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Isobel bit her bottom lip in worry.
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s take another walk.” Isobel tried to hand the reins over to Hunter but he just shook his head.
“She’ll be more comfortable with you.”
Isobel nodded while Hunter unlatched the stall door. All the other men had gone inside.
The mare took several stiff steps forward. Then her eyes went wild, the whites flashing.
“Let go!” Hunter grabbed Isobel and yanked her behind him right as the horse reared and then threw herself on the floor, rolling and writhing on the ground.
“We have to help her!” Isobel cried out but Hunter kept her firmly behind himself. The mare rolled back and forth, clearly in extreme pain.
But where Isobel only saw a beloved animal hurting, Hunter had enough experience to see a twelve hundred pound creature of instinct ready to lash out at anything and anyone.
“I’ve got some Xylazine in my tool kit. Go get it.” He’d set it down behind them near the door of the stall door. Anything to get her further away from the volatile horse.
&nbs
p; She was eager to help and he relaxed the second he felt her move away from his back. Only then did he venture toward the writhing horse.
He kept his breathing slow and easy. The only way to deal with a panicked or pained horse was to emit an aura of calm. And you couldn’t bullshit them. Horses were the best lie detectors out there.
Though if a horse was in enough pain, it wouldn’t matter if you were the Dalai Lama, they’d still lash out at you.
In all her rolling, the mare’s lead had gotten twisted up underneath her. Hunter leaned down, making sure he was approaching slightly to the left so the horse could always keep him in her view. Sneaking up on a horse was a bad idea for all involved.
The mare stilled slightly on seeing him approach.
“That’s right,” he whispered. “Let’s get you back on your feet. Then we can give you some more medicine and see if we can’t get you feeling better.”
He reached out to the harness around her nose. This would either work or he’d get bitten for his trouble. You didn’t work with horses for as long as he did without enduring a few horse bites along the way.
He tried not to think about it. Instead he kept up a slow stream of conversation. “That’s right, girl. Let’s get you back up on your feet. Here we go. Let me just get to this lead that’s underneath—” He traced down her harness to where it clipped to the lead line, then gently tugged. “Upsy daisy. Let’s go, honey. Up you go.” He added more command to his voice as he pulled on her lead line and she flipped back over to get her feet underneath her. Finally, she scrambled back to a standing position.
She let out a groan and then blew air sharply out her nostrils. Horses only groaned like that when they were in severe pain.
Dammit. He ran his hand up the lead so he had tight control of the mare and then led her back to the stall.
He breathed a little easier once he had her confined inside again. Only to find Isobel waiting anxiously, syringe in hand. “Is Beauty going to be okay?”
He could tell by the tightness in her throat that she was afraid of his answer. She was intelligent and she’d just witnessed what he had. None of those were good signs.
“Let’s get her this shot and see how she responds.” He reached out and she placed the syringe in his hand. He pulled off the cap and entered the stall again. Isobel followed. He tried not to think of her at his back. He knew she was hoping he’d pull off a miracle. He wished he could.
Why couldn’t this just be a run-of-the-mill colic case?
He couldn’t change things he had no control over. Hadn’t he learned by now how immovable the universe was when it had decided on a course of action? Grant him the serenity to accept the things he could not change, yada fucking yada. Wasn’t that what he’d spent the last year trying to convince himself of?
His jaw tensed and he forcibly relaxed it as he administered the shot.
“What now?” Isobel asked.
“We wait and see if she responds to the pain medication. It’s only in severe cases that horses keep showing pain after giving them the Xylazine. In the meantime, let’s check the color of her gums.”
“Oh my God, I forgot about that.” Isobel wrung her hands.
“It’s fine. We’re doing it now.”
