Stallion's Release

Story by Amethyst Mare on SoFurry

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When his stallion is wound up before the biggest show of his career, there is only one thing Cai can do to calm his four-legged mount down...


Just a rough piece that I wrote up for inspiration and fun. If you want to see more like this - tell me! I can't write what you want without feedback on WHAT you want. So let a mare know! :)

This story was up to view for Patreon supporters before anyone else! https://www.patreon.com/arianmabe

I'm also always open for commissions!


Characters and story (c) Amethyst Mare

Tara cameo (c) @eightbutt / Tara Donk


Stallion's Release

Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

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Festivity buzzed through the air, infecting even the most serious of competitor's at the city's most prolific winter horse show. A new show, it had set off to compete with the best of the best and drew attention from across the United Kingdom and beyond, despite clashing with one of the country favourites. It was difficult for a new show to get off the ground as anything more than a qualifier, set amongst fields and hills cleared for rings and stands, but, Manchester Equine Extravaganza had somehow managed to pick all four hooves off the ground in only a couple of short years.

Even as the sand arena, touched up to perfection, was set up for the Lusitanos - a crowd favourite - the show jumpers bustled past one another in the stables out of sight of show-goers, preparing for their main event of the night. Wisps of hay floated by the stalls as grooms raced back and forth, arms full of gleaming tack and dirtied brushes. There was not a face in the crowd of furries that did not understand the importance of the night, whether they were there to display or to complete. While The Speed Stakes - the fastest round takes all - may not have been a draw for the crowds, but it would take every ounce of the competitor's guts and intellect to find the tightest lines and most daring shortcuts. All the while, their mounts had to go clear, not bringing down a single rail, to even be considered as a finalist.

For the speed demons, however, it was the ideal territory to settle old scores. What could have been better than jumping at speed and proving their worth before a crowd? Whether one was an up and comer on the circuit or an old hand to the sport, it was an event that set competitor's hearts beating like the hooves of their horses drumming the sand before they'd set foot in the arena itself.

Tucked away in the stables behind the arena and warm up ring, a skewbald anthro equine moseyed his way down the line of four-legged ones, heads peering curiously over wooden stall doors. Wild-eyed grooms darted from end to end of the temporary stables, various pieces of leather and metal clasped between their fingers like a lifeline. But the stallion, Cai, moved through the crowd as if it was not even there, letting his brown and white form slip between furs without disturbance. A white patch cut across his face at an angle, leaving one eye a dark, serious brown while the other gleamed blue in the glow of the overhead lighting strips.

Not all allowed him to pass so easily, however, though he ducked his head to avoid conversation as a donkey with a slice of midnight blue slicing through her mane lifted her paw in greeting. Hunching his shoulders, Cai hid behind his forelock, white hairs tickling through the brown, and tried to make his bulk as inconspicuous as possible. It was difficult for one as tall Cai was, on the other hoof, to seem smaller than he actually was and he only seemed to draw attention to himself regardless of his efforts.

A black and white sheepdog eyed him, stepping closer to his ride as the tacked up equine snorted, shook her mane off her neck and stretched out her mealy muzzle to Cai, just passing by. Whuffing softly, she exhaled and let out a quiet whinny, ears flicking to attention as he paused mid-stride, a rare smile tugging at his lips. As busy as he was, he couldn't leave such a pretty lady wanting when she had her ears pricked so sweetly for affection.

"Hey there, girl," he chuckled, letting her bop her nose into the back of his paw. "Friendly one, aren't you?"

The sheepdog scowled and yanked the reins, pulling her away from the passing competitor. Squealing, she stomped and put her ears back, expression darkening as the whites of her eyes showed, panic flaring to command her senses as her rider swore and dragged harder on the reins.

"Leave her be!" He snarled, teeth glinting as his lips pulled back, eyes wild. "I know what you lot are like... Always looking at our horses just like they're..."

He trailed off, clamping his jaw shut as if to prevent further words from spilling out. Blinking, Cai shrugged and hoisted the bridle he was carrying more securely up over his shoulder, reins bumping into the side of his leg and hip. So that was how it was going to be, was it? Two could play at that game.

"Suit yourself. I was just saying 'hi'. I was going to wish you luck too, but if you're going to play games with me and be up your own arse about it...well... I think I'll withhold that one for someone with a touch more sensibility."

