The Boy Who Loves Horses (Pegasus Equestrian Center Series) Read online

  Still frowning, River stuffed the phone back in his pocket.

  “Understand?” she persisted.

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “I’m going to look at a horse for Crystal and since you seem to have so many opinions about a suitable horse for her, I suggest you come along.” Tess continued to speak directly to River, not acknowledging Sierra’s presence. To Sierra, it was almost funny the way Tess ignored her.

  River sighed in annoyed resignation.

  “I can finish sweeping,” Sierra offered.

  “Why don’t you come too?” he asked.

  Sierra wanted to answer, are you crazy? Tess certainly would not want her coming along.

  But to her amazement, Tess glanced at Sierra and in a neutral tone said, “Come if you want.”

  Sierra certainly did not want. She didn’t like being around Tess, but River looked at her with a pleading look so she said, “Okay.”

  “We just need to sweep up,” River said to Tess.

  “I’ll be in the office. Come get me when you’re done.” Tess left.

  “She got you a cell phone?” Sierra asked as they took down the brooms from the tool rack.

  “Yeah.” He pulled it out again and handed it to her.

  “That’s generous of her,” Sierra mused, examining the phone. “This is a pretty nice model.”

  “Oh yeah? I haven’t figured out how to use it other than to answer calls.”

  “You even have a camera.” It was a later model with a lot more features than her own cell phone. They took a few minutes to play with it. Sierra showed River how to make calls, check for messages, use the camera function, and how to enter contacts into a directory. Then she entered her own phone number into his contacts, and let him use it to call her. They laughed as she answered and they talked on their phones while looking at each other. Then she showed him how she could easily enter his number into her own contacts since he had called her. He seemed fascinated by everything the phone could do, and Sierra was surprised at how little he seemed to know about electronic devices.

  They finished sweeping and then just for fun, River used his phone to call Tess to let her know they were ready. They left the barn and met Tess exiting a side building that contained her office and a lounge. They all piled into her Lexus, River in the front passenger seat and Sierra in the back.

  “What kind of horse is it?” River asked as they pulled onto the main highway.

  “Hanoverian; twelve years old. The owner rode preliminary last season. I think she qualified for the championship but I don’t think she placed. She has left for college and the horse is now for sale. Walt called me this morning. He knows the girl’s father and they are anxious to sell.”

  River mumbled a response and then stared out the window.

  The rest of the drive was spent in silence.

  Sierra had started to doze off, but awoke when the car slowed and made a right hand turn onto a poorly maintained dirt road. It led up to a group of ramshackle buildings; an older single wide mobile home, an unpainted, tumbling barn, and electric-wire pens with a few horses standing in mud and covered in flies. Tess parked the car and they all got out.

  “This place is despicable,” Tess stated, looking around.

  A door creaked and a man stepped out of the mobile home preceded by a short-haired, very overweight, bull-faced dog that waddled over to the arrivals and sniffed around their legs. The man was equally overweight, with a large belly stretching a stained sweatshirt hanging over a pair of baggy jeans.

  “Jocko, git away,” the man yelled at the dog. “Mornin’,” he greeted. “You the lady who called about the horse?” He lumbered awkwardly down the steps.

  “Yes, you have a warmblood for sale?” Tess asked with the distaste apparent on her face.

  “Yup.” He yelled over his shoulder in a nerve grating, loud voice, “Frank!” He turned back to Tess. “Tom Gunnerson’s the name.” He held out his hand.

  Tess quickly looked away, pretending not to notice the proffered hand. “How do you happen to have the horse?” There were five horses in the electric-wire pens, all with their heads hanging low and swarms of flies mottling their hides and especially their faces. None looked like a potential eventing prospect. The place did not appear to be an operation that would have a horse of the quality Crystal would demand.

  A bow-legged man in dirty coveralls stepped out of the tumbled barn, carrying a shovel.

  “Git that bay horse out here,” Tom ordered. He turned back to Tess. “Well you see, the owner went off to college and the horse didn’t sell quickly enough. Her parents didn’t want to pay the board and they heard about me. I offered to keep the horse to save them the board, and sell it on commission.”

  Even Sierra thought this all sounded rather shady.

  The bow-legged man had stepped back into the barn and now returned, leading an attractive bay horse. He actually did look like a warmblood.

  “He’s lame,” River said, watching the horse walk at the end of the lead rope.

  “I don’t see it,” Tess remarked.

  “It’s the way he blinks and flicks his tail when he steps on the off hind,” River explained.

  Tom narrowed his eyes at River but chose to ignore the comment. “They paid fifteen thousand for this horse three years ago,” Tom started on his sales pitch. “He’s won or placed in almost every show the girl entered. He’s doubled his value.”

  Tess watched the man lead the horse in a circle in front of them, then requested, “Trot him.”

  “Well, ma’am, Frank here, his knees won’t hold up to trot a horse. Best have your boy do that.” Sierra got the feeling the man didn’t want River in a position where he could see the horse trot.

  River stepped up to the horse and stroked his neck, then ran his hand along his back and down each leg. He looked into the horse’s eye, gave him a final pat and turned back to Tess. “He’s drugged.”

