Embittered Competitor: Day 1

Word Count: 6,004

Summary of Events:
Chapter 1:
Steele did some morning training with his backup horse, gelding Prairie Soil, and enjoyed the spring morning while Terri arrived in Camorse — site of the first rodeo of the CPRA season — to visit Sprague and Marigold Hawes and their children for awhile before taking pictures at the first rodeo of the season.
Chapter 2:
Steele groomed his main horse, mare Riverbed Course, and then chatted with fellow competitors Guy L'Aubental and Tyler Arrison before they and Tyler's friends, bull riders Chad de War and Rawlinson Haring went out for Chinese food with Terri. Later Terri was taking pictures of the rodeo events and noticed a man watching the tie-down roping and surmised that he must be Spencer Grinnell, the American, who Tyler had told everyone about over dinner they both watched Steele lay down a 6.7 second run.

Excerpt of the Day:
"He nudged his gelding into a jog. Prairie's mane started to really bounce and flap a bit, not having enough momentum to stay up and flying like a flag. The strings on his hat tightened on his neck whenever they went down as they held his hat onto his head.
A thrill was beginning to build within him as they circled. There was nothing like it. To ride a horse fast, and a horse who wasn't being goaded to be fast either, was exhilarating.
Finally he leaned forward, that was all the cue his gelding needed to shoot forward at his full speed. It felt quite fast although it was only half the speed limit for vehicles on Highway two.
Prairie made one circle before shooting out the gate and circling the whole yard. Riverbed hurried over to the straight fence they'd be running alongside and ran alongside them for the whole two hundred feet of its length. She kept slightly ahead of Prairie, both because she was younger, and because she was actually slightly taller and longer legged — thus why she was his go-to horse — than Prairie.
He watched his mare as she pounded full bore toward the log fence; her hindquarters collected and she propelled herself over the fence to continue running alongside them. She'd done this before, and just like usual it caused that little twinge of fear. Sure she'd never met her father or any of the other wild stallions around, but he always had that little fear within himself that she would one day run away from him.
They turned at the edge of the yard, came around, crossed the driveway, and slowed to a jog for a ways, then a lope, before finally walking again. He walked Prairie back to the training ring and Riverbed stood by the perimeter and watch."