Snapping with enough venom behind the action to make his teeth click together, the sheepdog thrust his reins into the paws of his groom and whirled to face the equine, paws on his hips. The stallion would have laughed if he had not thought it would only anger the canine further. He rubbed his nose. Just what was there to be angry about in the first place anyway?

"There's only one lot you have to keep an eye on at a show," he hissed through his teeth, prodding the equine sharply in the chest, "and it's a horse. We know all about our mounts, but it's the ones on two-legs that you have to watch out for around their kind."

He jabbed the stallion in the chest with his last two words and Cai took a step back, hooves scraping over stone. His expression, however, did not change. It was nothing he hadn't heard before, after all. What harm could the words he'd heard over and over in the equestrian world do him now?

"That old gem?" The stallion rolled his eyes. "Why would you think me any more capable of that sort of thing just because I'm a horse too? You have a cock just the same as me, don't you?"

He smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Or perhaps you just like to think of others getting it on with their rides because you're the one needing a bit of..." He waved his paw. "Let us say...attention, shall we? Or maybe even the one giving your mounts the extra," he made a rude gesture, "push they need to go well for you?"

The sheepdog's jaw dropped and he spluttered as his mouse groom squeaked and ducked her muzzle into the mare's neck, shoulders shuddering as she stifled her giggles. Cai cracked a smile even as he turned away, his slashed through brown and white mane spilling back over his shoulders.

"Why - you!"

The strangled shout came too late: the equine was already gone, lost in the flurry of activity as the music rolled for the Lusitano display of equestrianism, leaving them less and less time in which to mount up and warm up. And he had more than one job to take care of that evening, despite the assistance of those from his home yard, with not one but two horses to ride over the jump course.

He grinned to himself like a fool as he paused outside his assigned stables, rapping his knuckles smartly on the top of the stall door. He never minded having an extra ride for a show, regardless of the extra work required. At least it meant two chances to win with his best horses.

At the rap of his paw, a black mare with a white star pushed her head into the centre aisle, a welcoming nicker playing off her lips.

"Hey there, Carrie," he said, stroking down the arch of her neck. "How're you doing? You okay in all this bustle? It's a lot madder in here than the stables back home, huh, girl?"

She snorted and nuzzled his paw, though appeared settled enough in her stall, considering the pandemonium, with her tail flicking lightly.

"Great job, Tara," he said to himself, making a mental note to pass on his thanks to his stand-in groom later, a friend from the circuit that probably knew him better than he liked to admit. "How you get her to gleam so after she's been rolling in mud, I'll never fucking know."

The swear slipped off his lips in the privacy of his quieter corner of the stables, but he eased into her stable, taking the tack off the saddle rack and bridle hook outside the door as he went. It should not have been his job, at least not according to most of the other riders. No, they would rather swan about and socialise than spend time with their mounts, at least for the most part. There were others like him, but they were becoming few and far between on the show circuits he frequented.

Humming to himself, Cai slipped the bridle over Carrie's head, letting her take the bit neatly behind her back teeth. She mouthed it for a moment as he buckled the throat lash and noseband, sliding two fingers beneath the second to ensure it was correctly tightened. He winced. He wouldn't have wanted to take a tumble and haul the bridle off along with him again. Once had been more than enough and catching his horse that time had been embarrassing enough to warrant a double check.

With the sweetly smelling leather straps tightened to his satisfaction, he took the saddle from the top of the stable door and slid it over Carrie's back. He placed it, initially, too high on her withers to begin with and slid it back in the same direction as her coat to ensure the crisp, white numnah did not pull or tug uncomfortably at her coat, as clipped short as it was. She turned to look at him mournfully as he buckled the girth under her belly, drawing it up to the saddle as its hold grew firmer. Shaking her head, Carrie scraped a hoof against the floor in protest.

"Easy there, darling," he murmured, tightening the girth another notch as the saddle flap pressed against his forehead. "We'll get out there, just you be patient now."

The mare nickered and stomped, bobbing her head as if to say that she would much rather be in the ring already, tail flagged as she pranced and snorted at the jumps as if they were fire breathing dragons. Yet she would pick up her hooves, tucking her knees up to her chin, sail over each in turn so prettily that the crowd could not help but gasp in wonder at her sleek finesse. He smiled, patting her on the neck. She did so love an audience. Yet it was not the mares he tended to click with, finding himself in better tune with equines in closer stead to himself...so to speak.

