The Horse By The Picket Fence

Chapter 11

Teddy poked my rib, again.

"Go away," I mutter snuggling in the hay.

Teddy rolls his eyes and pokes again.

"Teddy," I say.

"What?"

"STOP!"

Teddy grumbles something but does not go away.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I say opening one eye.

"The walker is being installed today and they want to know where to put it."

I pause for a moment and think.

"It took that long to make an appointment?"

"Yeah, they heard my complaints believe me."

Teddy climbs down and strokes Ace's face. I close my eyes again snuggling in with the hay wich poked me in the back.

"Ow," I mutter sitting up.

"Come on he will be here in 20 minutes."

I climb down and shot Teddy and glare before walking outside. The grass is still wet from the night before, I open the back door to the house walking inside. I go to my room, taking a shower and getting ready, I walk back out to the barn. Teddy is still cooing to Ace who does not seem to mind. I roll my eyes and stroke Queenie's face. She nickers and nibbles at my hand for a treat, I pull one from the bag and feed it to her.

"I am going to get Prince some ear plugs and a bonnet for storms."

"He will be fine," Teddy says looking at me, his hands still running through Ace's forelock.

"You didn't see him last night, he will hurt himself."

Teddy grumbles something and drops the topic. A little while later the man comes to install the walker. Teddy had already paid for it but had not selected a date. It bothers me because it sounds like something I would do.

We walk out back and look for a place to put the walker. We find a flat spot near the barn and the man marks it. He continues to work and we go back inside and drink our coffee.

***

Prince is now 18 months, his legs have grown out his coat black and shiny. He whinnies to Ace who has gelded a few months ago. We had been handling him able to get a bit in his mouth and his silks on. Soon he did not even flinch at the foreign objects that seemed like nothing new to him now. Teddy flipped the page of his newspaper and looked up at me.

"Have you thought of a trainer?"

I paused setting my coffee on the table looking at Teddy.

"Do you think we should go with Brian?"

"He did train King, but I heard he has a lot of horses at the moment."

I nodded, on Fridays Teddy would go to his favorite bar with all of the jockeys and hear the latest news.

"We could drop by for a visit."

"Unannounced?"

"He knows me."

Teddy nods and looks back at the paper. I finish my coffee and go get ready, throwing on a black shirt and some shorts. I had hired a groom and I saw him walking Prince to the walker. Ace was waiting patiently inside. Prince tugged on his lead rope trying to get closer to Ace. The groom held him aback and walked him inside closing the gate and starting the machine. I walked back to the kitchen, Teddy had keys in his hand and we left the house locking the door behind us.

I plugged Brian's address in the GPS and we drove listening to the radio. Teddy rolled down the windows and the breeze filled the car. We turned down a long gravel driveway and Teddy rolled up the windows. Brian's large training space was full of walkers, paddocks, barns, and arenas. Not to mention his large training track. We park and walk over to the track to see Brian stop the stopwatch on a horse.

"THAT WAS SLOW JERRY!"

"Jesus," Teddy mutters and I laugh.

"Brian!" I say my arms outstretched.

Brain turns quickly to look at me.

"Sam?"

Before I can say anything my hug was returned, I hear Teddy laugh. Brian releases me his eyes scan my face, a large smile spreads on his.

"It has been so long Sam."

"It has," I said agreeing.

"How have you been?"

"I have a new project if you know what I mean, are you busy?"

Brian grins, "Not at all, follow me."

Brian hops in the golf cart and I sit next to him Teddy hoping in the back.

"So tell me about this project," Brian says keeping his eyes on the road.

I smile and tell him about Prince Brian nods and puts in his input. We park and I continue to talk.

"He has a long stride, a good head on his shoulders, really fast in the paddock-"

"Let me see a picture," Brian says cutting me off.

I nod and pull out my phone, Brain opens the door and we sit in his office. I slid it over and Brian looks at the picture of Prince running, his legs outstretched his head forward. Brian nods and looks up at me.

"Bring him here tomorrow, I want to see him in person."

"Thanks, Brian," I say putting my hand out for a handshake.

He takes it and Teddy and I leave.

"That went well," I say to Teddy who nods.

"Yeah, he took the idea."

We hop in the truck and drive back to the barn knowing we were heading in the right direction.

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Hello everyone! We have finally met Brian, thoughts? Please vote and comment so I know what you thought. Thanks
~Luckypaws13