Page 42 of His Tenth Dance

Mission moved to do that, and Kristie took a breath to calm herself even further. Horses couldfeelenergy, and she wanted Lady to read nothing but a calm, powerful, caring presence from her.

The horse stood in the center of the stall, trembling. Her eyes were too wide and rimmed with a little bit of white. That didn’t settle Kristie’s worry. Lady was one of the most beautiful horses Kristie had ever laid eyes on, and it felt like a punch to the chest to see her like this—hurting and afraid and unable to stand on her own.

Gloria and Mission had put her front leg in a sling, with the knee resting there and the hoof pointed toward the back. Other than that, she didn’t look injured, and Kristie stepped over to her with her palm forward.

Lady’s nostrils flared and her ears twitched, but she didn’t move, as she’d been tied in cross ties.

“Hey, Lady,” Kristie said in a calm, even voice. “Remember me? We’re friends.”

She placed her hand on the long bridge of the horse’s nose, glad when Lady pressed into it. She ran that hand up and over Lady’s head, down both sides of her neck and over the left shoulder, simply feeling and connecting to the animal.

“I put a blanket on her,” Gloria said. “Just to keep her warm.”

Kristie nodded. “It’s okay,” she said, though she really would rather analyze a horse’s injuries without any interference. “Heard you got spooked by some snakes,” she said, smiling at Lady.

The horse blinked, but her eyes didn’t soften; her anxiety remained.

Kristie turned and gathered all of her equipment closer to the right front side of the horse. Since she didn’t have to work behind Lady, she wasn’t worried about getting kicked or hurt.

She met Mission’s eyes, and she didn’t ask before he moved to Lady’s left shoulder and put one quiet, firm hand against her neck. His expression had been carved from stone, drawn in that way that Kristie had learned meant he was trying not to feel too much.

Gloria simply stayed out of the way and said nothing.

“All right, Lady,” Kristie said. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

She knelt down on the right side and looked at her injured leg. Sweat, dirt, and blood streaked the horse’s rich brown and white coat, starting at about the knee and moving down and over the hoof.

Kristie reached to unzip her backpack, which she did slowly, so as to not startle anyone with the noise. She pulled out the spotlight and set it up so she could see better. She opened her case and pulled out her cleaning supplies.

“I’m going to clean and flush this to see what I’ve got.”

“Okay,” Gloria said, while Mission grunted.

Kristie pulled on a pair of gloves and worked quickly and efficiently from there, noting that Lady’s shoe was completely gone. She didn’t look up as she asked, “Did either of you take her shoe off?”

“No,” Mission and Gloria said together.

“She got into something, then,” Kristie said.

“She has one tiny scratch along her chest,” Gloria said. “Clyde found her by the wood pile.”

Kristie immediately thought of anything sharp that could be near a wood pile, and an ax or a hatchet came to mind. Lady would have had to step on that exactly right—or exactly wrong—and perhaps she had.

With everything clean, Kristie could easily see the wound, and it wasn’t good. She reached for a syringe and rattled through her medications to find the numbing agent.

“I’m going to numb this,” she said. “I can’t stitch it. There’s too much movement and risk of trapping bacteria inside.”

“What do you see?” Gloria asked.

“She’s got a deep laceration,” Kristie said, keeping her voice low, even, matter-of-fact. “It went into the laminae.”

She glanced over at Gloria, who exhaled a slow breath, her eyes narrowing slightly. Mission didn’t move at all.

Kristie focused back on the hoof. “The laminae connect the hoof wall to the internal structures. They’re too delicate to stitch, and the risk of infection is huge. When they’re injured like this, it can go south really fast.”

“How fast?” Mission asked.

Kristie hesitated—not because she didn’t know the answer to his question, but because this horse mattered. To the farm, sure, but also to Molly. To Hunter. To Mission. And likely to a whole tangle of kids who came through Pony Power and found their courage from seeing Molly sitting on Lady’s back.

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