by Meg Buchanan
Milly nodded at the letters around the arena.
“The German cavalry used to have their dressage arenas in amongst the barracks and the letters are thought to be the letters above the doors of the huts.”
It seemed unlikely. The letters used in the arena looked completely random.
“She’s good,” said Milly after a while. “That’s a half-pass.” The horse moved on the diagonal, sideways and forward at the same time. “See how the horse is bent slightly in the direction of the movement.”
Milly put her helmet on and did it up. “She’s nearly finished, I need to warm up. One more rider and then it’s my turn.” Cole held Wildfire for her. She swung up onto the horse’s back.
“You’ll be right here when I finish, won’t you?” she asked once the horse settled.
He could see the tension in her. “Yeah, I’ll be here”
“There’s only one other rider and I’ll have to be ready to ride again. If I’m not in the ring within forty-five seconds of the bell ringing I get penalised.”
“I know. Good luck.”
Milly rode over to the small group of other riders warming up and started getting Wildfire to walk through a figure eight movement. He went back to watching the next girl riding. She didn’t look as good. Didn’t seem to be sitting up as well, and her horse worked against her.
When she finished the test, the bell rang, and the next girl and horse entered the arena. Behind him Milly still put Wildfire through a series of gentle exercises. Finally, Milly’s turn.
When the dressage test finished they wandered back to the ute with the horses.
“Did that go well?” Hunter followed behind him, relaxed like he was in the arena.
“I think so. It’s a pity Wildfire resisted, though it wasn’t for long enough to get me disqualified. But I will have lost points.”
“You won’t have lost any with Hunter though?”
“No, he went well.” She reached over and stroked the horse’s nose. “Lovely Hunter.”
“Morning tea time.”
Milly nodded. “I’m famished. Let’s see what Mrs Bennett has packed for us.”
“What’s next?” he asked.
“Cross-country then show jumping.” She looked at her watch. “We’ve got time to eat.”
And the day went on. Both horses went clear in the cross-country.
“Did you see that,” Milly said as she swung out of Wildfire’s saddle. “She did the water jump. She didn’t even hesitate.”
He took Wildfire’s reins and handed her Hunter’s.
“Yeah. I saw. She just went straight down the drop into the water.”
“I know.” Milly hugged Wildfire’s neck. “She isn’t usually keen on water jumps and she splashed through the lake, hopped out and then went neatly over the narrow brush. Wasn’t she brilliant?”
Milly sounded completely elated.
“Yeah, pretty good. You ready to go again?”
Milly nodded. She swung up onto Hunter.
“Wish me luck.”
“Luck.”
She laughed and rode off to the flags that marked the start of the course.
Hunter jumped clean, but so much slower and less showy than Wildfire and just made the time.
Only the show jumping to go.
Milly trotted back to him and slid off Hunter.
Cole handed her the drink bottle.
“Are you pleased with that?”
Milly took a swig, then wiped her lips with her hand and nodded.
“He did his best. He’s reliable.”
The show jumping kicked off. Wildfire tipped one rail.
“That’s another four on her dressage score.” Milly sounded disappointed as she switched from Wildfire to Hunter. “We’ll be way down the placings. Can you give me a boost?” She stood holding the reins and saddle.
He gave her a leg up. “Are you getting tired?” he asked.
She shrugged as she gathered up the reins. “A little.”
“Only one to go.”
“Yes. See you soon.”
He watched her carefully as she jumped Hunter around the course. Things could go wrong when you were tired. He could see the concentration on her face, and the way she moved her body as Hunter went over each. They looked like they were working well together.
Hunter jumped the course perfectly and finished the competition on his dressage score.
Cole led Wildfire over to Milly.
“He did well.”
She slid off Hunter. “Flawless.”
They wandered back to the parking area. From what he understood of how the scoring went Hunter would have done better than Wildfire, even if he wasn’t as flashy.
They drove back to Paeroa, the sun going down, and the sky getting darker. It had taken a lot longer to pack up and load the horses than he expected.
Cole glanced at Milly. She’d done well. Third on Hunter and tenth with Wildfire. She curled up in her seat. Her cheek rested on one hand and the other hand held onto the seatbelt. She fell asleep within minutes of them leaving the showgrounds.
She’d taken the hairnet off, and brushed her hair out, so now it rippled over her shoulders and arm like a blanket. She’d changed into the jeans, t-shirt and sneakers she usually wore.
She looked sweet curled up like that. Was she warm enough? Maybe he should pull up and get a rug out of the back to cover her.
No. She looked comfortable. Better to get home so she could get to bed.
He drove on. Now they were off the motorway and driving through the countryside, they met less traffic, but the road became a lot narrower with more bends. He changed gear and felt the ute accelerate up the hill.
Suddenly, he heard an almighty bang behind them, the ute lurched forward, then swung to the side.
He saw Milly thrown violently sideways then forward. She just missed hitting the dashboard, but the seatbelt held her, then the airbag inflated.