"You should have waited for me to do that!"

Cai grinned and flicked his ears back apologetically.

"Sorry, Tara," he said, addressing the small donkey, with a flash of blue struck through her hair, who he'd avoided earlier. "Don't mean to take your job away from you, but you know I like to do it myself, if I can."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, ropey tail swishing against the backs of her thighs as she made a shooing motion. Her white show shirt, which had been clean when they'd left the horse box, now boasted a green smear that Cai would have bet came from the innocent black mare nosing in the hay rack for wispy scraps. But there would be no feed until the show was over, not since the last bucket that his groom had dropped into their stall. And she really was the best groom, he had to say.

But the donkey was demanding - more so than his equines. He pressed his lips together and attempted to look serious, tail flicking as he crossed one fetlock in front of the other. Another dressing down may very well have made him simply burst out laughing and wind up the poor donkey further.

Tara pursed her lips, frowning as he pretended to tidy Carrie's forelock as she stuck her head out over the door, eager for attention.

"You go relax," she said, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth like she could get him to move just like one of the four-legged equines. "I'm here to take care of this. You need to be out there walking the course when they call you." She paused. "Whenever that is."

She frowned and shook her head, tucking a strand of blue-black hair back behind one large ear.

"Though I heard there was a delay, something wrong with the lights."

Cai winced.

"That'll be a pain. Neither of these two like waiting around all that much when they know they're at a show. They know what they're here for."

"Yeah, well, you'll just have to keep them calm somehow," Tara added, inclining her head towards the horse in the next stall along. "He's been pacing all day. Knows what's up, he does."

"Of course, he does," Cai breathed, sliding his fingers halfway into the small pocket of his jodhpurs - they wouldn't go any deeper. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll take care of him."

Tara nodded.

"I know you're on the case. I'll just go see what the delay is, but there's not much to do but stand around until they even let you in the warm up ring."

"Chaos!" She flung back over her shoulder. "It's all chaos today! Chaos!"

As she stormed off, Cai exhaled softly and moved on to his second mount's stall. The chestnut stallion snorted and backed up as he peered in, eyes wild and lead rope dangling loosely from the head collar on top of his bridle. Cai sighed.

"Just what have you gone and done to yourself now, hm, boy?"

He slipped into the stable and inspected the lead rope, ripped where it looped through the metal. That shouldn't have happened. He shook his head, stroking Finnegan's - Fin for short - neck to soothe him. How long had he been pulling at it to tear right through? He'd never seen that happen with a rope, but supposed he'd been tying them to loops of baling twine on his own yard. If Fin had ever yanked at his lead rope while tied to that, the twine would break before the rope did.

Or his neck.

Cai shivered. He didn't like to think what could have happened. But why was his stallion so twitchy all of a sudden? He'd been to enough shows before to know what he was there for. Then again... Cai's brow furrowed. It had been rather a long time since he'd been out of the trailer. He was a horse that required entertainment and stimulation. And he'd been in the stable longer than anticipated without even his stable buddy to keep him company.

As if to confound him further, the stallion pranced and swished his tail against the wall, the wrinkled tip of his shaft easing from his sheath as he eyed Cai with a white-rimmed eye. Cai raised an eyebrow at the equine, but didn't have time to wonder over his condition as the horse suddenly half-reared, striking out at nothing and squealed like a colt. Cai gaped and ducked.

"Fin! What's gotten into you?"

Cai darted away from the flying hooves and clung onto Fin's head collar, unfastening it and tossing it out of the stall to skitter loudly into the centre aisle. He paid it no mind, soothing the stallion with his paws and voice the best he could as his mount's cock dropped further and swung beneath his stomach.

"Fin!" He hissed through his teeth, ears back. "You can't do that here! They'll think you're after their mares. And we can't do that here!"

Fin snorted and dug through his bedding, sweat darkening his sides. Cai looked wildly from left to right for anything that could distract the bored stallion - for it had to be lack of entertainment that had would the stud up so much - and found nothing. Not even he could reclaim the equine's attention without something that would surely leave them scratched entirely from the show. Cai groaned and rubbed Fin's withers, trying to draw him into a mutual grooming session to no avail.

