Old habits die hard

Bomb's recovery training continued steadily onwards; when the weather was unfavorable, they
simply moved indoors.  The steady thrumming of rain on the rooftop made for a remarkably
fitting soundtrack to the slow, grueling, and seemingly endless path of repetitive basic exercises
required at this stage.  At least now the stallion had been cleared to progress into trot work,
something he was delighted with; he saw no need to take this slow and easy, and would have
gladly gone galloping down the road if permitted.  But both veterinarian and owner agreed it was
best to condition him slowly.  After all, he had been out work for a long time, and had lost a lot
of muscle mass.

In the past, Bomb had always been a bit heavy on the forehand in flatwork; he had the spirit
of a jumper and little patience for or interest in dressage.  Anna had worked him stubbornly
to build up his back muscles and coax enough collection out of him to at least be passable
in the dressage phase of eventing, something which certainly improved his athletic ability but
which both horse, and thus by extension rider, considered a chore.  Now, with all of that
muscle evaporated, he was worse than ever.  He tossed his head, prancing and blowing like a
racer in the post parade, but as soon as he realized that this would be yet another day
of all work and no play, his interest nosedived and he began to plod along like an carthorse.
Overseeing the operations with the eye of a fretful mother hen, Anna found herself glad for
the first time that someone else was handling his training as she watched Simone struggle
to convince Bomb to delegate some of the work to his hind end.  Of course even just the act
of consistent motion would help build up his condition, but there was no reason to cut corners.
They figured it was better to work him evenly with good balance and form from the start.

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Heh.  This one's anatomy shifts dramatically every time I draw him.  Another old old sketch that I found and I figured that for once in my life I would get two parts of a story done in a row rather than waiting five months in between, so here we are.  Three in a row might be a bit much to ask for though.  A bit hastily colored but at least it's done.  Experimented with the design of the indoor arena at the stable and I can safely say it will not look like this, ew.  The paper is of a more yellow variety, so I guess that in combination with all the brown bits in the drawing is what makes it look kinda sepia-toned.

I think Bomb might need a haircut soon.

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Bombs Away and his humans © Helsinge, no refs used