Coolin' Out

Jill could hear the boss's partner shouting in the arena, as they were schooling the sales horse. The most prized, spoiled, well treated horse on the property. Their future.

"Hit him again!" Whack. "And again!" Whack. "Again. HARDER!" Whack, Smack. Thump, Groan. Swish.

The sound effects made her feel naseaous, but Jill still went to the arena window to look in. She was here to learn more about different training methods, and various styles, across different disciplines. The young bay Holstiner was rearing and bucking in response to whatever lesson they were teaching him. She couldn't watch it. If she was confused, he must be too. It was unfair. She turned away and busied herself with some chore at the far end of the barn.

When the boss came in and Jill set about her groom-duty of untacking, she noticed a tooth sticking out the side of his mouth. Sick! It was one that was clearly too long and should have been floated long ago, and had thus broken in the episode in the arena. It barely even looked like a horse tooth and she wanted to take a picture to prove later the horror before her.

Was this why he was so disagreeable or a result? She showed the boss, in the hopes of learning what action to take. The boss said "ohmigosh! Did you do that taking the bridle off? Could you have caught him in the mouth putting the halter on?" She said she would call the vet, but it was three days the horse wouldn't/couldn't eat before he did actually get medical attention.

Jill wanted a good reference from the place, but she knew that she wouldn't/couldn't work there much longer. Later, when a horse with a tooth injury fell into her hands after having been boarded there, she couldn't help but have her haunting theories...

*

People will tell you that's its actually hard to make a spur mark in the side of the horse, no matter how sharp the device that you are strapping on and using is. Jill could only respond that some people make it look easy. She would always remember from her time at that place, how the trainer had a spur change to make between every mount. At the time she was reading a book about harmony with horses that mentioned the possibility of such marks at the potential of razor blades in the hands of the monkey.

She felt sorry for all her equine (and fellow worker/rider) friends still stuck there.