  Tom scowled and said in an admonishing tone, “Now look here, that horse is getting vitamin supplements, that’s all. You just go ahead and trot him. You got to see his action to appreciate him.”

  River shook his head and walked away from the horse. He said to Tess, “We should go.”

  Suddenly they heard a horse squeal, a loud thunk, and then a dog yelping. All of them turned toward the direction of the noise.

  “Jocko!” Tom yelled out in horror.

  In the last pen, the fat dog lay on his side where it looked like he had landed after a kick from a tall black horse, who stood with his ears pinned flat and his back toward the dog. As they watched, the horse kicked out again and then whirled to face the dog that scrabbled away, having got to his feet but obviously in pain. With his ears menacingly tight, the horse lowered his head with teeth bared, snaking his neck toward the dog.

  “You, Demon!” Tom yelled, and with amazing speed for his bulk, raced toward the pen waving his arms. “Git back!”

  The black horse raised his head to face this new menace; and with his ears still flat and teeth bared, he lunged forward, half-reared, and struck out with his forelegs.

  That’s when Sierra noticed the deplorable condition of the horse’s hooves, grown out so that the toes actually curled upward; and her eyes then took in the rest of the neglected animal. He was a skeleton; every single rib and his hip bones protruding. His dull black hide had bare patches and he had open sores on several parts of his body. Flies swarmed in thick clouds, especially in the sores and around the corners of his runny eyes. He wore a rope halter with a dangling lead, and there were abrasions across his nose under the halter.

  Tom picked up a metal pipe, about three feet long, stashed on the ground in front of the horse’s pen, and brandished it at the charging horse. At the sight of the raised pipe, the horse backed away, but he remained facing the man and pawing with one foreleg. Tom held the horse at bay with the raised pipe until Jocko managed to limp out of the enclosure.

  “Oh my God,” Tess stated in utter disgust an
d horror. She turned away and strode off toward the car. “We’re finished here.”

  Sierra felt sick. She turned to follow Tess.

  “River?” Tess called from the driver’s side of the car.

  River remained where they had stood watching the scene, his eyes on the black horse. Hearing his name, he turned away and walked back to the car. “I want that horse,” he said in a low voice.

  “What?” Tess frowned in confusion.

  “I want that horse,” he repeated.

  “Get in the car,” Tess ordered, opening her door.

  “Tess,” River said again, “I want you to buy that horse.”

  Tess and Sierra both looked at him in disbelief. “What are you talking about?” Tess demanded. “Get in the car.”

  He shook his head. “You can buy that horse. They can’t want very much for him.”

  Tess studied River with a tight frown. Then she walked around the car to confront him. Sierra just then realized how much River had grown over the summer, for he and Tess were now of equal height, standing eye to eye.

  “You expect me to buy that mangy animal that just kicked the dog and almost attacked a man?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s this about, River?” she demanded.

  “I want that horse and you owe me.”

  “What? I don’t owe you anything,” Tess hissed through tight teeth, but there was a certain lack of conviction in her tone.

  “You do.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get in the car and let’s get out of this miserable place.”

  “You could have saved Magic.” River glared back at her, unmoving.

  Tess actually took a step backward, her expression shifting from annoyance to shock. “I could not! It was not my decision to make.”

  “You could have convinced Crystal,” he persisted.

  “River, if you want your own horse I will help you find a decent one. Why this horse?” Tess’s tone had reverted to pleading.

  “He has potential.”

  “You can’t possibly see that.”

  “I do.”

  They glared at each other in silence. Tom, just getting up from where he had bent over his dog checking him for damage, watched them. Frank also stared, still holding onto the lead rope of the bay horse. Sierra stood frozen.

  “How would we ever get him home? The barn is full right now. Where would you keep him?” Tess finally asked.

  “Manuel and I can come back with the trailer. I’ll get him loaded. He can stay in the lower paddock.”

  “But your…”

  “My father won’t be bringing the stallion in for another month,” he interrupted, anticipating her response.

  Tess sighed deeply and reverted to another tactic. “All right, River, I’ll talk to the man. But I’ll buy that horse for you on one condition.”

  River waited silently.

  “You compete next season.”

  Sierra’s eyes opened wide, and she waited hopefully for River’s answer. He had once told her he didn’t ever want to compete because he feared it would change his relationship with horses. She personally didn’t feel that would be true, and she liked the idea of him as a teammate.

  River’s face tightened into a frown as he considered. Finally he nodded and said, “Okay.”

  “And it’s not because I owe you anything over Magic,” Tess insisted. “I’m grateful that you rode Gunsmoke for the demo ride at the championship. If anything, I owe you for that.” She stepped around him. “Wait here.”

  Tom strolled to meet her, greed lighting up his face as he sensed a sale.

  “How much do you want to take that beast off your hands?” Tess asked.

  “He’s going to auction next week,” Tom answered. “I’ll probably get eight hundred dollars for him.”

  Tess snorted in disgust. “That horse doesn’t have enough meat on him to even make hauling him away worthwhile. And he looks diseased. No meat buyers are going to bid on him. I’ll give you two hundred dollars right now and we’ll take him off your hands today.”

