High Hurdles Collection Two (50 page)

They stopped outside the gate to give Major a rest, then made their ponderous way up the ramp and into the trailer. Brad stripped off the tack so DJ and Joe could buckle the blanket around the shaking horse.

Both DJ and Joe kept up their running comfort sounds as they took care of the horse they both loved.
If there's a break in the shoulder, they'll say to put him down. God, please, please, I can't lose Major this way. It's all my fault. I... oh, God, please, please
.

“Okay, let's give him a shot of this to help with the pain. As soon as we get to the clinic, we'll give him a tranquilizer, too. That'll help more than anything.” Major never even reacted to the injection.

DJ and Joe both rode in the trailer with her horse as the truck pulled them slowly out of the grounds.

“Easy, old man,” Joe murmured, stroking the horse's neck. “You're going to be all right.”

“I shouldn't have tried jumping him anymore. Oh, Major, I'm so sorry.” Even with the blanket over him, Major continued to shiver and drip sweat. “Joe, he hurts so bad. Look at him.”

“I know. But he's tough. He's been through a lot and come back. Don't go giving up on him yet. Besides, a lot of this is most likely shock, too.”

“Giving up! I just want him to not hurt so. Can't they give him something more?”

Major shifted his weight and grunted.

“We'll get a sling under him and take the pressure off. That should ease it considerably.”

Several hours later, Dr. Jones delivered the terrible news.

“I wouldn't count on ever showing him again, let alone jumping. We'll have to see how lame he is after the shoulder heals.”

“How long will that take?” DJ asked, afraid of the answer.

“Best case scenario, several months. Worst case, you might have to turn him out to pasture and let him live out his life in peace.”

DJ studied the vet. He didn't know the heart of this horse, only the injury. And he hadn't said to put him down.
Thank you, God, for that
. “But he'll be able to walk again?”

“Oh yes. The muscles are badly torn, and there could be a stress fracture. But we won't know that until it starts to heal. If he were a million-dollar horse, we could do surgery and stitch the ligaments together, but he's not worth putting that kind of money into.”

DJ felt like smacking the man. How would he know the worth of her horse? But she had to admit he was right. She didn't have the thousands of dollars needed for a surgery like that. And why put Major through so much anyway? “Just make him quit hurting so bad.”

“I've given him more Bute and another tranquilizer. Once he's able to put some weight on that foot, you can come take him home. Riding that far in the trailer would be terribly hard on him now.”

Major turned away at the horse cookie DJ offered him and just leaned his head against her shoulder. It was all she could do to walk away from him, but with Joe on one side and Brad on the other, she didn't have much choice.

“We's sorry for Major,” Bobby said when DJ got home. Brad had called ahead and told them all what had happened.

“We been praying for him.” Billy, who sported a Band-Aid on the right side of his forehead, added. He'd tipped off his bike and skinned himself up, so now it was easy to tell them apart.

“Thanks, guys.” DJ dropped to her knees and hugged them close, an arm around each. She fought back the tears again. “Major's going to be all right. He just needs lots of time.”

“When can he come home?”

“Not sure yet.”

Brad and Jackie stood right behind her. “We could take him up to our place, where we have the equipment to care for him, then let him out to pasture as soon as he can handle it.”

DJ shook her head. “Then I can't see him. I'll take care of him.”

Robert shook his head. “I should have gotten going on the barn here when I wanted to. Then he could be right out our back door.”

“Coffee's ready, and I made some sandwiches,” Lindy called from the kitchen.

“Come on, folks, let's eat.” Robert led the way, and they all gathered around the table.

As they sat down, all DJ could think of was Major at the clinic, a sling holding him high enough so only the tips of his hooves touched the floor. He was such a trooper, he hadn't even fought the restrictions, as if he understood every word DJ said to him, telling him that it was all for his own good. But when she'd wanted to stay there, she met a wall of resistance from all the adults around her.

“You let us take care of him for a couple of days, and then you'll have plenty to do.”
While the vet made all kinds of sense, DJ felt like screaming. Instead, she'd hugged Major one more time and was escorted out to Brad's car. Joe had gone back to the showgrounds to load up Bunny's horse and trailer him home.

“Darla Jean, you need to eat and then hit the sack.”

Her mother laid a hand on DJ's shoulder. She flinched in pain.

“Has anyone looked at this?”

DJ shook her head. “It's just tender, that's all. I'm going to soak in the Jacuzzi before I go to bed.”

“Some liniment might help you, too.” Brad's brow furrowed with concern.

DJ nodded. All of a sudden her eyes felt so heavy they pulled her head down. All she could think of was bed. She blinked a couple of times.

“Do you need X rays?” Lindy probed the sore shoulder gently.

“M-o-m. That's not the worst fall I've taken. I'm fine.” She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice, but from the look on Robert's face, she knew she hadn't succeeded. “Sorry.”

“DJ, we need to be going pretty soon,” Brad said a few minutes later. “But I want to say something first.”

DJ dragged her mind back from Major's suffering. “What?” She rolled her shoulders to see if she could ease the ache there, too. Inside and out she was one big ball of hurt, but she wasn't about to admit it. Her pain was nothing compared to Major's. If only she'd listened to Brad earlier and jumped Herndon, then Major wouldn't be suffering like he was.

