'Regards' #1

 1.6.2023

Once upon a time…. Another Kristale…

I had a job at a small Thoroughbred farm close to Middletown, Delaware. The job covered everything that goes on within a small race training barn. I got there early and dished out breakfast for the horses, bringing the broodmares in for the day. It was early summer and the mornings were breathtaking that early. One mare and I used to stand outside and enjoy the sunrise. She was my favorite so she was just a little spoiled.

After all the ‘nightmares’ were in for the day, the farm owner would usually show up, coffee in hand. I’d get busy with stalls, dumping water buckets, and rinsing feed tubs. The first horse would be out on the track by 7:00 AM during those days… before the sun got too hot. And so it would go. Most times I was done by noon and could head home.

One morning, I was just a bit late. There was a fender bender and I had to wait for them to get off the road. Guess who was hustling? My favorite mare was even hurriedly brought in much to her dismay. I was walking fast up the shed row to get the geldings out, not really paying attention as that side of the barn was empty of horses.

There I was, all but jogging when I went past one of the end stalls and into the barn. All of a sudden it was like there was a big explosion from one of the stalls. A huge red explosion. Eyes were all but shining red, teeth bared, mouth wide open, ready to sink onto whatever body part of me was available. I was so startled, I hit the wall on the other side of the wall in shock.

“ holy crap! What the hell is going on?!” 

I stood there trying to catch my breath, trying to see what it was.

Circling inside the stall was a big chestnut mare. Her mane was tangled in witch's knots, her deep red coat showed a lack of care, and her eyes were sunken into her head from abuse, to say the very least. She stood there, ears completely flattened against her neck, glaring at me with all the hatred she could muster. I said good morning and went back to my normal routine. My normal horses!

I was still shaking inside when my boss came in. I asked him what Is the new horse in for??? He started laughing and said that he forgot to tell me about ‘Regards’ shipping in. He motioned me to sit down.

As the story goes, she had been a “big horse” in the world of Open Jumpers. Anything she was pointed at, she’d jump easily. She was the horse to beat back then. No one knew what happened to her as she kind of disappeared from the show world. One year, she appeared again, fit as a fiddle, and began winning again. Slowly but surely, she started refusing jumps. Back then, there was no internet to find things of this sort. One time, she slipped and almost went down.

That’s when she was purchased by a couple of ladies from New York State. According to what my boss had discovered, these two saw Regards as a money-maker. They’d hired what everyone called ‘the cowboy’… Regards jumped or she was spurred and beaten with a whip. She was broken mentally and just about physically. She tried to refuse her jumps but was beaten so, she tried to jump each one clear. By then, she was not being fed. ‘Don’t feed her till she decides to jump’ was the rule.

She lost weight and became a horse to be reckoned with. No one could handle her; she had become so vicious. That’s where my boss came into it all. Regards had attacked her “trainer “, breaking his arm. The story was that Regards had to go or they were going to shoot her in the far pasture and leave her for the coyotes to enjoy.

And that’s how she ended up in ‘my’ barn.

In my spare time or at the end of my day -every day, I would sit outside her stall, talking to her. Every time I made a loud noise, she’d attack the stall wall, trying to stop me or the loud noises. One day I had to leave on time because I had an appointment to make. Hurrying to her stall, I told her that I was going but here was her daily carrot treat. As I jogged down the shed row, I heard her whisper a soft nicker. Tears in my eyes and feeling happy, I got into my little car and drove away, promising that we would be great friends.

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