  Tom narrowed his eyes, mulling over what profit he might be able to make from this unexpected interest in the black horse. “Eight hundred dollars,” he stated.

  Tess turned away.

  “Okay, I can see your boy wants the horse. I can be generous. Five hundred dollars.”

  Tess kept walking to the car.

  “Come on, lady, I’ve spent more than what you’re offering just feeding this animal. I need to make a little profit.”

  Tess froze and turned back around. “It looks to me like you have spent nothing on this horse or any of these others, and I imagine the humane society would agree with me.”

  “Don’t threaten me, lady,” Tom growled back.

  Tess turned away again.

  “All right, three hundred,” Tom called out.

  Tess took two more steps and stopped. She looked over her shoulder at Tom and countered, “Two hundred and fifty.”

  Tom considered and as Tess started walking again, he gave in. “Okay, two hundred and fifty, but I want cash.”

  Tess reached the car and had her hand on the driver’s side door handle. “Draw up a bill of sale. We’ll be back with a trailer and I will have your cash.” She slipped into the car and slammed the door. Sierra and River quickly got in. Tess already had the engine started and as soon as their doors closed, she accelerated away. “Once you have that horse away from there, I’m making a phone call,” she declared.

  For once, Sierra was in full agreement with Tess.

  *****

  Back at Pegasus, River immediately went to find Manuel. Sierra headed off to the paddocks to get Fala, a black Arabian mare she had been assigned to trail ride that day.

  “Sierra,” Tess called her name.

  Surprised, Sierra stopped and turned.

  “Are you planning on showing your horse next season?” she asked.

  “Just in dressage,” Sierra replied.

  “That’s probably a good decision,” Tess said. “Would you like to compete on the Pegasus team in eventing?”

  “Um, well sure,” Sierra answered hesitantly.

  “Good, we’ll decide which horse over the winter. Is River going to give you lessons?”

  “Yes,” Sierra confirmed.

  And that was that; River had been right. Awesome! she thought to herself; very pleased she would get to continue competing in combined training, and also imagining how great it would be to have River as a teammate.

  *****

  Sierra had finished riding both Fala and Fiel and was leading Fiel back to his paddock when the truck and trailer pulled into the stable yard. She gave Fiel his carrot and a pat before leaving, and hurried back to watch the unloading of the black horse.

  Manuel had lowered the ramp and stood watching with wide eyes as River slowly backed the black down the ramp. The horse’s head hung low and his body swayed as he took each tentative step.

  “How’d it go?” Sierra asked, coming up to Manuel.

  He smiled as he greeted her but then frowned, shaking his head. “I do not know why Reever, ‘ee want dees ‘orse; very dangerous.”

  The black had all four feet on the ground now and stood awkwardly, trying to figure out what was happening to him.

  “Dey drug ‘eem,” Manuel explained.

  River led the horse slowly down a side path that led to a small barn and paddock near a mobile home where Manuel and his wife Rosa lived. Sierra and Manuel followed and watched as River carefully led the horse into the paddock and removed the halter. The black flattened his ears and tried to raise his head, but apparently was still too tranquilized to do more than stagger on his feet. River left the paddock and joined Sierra and Manuel at the rail. The three of them watched the horse swaying with his nose to the ground, looking perfectly miserable.

  “Did you have much trouble getting him loaded?” Sierra asked.

  “No, when we got there that man had two other
guys with him. They drove him into a corner with a wire stretched between them and using a cattle prod, and then they shot him with a tranquilizer gun. We just waited for the drug to take effect. I would have liked to take more time with him, but I also just wanted to get him out of there.” River narrated his story in a grim tone.

  “So, really, why do you want this horse?” Sierra asked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” River answered. “There’s just something about him…I just couldn’t leave him at that place and let them sell him for slaughter.”

  “But Tess was going to call the humane society.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “You really do think he has potential?”

  “Yes.”

  Sierra studied the black horse, trying to see what River saw in him. He was tall, close to seventeen hands she guessed; solid black except for a white patch, almost heart-shaped in the center of his forehead. He had wide-set eyes that looked dull with the drug and disease. But she did remember a fire in them when he had faced Tom. She tried to imagine filled out flesh and muscle on his emaciated frame. Somehow, the image she conjured in her mind matched that of an imaginary horse she had amused herself with for years; True Heart.

  “How are you going to take care of him?” Sierra wondered out loud. “He doesn’t let anyone near him.”

  “Time,” River answered. Sierra glanced at him and noted a faraway look in his eye as he stared at the black. She wondered what images he saw beyond the pathetic animal.

  “Peligroso,” Manuel stated his opinion, shaking his head. “Dangerous.”

  They watched the horse for a while until he could lift his head and take a few steps without staggering. He looked around, blew once hard through his nose and then moved off to the far side of the paddock, away from the humans.

  River went into the barn’s storage area and brought out an armload of hay which he tossed into the feed crib, then rejoined Sierra and Manuel.

  The black watched them warily. When no one moved, he began to sidle toward the hay. He reached the crib and shot his head down to grab a bite, then brought it up quickly to keep an eye on the humans as he chewed.