Thanks to Yari, Crimson, Khris and Junkyard for the great reviews.
To answer the question asked (remind me if I forget one): Yes, the leg was shattered so badly that it was basically amputated. I remember that sometime in during the Breeder's Cup in the early '90's, they had a rash of broken legs (the Breeder's Cup is one of the big Thoroughbred race meets; it is generally in October, and it has several premiere races in one day). I remember one picture where this happened to one of the young fillies, though to a lesser degree than Flawless' leg. That filly (which is a female horse less than four years old) was put down.
I have a life-long love of horses, but I have never had the opportunity to own one due to circumstances. I have studied them intensively, and for a while was involved in a fantasy horse racing organization, where I learned a lot about horse aliments and genetics. The information about eventing I learned because I love this sport. Someday, I may be able to compete, on a low-level circuit.
I'm glad you are all enjoying the fiction. Thank so much for reading and reviewing!
"This is highly non-standard," the official said.
Vegeta nodded in agreement even as he argued, "Yes, but not unprecedented. You have allowed last-minute substitutions before, and my horse was pulled out this morning."
"But not without the owner's consent," the official pointed out.
"The owner is in the hospital," Vegeta replied, "and can't provide consent." He leaned forward and tried to be charming as he said, "If she refuses consent when she wakes up, then you can withdraw the horse."
"If I allow you to ride, and you injure the horse, then the Eventing Organization is liable," the official sighed.
"Bulma is my friend," Vegeta said. "I wouldn't hurt her horse. I want to help her." And the sad thing was that it wasn't a lie; he wanted to what he could to help the blue-haired woman.
"Fine," the official said, making a notation on the computer. "I'll note the change in your ride, and bump Red Valentine back to the last start this afternoon."
Vegeta frowned. "Red Valentine?"
The official gave him an unamused smile. "Your dear friend's horse – the one you'll be riding on? That's his name. You'll be riding him in," he checked his watch, "less than two hours."
Father is going to kill me, Vegeta thought as he tugged the girth strap tight around the chestnut's belly.
"Father is going to kill you," Kakkarot said, watching Vegeta tack up Bulma's gelding. "And you don't know the first thing about this horse."
"I have fifteen minutes to learn," Vegeta said as he mounted Red and gathered up the reins.
Kakkarot sighed. "Can I talk you out of this?"
Vegeta didn't bother to reply; Kakkarot already know the answer. Instead, he went to the warm-up area and began to focus on the horse under him. He quickly determined that the animal was anxious and easily rattled, but when you could hold his focus to the task, he was actually quite responsive. He had a quick, sure way of moving that would help on the ride today. If Vegeta had had more time with him to build trust, Vegeta was sure that he could steady the horse out, but he wasn't going to be given that time.
Instead, he did what he could through the warm-up and the first three phases. The gelding was doing fine, but Vegeta didn't know how he would handle himself on the cross-country course itself. When Dr. Krillian gave him the final go-ahead, he muttered to himself, "I guess now we find out."
The first jump told him a lot. On the approach to the oxer, Red tried to blow out to the right, forcing Vegeta to tighten up the left rein and drive the gelding in with his knees. Once Vegeta had convinced the horse that he was going to jump, the gelding threw himself forward into the jump with enthusiasm.
It was like that on every jump. The gelding had talent, but he lacked the confidence to take the jumps. Vegeta wouldn't have brought a horse like this to the Prix, though he knew that smaller stables often brought horses that weren't quite ready just to have another body on the course. Saiyan Stables never had to resort to that maneuver; they always had more horses ready than they could send to an event.
Vegeta felt some trepidation as he approached the water jump, but Red took the rise easily, jumped the fence at the top with ease and made the leap over the water without hesitation. He didn't jump as long over the water as Vegeta would have liked, but it was adequate for the job.
The only other jump that concerned Vegeta was the ditch jump, where a horse jumped a fence one stride in front of a three-foot ditch and then had to jump out on the other side, leaping a fence one stride later. A lot of horses refused the leap out of the ditch. The sides perpendicular to the walls of the jump were slanted so that a horse could get out if they refused, but it was a penalty to do so.
