And They're Off! (Part 1)

This piece is for the Dream Breather Winter Carnival's Relay Race!

Featuring: 
071 RR Cat Scratch Fever - Rider: Tori Laveen
089 RR Snokomo - Rider: Shaleigha Mutar
017-S Sicorah - Rider: Inaya Wright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cat and Tori: Tori stared long and hard at the Dream Breather Winter Carnival flyer. The relay race sounded like a lot of fun and the barn was putting it on with all of the Breathers invited, including Cat. Tori's hand tightened on the paper, causing it to crinkle. His guts swirled about inside him, so uneasily. He remembered the last time he had sat on Cat....it did not end well. (see Anger) He still had a stiff back and not to mention, a diminished pride.
He sighed and pinned the paper back on the notice board. He didn't feel like he'd be good enough to do it. He walked away and stopped by Cat's stall. Cat was standing stiff in the middle of the stall like usual. He already looked peeved and it was still early. Tori leaned on the stall door, looking in.
Cat stared back at him, challenging him to come closer.
Tori sighed, "You're always on offense aren't you? I bet you'd do really good in the race too. We could probably win...." He trailed off thinking, 'If I could ride you... Only the younger Breathers were being raced in hand. The older Breathers like Cat, Sicorah, and Sno were being ridden. The other two have already entered at this point.
Cat's ears perked. He thought he had heard something about a competition come from Tori's mouth. Cat reluctantly stepped forward. He did not touch the human but stared at him, waiting to hear more. He felt excited. 'A competition? Of course I'd win.'
Tori didn't reach out for Cat because Cat hated that. Instead, he stood quietly at the door looking back at him. Suddenly, Tori made a weird face. He looked up and down the isle, but no one was near. He looked back at Cat, "Why do I smell mint? That's odd-" Tori caught himself mid-sentence. He remembered the coolest fact about Dream Breathers when he was researching. They could breathe different scents that are supposed to soothe and myth says bring good luck. Tori stepped away from Cat's stall and stepped closer again. He had to make sure it was Cat and not a fluke!
Tori smiled, "Breathers only breathe to the ones they trust, right?"
Cat didn't really understand. He didn't say anything about a race but he still stood close just to make sure.
Tori felt himself shake as he said it, "Okay then....we'll enter that race! And I'll let you take first, Cat!"
Cat nickered and pawed at the floor, 'A race! Yes! I'm going to kick some butt!'

*THE DAY OF THE RACE*

Tori walked Cat up to the start line where Sno and Sicorah were with their riders. 
Inaya was fixing up Sicorah's bridle when she saw Cat and Tori, "Wow, going for another round with the Cobra?" She grinned, "That's good."
Tori smiled crookedly, "Well, someone has to ride the winning horse. Right?"
Shaleigha mounted onto Snokomo from a block, "We'll see. It is a team race after all."
Tori gently mounted onto Cat, "We'll just get a good head start."
Inaya mounted onto Sicorah and took up the reins, "You can strategize all you want, but Sicorah and I are bringing it home for red team!"
Sicorah was so nervous. Inaya had told her how much fun this would be. She knew Inaya really wanted the red team to win and more importantly - be faster than Snokomo and Cat. Sicorah knew she couldn't out run those two. They were built for power and speed. Sicorah was dainty and a little afraid of opening up. She stood at the start line feeling very uneasy and anxious.
Sno, on the other hand, was watching some birds in the distance play in the air. He wasn't worried about this race. His rider was so confident and comfortable that he felt the same. Winning would be great but he wouldn't feel bad if they lost either. As far as he knew, it wouldn't be the end of the world if they lost. It was just a game after all.
To Cat, it would be the end of the world if they lost! He puffed his chest out to show his might. He looked back at Tori. He pinned his ears, 'Don't interfere! Just sit there like a good human.' 
Tori caught the look from Cat and stiffened. He felt Cat underneath him all tense. He was ready to go off at any minute. Tori hid his fear and concern as best as he could. He remembered last time Cat put him in the dirt was because he touched the reins. This time, Tori wasn't even going to bother. It was a straight race anyway! Just over the hill is all. He'd find a way to stop when the time came....'I'm not so sure about this now...'
One of the staff described the rules and got ready to wave the flag to start.
Sicorah felt he nerves start to fray. She wanted to make Inaya so proud! 'Can I do it!?'
Sno and Shaleigha stood quietly, ready to go whenever. They didn't look too concerned.
Cat pawed eagerly at the ground, digging into the dirt under the snow. Tori grabbed a hold of the saddle horn with both hands and braced.
The staff wave the flag, "Go!"
Cat blasted off from the start line. He was firing on high power, lunging into a run. Sno bounced into a canter. His long legs stretched out and covered ground but not too hurriedly. Sicorah gathered herself up and hopped into a lope. She didn't want to get out of frame - that would be sloppy!
The first leg of the relay race was under way!

And They're Off! (Part 2)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is it done!? Did I finally complete this!? XwX I've spent so many hours on this lol About 11 hours. (give or take) The file is so huge lol I drew them all separately again (this time, knowing I would be putting them together) and then transferred them all on the big file! Then the coloring shading, and highlighting took place! xD 
By the way, this is why I don't draw people much anymore! They're not the greatest xD But welcome two new riders at the Ridgerunner Stables (even though they're not new) - just their first appearance! I wanted to do a chibi drawing to really demonstrate the emotions going on but I just can't seem to draw in chibi - I just end up realistically sketching *sigh* But I'm glad I went ahead and had the riders a part of it. Though I'm pretty sure Tori feels he's going to die in this race. (I've been in his shoes before ^^) 
That snow.....Made me feel better than drawing the same ol same ol grass but snow! It can be so aggravating to look convincing lol I actually had to redo the background when my computer crashed and corrupted the file - but it's done that to me in the past and I had a backup!!! (Just not one with the background....) 
All in all, I'm pretty happy with this! I tried to challenge myself to do better :') I tried not to take as many shortcuts - except the tack...please ignore some of my tack fails lol (Like I drew Cat first facing the other way before deciding to do this the other way and forgot the fix the latigo and cinch xD oops lol Tori is backwards today!). 
I hope to continue the race with some of my other Breathers as well! The next leg is halter in hand, so more people..... School's starting up soon so we'll see if I can get it done before the carnival ends!

Dream Breather Breed (c)
Cat Scratch Fever, Tori Laveen, Snokomo, Shaleigha Mutar, Sicorah, Inaya Wright, Art (c)


Photoshop CS5