Through Another's Eyes

Adrian didn’t understand. Cassidy and Chris led them down another barn isle and he looked in on big, magnificent horses. Why would someone have horses that had problems like Hope when they could have a horse like Whiplash, a beautiful black and white mare that Cassidy had introduced them to and said the horse could jump the moon on a bad day? She’d also explained that most of these horses were boarders: they didn’t belong to her. Instead she had a barn full of horses that would never amount to anything. She was wasting her money trying to fix them all.
He didn’t voice the questions swimming in his head because he knew they were offensive and would probably get him with another black eye. And it wasn’t his place to ask. It wasn’t like it was his problem; he wasn’t going to be here long anyway. Once Cassidy had realized that he and Delany weren’t worth her time she’d give up and send them back to the orphanage.
“So who wants to ride first?” Chris’ question broke into his thoughts.
“Ride?” the word escaped before Adrian could check it.
“Sure, you can’t live on a horse farm and not know how to ride,” Chris said. “Even I know a thing or two.”
Chris wasn’t what Adrian had expected either. He’d never been around someone who was gay before and his father had said they were freaks of nature. Chris looked perfectly normal to Adrian and he had taken the time to shake Lucky’s hand and made Delany smile; even Adrian hadn’t been able to make Del smile for months now.
“Chris I don’t know-” Cassidy began.
“Oh come on Cass. We can put them on Maze. She’ll take care of them.”
Cassidy looked at Adrian. “What do you think? Wanna learn to ride?” She interjected a smile.
“Uhh…I don’t know.”
“What about you Delany?” Chris asked, once again getting down on the little girl’s level.
Adrian could tell Delany wanted to ride horses. Before she’d stopped talking, she’d told Adrian that she wanted a horse of her own.
“You and Lucky can ride this really awesome horse we have. Her name’s Maze and she’s like a hundred years old!”
Delany looked down at her bear in disbelief.
“Sure Lucky can ride too. We can’t leave him out can we?”
This earned another smile from Delany.
“Alright let’s go. I’ll show you how to get her ready to ride. Okay?”
Delany nodded.
The two walked ahead. Adrian and Cassidy trailed behind. “You sure you don’t want to ride?” His aunt asked.
“No thanks,” Adrian said, secretly a little afraid of the huge animals.
“Alright, I won’t force you. But Chris will try his damndest to get you on the back of a horse and you’ll end up saying yes just to shut him up within a week or two.”
They caught up with Chris and Delany in the barn. Delany had paused by Lucky’s stall and was petting the gray horse that was soaking up the attention like a sponge.
“You want to ride Lucky instead?” Cassidy asked.
Delany nodded enthusiastically, but then hesitated and looked down at Lucky the bear.
“Lucky can ride too,” Cassidy assured her.
Cassidy took a nylon contraption from a hook next to Lucky’s stall and put it over the horse’s nose, up his jaw bone to behind his ears. “This is a halter,” she explained. “It helps us control the horses when we’re leading them around.” She opened the stall and led the horse out into the isle.
Adrian noticed the scars that Cassidy had been talking about that criss-crossed the gelding’s legs and chest. The ones on his chest weren’t very visible against his lighter fur, but his legs were black and the white of the scar tissue contrasted.
Delany had seen them too. She forgot to be afraid and pet his leg where one particular scar stood out the most. It was a good half inch thick and protruded like a mountain range on a map.
“Alright so when you’re around horses, especially him, they have to know where you are at all times,” Chris explained. “Most horses can see all off to their sides but not directly behind or in front of them. With him you have to be extra careful because he only has one eye so he can only see you on one side…” Chris continued his explanation of how to groom the horse and Adrian began wandering down the aisle.
One horse poked his head out of the stall with his tongue hanging out of his mouth; another had a bandage over its forehead. He reached the end of the barn where the horse had had a fit earlier. Curiosity got the best of him and he looked between the bars.
The stall was lighted pretty well because of the window on one side of the stall. A horse stood in the back of the stall with its head down and a halter over his nose and ears. The light caught on the horse’s brown coat and made it shine. Adrian stood in awe. This horse put Whiplash to shame. It was solid muscle from ears to tail and everything in between. Its black tail shimmered like an onyx waterfall and its mane hung in a straight line down its neck.