Red took the first fence effortlessly and made the drop into the ditch. Vegeta felt the gelding hesitate when he saw the jump up, and Vegeta clamped down on the horse's sides, driving him forward. For a second, he thought that Red would completely disobey him and blow out, but the long-legged chestnut gracelessly leapt out of the ditch with a grunt. He had lost enough speed that his jump over the fence was awkward and Vegeta heard the top pole clatter down. It didn't matter; the gelding was doing great considering his lack of confidence.
They were a touch over time when they finished, but Vegeta was pleased over all. The gelding was a better horse than he appeared; Vegeta would have never considered him, but he was real sharp. Vegeta's appreciation of Bulma's eye for horses went up.
He rode back to the barn and began to strip the gelding without fanfare. One of the other Saiyan grooms wondered up and began to help, and Vegeta gave the man a brief smile. "I think that it was really great what you did, sir," the groom said, nodding at Vegeta. "I've been thinking about leaving Saiyan Stables, but after what you did, I just might stay."
"Your name is Tein, right?" Vegeta asked.
"Yes, sir," Tein nodded, taking Red's lead line. "Should I start walking him?"
"Yes," Vegeta said, standing back and gathering up the tack. He started to put it in the women's tackroom, but the door was locked and he stashed it in his room instead.
And then, he had nothing to do. Without any distractions, Vegeta began to think. He began to worry. He began to wonder why the hell that woman hadn't called him back to tell him about Bulma.
What the hell was going on?
Kakkarot finally got tired of Vegeta hanging around and growling and said, "Will you just go to the hospital already? You're driving everyone crazy."
"Don't be stupid," Vegeta snarled. "I'm needed here." He stalked away to deal with a groom who wasn't rubbing a hot horse down right.
It was dinner before Chichi called. "She's still out," Chichi said, her voice weary. "All they are telling me is that she'll wake up when she wakes up."
"Is she going to be able to ride again?" Vegeta asked. It was a very important question and he didn't think about why.
"If she wakes up," Chichi said, and she sounded exhausted. "Could I talk to Goku?"
After Vegeta had passed the phone to Kakkarot, he went to check on the women's horses. The three of them were obviously unsettled, but fine. Kakkarot's woman's second horse, the one that didn't get out today, was extremely restless, so Vegeta pulled him out and began to lunge the horse.
After he had calmed the horse, he checked on the other two. Vegeta was agitated; something was wrong, something that he couldn't put his finger on. With a shake of his head, he went to check the leader board.
And that was when his agitation blossomed into full-fledged paranoia. Over fifteen horses had been disqualified or removed from competition for one reason or another. And most of the horses disqualified were top competitors; all had been predicted to be in the top half by the end of the competition.
Vegeta whirled and marched straight to the veterinarian's tent. He burst into the area without greeting, startling the small man, who yelped and dropped the clipboard he was holding. Vegeta immediately said, "Have you ever seen a horse break his leg that way?"
"What?" Krillian gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "The bay that went down in the water jump?"
"Yes. Have you ever seen a horse break its leg like that?"
"No," Krillian said, leaning against his table, his earlier scare forgotten. "And believe me, it's been bothering me."
"And did you know that over a quarter of the horses at this competition have been withdrawn or disqualified?" Vegeta pressed.
Krillian frowned angrily and said, "Yeah, I had seen that, but it's not a disease, it's mostly unexplained lameness."
"Doesn't that concern you?" Vegeta asked.
"It does, but I'm not sure what to do," Krillan confessed.
"Something is very wrong here," Vegeta muttered, his eyes boring into the smaller man. "There must be something that someone can do."
Dr. Krillian was quiet for a moment before he said, "Would you allow me to run some tests on your horses?"
Vegeta frowned, blinking in surprise. "Why my horses?" he asked, his voice a dangerous grumble.
"Because you have some lame horses, and you're the one who came to me and demanded I do something. Well, this is something I can do, and I need your help to do it."
Vegeta got very little sleep that night. He was very worried, and he found himself patrolling the stables frequently, walking through the dark night like a haunted man. And he was haunted; strange ideas and feelings ran crazily through his mind, confusing him. Finally, he refused to think about them anymore, and just focused on his patrol.
He finally wore himself out, or maybe he didn't want to go into Stable A again. Flawless' empty box was a mocking wound, a pain that he just couldn't work past. It wasn't his fault that the horse had gone down like that, but the anxiety he felt over Bulma's loss was unsettling. With a final grumble of irritation, he went to Saiyan Stables' rig, and curled up to sleep in the cab.