Hi it's
Rosie yet again. I'm recovering from
possibly the biggest nightmare of my life!
I'd better set the scene for you.
Just imagine the yard, this was a week or two after Domino finished
her account. Cleo was still as bad tempered as ever,
nothing changes there really. The rain
hammered on the roof of my box. It was a
thoroughly disgusting day as far as weather goes, wind and driving rain.
I didn't want to work in this! I
looked out at the day and got a mouthful of rainwater. My spirits were at a very low ebb. I looked at the yard through the streaming
rain. Jinja was sensibly keeping well
out of the wet, Cleo was resuming her
daily banging, Dominic, Poppy and Domino were quiet as usual. As for the other horses they were behaving
normally. I couldn't have foreseen the
change that was to take place.
The day
started off normally enough, working in the school with Domino. She seemed to working Western style with
flying colours. Her Son
Dominic and I had taught her this style a few months
before. She seemed to really enjoy it
too. I know she hated the style to begin with, I must admit I hated it at
first. But Domino learned to put those
feelings behind her as I had done.
“Hey
Domino! You all right dear?” I asked.
Domino looked across the school at me.
“Yes, I'm
fine Rosie, thanks to you and Dominic
I'm learning to cope with a new thing.”
I quickened my pace to reach Domino and was checked back by my
rider. The instructor yelled at me.
“Rosie! You're meant to
walk!” I was caught completely off
guard.
“What
the hell's she shouting for? All I did
was jog! Surely it doesn't merit
this?” I thought aggrievedly. I wasn't in the best frame of mind anyway,
and, to be told to walk in that tone really got my goat! I was furious with the instructor! I made this plainly obvious by plunging
about, bucking, loping when I wasn't meant to, stopping in the middle of the
school etc. In short, disrupting events
as far as possible. My rider made some
inane comment that put the icing on one turbulent cake!
“I
think Rosie's angry.” I flipped
finally! Racing round the school I
looked for anything I could jump or
swerve round to give the bloody rider hell. I found a jump, took a wrong line and swerved
to jump at the last possible moment. I
jumped it, just. I stumbled on landing
fighting to regain my feet. Although I
was out to give the rider a scary time I didn't want to kill him. It wasn't in my nature to kill anything. I loped round the perimeter of the school
until I was forcibly stopped! With a
yell of rage I charged off through the open door of the school into the small
riding school. I cursed violently as I
found the door to the outside world closed.
I turned and ran back into the large school. My feeling of rage had turned to a sadness I
couldn't explain. I stopped, almost
sobbing with frustration. Domino came
closer to me and stretched her nose towards me.
She rubbed mine gently trying to calm me down.
“It's all
right Rosie. Don't cry, please don't
cry.” I looked at her.
“It's
usually the other way round Domino.” I
sniffed. Domino smiled,
“Yes, but the leader of the herd needs to
let go sometimes. Anyway, you helped me,
this is the least I can do.” she said. I recovered some semblance of composure. I sighed,
“Ah
well, I don't know what's getting me down.
weather, the instructor, that bloody human on my back, it's a bad day
really.” I replied. While Domino and I were chatting the
Instructor paced about, she was furious with us.
“I don't
know what's come over them.” she
said. Domino nudged me,
“I never
had the guts to do what you've done.”
she said.
“Plunging round the school making a nuisance of yourself is not hard
Domino.” I replied.
But don't
you think of what might happen?” she
inquired.
“When
you're feeling as fed up as I do then you don't.” I said.
The instructor told the riders to dismount.
“I don't
think these horses are going to work any more.”
she said. We were led out of the
school and put back in our boxes. I felt
better but not one hundred percent as yet.
I knew something was going to go drastically wrong very soon. I didn't know what this was however. My bad feeling had started when I saw some
unfamiliar humans hanging round the yard a few days before. This feeling was so strong that when one of
the aforementioned humans came to pat me I stayed at the back of my box.
I looked
out at the wind and rain.
“What a
fitting day for feeling pissed off.” I
thought. I shivered as another gust of
wind blasted into my box bringing it's helping of freezing rain. I clenched my teeth as the cold blast hit me
and seemed to drive it's way into my bone marrow. I tried to work my way into my rug. The large rug mentioned in the first two stories
had disappeared for some reason unknown to me.
I had an inadequate replacement.
It was a buckle on rug with very little insulation, I shivered violently.
“I'll
have a cold soon.” I thought. I called over to Jinja.
“Horrible weather isn't it Jinja.”
Jinja stopped munching straw and looked at me.
“Yes,
it's not working weather.” he
replied. I then realised that I hadn't
been given any polo mints! This is
criminal!
“I'll
plague the next human who comes along.
