinded by the muck flying into her eyes or if she just stopped caring that day, but she never kicked into a faster gear when Dani asked her to at the turn for home. She placed seventh.
It would be the final race of her career. Just like her sister, Canaan, her championship status was marred by a disappointing conclusion. Still, Snowbird was welcomed home with open arms as she was added to the broodmare band. In this environment, she began to thrive once more, quickly making herself the lead mare of the band she was placed with. The other mares avoided her like the plague, much to her visible glee.
She was content.

Name: Snowbird
Barn name: n/a
Gender: Mare
Age: 5
Breed: Thoroughbred
Height: 17.1hh
Color: Liver chestnut sabino (will gray out), flaxen carrier
Genotype: ee/aa/Gg/nSb/Ff
Markings: 4 long socks, crooked blaze with chin cap
Build: Large and muscular, built more like a stallion than a filly.
Temperament: Vicious and hard-headed, Snowbird challenges everyone she comes across, person and horse alike. She takes no shit but is sure to give it in spades. She is quite possibly the exact opposite of her older sister. She is unpredictable and unruly and seems to be worsening with age.
Discipline: Flat racing
Bloodlines: Neverland x Abaddon , Azrael

Art, Characters, and Story (C) me

Next on: