Broken [In Revision 2023]

Chapter Six - Horsing Around (New 2023)

Caleb jogged to Jasmine's truck, his body buzzing with the excitement of meeting an old friend. People changed, but animals remained loyal to those that showed them compassion.

"Most people are not this excited to come to the barn with me." Jazz smiled as she stowed her hat and boot bag in the back of the cab. Her casual clothes swapped to a tight-fitting polo shirt and two-tone breeches that accentuated her long legs.

Caleb shrugged and clicked his seatbelt. He leaned close to the window as she took the main road back to the town. The streets were heaving with people of all ages, an amalgamation of tourists and locals all vying for seats in the best eateries on Mainstreet. They drove straight over the rails and climbed up the hill to the blanket of green.

He couldn't help but suck in a breath as they entered the gates. The barns dwarfed the truck, twice or three times the size of the ones at the Raven Valley Stud. A track led off the main with a sign to the rehabilitation centre and cross-country course. They followed the well-maintained road to the expanse of asphalt designated for 'truck parking only-no trailers.' Two Olympic-sized arenas backed onto the parking lot, one empty and freshly levelled, the other hosting a course of show jumps at just over a metre high. Two horse-walkers buzzed in the shade of the closest barn, a horse in every one of the 12 slots.

Jazz sat on the backseat to swap her shoes for tall leather boots. They hugged her slender calves. She polished them lightly with a microfibre cloth. "That's the indoor arena," She pointed to the barn to the left of the parking lot, "It's big enough for a full course of jumps and has two viewing galleries." She locked the truck and hurried to catch up to Caleb.

"Wow." Caleb walked faster, his head craning to take it all in. "I can see why you moved the horses up here." He stopped at the edge of the covered round pens. "We'd give anything to have something as awesome as this in Raven's Valley."

"Come on, I'll take you to the stables." Jazz adjusted the hat bag on her shoulder.

Nobody noticed Caleb, his eyes on stalks as he tried to take in the vastness of the horse barn. Four rows of stables, four wash bays, two solarium stalls and eight grooming stalls fit neatly inside the structure. Large fans and misters worked hard to keep the barn cool. The outer stables had windows; a few horses dosed with their heads resting on the wooden frame.

"Here we are," Jazz pulled two headcollars from neighbouring stables, and she handed the smaller one to Caleb.

The skin on the back of Caleb's neck burned as they walked out of the end door and onto the paddock tracks. Compacted dirt crunched a little underfoot as they walked amongst the impossibly green individual paddocks. Most of the horses stood in the shade provided by either a wooden shelter or a cluster of trees.

Freckles' ears twitched at the sound of their footsteps. He looked up from the grass and whinnied. His grey muzzle stained green. He called again. Arthritis hampered his start and altered his gait, but he managed a short canter to the gate. He searched Jazz for any treats and snorted at finding none.

Caleb offered the pony the back of his hand to sniff. The pony's whiskers tickled his skin. He ducked under the fence and slipped the headcollar over Freckles' head. "Remember me?" he whispered.

"Are you okay to walk him back to the barn, or do you want to wait for me to get back with Teak?" Jazz had already started walking up the track towards the paddocks with the longer grass.

"I'm happy to walk him back," Caleb asked the pony to stand as he closed the gate to the paddock behind him. The horse whinnied for Jazz. "She's not gone far, she'll be back in a second, let's go to the shade and cool off, I'm not used to this heat." The pony gave him a little nudge with his nose.