He slammed against the steering wheel, then against the door and back again. He couldn’t control the direction they were travelling. They were headed for a fence on the side of the road.
He could hear a loud dragging noise and the screaming of metal. He slammed on the brakes and they slid up the side of the fence stopping just before the strainer.
When they had stopped completely he looked over at Milly frantically trying to push the airbag out of her way.
“Are you, all right?” He felt like he’d been punched. He’d hit the steering wheel so hard. The rest of him hurt too. He’d crashed into the door as well. He knew how the wet sneakers in the dryer felt now.
“I think so.” He could see a welt on her neck. It must have been made by the seat belt. “What happened?” She pushed at the airbag again and tried to swivel around to see out the back window.
“I don’t know. Suddenly there was this hell of a noise and then the ute was out of control.”
“The horses!” She couldn’t turn enough to see, still struggling against the airbag. “How do you get rid of these things?”
He unclipped his seatbelt and then hers and turned to see if the float was still there. It was, but it was leaning to one side.
“What happened?”
“Don’t know, it’s too dark to see anything.” He tried his door handle. The door opened, but only a couple of centimetres. “Can you get out your side?” No cars had passed them, so no one had stopped to help.
Milly nodded, gave the airbag another shove, and opened her door. She struggled out under the airbag and studied the float while he slid out too.
The float leaned against the fence at a strange angle. He could hear the horses screaming and banging their hooves against the walls.
5. Chapter Five
“Oh, God.” Milly had her hand over her mouth. “We have to get them out.”
“Yeah.” That’s if the horses were still able to walk after what had happened. No cars had passed them, so at least they didn’t have to worry about dealing with frightened
animals in traffic.
The ute slid sideways, so the float would have been thrown around and the horses too.
They went to the back of the ute.
Milly squatted down to look. “The tow bar has come free of the tow ball. All that is holding it is the safety chain.”
Jesus. “If that didn’t hold the float could have ended up anywhere.” This could have been a thousand times worse.
A loud thump on the wall came from the float. Milly jumped back.
They ran down the side of the float in the almost dark. The screaming from the horses just kept on and on.
Nothing wrong with the side, the back looked all right, but on the other side of the float, there were no wheels, just the broken ends polished bright silver where they scraped along the road.
For a moment he felt relief. No one could blame him for this. Somehow the wheels had broken off the axles, so this couldn’t be his fault.
Milly had her hand over her mouth, horrified. “The wheels have come off, that’s what happened.” She studied the back. “Soon it will be so dark we won’t be able to see what we’re doing.”
Dreadful sounds still came from inside the float. Screaming and kicking.
They needed to get the horses out, or at least find out what they were dealing with. But would the back still open? And if it did, would it form a ramp the horses could walk down? The float sat at a real angle.
Maybe, he could use the jack to straighten it up.
No, the grass would be too soft, and the fence in the way. He wouldn’t be able to get to it.
Milly climbed up on the side of the float to undo the bolt on that side. “Don’t just stand there, Cole. We need to do something.”
The float hadn’t moved under her weight, so at least it was stable.
“I’ll get the other side.” He climbed up. His chest hurt. It felt like he’d have a bruise the shape of the steering wheel by the morning, and the welt on Milly’s neck was redder.
Milly didn’t even seem to notice it in her frantic efforts to get to the horses.
The float shook a bit with his weight, but it didn’t feel like it would fall over.
He undid the other bolt. “If we lower it carefully we’ll be able to see if we need to support it. Hop down and move back so you don’t get caught between the ramp and the fence.”
Milly nodded, jumped down and moved away. He carefully lowered the back of the float. In the gloom inside he could see a tangle of flailing legs and hear the nightmarish noise coming from the two horses.
Milly stayed still as if she couldn’t bear to find what might be in the float. “Are they hurt?” she asked.
“I can’t tell yet.” Even if he could get the horses to stand. They were not going to be able to walk on the sloping floor or down the ramp with it on a lean.
Finally, Milly came over and stood beside him. She peered in at the horses. The screaming had quietened. Now more a whimper.
“What are we going to do? How are we going to get them out?”
He shook his head. Beyond him. He looked over at the paddock. He could see a house with lights on. Maybe they could help. They might have a tractor that could straighten the float up.
“Ring your dad. Tell him what’s happened. I’ll go over there to see if someone can help us.” If they put something under the end of the axles, they might be able to walk the horses out.
Milly hauled her phone out of her pocket. While she waited for her dad to pick up she looked at the horses again, then at Cole.
“I’d rather not be here on my own. Wait and see what Dad has to say.”
He heard her father’s voice, and Milly explained what had happened. Then he heard her say, “I don’t know. I was asleep.” She handed the phone to Cole. “He wants to know where we are.”
He checked on her phone, and then gave the location. “We’re about half an hour out of Hamilton.”
Silence from the other end, then Milly’s father came back on.
“It will take at least an hour to get to you and it sounds like I should bring a vet. I’ve got a friend down the road. I’ll see if he can help until I get there. I’ll get back to you in a minute.”
