Seeing Stars

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

25 minutes later and I'm still watching Ashton ride Flicka around the arena and much to my annoyance Ashton actually is a decent rider. He canters her around with ease giving me a quick wink when he notices me staring. I roll my eyes back at him, "A couple more laps then we'll do something different." I say and turn my head to look out over the fields behind the arena. Something doesn't quite feel right.My eyes scan over the grass, which is surprisingly still a vibrant green considering it's June. Only the tops of the trees lining the edge of the field are visible over the small rise of a hill.

Ashton turns in Flicka next to me, "Okay. I've finished, now can we do jumps or something?" He questions but then notices the confused look on my face, "What's wrong?"

"I don't really know."

I can feel his eyes staring at me and before he turns his head to lookout over the fields too. Suddenly shouting breaks out from somewhere close to the barn and we both whip our heads to look. There has to be about 6 men in total frantically waving their arms. My eyes widen, "Shit!" I exclaim.

The men are waving their arms and shouting at Rogan who is trapped in the corner of the field. One of my brother's must have turned him out. I hear Ashton dismount behind me before I take off at a run towards the commotion. Vaulting the fence I keep my eyes trained on Rogan's distressed body, hears flat against his head.

Upon reaching them I burst into the crowd. "Get back, get back!" I beg trying to push them away from Rogan. I spot some of my brothers burst out of the door of the house and take off in our direction. The crowd of men starts to move away from Rogan slowly but that doesn't stop their yelling. I step in front of them and trying to calm Rogan down with my voice, "Easy boy, easy."

He seems to settle and relax a moment, his ears twitching at the sound of my voice. Then everything changes in an instant. At the same time both Rogan and I spot movement to my right. One of the men takes a couple of steps closer to the exit but nearer Rogan. It's enough to spook Rogan and he rears up. One of his hooves clips my arm as he rises up, causing me to fall backwards with the force of his blow. I land on my back, winded for a second, my right arm stinging with pain.

I look up, still winded from landing and see hooves still rising above my head. You know that scene in the Lord of the Rings where Pippin almost gets crushed by a horse? Yeah well that is me. I let out a small squeal and just manage to get enough breath back to roll out of the way as as Rogan's hooves come crashing down onto the ground where I had just been.

All the men had gone silent as this played out. Quickly I leap to my feet, "Nobody say anything and back away slowly." I say, keeping my voice calm.

Slowly but surely they back away as I soothe Rogan, "Ro" I call, "Listen to me, easy, easy. No one is going to hurt you. You're my beautiful boy." I murmur softly, taking a couple of steps closer to him.

"You're my beautiful boy."

Another few more steps and I'm close enough to rest my uninjured hand on his neck. He visibly relaxes at my touch. I watch as his ears rotate,listening for my voice as I reach into my pocket and bring out a polo. "You want a Polo?" I ask, stepping away from him and show him my palm.

I continue backing away from him as he follows me, allowing the men to step either out of the gate or climb over the fence. Once we are far enough away I stop and feed him the Polo, "You're a good boy, so you are." I smile as I stroke his nose before feeding him another Polo.

After that I head back to the edge of the field where the gate is. Standing there are the members of my family, Ashton and the 6 men. Upon seeing the men I can feel my anger building. I slam the gate shut behind me  as I exit the field.