My Gentle Barn by Ellie Laks

Author:Ellie Laks [Laks, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-34767-9
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2014-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

We were still sorting through this tangle of questions, trying to get a foothold and find a path out, when the winter holidays arrived, bringing everything to a lull. The lawyers had gone out of town; the consultants took days to return our calls; even Paige seemed to be taking a break. So when a horse rescue called and invited us to have a look around their place, we decided to jump on the opportunity to take a vacation from our troubles and get out of town for the day with our kids.

I’d heard a lot about this horse rescue but had never done the hour-long trip up to Ojai to see it. We drove on out of the city and through the rolling hills that were lush and green this time of year. An hour later we headed through the gate and onto a property covered with ancient oak trees, and I could feel my body begin to relax. Our host, Liz, greeted us with a huge smile and then took us out to the stalls housing the rescued horses. We had packed along some carrots and apples for them and walked from stall to stall giving them treats. There was the tiny pony who served as their mascot, then a gorgeous chestnut mare trained in dressage, a tall black quarter horse who was terrific at trail riding, and several other horses eager to say hello and accept our offerings. These particular horses were in great shape and had mostly ended up here because their owners had moved away or lost a job and could no longer afford the upkeep.

Then I came to the stall of a gray mare. Unlike the other horses, she didn’t come get a treat but instead stood way at the back of her stall. I climbed over the rail and walked slowly to her. “Hey there, girl,” I cooed to her as I approached. “What’s going on? Don’t you want a treat?” I held a carrot out to her, but there was no response. Then I took out a piece of apple and held it right under her nose. Still no response.

“What’s going on with that gray mare?” I asked Liz.

“That’s Blue,” she said. Blue had lived for many years at a home with another horse. When the family’s kids had grown up and gone off to college, the two horses had been dumped at the rescue. “The other horse, Sasha, got adopted out. Blue didn’t. She’s been like this ever since.”

“What’s going to happen with her?”

“Well, just like Sasha, Blue’s a kid pony, so she’ll probably be adopted by another kid. When that kid outgrows her, she’ll go to another kid.”

I looked at Blue, head down at the back of her stall. “What if we were to take her?” I asked, just trying the idea on. “Maybe we could try to cheer her up.”

“Well, you’re certainly welcome to try,” Liz said.

On the drive home, the kids conked out in the backseat, and Jay and I talked in the fading light about Blue.

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