At Risk

Chapter 3

"Okay, new standards," I start, not letting myself fall into the same cenario. "Before I even get out of the truck, you're gonna go look at this horse.  No geldings, no palominos, I would prefer not a Quarter Horse, but I'll take one if I have to." I say as Nick unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out of his truck.

"Alright.  I'll come get you when I've inspected her.  It's a mare and I know she's a Quarter.  I don't think she's a palomino, but I'll still check." he says, kissing my cheek and walking off.

I sit in the truck, the wait for Nick feeling antagonizingly long.  I re-do my hair to kill time.  I undo the braid and let my hair fall into natural waves, french braiding by bangs, I pin them to the side of my head so they're out of my face.

"You done dollin' yourself up?" Nick asks as he returns to the truck.  He goes over to my side and runs his fingers through my now-loose hair. He smiles and starts, "I think you're gonna like her a lot."

"You do now?  What colour is she?"

"Fleabitten grey." I hop out of the truck and we begin to walk to the barn.

"How tall?" he knows I love tall horses.

"I know you won't like this, but she's 17.3 and they could barely find a mounting block tall enough to get on her, not that they can ride her anyway." he says and I gasp.

"17.3!?  Are you sure she's a Quarter?"

"Yep, she's got the build and everything.  She's beautiful.  I really think you should get her.  You've met her before, or at least seen her."

"Okay then," I trail off as we walk into the barn, the slight squeak of my boots and the occasional snort are the only things to be heard in the massive barn.

"Isn't this the barn who currently owns the state problem horse?" I ask as he suddenly stops in front of a stall.  Located inside is a gorgeous fleabitten grey mare, towering over me.  She looks from her water at our approach, but quickly decides we aren't worth her attention.

"This is the state problem horse, Passion." Nick speaks, reaching out to wrap my hand around my shoulders.

"Wait, you want me to get the state's problem horse?!  Are you crazy?!  Not even the best trainers in the country can break this horse!" I look at him, doubt evident in my soft features.

"That's because they don't have the paitence you do.  The longest she's ever spent in a training facility is 6 months tops, and they didn't work with her every day.  I think you can do it.  And besides, if you don't adopt her today, she's getting butchered.  They want to kill her Kendall!" Nick's eyes gazed into mine.

"How much do they want for her?" I ask throwing my hands down in defeat.

"Nothing.  They just want her out of their barn.  They told me when you decide, just to take her from her stall and leave the halter.  Do you have a spare on you?" He asked, smiling.

"Yeah I've got a dark brown leather one from show season in there still.  Let me go get it." I say.  I jog to the trailer quickly and find it and a chain lead line under it.  Grabbing them, I return to Passion's stall.

"Let's go Girlie." I told the horse.  She looked at me in curiostiy and I took of her halter, a purple nylon halter, and set it on her tack box.  The moment I tried to put on her halter, she shook her head fiercly, her extremely over-grown mane going in every direction.  After that, she let me put on the halter with only minor difficuties.  I lead her out of the stall and we made the walk to the trailer.  She didn't seem like too bad a horse...

"Kendall!  Watch out!" Nick called and seconds later, Passion reared, my hand being wrapped in the lead line, I came up with her.  Slowly, I felt my hand untangle, my body fall, and my head hit the ground, my vision being cut off and my senses fading into darkness.