Cole handed the phone back to Milly.
“What did he say?”
“He’s going to sort it. He’ll ring back.”
Milly climbed through the little door at the front of the float.
“What do they look like?” he asked.
“Wildfire’s halter has broken, she’s on her side. I think she is badly hurt. Hunter’s half laying and sitting up. I need to undo his rope. I can’t tell how he is.”
Inside the float, he saw her stand for a moment, then Hunter flop down. Then Milly sat by Wildfire and Hunter’s heads stroking them. The next half hour was a nightmare of waiting and darkness and trying to keep the horses calm.
He could hear her talking to them quietly. While she was there they seemed calmer. He got her jacket off the back of the ute and put it over her shoulders.
She looked up at him and in the flashing of hazard lights he could see the tears on her cheeks. “Can you hear the way Wildfire’s breathing?”
“Yeah.” He could hear the wheezing and even the way the mare stretched her neck back and moved her head, she looked in pain. “What about Hunter?”
“I can’t tell. He’s alive, but he’s not moving.”
He checked his phone. He’d got back in the cab of the ute earlier and found it. “I’m really sorry about this, Milly.”
She nodded and went back to stroking the horses.
He checked the time again. Twenty minutes. The friend should arrive any minute. Then he heard a tractor coming down the road.
Milly’s father’s friend, Stephen Farr, turned up.
Farr seemed just as practical as Milly’s father. He knew about horses and got on with the job of helping them.
“Cole, attach the float to the ute again, if you can. If the bar isn’t too damaged. It will make everything more stable.” He’d made Milly get out and stand back while they straightened the float up, but she went straight back inside with the horses as soon as he finished. Farr went up the ramp, inside the float with the horses, and spent a while checking them.
“How are they?” Cole asked when Farr came out.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t look good.”
Jesus, how would Milly cope if both horses had to be put down?
Farr stepped down off the back. “When the vet comes it’ll be your job to look after Milly, Cole. Her father’s going to have enough to do.”
The truck went past, and further up the road Cole could see the lights of the horse truck turning. They came back and pulled up behind the float, the lights shone inside.
By then, Farr and Cole had used the tractor to straighten up the float and slid the spare tyre under where the wheels should be.
Tom Gaisford got out of the truck and came over. “Where’s Milly.”
Cole nodded at the float. “In with the horses.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah.” His ribs hurt badly, and the rest of him. He guessed Milly would be feeling the welt from the seatbelt and the hit she took from the airbag, and she probably got thrown against the door like he did, but they both got off lightly compared to the horses.
Milly’s father went and spoke to her for a few minutes, then came back.
“Milly says she is all right too. What happened?”
Farr joined them. “The wheels are shorn right off the axles. The boy did well to get them off the road without crashing. The coupling got wrenched off the tow ball, but the safety chain held.”
Cole looked at the man surprised. Maybe Farr got in first to make sure he didn’t cop any blame for this mess.
The vet, carrying his bag, joined them. “Let’s go and see what the damage is.”
Milly’s father turned to Cole. “Go around the front. See if you can talk Milly into waiting outside the float, until this is over. She wouldn’t budge
for me.”
Milly wouldn’t budge for him either. She stayed beside her horses until Wildfire had been put down and Hunter sedated. Then she stood out in the darkness with him, his arm around her, and waited for the three men.
The vet came out of the float, wiping his hand on a rag. “Sorry, Milly. Nothing we could do for her. A piece of timber had broken off the railing and punctured her lung.”
“And Hunter?”
“I’m not sure yet. It looks like his leg is broken but I won’t know how bad it is until I can x-ray it.”
Tom Gaisford swung down from the float. “Cole, it’s going to take a while to tidy up all this. We’ll uncouple the float. You take Milly home and stay with her until I get home. Square it with your father.”
“That doesn’t matter. He won’t worry.” Cole guided Milly to the ute.
“Ring him anyway.”
Once the ute was free of the float Cole drove her home.
Milly slept curled up in her seat, and every now and then a big shuddering sob escaped from her.
It was his fault she was crying in her sleep. He’d just killed one of her horses and injured the other. It might take him a while to make up for that. There must have been something he could have done to stop it happening.
6. Chapter Six
He pulled into the driveway and Milly woke as soon as the ute stopped.
She looked around at the dark buildings, bleary-eyed.
“Are we home?” The blood on her clothes from the horses’ injuries was starting to dry and turn dark brown.
“Yeah. Go inside. I’ll put everything away and then come in.”
“No. I’ll help you. It’ll be quicker, and I don’t want to be alone right now.” Milly got out of the ute, moving as slowly and carefully as she had to.
“Okay.” He lifted the first saddle off the back and carried it over to the tack shed.
Milly followed him carrying the box of grooming gear. “How long do you think it will take Daddy to get home?”
“I don’t know. It could be pretty late.” They’d emptied everything they could out of the float because her father didn’t know how long it would be before they could move it off the side of the road.
