Sarah's Gift Explained
By: Esrelda Snape
Summary:
Sarah Whitney of Horseland is becoming well known far and wide for her gift with horses. This is Scarlet's memory of what happened to make her beloved rider so ademate about saving horses. (Warning this story is rated M for language, and descriptions of Animal abuse. It is based on something that I personally experienced that has traumatized me to the point where I still haven't found the will to return to the saddle. The horrific memory will stick in my head for as long as I live and this is my way of easing some of my mental anguish over a situation that I was regrettably unable to help or prevent. That said if this kind of thing bother's you as much as it bothers me, then please don't take offence. It is just my way of venting my anger and pain.)
A/N This is my first oneshot, that I decided to write after dealing with a particularly traumatic event this week. It shook me to my very soul and left me in a deeper state of depression that I was already in due to other matters. For that reason I've chosen to share this little fic with you to sort of ease my pain. This Story is dedicated to the memory of a good horse who was cursed with a very bad owner. May the horse rest in peace and enjoy an eternity of galloping through the lush forever green fields of heaven, and may his ex-owner rot in Hell. }:-(
Scarlet and the other horses of Horseland were grazing peacefully in the morning sunshine as a large trailer with a neighing horse came driving into the stable yard. Scarlet recognized the trailer emeadiatly and trotted up to the fence to watch as a red headed woman stepped out of the driver's seat and walked around to the back of the trailer to release the horse within.
She watched as Sarah her husband Will Taggard walked out of the barn followed closely by their friends, who were now all employed in various fields in the equestrian world. Molly and her husband Baily Handler joined the others as the red head stepped toward them and greeted them all warmly.
Sarah, Will, Baily, Molly it's good to see you all again," she said as she stepped forward and handed Molly and Sarah the horses Medical records and other important information. "He's healthy as a horse, now, and ready for your gentle hand Sarah. Do your best with him and I'll work on finding him a forever home with someone who will give him the love that he deserves," said Grace Jimenez as she released the horse from the trailer.
"Don't worry Grace, I won't give up until he's ready to be placed into a new home," said Sarah as she took the lead rope of the sorrel stallion and led him into the barn. Scarlet whinnied shrilly in greeting to the new horse and tossed her head as he neighed back with his ears pricked making the women laugh.
"Scarlet, don't you ever get tired of your rider working with other horses instead of lavishing all of her attention onto you," asked Chili?
"No, it doesn't bother me at all, besides she's helping my dame's owner save another life. It has been their mission ever since the first time that I met Sarah. Even though it's been years since that horrible day, Sarah, Grace , and I still remember it as if it were only yesterday," snorted Scarlet shaking her head as she watched the red head unload a familiar black Arabian mare with streaks of gray in her long flowing mane.
Grace led Serenity up to the pasture gate and smiled as the two mares greeted each other happily. "I knew that you'd be happy to see your old mom again," she said as she fed Scarlet an apple and then led the old black mare into the field and removed her halter so that she could relax. "Have fun visiting your little girl Serenity, she said as the mare nuzzled her hand before trotting over to her daughter and her friends.
"Scarlet, darling," nickered Serenity softly as she neared the other horses.
"Mother, it's wonderful to see you again, although I do wish that it were under better circumstances," said Scarlet as she nuzzled her mother's face affectionately.
"You're right dear, but at least our mistresses have been able to save many unfortunate horses together since that day."
"Don't be rude Scarlet Darling, who are your lovely friends," asked Serenity with a graceful toss of her head?
"Oh, please forgive my rudeness everyone; this is my mother Lady Serenity of Yellow Rose Farms. Mother may I introduce my mate Jimber, and you're grand foals Onyx and Goldie? These are our friends Chili, Pepper, Aztec, Calypso, and Sunburst," said Scarlet as each horse lowered their heads respectfully in greeting.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, dears," said Serenity as she yawned sleepily.
