Horses and Challenges at Bracken by Gillian Baxter

Author:Gillian Baxter [Baxter, Gillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2019-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter twelve.

The following weekend Guy had both the novices entered for an event and with Songbird sold he substituted Minos, who in spite of his reputation had never evented above grassroots level, and therefore had no points. All horses had to prove themselves capable by gaining clear cross country rounds at each level before moving up, and Minos certainly made a good start by winning his section on a very good dressage score and no penalties to add. Back at the lorry after the presentation Guy simply stood back and stared at the golden horse as he stood tied up beside Bronze, both of them contentedly eating hay. Bobby, with Rose in her arms, laughed.

‘Perfect, yes?’ she said, and Guy said ‘Unbelievable. If I was to show him a map and ride round blindfolded I reckon he’d still win. If he goes on like this I certainly won’t have to worry about my reputation.’

But he still hadn’t entered The Miller again, and Bobby knew that, to Guy, that would be the big test.

When they got home the news was less good. Snowdrop had not stood up all day, and when Guy pulled her onto her feet she was clearly in agony. The vet had put her onto ‘Bute’, the normal painkiller, and Guy told Heath to put an extra one in her tiny evening feed, which she ate lying down again.

‘I’m afraid it’s no use,’ said Guy sadly.’ I’ll have to ‘phone the vet in the morning.’

‘Should I warn Tracey, do you think?’ Bobby asked him, and Guy said that he supposed so.

‘It’s up her whether to tell Amy,’ he said.

It was not a nice phone call to make. Tracey cried, as Bobby had been afraid she would, but she said she would not tell Amy until she was coming to ride Moses again. Bobby was crying too when she rang off, remembering how they had found the old pony in a sale, all plaited up as if for a show, and how she had not been able to bear the thought of her going into the meat men’s lorry that day thinking that it was a show she was going to.

‘She’s had a good bit of extra time here,’ Guy told her. ‘Loved and well looked after. It was just a bit too late to get her right.’

Heath volunteered to help the vet, saying that Snowdrop was happiest with a woman, although both Guy and Dean offered to hold her. Bobby was grateful to her, she knew that Heath would at least appear tougher.

‘What about afterwards?’ she asked. ‘We can’t send her off on that awful fallen stock lorry’.

‘I’ll ask Ken to bring his tractor over and bury her,’ said Heath. ’There’s that bit of rough land behind the top paddock, she’ll be fine there’.

This made Bobby cry again, and she went off to groom Lass, whose unfeeling manner would be better than feeling maudlin about what might one day happen to Shelta or Frost or going to cuddle and cry over Rose.

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