The Blessings of the Animals: A Novel - By Katrina Kittle Page 0,119

me thought, She won’t be able to load him and she’ll say “never mind” and let me keep him. But I knew that was an impossible outcome. The battle was painful to watch.

He got as nasty as I’d ever seen him, and through it all Ginger never raised her voice or got mean. I had to admire her grace in the face of this tantrum. His fight went on for about ten hideous minutes before I watched Ginger use the tactic I’d seen my parents use on countless occasions and that always worked: when he pulled backward, she urged him to keep going backward. She tapped his chest and guided him backward all over my yard, all the way around the house. The idea was that if the horse insisted on pulling away, you made him move away from you until he was weary of it, until he was more than happy to take a step forward.

She backed him up, still speaking in a soothing, patient voice, far longer than I would’ve had the energy to keep it up.

When she backed him up to the trailer, then turned him toward his door, I could hardly believe that he still reared up and yanked her off balance rather than loading.

She paused a moment, panting. Then she backed him up some more. She walked him backward all the way down to the road and up the driveway.

When she brought him again to his trailer door, he wheeled around and kicked the side of the trailer, leaving hoofprints in the side. A horse inside whinnied.

She managed to keep hold of him, but I feared for a moment he’d drag her.

I hated this. I couldn’t stand a minute more of it.

“Ginger,” I said.

She hadn’t asked me to help her. Two people with a lead rope around his butt could probably get him on that trailer, but I admired that this wasn’t her style. I also knew that she was a smart woman—she knew I didn’t want him to leave, so she was probably not asking me to help out of respect for me. Unlike Binky asking me to carry his damn computer.

She turned to me, out of breath. Both she and the horse trembled with exhaustion. Foamy sweat flecked Moonshot’s neck and chest.

“Bring him back to his paddock,” I said. “I’ll help you after you both take a breather.”

She didn’t speak, but she did as I asked.

I brought her a bottle of water and draped a cooling sheet over Moonshot so he wouldn’t get chilled in the wintry air. “I want to show you something,” I said. I pulled his tail to the side and began running my fingers through the thick hair. “This relaxes him. He loves this.”

Ginger’s eyes widened and her lips parted. “My . . . my father did that. He always did that with his horses.”

I invited her to take my place. She did, and Moonshot visibly softened his body language as she stroked his tail.

When she went to check on the other horses in the trailer, I leaned my forehead against Moonshot’s. “All right, my friend. Enough of this silliness. This is really happening, and we have to stop pretending.”

He ground his teeth, amplified through our touching skulls.

When Ginger returned, she said with forced cheer, “Okay. Round two.”

“I’ll lead him if you like.”

Her smile faltered. “But I need to be able to handle him without you around.”

“I think,” I said, “I think once he’s away from here, he’ll be different.”

She paused, then nodded. Moonshot did his absurd high-stepping again as I led him to the yard. When we got to the trailer, he followed me on. Just like that. I felt like Judas.

Ginger closed the door behind us. I took his lead rope and tied it to the ring in the wall. A giant pile of clover hay lay before him.

He turned his head and before I could blink, he took my forearm in his mouth. He didn’t bite, he didn’t exert any pressure—he just held my arm in his teeth. I stroked his forehead with my other hand, leaning forward to kiss that crescent moon. “I know,” I whispered. “We’re not the same as we were that day, are we?”

He released my arm and clipped me on the chin with his muzzle. “Ow!” I rubbed my chin.

I leaned my forehead against his again. “Go and be brilliant, my friend. Promise?”

He began to munch his hay.

After Ginger had hauled that horse trailer away, I sat down on the cold,