"Oh, my I'm so sorry, the trailer ride tired me out," said Serenity as she eyed the large patch of shade under the willow tree in the center of the pasture.
"Don't worry about it mother. Onyx, Goldie, why don't you both show your grandmother where the softest patch of shaded grass is so that she can take a little nap," said Scarlet as her twin children came trotting over?
"Yes, mama," said the twins in unison. "Come with us Granny, we'll show you the best nap spot," they said together.
"So scarlet, are you going to tell us the story about what happened to make Sarah want to help horses so much," asked Pepper impatiently?
"I was getting to it, hold your oat bag," said Scarlet as she watched her elderly mother settle herself under the shade of the tree. "Anyway, it All started when I was three years old. My mother's rider had just completed my training, and had searched for a long time for the right person to give me that forever home," reminisced Scarlet as the memories flooded back.
(_) Yellow Rose Farms ten years in the past (_)
Scarlet and her mother were both eating in the lush pastures of Yellow Rose Farms as they waited for their beloved owner to call them in for dinner with her familiar shrill whistle. When they finally heard the familiar whistle they both raised their heads and galloped fast as they could down to the personal barn that the horses that belonged to their owner kept them housed in.
The back gate of the barn was opened wide to allow them all to enter and they all went directly into their stalls and dug into their evening grain and hay that was waiting for them. Scarlet and Serenity were the only horses to look out of their windows into the enamoring paddock where boarder kept their horses, and stood with their heads out of their windows curiously.
Scarlet neighed in distress at the sight of one of her best friends laying weekly inside of his stall, and circled her stall nervously attempting to get her owner's attention. At that moment her owner appeared with a blond girl with soft blue eyes and a wide smile. "This is Scarlet, Miss Whitney, what do you think about her," asked Grace Jimenez as she opened the stall door to allow Sarah into the stall?
"Mrs. Jimenez, she's absolutely beautiful like you said, her picture doesn't do her justice. She seems a little unnerved about something though," said Sarah as she placed a tender hand onto Scarlet's neck and rubbed her soothingly. Scarlet couldn't help calming under the girl's touch and nuzzled her pocked for the carrot that she could smell there, making the girl giggle happily.
"That's strange, I wonder what could be bothering her, She's normally so calm," said Grace as she entered the stall and started to look around. She paused at the back window and Sarah heard her curse under her breath. "Please excuse me for a moment, Sarah. There's something important that I have to deal with," she said as she quickly exited the stall and ran out of the barn.
The large fat black man that owned three horses on the property met Grace at the gate that led into his paddock. "Mrs. Jimenez, I have a problem, with one of my horses, and I've been trying to get ahold of you or your husband to get help," he said pleadingly.
"Which horse is having the problem, and if it were so severe why didn't you simply call me sooner or perhaps even call the vet first? If you will recall Mr. Williams when you moved your horses here, I gave you my private mobile number, and the number to our farm's veterinarian."
"It's Charlie Boy, he's down, and I can't get him to get up or even to drink any water," said Mr. Williams as he led Grace to his stall.
"How long has he been down, and why didn't you call the vet, or leave me a note if you were unable to reach her or me on the phone? I do live on the property, you know, in that large brick house over by the barn where I keep my personal horses," she snapped as she pushed passed his equally fat wife into the stall to examine the horse in question.
"He's been down for two days," said the man as he avoided the angry woman's eyes.
"This is bull shit, and it's uncalled for, this horse has been down for more than two days. She checked the color of the horse's gums and pinched his neck to see how badly the poor creature was dehydrated, before walking over to the water bucket and sticking her hand into it to check the quality of the water in the horses stall.
The stench of the putrid water hit her nostrils as soon as her hand it the water and she turned away attempting not to gag or throw up. She then grabbed an empty feeding pail and scooped a bit of the water into it to show it to the owner of the poor horse which was nothing but skin and bones.
