Alone In The Big Leagues

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The rest of the ride had been smooth. We made it back to the stables without any problems we were here now and I stand next to King untacking him. He has tensed up since we have been back. I look around but don't see anything that could be making him tense. I come back to his side and finish taking off his saddle and saddle pad. I put those aside for now deciding that its not a good idea to leave him by himself in the cross ties with him being so spooked.

I grab a brush and start to brush the saddle marks out of his coat. I get most of the lines out so I swap the brush in my hand for a comb to brush out his messy and tangly mane.

I get to work and find that its going to be a bit harder than I thought it would. His mane is matted with sweat and slightly sticks to his neck. Its a real mess. After five minutes of poking and pulling and prodding at his mane I finally sigh in defeat. His mane has not done anything but get messier. I've gotten nowhere with it.

My arms ache from being held up for so long. I look at King who has no calmed down a bit and is slowly dozing off. His eyes have slowly closed. I pat his neck and feel the sudden urge to hug him. I shove the feeling aside though and start to part his mane with my fingers. It seems to help the mess a bit more unlike the comb that was just making a bigger mess of his mane. I grab the comb deciding that I should try again due to the fact that my fingers helped. I start to comb and only find a few knots that weren't very persuasive to come out. But in the end of course I figured it out. After I finish brushing out his mane completely I give his coat another brush over and put him in his stall.

Since he's been put back in his stall he seems to be nervous again. Maybe he saw a spider or something. Something must have spooked him when he was in his stall. I give it a quick sweep with my eyes and find something that can only be described as dropping. I move past King to take a closer look. I start to examine the size and find that its to big to be mouse droppings. Its to big. The only other thing that it could be has to be rats. But we have never had a rat problem before. There has to be some kind of mistake. I look in the stall next to King and the one across form him. I don't find anything that would tell me a rat has been there. Something definitely is not sitting right with me. If rats were in Kings stall they should be in the rest of the stable. My stomach starts twisting and I don't know why.

I turn back to the still nervous King and quickly decide to take him into the pasture for the night. The sun has set and the stable lights have flickered on. My parents will be here soon to pick me up. I grab Kings lead rope and quickly clip it onto his halter. I quickly lead him out of the stable and let him go in the pasture. He walks slowly to the center with the other horses and starts grazing. Satisfied with my decision I turn to go back to his stall to investigate more. I'm just about to pass through the stable doors when the honking of a horn cries out into the air. I sigh and turn around to face my mother. I know its my mother because my father would have never honked the horn. He cares to much about the health of King to risk honking the horn. Though it would pose no risk to him or really any of the other horses. Of course he would still most likely have the vet come out to check up on King to make sure that his ears were not damaged at the sound of the horn or something stupid like that. Anything to make sure that his prized show horse is in top shape and health.

Health.

Hmmm.