There was only one way he knew to calm the stallion down when he got into such a state. Cai swallowed hard, heart beat drumming in his ears. Could he? Was there time? The equine pawed at the straw, flecks of foam splattering his lips. Cai's stomach churned. They weren't even in the ring yet! He couldn't be so wound up already - not without seeing a single jump!

And he knew they didn't stand a chance if Fin entered the ring leaping about like a colt in spring, his concentration shot after waiting and waiting and waiting for the main event of the night to actually happen.

He had to try. Even if it played right into what that idiot of a sheepdog thought of him and 'his kind'.

Stealing a quick glance out into the aisle - thank heaven all the others in his area had their horses in the current act! - he ran his paw down Fin's red back and across his rump.

"All right, boy, all right," he crooned in as soothing a voice as he could manage, sinking to his knees in the straw. "I'll help you out, but we've got to be quick, all right? Wouldn't want someone to catch us back here."

He chuckled, although there would have been nothing funny about someone catching them, and cupped the equine's balls in his paw as he had done many times before. Nickering, Fin stretched out his neck, attention grabbed, and flapped his top lip as more and more of his shaft spelled out until his full length hung beneath his belly, splotched with pink and black. Cai licked his lips, leaning forward eagerly despite their risk of discovery, and pressed his flat, thick tongue to the tip of the stallion's shaft.

Still soft and without its flare - that would only be seen when the stallion was ready to spend his seed - the flat tip twitched beneath his tongue and Fin stomped, tail flicking. It was what he wanted - Cai could feel it. Running his paw up the inside of Fin's leg from his fetlock, Cai groaned and played his tongue around the head, taking his time where he should have been pumping the shaft, making the stallion want to cum. But he had had too many fond memories of taking the stallion's shaft between his lips to want to rush a single moment of ecstasy.

"Oh, Fin..." Cai murmured, already lost in the stallion's spell. "Is this what you were after this whole time? We really can't be making a habit of this, you know..."

Fin nickered and tossed his head, though Cai couldn't imagine him wanting an experience to end swiftly or become less frequent. Despite what others may have thought of his supposed 'equine inclinations', there was nowhere he'd rather have been besides beneath the stallion. He grinned breathlessly, supporting the fat length with two paws as it throbbed and drooled pre-cum. Well, he wouldn't have minded taking the stallion under his tail again either. That had been a night to remember indeed!

Head swimming - was that adrenaline? - Cai moaned and nuzzled up the underside of his ride's shaft, tongue leaving a trail of shiny saliva as it moved over pink and black in turn. He teased the medial ring, circling it with his tongue, as the stallion stomped and moved down to his balls. Pressing his nose between them, he inhaled deeply, sucking in the biggest breath of stallion musk he could manage. His eyes rolled back into his skull, cock slipping from his own sheath and bulging crudely through his smart show jodhpurs. His boy truly was an intoxicating lad, it had to be said.

He nudged his tongue between the equine's balls and let their weight push it back down, nuzzling up and squeezing the base of his shaft. Fin neighed and he almost made as if to shush him, realising at the last moment that he was better off letting his mount have what he needed as quickly as possible. Cai grinned like a fool and kissed the stallion's length as the soft tip spurted another drool of pre-cum to drip down into the straw between them. Yes, haste was of the essence: a quickie to work out the stallion's boredom and satisfy his needs.

That didn't mean Cai wouldn't enjoy every exhilarating second of blowing his ride before the show.

Taking the tip of the equine's length between his lips, Cai opened his mouth as wide as it could go, keeping his teeth out of the way. Pre-cum shot straight into his muzzle and he stifled a groan as it poured down his throat, the head of Fin's cock driving immediately to the back of his throat. Fin shifted in the straw, stepping forward to push his shaft in deeper. It had been a while since Cai had had to steady him, tell him that he couldn't thrust into his mouth like he could a mare's hot passage, but Fin had a careful head on his shoulders for once and only shifted his weight forward as much as he knew his rider could take.

Swallowing rapidly, Cai gulped down every thick drop of cum the stallion had to offer, trying to take even more down his throat as he stroked the length with both paws. Round with girth, it hung into his muzzle under its own weight and he half-closed his eyes as he looked down the length of his muzzle at his own paws working that shaft, sliding slickly over pink and black mottles. Every breath he dragged in through flared nostrils dosed him with another round of equine musk, sweat mingling with semen and raw maleness, drugging him better than any alcoholic beverage that had ever slipped down his throat.