"What the Hell is your excuse for this," she snarled as she pushed the pail of water into the man's hands? He wrinkled his nose and coughed at the stench of the water as well, then tossed the water at his fat wife's feet. "Well I'm waiting," she snarled as she ripped her mobile phone out of her pocked and speed dialed the Farm's Vet.
"Well, you see Mrs. Jimenez; my wife over there locked me out of my house last Friday because she had another dude up in the house and didn't want to get caught. She had me arrested, and I was in fail for a few days," he said as he removed paper work to prove his jail stay out of his pocket and handed it over to her.
She read over the papers in her hands quickly and then looked over at the horse on the ground and shook her head sadly. "So, let me get this straight, you had your husband arrested to cover your ass, and then didn't bother to either come and feed and water these horses, to call anyone for help, or to even bother to come up here and leave a key and a note on the front door. You both make me sick, so now you both have to pay for your mistake," she said as she heard the vet's voice come over the line.
"Yes, this is Grace Jimenez of Yellow Rose Farms, we have a horse down and he's pretty bad. Let's just put it this way on a scale from one to ten, ten being overweight, and one being on death's door, he's a one. His owner says that he's been here for two days trying to offer him feed and hey and water, but the horse wouldn't take the water from the bucket, because obviously he's too stupid to find another method to get water into the horses system," said Grace into the phone angrily.
"Other than the obvious, do you have any suggestions that we can put into action until you and the others arrive," she asked? She was silent for a while then nodded and hung up the phone. "You stay here, I'll be right back with something that you can use to get water down him," she said as she spun on her heal and quickly ran into her barn.
As she entered the barn she noticed that Sarah had Scarlet out in the isle of the barn and was giving her a thorough grooming to relax her. "I'm so sorry about this Sarah, but I've got a bit of a situation here. Feel free to saddle her up and give her a test ride out in the arena if you'd like," she said as she rummaged through an old trunk and pulled two large calf bottles out before stepping over to the barn phone and dialing another number.
Sarah and Scarlet, and Serenity listened as Grace spoke to a person on the other line in urgent tones. "Yes, this is Grace Jimenez of Yellow Rose Farms; I have an emergency situation that needs immediate attention. One of my soon to be ex-clients and his wife have left their horses with no feed, water, or hey for about a week. Two of the horses owned by the man don't look to bad, it shouldn't take too much to bring them back to health, but I'd be surprised if their third one lives passed today. Yes, they also have a dog that they keep in a cage that is rarely given water, and the water in the stall of the downed horse is disgusting. Yes I wish to press charges. Very well, I'll do what I can for the horse until you and my vet get here," she said as she hung up the phone and ran from the barn.
Before she left the barn completely she grabbed a jar of electrolyte powder and tucked it under her arm. Sarah saddled Scarlet and rode her around in the outdoor arena. Scarlet was moving well beneath her and obeyed every command given smoothly. She didn't falter until she picked up the sound of a large horse trailer rolling into the barn yard followed closely by a grey SUV owned by the vet.
Sarah rode Scarlet around to get a better look at what was going on when suddenly several things happened at once. As the Vet and the S.P.C.A. officers were getting out of their vehicles, there was a heart wrenching cry from the stall of the downed horse. Grace came flying out of the stall with a look of utter fury, and pain on her sweat covered face, and grabbed a shovel running toward Mr. Williams and his wife with the shovel raised over head like a baseball bat ready for the first hit, There was a loud crash and a shrill neigh as Scarlet's mother Serenity came crashing out of her stall and ran toward her mistress, putting herself between her mistress and the large man who was standing there with a threatening look on his face.
On seeing her horse rearing over the large black man's head Grace dropped the shovel and stepped to her horse's side placing a hand on her neck to calm her. The Vet and two of the S.P.C.A. officers were kneeling over the now dead body of the downed horse, and they looked over at the others and shook their head sadly.
Grace leapt onto her mare bareback without even a halter to control her, and rode out of the paddock as the sheriffs placed handcuffs onto the fat black man and his wife and started giving them their Maranda rights, as they pushed the two over to the waiting squad cars.
