Educated Equine (continued)

Kim had no idea how long she lay there, but when she came to, she still had waves of pain pulsing through her chest, her breath coming in gasps. The truck was still moving. The bit and blindfold were still in place and she tried to get up, but fell back. She gave a deep sigh and stretched her head out in the straw. She remained still, but alert to the sounds around her. Two hours passed by her count before the truck came to a stop. She struggled up, but only stood with her head hanging low when the door opened and she heard a man come in. Without a word he grabbed her bridle and yanked her head around. She was knocked off balance, but did not fight when she recovered. She knew she was in trouble. She let herself be led into a large building that echoed with her footsteps, and as she followed the man into a turn, she felt the pressure release from her reins and stood there, with head hanging low. "Ready, Jerry?" and suddenly, the blindfold came off. Her head shot up in surprise as the light rendered her blind for a few minutes. When her eye sight recovered, she looked around. She saw a figure standing not five feet away from her, and when she recognized him, anger flared up inside her. It was the boy that had been so unfriendly to her at school. She filled up to let all the insults she could come up with flow out, but was silenced by the bridle. She decided to show him how she felt. She flattened her ears, lowered her head and bared her teeth. She charged and he ran. He dashed through the stall door and his friend pointed a pitchfork at her. She had to brake hard, practically sitting on her haunches, but she still did not manage to avoid the sharp points. She felt them dig into her chest as she screamed and reared to a stop. Backing up as fast as she could, she neglected to notice to dangling reins, and her left fore got tangled up in them. Panicking, she tried to fight her leg free, but ended up falling over on her side. Immediately, she got up, snorting and rolling her eyes in pain and fear. The door clanged shut. She stood trembling in the corner, blood running from her puncture wounds, eying the three men that stood laughing at her from the bars of the stall. One of them spoke up. "Well, well, welcome to the rest of your life! What do you have to say to that, hum? Oh, right. You can't, because of the bridle...." The others laughed and left. Kim shivered herself to sleep, a tear rolling down her sweat streaked cheek.

She learned soon enough what the men had in store for her. They were selling her as an attraction. They would load a small stadium with spectators and carry on a "conversation" with her, to the astonishment of the public. The first performance was rocky, but she learned that her treatment would be improved SLIGHTLY depending on how much money they made and how she behaved. The first time, she was yanked into the arena and Jerry removed the bridle. She tried to escape as he explained to the crowd what they were about to witness, but she couldn't, because they had put a halter and lead rope on her during her sleep. So she stood angrily in the ring and glared at the man. Jerry turned around and said "So Kim, how are you today?" She kept silent. He gave a jerk on the halter, and she threw her head up. He repeated the question. "You should know." She hissed. The crowd gasped. "Why do you say that?" he said, giving her a warning look. Once again, she clammed up and he jerked the halter. "Well, let's see, first I woke up in pain to the pitchfork wounds you and your damned goons inflicted on me yesterday, after you KIDNAPPED me!! Then, I found precisely twelve grains of oats for breakfast. I haven't been groomed in several days, and you haven't washed off the dried sweat on me from yesterday. How's that for an answer?!?" she snapped. Completely taken aback, all the man could do was to turn to the audience and laugh. "Ha ha ha! Good one!" Then he encouraged a member of the audience to ask her a question to prove to them that it was not a rehearsed act. "Where are you from?" someone piped up. "Actually, I'm from a little town on the south shore of Montreal." "Then what are you doing here?" asked the same person "I was kidnapped and abused, as I mentioned. Don't believe me? Look at my chest and see if you can find where the pitchfork hit. If you can't find it, then you can call me a liar, but if you do, then do me a favor? CALL THE COPS!!!!!" and before Jerry could stop her, she trotted over to the man and let him examine her. As Jerry tried to get to the dangling lead rope, she kept swivelling around so that he was behind her all the time, right in kicking range. "She tells the truth! There are four puncture marks right in the middle of her chest!" His finger touched the skin beside them and Kim ground her teeth and inhaled with the pain. That was the opportunity he needed. Jerry slipped by her haunches and grabbed the lead rope. There came a rising murmur from the crowd and Jerry had to slip the bridle on in a hurry and, using a whip, (which made several bleeding lacerations on her hocks and cannons) haul her out of there before the crowd had left the building. "Pack it up, Derek. We've got to go! The little nag snitched on us!" yelled Jerry and they had loaded her in the trailer before she could react.

Kim also learned that when she was ridden by anyone, their main motive seemed to be speed. The first time, she managed to stall the "lesson" by backing up and swivelling away from Marge as she tried to put her foot in the stirrup. But what Kim did not realize that Marge actually had a plan. She managed to maneuver Kim into a corner, so that she could not back up or side-step away from her. Not realizing where she was going, Kim slammed into the railing, and tried to back up, only to be blocked again. Marge snickered and swung up. She then yanked on the reins, causing Kim to back up and rear up into a right-hand turn to avoid the railings. She was then kicked by a sharply spurred heel into a full gallop, tearing across the ring at breakneck speed, only to be yanked into a turn at the last minute. Always accustomed to western pleasure training, she was being forced into reining, with her mouth open and her chin touching her neck as she was demanded to stop. Her mouth had developed several very painful sores as a result of this and wearing a bit that was too small. Marge would ride her this way for hours, then dismount, remove the saddle and yank her back to her stall without grooming, washing or walking her cool. Kim would be left to walk herself cool in her stall, he breath coming in short, wheezing gasps as she tried to regain control of herself.

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