comb and curry and feed their horse, plus change out the bedding and muck out her stall.
No one wanted me or Mom or Martha or even Dr. Herks near their horses. Just in case.
We had a swarm of vets come from as far away as Connecticut to check out the boardersâ horses. Sneakily, Dr. Herks managed to keep them away from Agora and Kai. Iâm not sure what he told them. It had to be quite a spin on things because he couldnât fool them with his diagnosis of Puericentaurcephal-whatsis . Still, whatever he said seemed to work, and for the time being, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it quickly became clear that, sooner or laterâand probably soonerâour boarders were going to take their horses elsewhere. And their kids were going to go elsewhere for lessons as well. Which would mean the farm would go broke, and weâd have to move. And ⦠well, I couldnât bear thinking about the rest.
By Thursday, the first of the riders who didnât own their own horses began leaving. And Friday some of the owners came to collect their horses, including Patti and her dad, and she didnât even come over to say good-bye. My standing at the end of Agoraâs corridor in my quarantine suit, arms folded, mask on, might have had something to do with that, but she could have waved.
As far as the rest of them, well, as Mom said, âSome have been kind enough to let us know,â meaning theyâd phoned before showing up to get their horses or their tack. Others simply never showed up again. Like Maddi and her mom, who just sent someone else for their horse and stuff.
We were down ten riders and five horses by Friday evening, not counting our own.
Through the weekend, we waved good-bye to about half of the other riders. Worried about the remaining horses not getting ridden enough, Martha made a schedule, and Mom and I took turns on solo trail rides. We couldnât go together. Someone had to guard Kai. Someone besides Robbie, that is. He spent hours in Agoraâs stall, playing simple games with Kai, reading to him, sometimes just sitting there with his arm around Kaiâs neck, teaching him new words like brother , funny bone , carrots , and rain .
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
When we took the horses on the trail, they seemed more angry than upset, and startled at the smallest things. Bor almost unseated me, and in return, I was rough on his mouth, sawing with the reins, something I never did with him. Hera was so skittish, I had to turn her around and walk her home, letting her run free for about an hour in the paddock before conning her to go back into the barn, not with just one but two apples and a carrot, plus sugar as a sweetener.
Even I understood we couldnât go on like this.
I caught Mom staring at herself in the hallway mirror, her right pointer finger touching the dark circles under her eyes. When I tried to put my arms around her, she shrugged me off. She held whispered conversations over the phone with Dr. Herks.
After three days of this, we all got snarky with one another, saying things we didnât mean. I called Mom selfish, which she certainly wasnât. Martha snapped out one-liners as if she was shooting at moving targets. Mom told her to shut up and shape up, which worked for about an hour, and then Martha was at it again.
Robbie, normally the sunniest of us all, would cry and slam doors whenever he had to leave Kai. One door caught his wheelchair at a bad angle and tipped him over, which brought on even more tears and a trip to the doctorâs.
With Mom and Robbie at the doctorâs, I said something about being overprotective of him to Martha, who called me âa pony princess with neither the grace to be a princess nor the brains to be a pony.â I ran out of the barn rather than cry in front of her.
Martha found me an hour later in Agoraâs stall, dressed in the quarantine suit but without the mask, and apologized in her strange
No one wanted me or Mom or Martha or even Dr. Herks near their horses. Just in case.
We had a swarm of vets come from as far away as Connecticut to check out the boardersâ horses. Sneakily, Dr. Herks managed to keep them away from Agora and Kai. Iâm not sure what he told them. It had to be quite a spin on things because he couldnât fool them with his diagnosis of Puericentaurcephal-whatsis . Still, whatever he said seemed to work, and for the time being, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it quickly became clear that, sooner or laterâand probably soonerâour boarders were going to take their horses elsewhere. And their kids were going to go elsewhere for lessons as well. Which would mean the farm would go broke, and weâd have to move. And ⦠well, I couldnât bear thinking about the rest.
By Thursday, the first of the riders who didnât own their own horses began leaving. And Friday some of the owners came to collect their horses, including Patti and her dad, and she didnât even come over to say good-bye. My standing at the end of Agoraâs corridor in my quarantine suit, arms folded, mask on, might have had something to do with that, but she could have waved.
As far as the rest of them, well, as Mom said, âSome have been kind enough to let us know,â meaning theyâd phoned before showing up to get their horses or their tack. Others simply never showed up again. Like Maddi and her mom, who just sent someone else for their horse and stuff.
We were down ten riders and five horses by Friday evening, not counting our own.
Through the weekend, we waved good-bye to about half of the other riders. Worried about the remaining horses not getting ridden enough, Martha made a schedule, and Mom and I took turns on solo trail rides. We couldnât go together. Someone had to guard Kai. Someone besides Robbie, that is. He spent hours in Agoraâs stall, playing simple games with Kai, reading to him, sometimes just sitting there with his arm around Kaiâs neck, teaching him new words like brother , funny bone , carrots , and rain .
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
When we took the horses on the trail, they seemed more angry than upset, and startled at the smallest things. Bor almost unseated me, and in return, I was rough on his mouth, sawing with the reins, something I never did with him. Hera was so skittish, I had to turn her around and walk her home, letting her run free for about an hour in the paddock before conning her to go back into the barn, not with just one but two apples and a carrot, plus sugar as a sweetener.
Even I understood we couldnât go on like this.
I caught Mom staring at herself in the hallway mirror, her right pointer finger touching the dark circles under her eyes. When I tried to put my arms around her, she shrugged me off. She held whispered conversations over the phone with Dr. Herks.
After three days of this, we all got snarky with one another, saying things we didnât mean. I called Mom selfish, which she certainly wasnât. Martha snapped out one-liners as if she was shooting at moving targets. Mom told her to shut up and shape up, which worked for about an hour, and then Martha was at it again.
Robbie, normally the sunniest of us all, would cry and slam doors whenever he had to leave Kai. One door caught his wheelchair at a bad angle and tipped him over, which brought on even more tears and a trip to the doctorâs.
With Mom and Robbie at the doctorâs, I said something about being overprotective of him to Martha, who called me âa pony princess with neither the grace to be a princess nor the brains to be a pony.â I ran out of the barn rather than cry in front of her.
Martha found me an hour later in Agoraâs stall, dressed in the quarantine suit but without the mask, and apologized in her strange
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