"Sarah, ride with me, there's nothing more that we can do here," said Grace as she approached the girl on the young black Arab mare. Sarah nodded silently and followed Grace out of the front gate and down the quiet country road at a fast gallop. They rode in silence for about an hour until Grace found the will to speak again.
"There's no excuse for something like this to ever happen to such a good horse or any animal for that matter. I'll never let something like this happen again. I'm pulling out of the show circuit; it's obvious that I need to reevaluate how things are observed at my farm. Had I simply been on the property and not at a horse show I would have been more likely to notice that something was wrong. I took it for granted that everyone who owned horse was a true horse lover like myself and that even though they all came in at different hours, of the day that they would not leave their animals to suffer in such a manner," she said with angry tears still flowing freely.
"Mrs. Jimenez, you are right, if you were or anyone else was made aware of the situation, the horse could have been saved. Don't blame yourself for this, it's not your fault that the poor horse was cursed with stupid people who only think of themselves for owners."
"We can't save them all from cruelty on our own. I promise that I'll learn all that I can about horses, and training horses with problems that would normally be put to sleep, and maybe one day you and I can work together to rescue, and rehab abused and neglected horses," said Sarah as they rode through a wooded trail along the side of the farm and back through a seldom used back gate.
"Do you really want to help me save abused and neglected horses," asked Grace as she latched the gate from her horses back and looked into Sarah's blue eyes?
"Yes, I've never seen anything so upsetting, and never wish to see another horse suffer in such a way again if I can help it," said Sarah as they rode slowly back toward the front of the farm.
"Well since that is the case, I know that Scarlet will have a good and loving forever type of home with you. Let's ride back to the barn and I'll sign over her registration papers and give you a bill of sale. I couldn't picture my lovely young lady going home with anyone but you," said Grace as they rode together back to the barn.
(_) Horseland Present day (_)
"Well that was how it all happened that day. A good and gentle horse named Charlie Boy lost his life, and Sarah and Grace made a vow that they would never see another horse lose its life until they were old and gray and had lived a full life filled with love. Sarah and Grace have been best friends ever since that day."
"Now you all understand Sarah and her ways with horse a bit better, I hope," said Scarlet as she watched her owner talking with her mother's owner as they unhitched the trailer from Grace's truck and laughed about something that the horses didn't understand.
A/N This story was partially based on something that actually happened this week, and the outcome that I wish that it really had instead of the reality of what actually happened. For those of you who are worried about the other two horses and the dog owned by the man I speak of, I assure you that despite the fact that I didn't see him go to jail, I am quite sure that the S.P.C.A. will see him and his lazy careless heartless fat wife punished for what they've done to the poor horse formerly known as Charlie Boy. Yes, I was unable to save the horse at the time that I was made aware that there was a problem, due to the fact that the man comes in at all hours and never made an effort to contact me or the Vet, both of whom he had the phone numbers to. He left the day before the poor horse died and didn't return with the medicines that might have helped him greatly. By the time the S.P.C.A. got here it was too late to save the horse, and my heart. My only solitude is in the fact that the dog, and the other two horses will get a new start with a new more careing owner. It just goes to show you that even if a horse doesn't belong to you, if you are the one forced to help save the life of the animal and despite all of your efforts to do so the horse still loses its fight to live, it hurts as badly as if it were your own. Case in point, this sad even happened on Tuesday, and I spent hours making the horse drink water from a calf's bottle after his damned owner left him alone as if he didn't care, into the night until the next day when the authorities showed up and the horse died before they got here. I haven't stopped crying over it yet. :'(
Thanks for hearing my rant, and attempt to vent my pain and frustrations it means the world to me to know that there other people in the world that believe that no animal should suffer. Support your local animal shelters, humane society's, and chapters of the S.P.C.A. in all that they do, because it saves thousands of lives of defenseless animals every day. :)