His heartbeat quickened, a dull roar in his ears as he let the stud press into his throat, lacking a gag reflex as was the way of equines. The thick length pushed down his throat and he gulped around it, fighting for air that could only be gleaned when he pulled back enough to suck in a much needed breath. He bobbed his muzzle keenly, ears pricked, as the cock twitched and jumped between his lips as if with a life of its own, spurting pre-cum so frequently that he could have sworn that the equine was already ejaculating if he had not already known between. All the while, his paws lovingly worked what remained of the shaft outside his lips with his only thought to give the stallion the release he craved.

Soon. Soon the stallion would give him what he too craved.

Every breath came with greater difficulty than the last, Cai keeping the stud in his throat for longer and longer each time. He bobbed his muzzle urgently, tongue pressed to the underside of Fin's cock, and groaned around his length as he felt the stallion shift above him, growing restless. He knew the stud yearned to thrust, to buck, to breed, but his muzzle was the best he was going to get for the time being until he had the time to take him under his tail again. As the stallion's flare swelled at the back of his mouth, Cai thought of bending over beneath the equine, holding on to one of his forelegs as he let his lubed-up dick push deeper and deeper under his own flagged tail.

Cai snorted, hot breath washing over the stud's stomach. They'd have to do that again. Soon. Very soon.

But there was no time for further dreaming of his tail hole being stretched by the stud he adored. The stallion lifted his front hooves from the floor and whinnied, throwing his head from side to side as his shaft pulsed, balls delivering what the two of them needed oh so desperately. Cai's eyes widened as the first spurt of stallion semen hit him in the back of the throat and he gulped it down as quickly as he could, cheeks filling with the virile load. It could not all be contained, however, and he leaned forward the best he could, letting it drool out the corners of his lips.

In the moment, he couldn't have cared less about the mess, cock throbbing in need that would have to be ignored as the stallion grunted and delivered spurt after spurt into his eager muzzle. Pulling back, Cai held just the head between his lips and sealed them tightly around the flare, swallowing and heaving as he struggled to cope with what the stallion had to offer him. But he wouldn't have changed it for the world, head spinning with the illicit nature of what he was doing, pleasing his stud with the thick, throbbing shaft.

The stream eventually tapered off after far longer than Cai could have managed, if he had his own paw wrapped around his shaft, and the stallion dropped back to the floor, gasping for breath. His chest rose and fell rapidly for much needed breath, yet he still leaned in and stole long swipes with his tongue up the side of Fin's cock and across the head, gathering up every drop of cum he could manage. He told himself that it was because he didn't want to leave any evidence behind, yet knew the truth in the back of his mind as he let the stallion's cock droop down. The stallion rumbled as if he was good to go for another round, cock refusing to pull back into its sheath, and Fin was about to laugh and slap him teasingly on the rump when something caught his attention.

His ears pricked. What was that? Hooves? His heart raced, stepping into high gear as he scrambled away.

Someone was coming!

Hooves clip-clopped closer and closer and Cai wiped his muzzle hurriedly, jumping to his own hooves, as he tried to act like he hadn't been doing anything wrong, no nothing at all. The guilty equine swept loose straw off his jacket and fussed with his mane to little avail for there was nothing he could do to tame it at the best of times.

Yet he'd evaded discovery and he grinned cheekily, ears flicking. He'd got Fin what he needed and that was all that mattered. Even if he'd enjoyed it more than a little too. His cock throbbed in his jodhpurs and he licked his lips, still tasting the stallion on him. He'd reek of horse until after the show, yet couldn't see that as a bad thing in the slightest. Cai swallowed his smile, paw on Fin's shoulder as the equine pushed playfully into the small of his back, cock slowly retreating in a final drool of seed.

A familiar muzzled poked over the stable door, ears splayed down to the sides as she tapped her watch.

"Come on!"

The donkey bounced from hoof to hoof, waving him on as he quickly grabbed the reins and brushed off his jodhpurs, hoping against hope that there was no evidence of their hasty interlude left on his clothes. His cheeks burned and he tucked his chin down to his chest as he brushed past Tara with a murmur of thanks. He wouldn't have had a clue what was going on with the show if she hadn't been there to rescue his tail!

