"Up!" Anne called to Red, who managed to jump the hurdle just in time so that he didn't hit the last hurdle on the makeshift obstacle course that Anne had made for him. The course consisted of a few rough beams on hay bales that counted for "hurdles" of various heights, poles that Red would weave himself through, and a small pit that he would have to leap over. The whole course was about 500 yards by 500 yards, not very large or complex, but enough to give a mental stimulus to Red, whom Anne had ridden since he was a year old.
Red's master, Anne's father, had bought Red on a near whim for his daughter, who had managed to train and ride Red most aptly. The horse was expensive, but he didn't mind. They were rich enough to live comfortably enough with the horse. But Rick, Anne's father, couldn't seem to get rid of the horse; his daughter was going to college, but was sentimentally attached to Red. But Anne was going to college.
"Annie, please," Rick had pled with his daughter, "let me please give Red away. You know that I'm too heavy to ride him," Rick shook his flabby stomach, soft from years of caloric, greasy southern food and too little exercise, for emphasis. Rick didn't care enough to lose it, and he didn't have the time nor the discipline to do it. "And he'll go nuts without you." Anne wouldn't be persuaded. She still argued that she would ride Red every weekend and every weekday she was able. Rick would always walk away incredulous that his daughter would actually do as she said. She had a habit of not doing so. But with Red, she had maintained interest for years, so Rick was reluctant to disbelieve his daughter.
And so Anne went off to college, leaving Red behind. On the first day Red was not exercised, he fumed about his pen, whinnying furiously. Rick tried to calm him by petting him, by calling to him, and even by trying to ride him, but when Red started panting after one circuit on the obstacle course with Rick on him, Rick decided to not do that again. The second night it happened again. And having no other way of soothing Red, Rick gave him an extra scoop of oats.
Anne came back to ride Red one day, but her ride was cut short by what to Red felt like a buzz coming from Anne's leg. Red had no idea what a cell phone was, but he knew that that buzz meant that Anne would ride him no longer. And Anne lost a phone once to Red in that way. And for a while, every five or six days, Anne would come back to ride Red. But that only happened for a month or two. Then, Anne would come every thirteen or fourteen days. Then, every thirty. By Christmas, Anne hadn't been home in a month; and when Red first heard Anne, he started prancing up and down like a foal.
Anne came running over to Red, and the stallion stood at his gate eagerly awaiting the return of his favorite person in the world. She threw he bag in Red's storage shed, grabbed his equipment, and tried to put it on Red. "Why, Red, you must've grown some since I left," she laughed, readjusted his saddle, and rode him to the obstacle course. Red started, clearing the first hurdle with ease, but the second hurdle nearly scraped the bottom of his chest. The poles were no easier: Red tried to weave, but found that it hurt his flanks to do so.
And panting for breath, he only bared cleared the pond and crashed into the final hurdle, leaving a mark on his chest. Catching his breath, Anne chuckled, "I'm sorry, Red, you must be unfamiliar with the course. I'm sorry I haven't ridden you in so long." She trotted Red over to the pasture, poured two liberal scoops of oats into Red's bucket, and watched him hungrily devour them.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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