“Jackie and I would like to bring Herndon down for you tomorrow.” He thought a moment. “No, it will have to be sometime Monday. I talked with Bridget, and she has another stall available. That will give you the week to work with him, and then you can decide if you are ready to enter him in the show next weekend.”

“He's been doing well for the trainer. I'd hoped you could work with John on Herndon before you took him in the ring, but with this …” Jackie raised her hands and dropped them.

DJ looked from one to the other and then to Robert. “I … I …” Tears stung the backs of her eyes and she sniffed them away.
N-o-o-o. I want Major. Major is my horse
.

“Unless you'd rather not. I … I just thought … well, Jackie and I can't think of any other way right now that we can help you get your dream.”

“Please, DJ.” Jackie leaned forward. “Please let us help.”

DJ looked from Robert to her mother and back at Brad and Jackie. “This … this is all happening so fast. I thought Major and me … I mean …” She closed her eyes and slumped against the chair. “I guess I really don't have any choice, do I?”

“You always have a choice, Darla Jean, remember that.” Brad used her full name.

Her eyes fluttered open. “Then … then I choose to ride Herndon.” She sat up straight again. “Thank you for loaning him to me. I'll do my best to take care of him.”
Hope you do better taking care of Herndon than you did Major
, the little voice in her ear buzzed like a pesky mosquito.

Jackie shook her head. “Herndon is not on loan, DJ. He's yours.”

DJ stared at her, her chin flopping on her chest.

Herndon! Herndon was hers?
Her heart felt as though it would thump its way clear of her chest and run off by itself.

Chapter • 8

“Hello, this is DJ Randall,” DJ said into the phone Monday morning. “Could you tell me how my horse Major is?”

“He's doing as well as can be expected. He ate, he's drinking, not fighting the sling. We'll most likely lower him a bit so he can put his other three feet on the ground, but still keep the sling on so he can rest in it. …” The vet paused. “You can come and get him in a few days, I'm sure. As soon as he can put weight on that foot.”

“Thank you.” DJ laid the phone back in the cradle before the tears could reach her throat.
You will not cry
. She picked up her backpack and headed down the stairs. When she had suggested she should be at the Academy when Brad brought Herndon if he came during school hours, the look on her mother's face said otherwise. DJ had known it was a useless suggestion, but it never hurt to ask. Besides, she wanted to save her ammunition for when Major got home. She
had
to be at the barn to care for him. After all, he'd injured himself jumping at her command.

“How is he?” Robert asked when she entered the kitchen. Maria motioned toward the table and set a plate of scrambled eggs with ham in front of DJ.

“The vet said he's doing about as well as can be expected.” DJ looked up at their nanny, cook, and housekeeper. “Thanks, Maria. Hope I have time to eat all this. You want to make me fat?”

“You need more.” Maria motioned around her body.

“You mean I need more …” DJ's palms curved around her upper body. “See, flat as a board.”

Maria shook her head, her dark hair swinging in the motion. “No, no, not what I say.” Her brown eyes sparkled. “You eat.” She pointed at the plate and turned back to the stove.

“You better get used to this,” Robert stage-whispered from around the paper he'd been reading. “She is a tyrant about eating right.”

“You say right, Mr. Robert. I cook, you eat.”

“How's Mom?”

“Morning miseries. I'm going to get her some Sea Bands this morning. One of the girls in the office swears by them. Lindy wants to go back to work, but I don't see how, as miserable as she is.”

“What are C bands?”

“They're elastic bands with a button that presses on a nerve center to stop motion sickness. Someone developed them to keep people from being seasick.”

“Oh. Is being pregnant always like this?”

“I don't think so. Some women get morning sickness worse than others.”

A car honking made DJ shovel the last of the eggs into her mouth and drain her glass of milk. “Thanks, Maria. See you, Robert. Give the boys a hug for me.” She winced as she hobbled out the door with Queenie right beside her. Sore everywhere didn't even begin to cover it. “Stay.” DJ pointed at the steps, and the dog sat down, her pink tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. Her ears stood straight up, and the whine carried to the car.

“Boy, do you have a good dog there,” Amy said as DJ climbed in the backseat with her.

“I know, she understands everything I say. I told her to stay only once, and she sat just like that. Her other family trained her well.” She slammed the car door behind her. “Hi, Mrs. Yamamoto.”

“How's Major?” The driver glanced in the rearview mirror as she jockeyed the car around the central turnaround. Newly planted shrubs filled in the spaces between rocks and a couple of flowering cherry trees.

DJ filled them in on what had happened since the show. Each time she told the story she could feel the tears burn behind her eyes, but she kept them at bay.

“Isn't it weird that now you're going to ride Herndon whether you wanted to yet or not?”

“I know. But I sure wish it hadn't been at Major's expense. I shoulda …” When DJ closed her eyes, she could hear the pop and felt airborne all over again. She could see Major with one foot off the ground and dripping with sweat. As Gran had reminded her on the phone, she had much to be thankful for. Major could have broken a leg and have to be put down. He was still her friend whether she ever rode him again or not.