wash stall — the other half too scared to scrape the sweat off of me afterward. Either way, I’d most always find myself standing in my stall with steam and sweat rising off me like I was on fire. I guess I was starting to grow into my name, Dante’s Inferno.
My groom’s other job was to put a fly sheet over me at turnout. Gary liked to keep my coat black.
“Tall, dark, and handsome, that’s for sure. Let’s keep him that way.” He instructed the staff to cover me at night to keep me clean, and on turnout to stop the sun from bleaching me out.
To his abounding credit, the young man tried. Oh, how he tried. Dancing around me, holding his inhales till his faced darkened. I could hear his heart beating so loud that I could see his pulse a-thump-thump-thumping in his neck. His eyes bulged, exposing the whites, and those inexperienced hands shook something fierce.
When a man is showing as so blatantly afraid, I have to wonder,
What in the world is he about to do?
When my groom came after me . . . Let me back up here. When my groom
charged
toward me with the fly sheet, I figured I’d best jack up my back left leg in order to demonstrate I wasn’t taking any mess from him.
“Put it down,” he said, and his heart beat wilder and faster. Out. Of. Control. This guy.
So, I put my left back foot down and swapped it out for the right one. Just stretched my leg out to test if I was within striking distance, should I need to be.
He put in a mountainous effort to no avail. Let’s just say I eventually got bored and turned away from him. Same way a barn cat eventually gets bored of batting around crickets. The groom bolted from my stall, leaving my sheet half on, half off. And presently, it fell to the ground.
Come evening time, though, somebody different tended to me. A girl.
“ M ay I come in?”
I blinked. Not that I straightaway invited her in, but I did give consideration because she was the first to ever ask.
I blinked again, then she did, too, and piped up with, “You gonna invite me in, or make me stand here all day waiting for Your Highness to decide?”
All right
, I thought.
Let’s see what happens next
. I stepped back. She entered my stall with her head down. She touched my neck, and I sensed no fear in her. Zero. A slow heartbeat, regular breathing, normal-looking eyes.
Best of all, from her I felt wonder. Curiosity. Like she wanted to know me.
“What are they talking about? You’re not scary, brother. No way. Not scary at all,” she said softly.
She squatted down and picked up the sheet from the floor. The same one that the morning groom had bolted from. Even the manner with which she shook the blanket clean seemed like a natural, loving gesture.
This smaller person was calmer. I was starting to wonder if the bigger a person got the more chaos they had going on in them.
She stared at me, then looked away. Before I could react, she draped the sheet over my stall door, not over me.
“Let’s get to know each other.” She stroked my neck. Her voice was solid, like the ground. No quiver there or in her hands. She patted my neck again and said, “Beautiful. Never in the days or nights of my life have I met one as majestic as you. Magic like midnight.”
The blanket remained on the door. The more I looked at the soft, supple material, the chillier the air felt around my haunches and shoulders. She walked around to my right, making no move to cover me. “I have met many, many horses, Dante. Yeah, see? I know your name. Aren’t you curious about mine? Filipia. That means ‘the one who loves horses,’ and I love horses like crazy.”
She turned her back to me and fiddled with the sheet. Its buckles sparkled in the dim light coming from the office where Gary and the other men were grousing about something or somebody or such and such. I walked up behind her to get a look and a sniff, because I like sparkly things, and because I thought I detected peppermint on her person. Maybe more than
My groom’s other job was to put a fly sheet over me at turnout. Gary liked to keep my coat black.
“Tall, dark, and handsome, that’s for sure. Let’s keep him that way.” He instructed the staff to cover me at night to keep me clean, and on turnout to stop the sun from bleaching me out.
To his abounding credit, the young man tried. Oh, how he tried. Dancing around me, holding his inhales till his faced darkened. I could hear his heart beating so loud that I could see his pulse a-thump-thump-thumping in his neck. His eyes bulged, exposing the whites, and those inexperienced hands shook something fierce.
When a man is showing as so blatantly afraid, I have to wonder,
What in the world is he about to do?
When my groom came after me . . . Let me back up here. When my groom
charged
toward me with the fly sheet, I figured I’d best jack up my back left leg in order to demonstrate I wasn’t taking any mess from him.
“Put it down,” he said, and his heart beat wilder and faster. Out. Of. Control. This guy.
So, I put my left back foot down and swapped it out for the right one. Just stretched my leg out to test if I was within striking distance, should I need to be.
He put in a mountainous effort to no avail. Let’s just say I eventually got bored and turned away from him. Same way a barn cat eventually gets bored of batting around crickets. The groom bolted from my stall, leaving my sheet half on, half off. And presently, it fell to the ground.
Come evening time, though, somebody different tended to me. A girl.
“ M ay I come in?”
I blinked. Not that I straightaway invited her in, but I did give consideration because she was the first to ever ask.
I blinked again, then she did, too, and piped up with, “You gonna invite me in, or make me stand here all day waiting for Your Highness to decide?”
All right
, I thought.
Let’s see what happens next
. I stepped back. She entered my stall with her head down. She touched my neck, and I sensed no fear in her. Zero. A slow heartbeat, regular breathing, normal-looking eyes.
Best of all, from her I felt wonder. Curiosity. Like she wanted to know me.
“What are they talking about? You’re not scary, brother. No way. Not scary at all,” she said softly.
She squatted down and picked up the sheet from the floor. The same one that the morning groom had bolted from. Even the manner with which she shook the blanket clean seemed like a natural, loving gesture.
This smaller person was calmer. I was starting to wonder if the bigger a person got the more chaos they had going on in them.
She stared at me, then looked away. Before I could react, she draped the sheet over my stall door, not over me.
“Let’s get to know each other.” She stroked my neck. Her voice was solid, like the ground. No quiver there or in her hands. She patted my neck again and said, “Beautiful. Never in the days or nights of my life have I met one as majestic as you. Magic like midnight.”
The blanket remained on the door. The more I looked at the soft, supple material, the chillier the air felt around my haunches and shoulders. She walked around to my right, making no move to cover me. “I have met many, many horses, Dante. Yeah, see? I know your name. Aren’t you curious about mine? Filipia. That means ‘the one who loves horses,’ and I love horses like crazy.”
She turned her back to me and fiddled with the sheet. Its buckles sparkled in the dim light coming from the office where Gary and the other men were grousing about something or somebody or such and such. I walked up behind her to get a look and a sniff, because I like sparkly things, and because I thought I detected peppermint on her person. Maybe more than
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