Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Romeo

A fter Shawn has left, I find myself stood alone with Lou. My aunt has taken Diamond back to his stable, she's planning on going out on a hack, which means I am stuck here for the next hour or so.

"So, you're interested in becoming a farrier?"

"I think so. I mean I know it won't be easy, and I'm not gonna say I definitely want to do it until I hang out with Shawn a few times. I mean I might not even be any good with horses. I am getting better with Diamond, but I need to spend more time around different horses."

"Do you want to start now?" I turn to look at Lou, curious to see what she will suggest because no way am I getting on one if that's what she is thinking.

I think she can see the panic in my eyes as she grins at me.

"I was going to suggest you could help out with some mucking out, but you're not dressed for it today. However, you can come help me do fill hay bags and a few jobs like that. We'll start in the pony barn and work our way up to the bigger ones and I will give you some insights into personalities and quirks."

"Okay. Better than just sitting around."

The next half hour flew by. I helped fill a dozen hay nets and hang them in the stalls of the smaller ponies. I learnt the difference between ponies and horses was literally an inch in height. I swear the horse world has some crazy rules.

I followed Lou over to the barn that has the bigger horses in. We were just about to get started in there when her phone rang so I left her stood outside and headed in to start with the hay bags. As I walk down the aisle heads peek out at me from most of the stalls. As far as I know, all of the horses in here are riding school ones, my aunt keeps Diamond in the third barn where all the privately owned horses are.

As I reach to end of the stalls my attention is drawn to the last one, there is no horse peeking out, but I can hear a huffing sound. Looking in I see a horse on the floor. It is sweating and even I know it doesn't look right. I turn on my heels and sprint back to the door/

"Lou! Lou!"

She puts her hand over her phone and looks at me, eyebrows raised.

"Lou, something's wrong with one of the horses." I don't wait for her to reply and run back to the stall. I swing the door open just in time to see the horse roll before getting to its feet. It doesn't move it just stands swing its head towards its stomach.

"Shit!" Lou has appeared behind me. She thrusts a headcollar into my hands. Get this on and lead him out while I call the vet."

"The vet? Is it serious?"

"It looks like he has colic. If he has it we need to vet as soon as possible."

I look at the headcollar, I've seen my aunt put them on how hard can it be? Turns out is it harder than I thought, and it takes me several attempts before I can fasten it up even though I'm not convinced I have it right. I turn to grab a lead rope from the hook outside the stall and as I turn away the horse drops to the floor and rolls again. I noticed the name on the door ‘Billy', it sounds a bell somewhere in my memory, something my aunt was talking to my uncle about but more than that I can't recall.

"Okay, Billy boy, you're gonna be a good boy for me, aren't you?" I crouch down to the side of his head ready to clip the lead rope on, but at the same time he decides to get to his feet again. Shit, this horse is big . I stand back up and take a step back. Slowly I reach forward and pull the trigger to attach the rope.

"Right. We're gonna walk out of here and down the aisle. You're gonna be a good boy, and I am going to be brave. Come on, walk on."

I walk sideways through the door not daring to take my eyes off the beast. After a slight hesitation he followed me. As we walk down the aisle, I keep turning my head to watch him. I'm not going to lie under other circumstances I would be grinning at overcoming my fear. I can feel my heart beating while it is exhilarating to know I managed to lead a random horse out I can't forget the look on Lou's face. She is stood by the door waiting for me.

"The vet is on her way. I want you to take him up to the indoor arena and just walk around with him. Take it nice and slow. I'm just going to try to get hold of Juliet or her mum, I need them to get here or be on the phone when the vet gets here. Really, I suppose it should be her mum as she will be the one who has to pay the bills." She is scrolling through her phone as I walk past her up to the arena.

It's Juliets horse. I remember the conversation now, my aunt was saying that she felt bad for Juliet, but that the horse had potential if she could get some weight back on it. Glancing back at the horse I notice how thin it is compared to the rest of the horses here. I can see ribs, and what I guess are the hip bones are pronounced. I know it's been a few weeks since the conversation, so I hate to think how bad he looked when he got here.

"You're gonna be okay boy." I reach up and stroke the side of his face and as I do I make eye contact with him. I swear he understands every word I am saying.

As I enter the barn where the arena is I spot a girl walking towards me. I recognise her but I have no idea what her name is, so when she speaks to me, I am taken aback.

"Hey Romeo. What are you doing with that nag. If you want something to ride you should have asked me, you could ride my girl. She is so much better than this bargain basement buy. She cost my well into four figures but it goes to prove that you get what you pay for."

She looks Billy up and down the distain in her face. I have met her type before, always has to be better than everyone else. Even if I didn't have more pressing matters on my mind right now, I wouldn't be interested in her.

"Sorry, what's your name?"

"Megan. My horse is in the livery barn, Dancing Firefly, the palomino is mine. I know I've seen you looking at me before."

"Well Megan, I'm not riding, Billy here isn't feeling too well so Lou told me to take him for a walk in the arena. Don't let us keep you from whatever you were doing."

I started walking again, Billy moving forward in step with me. Megan reached out and put her hand on my arm.

"Why don't you leave this to Lou? You can come and hang out with me, I'm sure you would have more fun, rather than walking this… creature around. I mean Juliet is lucky that Lou even let her keep it here, he makes the place look bad. I doubt she will be able to afford more vets bills, I told her, if it were me, I would have sent him back and demanded my money back."

"Well lucky for Billy here it wasn't you. I don't know why you got the idea into your head that I would want to hang out with you but no offence, I'm not interested." I moved my arm and kept walking. I could hear her huff before the sounds of footsteps and muttering disappeared into the difference. I didn't look back.

Once in the arena I begin walking him around. Every now and again he pauses pulling his head towards his stomach. I know from my aunt that even standard vet stuff is expensive, I can't imagine how expensive it must be if it is something serious. He stops moving and drops to the floor, rolling in the sand before getting back to his feet. I pick up the lead rope, I had dropped it when he laid down.

I reach up to brush the sand from the side of his face. I don't know anything about horses, but he seems to understand I am trying to help him and rubs his head against me. Sand is stuck all over his sides, mixed in with the sweat coating him. I start walking around the edge of the arena, there is a well-trodden path in the sand, and it seems natural to follow it. I think about my mum and the end of her illness, she would sweat a lot too, her skin would be clammy.

There were times that it had seemed like she was getting better and that was the cruellest thing about the cancer, it was relentless. I would get my hopes up that the treatments were working, that everything was going to be okay. In the end none of it had made a difference. That was how Juliet would feel. It didn't matter this was a horse rather than a parent, she had thrown herself into doing all she could for this horse only to be in a position where it might not be enough.

At least when it came to my mum's treatment cost was never a factor.