Page 63 of Trickster King

“Horses can be ridiculously fragile yet remarkably resilient,” the vet stated, and she gestured to the filly. “This little one is going to be rather spicy if she pulls through. Her zeal for life is why she’s holding on. She’ll be high energy and need a rider who can handle a horse who wants to work and experience life. No matter what she does, she will do so with a stubbornness matched by few others. That’s why she’s still here at all.”

I loved the spicy horses. Their drive always lit a fire, and with the right rider, they always went far. “Hey, Jerrod? How spicy was Dynamite as a filly?”

“I didn’t name her Dynamite because she’s a calm bringer of peace in my stable,” the trainer replied, joining us to observe the filly. “Having seen enough quarters in my day, I don’t think she’s a quarter. She’s got the wrong leg conformation and size. She’s a little heavier. Not a thoroughbred, either. The thoroughbred foals have toothpicks for legs and a different build. I’d say you’ve got a warmblood of some sort on your hands. Not sure what specific breed, but I’d bet you’ve got a warmblood. Dynamite is a mix of warmblood and hotblood breeds, but mostly warmblood.”

I understood the various blood types fairly well, although most of ours fell into the hotblood category due to the prevalence of quarter horses in ranch work. Dynamite and Alexander the Great would be my first real ventures into warmblood breeds.

My beloved Akhal-Tekes were hotblooded horses, and I loved everything about them.

Warmbloods would be a new and interesting adventure. “Maybe she can jump.”

“I’d give her a shot,” Jerrod admitted, pointing at the filly. “Her bone structure is solid; she’s got thick enough bones to handle the impacts from jumping, but she’s got the conformity needed to do the jumps as well. Will she go to the Grand Prix for jumping? That I can’t tell you. But at the very least, I’d give her a try. The spicy fillies are my favorite. Everyone expects the stronger, spicier geldings and studs to go the distance.”

“But then you get a horse like Dynamite.”

Jerrod nodded. “I doubt you’ll get another Dynamite if that’s what you’re hoping for. But if you want to learn how to train horses for jumping, she’ll be what you need. Just be aware that the spicy fillies aren’t easy to train. Once you get her where you want, she’ll be a solid partner, but getting her there will be a challenge.”

“Was Dynamite a challenge?”

“Dynamite was a menace until she figured out cooperation got her chances to jump. But yes, she was quite the challenge. She’ll challenge you, mark my words. You’re also going to take falls, because she’s going to teach you your manners on a jump. She will dump your ass if you don’t handle the jumps right.”

“Did I get lucky, then?”

“She wanted to jump, and she knew she needed to keep you on if she wanted to keep jumping. You’ll be a good jumper in a hurry with her. You’ll be wearing a full kit of safety gear, as I don’t have unnecessary deaths in my barn. I normally demand safety vests, but I don’t think we’ve got any that’ll fit you. We’ll have to get them custom fit.”

I sighed, as very little equestrian gear fit me out of the box outside of rancher attire; jockeys were smaller men, and most wanted light riders for jumping to give the horse the best chances of clearing the jumps. “I’ll make the orders, just tell me what to order and in what size.”

“That would be the expression of a man who has to do this task often.”

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder in the general direction of the RPS agents hard at work with the other horses. “I cooperate most of the time, and that lot would put me in a bubble if they could.”

“Horse empaths need to be working with horses to be healthy, happy, and sane.” Jerrod considered the filly, and after conferring with the vet for a moment, asked me to follow him down the way to show me something.

The something proved to be a stalled yearling, one of my new animals. Judging from the purple shade of her hooves, the filly battled some form of bacterial infection to go along with her fungus issues. I recognized her as a thoroughbred, and wondered why she was at an equestrian center meant for Grand Prix jumping. “I have questions,” I admitted.

“She’s one of the reasons I’m happy you’re taking over this barn. Her hooves have been particularly problematic because of the fungus, and once that clears up, she might take you on a flight down the track. The owner wanted to try her at jumping or eventing. Can thoroughbreds be trained to be eventing horses? Sure. They’re one of the best breeds for three-day eventing competitions, in my not-so-humble opinion. But his focus was on the jumping and less on the eventing, and this specific thoroughbred is more American stock than European or Australian stock. And yes, there are slight differences in thoroughbreds depending on where they were bred. But for this discussion, a thoroughbred is a thoroughbred. She’s a five hundred dollar horse, as she has a lineage without any champions in it whatsoever, and the only notable mention is a stud with a few starts. Ground training this little one would be a good start for eventing, and eventing is an option for you, even at your size.”

I had more thoroughbreds than I knew what to do with; they showed up at auction for the sin of having aged out or being injured due to poor ownership practices. “I hadn’t thought to look into eventing for my thoroughbreds.”

“Your heart is on the track, and you didn’t want to settle,” Jerrod informed me. “Eventing is tough work, but it’s an option for you if you get bored of aiming for the Grand Prix.”

“Or I get two championships and meet my goals.”

“We’ll find out if you have what it takes soon enough. Dynamite is really young for the Grand Prix, though. That alone might be a reason you don’t succeed. She lacks experience.”

“Well, so do I. But if we don’t try, we can’t win.”

“Right you are. The stable is full of promise without good direction. If you look at the true potential of the horses, unlike their owners, you might get somewhere with them.”

“Or you might train them to be promising, and we sell them for a ridiculous amount to keep funding the center,” I muttered. “My wife is going to kill me when the feed bill comes in.”

“Our wives always threaten to do us in when the feed bill comes in. You could just tell her you could have a more expensive hobby.”

I tried to think of a more expensive hobby and failed. “What more expensive hobby?” I nodded my head in the direction of my rescues. “I’m pretty sure I’m spending six figures on those rescues.”

“Fancy cars.”

Hmm. That reminded me about the plan to show up at the palace in a sporty car. “Randy?”

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