Azzy finally arrived home. They took a deep breath of the fresh country air. It was crisp, clean. Refreshing. Instantly Azzy ran inside to change from their grungy clothes to their comfy country clothes, swapping out the tight black begging, for a comfy pair of ripped blue jeans, the Green Day shirt for a plad button up shirt, and the chains and gloves for a cowboy hat. This was so much more comfortable. Azzy put on their muckboots and ran to the stables, where their three Clydesdales, Balance, Moonflower, and Shadow awaited. They smiled as they saw their big horses in perfect condition. Azzy grabbed three apples from the tree nearby and gave each horse one, saddling up Balance. Today they wanted to try and do Barrel Racing. They had heard that it was fun, and they did mostly fairs for Show in the summers. The same shows that they had first place trophies for in the stables. Most of them won with Balance or Moonflower. Moonflower was pregnant again, so they'd had to retire her. Shadow was their joy riding horse, but they mainly used him for little kids who wanted to try riding a big horse. And Balance was their main show horse. As Azzy saddled Balance they stroked her mane. "Balance, I'm gonna need you to pay really close attention to my body language today. This way neither one of us get hurt. And that would be bad for us both." Balance reared her head, as if she understood. Azzy swung up on the black and white horse. They nudged Balance's side and she trotted to the ring, where a barrel racing set up awaited the pair. Azzy took a deep breath, Barrel Racing was for a smaller horse, mainly a Through Bred. But Azzy didn't own one of those. Azzy leaned low to their horse and whispered in a thick, Irish accent. "We'll take this nice and slow ol girl." They said, nudging Balance back into a trot, Azzy and Balance navigated the course slow, so they could both get a feel for it. They repeated this for forty-five minutes before Azzy led Balance back to the starting position. "Ok girl. We're gonna take this fast now. We can do this. Just like taking on a show..." They whispered, seeming to try and convince themselves. Then, they thought of Rhys, who they knew would have been encouraging them. Hopefully. They took a breath and urged Balance into a gallop, taking off and navigating the course, Azzy straightened up and went along with the big black and white horses movements. They smiled as they completed the course without incident. "Good girl Balance... Good girl..." Azzy said, out of breath. Leading their big beauty back to the stables and cleaning her up. They were proud of their Clydesdale. "I'm very proud of you, Balance. you did amazing." Balance nudged Azzy and ate at the hat they'd supplied for a job well done.

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