Humans always have Polo mints.” I
thought. So I did just that, I nuzzled
the pockets of the next human that came towards me. unfortunately the human I picked upon was one
of those rare type who do not like horses very much. I put my nose out to him with far too much
assertiveness. I received a hard punch
on my nose for my trouble. I snorted
with disgust and backed away from the human.
The human had a partner. This
partner seemed more sympathetic towards me, he said,
“Don't
hit her Heughey, she's probably looking for polos.” Heughey said,
“I don't
care if she's looking for gold, I don't like horses.” Heughey's partner replied,
“That's
still no reason to hit a horse.” he put
his hand into his jacket pocket and produced a packet I knew well. He unwrapped a couple of polos and held them
out to me. I was so surprised that I
hung back for a few seconds.
“Come
on,,,” The human looked at my name plate
screwed to my door. He started again,
“Come
on Rosie, here's what you were looking for.”
I took the polos with a slight feeling of disbelief. Heughey's partner stroked my nose gently.
“That's
better isn't it.” he said.
“Anything's better than a punch on the nose.” I thought.
I rubbed back against his sleeve.
“Good
girl Rosie.” he said. This form of address really annoyed me. How stupid can a human get? I'm middle aged, I'm not a girl any
more. I'd love to be younger than I am,
wouldn't everyone? But if it's not
possible, even with all those creams and stuff then at least grow old
recklessly. I was determined to enjoy my
life, I'm eighteen, a horse's life expectancy is thirty years. So I'm middle aged I think. Anyway, enough about age, I’m bored with
that. Back to the story however.
I looked
round the yard once more to see whether anything had changed. The weather had dried up and water lay in
puddles around the yard. The sky still
looked overcast and threatened more
rain. My gloomy foreboding hadn't
left me yet. I wondered what had stirred
me up. I thought back to the time I had
first got the feeling of doom. It had
started that day when I had woken. I had
felt unhappy, I didn't know why, perhaps, oh, forget that, it's nothing, really
nothing, honest. Oh all right, I'll tell
you. You remember those humans I said
had given me a bad feeling. The One that
had tried to pat me had a cigarette. I
don't like smoking and I am frightened of fire.
This fear is inbred in all animals.
I felt so sure that these humans would cause some type of fire. They looked ordinary enough. One had a blue raincoat and a red scarf. The other wore a leather jacket. I suppose it was the way they acted. Shifty, really uninterested in the horses,
all they wanted to see was the boxes. My
fear was that they would set light to something. I didn't realise how near to the events I
was. I didn't feel right with those
people, I can't explain it. I watched
Heughey and his partner walk away. I
looked at my water bucket thinking deeply.
You may ask why when there is a great disaster on the way I always look
into the water in my bucket? The reason is not that simple. I suppose I need something to look at while
I’m thinking. I thought deeply about
those people and the human with the cigarette especially. What were they doing? Why were they at a riding stable if they
don't want to see horses? Didn't the
Manageress notice them? I didn't know,
but I had an idea. I decided to watch
the entrance to the yard as much as possible.
I kept an eye on the entrance to the yard all that day, and the next,
and the next, and the one after that. At
night I couldn't sleep, I would wake at any noise. I felt worse with every day that passed. I began to think to myself,
“Why
are you doing this Rosie? Nothing's
going to happen.” I told myself. But I couldn't get the image of those people
out of my mind.
“I'll
be in the same situation as Domino was when she went to the vet's after Cleo
had attacked her. I'll be dreading their
intrusion into my thoughts.” I
thought. I stamped about trying to keep
myself awake. I felt sleep creeping up
on me. Comment had been flying about the
yard. I had told the other horses about
my fears but to no great affect. Domino
and Jingle as usual were the horses who listened. But there were the others. Figaro, Natasha, Even Jinja didn't understand
my fears. In desperation I turned to the
yard's most notorious occupant, yes I turned to Cleo. She gave me a hard stare, spat on the ground
and turned her back on me. You can't
please everyone. So my fears were
largely unheard. It was up to three
horses to guard a yard containing more than fifteen. Jingle and Domino made it their duty to check
every human who passed through the barn where they lived. When I made a round of the horses one day
when Dominic made comment about my state.
“You
haven't slept for days Rosie.” he
said. His adopted sister Poppy added,
“You're
looking awful.” I knew this, it was obvious to me. My eyes felt like sandpaper, my legs were
leaden, and my appetite for food was reduced.
The lads noticed this and reported it to the Manageress. She came round one afternoon to check me
over. She felt my legs, yanked my mouth open to look at my tongue and looked into my eyes. Hell!
what happened to the vet? Well,
the Manageress didn't find anything wrong, she wouldn't, my problems were
psychological. I couldn't sleep, not
even when I had the other horses looking out for those humans. My health began to really get affected. I was worrying constantly about what those
men might do. I developed the cold I
forecast and to add insult to injury a cough flew into the act. I had never been ill in my life before, is this what stress does to a
horse? I began to feel very sick. The
Manageress was becoming concerned. I
heard her say once.