Grinning, she pointed down the aisle as if he didn't already know where the arena was.

"You can get in a quick warm up before walking the course - still messing with the lights out there. But it's something to do. Get to it!"

He called out his thanks as she paused to check over Carrie, surely to catch him up in a moment or two. The warm up arena, thankfully, was easily accessible from his corner of the temporary stables and he jogged down at a light trot with Fin snorting at his side.

The warm up arena already had lines scored through the sand in front of one of the warm up jumps where another horse had skidded to an untimely stop, but that didn't stop him from running down his stirrups and checking the girth. Both he and Fin had a job to do and, despite the bulge in his jodhpurs that he angled his hips to conceal, Cai set his mind to the jump course ahead. The warm up would be telling.

His heart thudded and he swallowed, the warm up arena suddenly seeming much larger than his little one at home, the main ring on the other side of the doors. Was he ready? Should he have done what he'd done with Fin? Had he ruined their chances or made them? The stallion nickered and twitched his ears, eyes warm and soft as Cai leaned his forehead into the equine's neck, fingers curling into his mane.

It was just a show. Just one more show. He could do it. Both he, Fin and Carrie could do it. They were a team. His head spun and he ran his paw down the stallion's neck, making a pretence at petting him for anyone who happened to be watching.

Peering over Fin's neck with watery eyes - he blinked away whatever that moisture was - he frowned and shook his head at a bay equine raising his whip to his mount, a scowl darkening his features. The whip cracked down on the pretty grey mare's shoulder and she squealed, kicking out and spinning away from the jump. When she refused to take it from nearly a standstill, he lost his temper further and smacked her twice on the rump, muzzle contorted.

Fin tightened his grip on Fin's mane, sparing a glance for the watching stewards. It wasn't as if his opponent would get away with that, but he hated bearing witness all the same. He would have stepped in too if they were not already trotting off with other competitors shouting and hollering for them to stop. It was in hand. But he'd never treat his horses like that. Never, ever, ever.

"Hey!"

Tara waved from the side of the arena as he pulled his head up and lunged out and across the sand just as the bay stallion threw his reins to his groom and spun on his heel. He didn't see the donkey charge into his path, ears cutting below his line of sight, or the pile of horse manure yet to be scooped up to his left. Letting loose a bray in her urgency, Tara shoved past him and the equine spun as if in slow motion, landing face first in the mound of horse droppings with a wet splat.

Cai sucked in a breath, eyes wide and barked a very un-equine laugh, breaking the tension in his shoulders as a panting donkey stumbled to a halt right in front of him. The bay equine screamed and flung his whip away as he staggered upright, adorned in his least favourite form of Eau de Equine.

"Here!"

Tara thrust something into his paw and folded his fingers around it, stepping back with a goofy grin stretching from ear to ear. He looked down and opened his paw to find a tiny horse shoe pin cradled in the line of his palm, glinting in the overhead lighting.

"I noticed you didn't have anything for luck to take in with you," she said, explaining as he swallowed and busied himself with checking the girth for a second time. "Not that you need it, but it's just something."

Cai smiled and grasped her shoulder.

"How did you know?"

Tara winked.

"I always know. Now get going and see how Fin's feeling. One of them will have a sash by the end of the night."

Cai nodded and pinned the horse shoe onto his jacket as Fin shoved his nose under his arm, hunting for treats that the anthro had no room for in a jacket with the pockets sewn closed. He patted the stallion's nose and cast another glance back at Tara, retreating to the side of the arena where she stood with the other grooms, ready if he needed her without crowded him. Fin shook his head, mane falling in a mess to both sides of his neck as if he had not had it neatened up at all. But perhaps now he would have his mind on his job and not on what still swinging beneath his belly.

Probably not.

Taking a deep breath, Cai pressed his boot into the stirrup and swung himself up over the equine's back, settling himself in the saddle. Finnegan snorted and pranced as if his hooves were on fire, jigging about as Cai rolled his eyes and sank deep into the saddle, legs wrapped down and around his steed. A passing competitor, a feline, snickered and gave him a sidelong glance as his shadow grew a fifth leg. Cai groaned and pressed his paw to his forehead as the stallion danced, tail flagged for attention.

Yeah, he had his mind on the job all right!