“Wow,” he breathed.
At the sound, the horse whipped its head around and seeing someone standing at its stall, pinned its ears and charged towards the metal bars. Adrian stumbled backwards and fell against the opposite stall just as the horse’s teeth connected with the bars where Adrian’s hands had been only a moment before.
The horse resumed the ruckus he’d caused earlier and Cassidy rushed down to Adrian’s side. “You okay?” she asked.
Adrian managed to nod.
At this, Cassidy nodded back and walked over the stall. “Easy killer,” she murmured. “We’re all friends here.”
The horse responded by kicking the stall which shook the walls of the whole barn.
“Cass I told you I’ve tried everything with him,” Chris said as he and Delany came to stand next to Adrian.
“If you would have tried everything he would have calmed down by now,” Cassidy replied.
“You’ve done some insane things in the time I’ve been working for you but this one takes the cake. That horse isn’t hurt, he’s dangerous,” Christ emphasized the differences.
“Horses respond differently to abusive situations. He strikes out aggressively.”
“He wasn’t abused Cass. Hell he’s a million dollar horse, his owners wouldn’t dream of abusing him.”
“Jumping him every day over six foot fences is abuse Chris. It puts so much stress on his legs I’m surprised he hasn’t broken or pulled or sprained anything yet. Its overwork and he just couldn’t take it.”
“Now he’s gone loco.”
“I’ll be the determiner of that,” Cassidy said. She walked towards the stall door.
“Don’t do it Cass. I tried opening the door to refill his water bucket and he damn near jumped into my lap. That bottom divider’s only four feet, he could jump it from a stand-still.”
“What if he just doesn’t like being locked up?” Adrian spoke up.
Everyone turned their attention to him.
“What?” Cassidy asked.
“Well…you know…he doesn’t like being cramped. He’s…claustrophobic.”
Cassidy looked at Chris. “Do we have a paddock tall enough to hold him?” she asked.
“His owners said he’s jumped out of the seven foot paddock they built for him. They haven’t really turned him out since.”
“That’s probably part of the problem then. Taking him out to work him for an hour and then throwing him back in his stall. He’s probably sore and stocked up.”
“If he’s sore he probably wouldn’t try to jump out of anything,” Chris pointed out.
Cassidy considered. “We’ll try turning him out and see how he does.” She looked at Adrian. “Good thinking.”
Adrian blinked. Praise? He’d stuck his nose in where it probably didn’t belong and he’d gotten praise for it?
His expression must have held a question because Cassidy said, “its okay to speak your mind Adrian. I don’t mind if you want to ask questions or give suggestions. I’m good with criticism. And you might just think of something I overlooked, like getting him out of his stall.”
“Alright Delany let’s go get Lucky ready,” Chris said, strategically leading the way to the tack room and out of Cassidy’s way to protect Delany.
“Could you help me Adrian? I’m going to open the bottom door first so he doesn’t jump out and it would really help if you could open the top door when I tell you I’m ready. Can you do that for me?”
Adrian nodded hesitantly.
Cassidy took a lead rope from next to the stall. This one had a chain on the end of the lead. She opened the bottom of the stall and brought it mostly closed behind her. There was some snorting and shuffling around and Cassidy’s muttered curses before she called “open up Adrian!”
Adrian slid the bolt out of place and opened up the top divider. He stepped out of the way as the horse came out first with the chain firmly wound through his halter, over his nose and up his cheek to another ring on the halter. The horse’s face was big with a white streak running down it. He snorted loudly and drug Cassidy out of the stall.
“Excuse me sir but I believe we need to learn some manners!” Cassidy shouted. She gave one sharp yank on the lead rope which tightened the chain around the horse’s nose.
Adrian saw the horse’s eyes close in pain and then open again. The brown depths gleamed with rebellion and the horse started backing rapidly, ignoring the pressure from the chain. Eventually, he got enough momentum to rear up on his back legs and paw the air with his front two.
“Whoa!” Cassidy called, but the horse didn’t listen. He took advantage of Cassidy’s forced slackening of the lead to come back down on all four feet and charge forward, ripping the lead from Cassidy’s hands and run directly towards Adrian.