“I think
Rosie's going down, she'll be dead within a few weeks.” I thought,
“We
might all be dead within a few hours.” I
spoke this last thought out loud. It
stirred a reaction in Jinja.
“You mean
to say this is real Rosie?” he asked.
“Yes
Jinja I believe it is.” I replied. Jinja looked at me with real concern.
“I
don't want you to die Rosie.” he
said. That night I fell asleep with the
help of a tranquillizer.
I was
woken by a strange sound, a crackling sound like breaking branches. I looked round me at the empty loose
box. All was dark, all normal. I could still hear the distant crackling
sound. Then I smelt something else other
than straw.. Smoke? It can't be, can it? My fears were realised! The human had come back and had set light to something! What though?
Where? Was anyone in danger? What should I do? My fear was getting almost too much to bare. I swallowed hard and tried to concentrate.
“Get out
of your box Rosie.” I told myself. My legs wouldn't move, I forced them to move, to carry me over to my
door. The smoke was thick in my box now,
breathing was becoming impossible. I
stuck my head out over the half door and breathed clean air. I opened my door and walked out into the
yard. It was dark, really dark. Suddenly I saw a light! I stared up at the light, it was
flickering...
There
was an enormous explosion! Fire came
leaping out at me from the roof space above my box! Flames leapt from the roof! I squealed in terror and ran for my
life. Jinja and the other horses were
panicking, kicking franticly at their box doors in an attempt to get out. I stopped half way down the yard.
“I
can't leave my friends. They'll
die!” I thought numbly. I can't say for sure what happened next. All I know is What I was told after that
night of terror. Apparently I came to
each box in turn and kicked down the door.
All the horses then walked off down the yard. There was a lot of yelling and some grown
horses even cried as they watched their homes burning. The roof fire had engulfed the whole block by
now. The flames were so large they had
leaped to the other buildings. The fire
brigade turned up and started putting the fire out. But the damage had been done, The stables were written off. I looked at the remains of my box. The box had disappeared and the empty yard
stretched away in front of me. The
office was destroyed, the tack rooms were destroyed, the riding school was all
that was left. Fortunately no horses
died that night. Some of them including
me had slightly singed manes and coats apart from that we were unscathed. The Manageress hadn't noticed the commotion
until the evacuation of the horses was well under way. She had come out of her house, seen the
flames and phoned the fire brigade. She
seemed very cool about the whole thing.
I knew she would be very upset when the adrenalin rush died down. But there was one good thing, no horses died.
The
rain came in the early hours.
“Too
late for us.” Jinja observed.
“Tell
me about it.” Natasha replied. Cleo spat on the ground.
“Bastards!” she fumed. Natasha nudged her.
“That
spitting is a disgusting habit Cleo.”
she remarked. I looked round the
devastated yard. The fire brigade had
cleared all the burned timber away leaving great expanses of concrete. This was a depressing sight. Twenty years of the Manageress's work,
eighteen of my life spent here. Now all
gone in a matter of hours, I felt sick.
“What
are you going to do now Rosie?” Cleo
asked spitefully. She sniggered,
“Look
into your water bucket?” she added. Natasha kicked her hard on the backside. She screamed at Cleo,
“Leave
Rosie alone! Remember it was she who
rescued us! I remember her kicking your
door down to release you!” I looked at
Natasha.
“Thanks.” I said. My real feelings were too complex to explain
in words, Natasha knew this. I walked
round the yard for a long time thinking deeply.
I thought of my first days in the yard, of the year of terror, of
Domino's and Cleo's foals, of my dread of this event. I then had a funny thought. What if I was asked to identify humans? That would be fun, but I doubted they would
ask me. I knew then and I know now that
I'll never forget their faces, not as long as I live. My walk ended back where it had begun. At the old entrance to the yard. The Manageress was doing much the same
thing. She put her arm round my neck as
she passed me. We walked on
together. As the yard's oldest occupant
I think this was rather fitting for me really.
I kept my head down so she could keep abreast of me. Suddenly the Manageress hopped onto my back
and we walked on in silence. She knew I
wouldn't go charging off. I plodded
round at my usual slow pace. I didn't
stop until we had completed a circuit of the yard. Then I came to a stop and the Manageress
dismounted.
“Thanks
Rosie.” she said sadly. Then the realisation hit her that even though
she had lost all documents and wooden buildings in the fire, all horses had
survived. The Manageress had recently
had one conversation with us. She
decided to have another one, to find out what went on during the fire. She approached me. The Manageress patted my neck.
“Rosie,
can I have a chat?” she asked. I put my ear down to her and listened
intently.
“What
happened during the fire?” she
whispered. I tried to tell her that I
had smelt the smoke and had battered down my door. You know the rest. When I had finished it looked like the
Manageress had not understood me. I was
really frustrated about this.
“Why
can't we have something like a bablefish like they do on Hitch Hiker's Guide to
the Galaxy?” the Manageress asked. I laughed, I knew this invention. The Bablefish was an organism that Douglas
Adams had invented, you put it in your ear to translate foreign languages. I told the other horses about The bablefish.
“Sounds
a decent invention.” Jinja
remarked. The Manageress looked at
us. She approached Cleo.
“Who
rescued you.” she asked. Cleo looked at me spitefully and stamped her
foot. The Manageress said,
“So Rosie
rescued you, you don't like that then Cleo?”
she asked. Cleo butted at the
Manageress's shoulder.
“I
thought not.” the Manageress said. She came over to me and put her arms round my
neck. I put my head down to her so she
could hug me properly. I knew that was
what she wanted to do. All humans try
it, I don't let them all do it.
“Thanks
Rosie, you've saved my stock.” she
said. I rubbed my nose against her
cheek. I sighed heavily letting myself
go totally.
“I'm
sorry.” I said. The Manageress seemed to understand my
sadness.
“You
couldn't have saved my stables.” she
said. She suddenly had a vision of me
holding a hose in my teeth directing the water on the stables. The hilarity of the thought started her
laughing.
“Just
imagine you holding a hose Rosie!” the
Manageress said. I laid my head on her shoulder shaking with
laughter. I recovered from my paroxysm
and stood upright.
“I
suppose I could start again and Rebuild
my Stables.” The Manageress said. I felt so sorry for her, so upset, so
dreadful.
While
there was unlimited damage to the buildings on the site of the riding school
the horses and other animals were saved.
Some members of the herd were saying that I had saved them single
handed. I couldn't take this, I felt like I think a rock band feels at the
beginning of a concert. The adulation
and praise got too much for me. I tried
to talk this through with Domino.
“I
understand what you're driving at Rosie.
I'll try to stop the horses from mobbing you. But you must understand that you've become a
celebrity overnight. You cannot stop
horses from knowing this. Rosie, you
saved the occupants of the yard. Don't
you realise what you've done?” Domino
asked.
“Yes, I
didn't think about it though.” Domino
looked steadily at me.
“I know
you didn't. I know you were just doing
what you felt was right. How right you
were Rosie.”
“Cleo
doesn't think so.” I said. Domino showed a sudden rush of venom that
surprised me.
“Cleo can
go to hell!” she said harshly.
“Well
yeah, I know Domino but she still doesn't like it.” I said again.
Domino said,
“Cleo
doesn't like the fact that you did what you did. She wouldn't have done what you did.”
We were
stabled in the indoor riding school until the other riding schools could be
notified of our problem. Meanwhile the
local Police had started their investigation into the fire and scoured the site
for anything that might lead them to the arsonists. I knew who the arsonists were, or I thought I
did.
We didn't
sleep and were still lively in the morning.
Dominic and Poppy followed me about all day asking questions.
“Were
you frightened?” or,
“Were you burnt at all?” or,
“Did you
see the people who did this?” I didn't
answer any of these and was finally rescued by Domino.
“Dominic! Poppy! Rosie's under enough pressure as it is! Who do you think you are? Paparazzi?”
she asked angrily. Dominic and
Poppy slunk away.
“Thanks
Domino, thanks very much.” I said with
relief.
“You
don't need those two badgering you Rosie.”
she said.
In time
the stables were re-built in brick, Non-combustible brick. Now I am recovering in my new box. I am known as a heroin by horses far and
wide. I find it hard to cope with
sometimes. Most of the re-building was
paid for by donations and a large slice of cash from the National Lottery,
whatever that is. All the lost documents
were re-drawn up and we were fully operational within three months of the
fire. Among new acquisitions the
Manageress took ownership of a computer.
We're now on the Internet, whatever an Internet is. The Records are stored in this computer in a
brick built office.
The fire
setters were caught five weeks after the fire.
A police van drew up in the car park and two Police officers came into
the yard. They held two men with
handcuffs. I recognised those men
instantly. I whinnied at the officers.
“I think that's all the proof we need.” one said.
“You mean
the horse recognised us?” one man asked.
“Yes.” the other officer
said. With that the officers led the men
away having taken statements from the Lads and the Manageress. It appears my statement was all they needed.
The men
were sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay ten thousand pounds in
compensation to the Manageress.
Well,
that's it. It's a bit of a nightmare
don't you agree? I don't want to be a
heroin ever again.
I, MARTIN WILSHER, here by assert and give notice of
my right under section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be
identified as the author of the foregoing article.
© Copyright Martin Wilsher 1998-2000
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