Testing God - Post Ten

As it turns out, Jeremy, the starter, knew The Unbelievable pretty well. He had previously handled him in the starting gate for a race, and knew well the crap that our horse was capable of pulling.

“How long have you had this horse, Jerry?”

“Not long, a couple weeks,” Jerry responded.

“Well, here’s the deal,” continued Jeremy. “We can school him, but he won’t do a thing wrong in the morning.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to handle him in the gate,” Jerry said, and I nearly fainted.

For UB’s part, just as he told me that he would, he behaved as a perfect gentleman. He walked right into the starting gate, and stood calmly as the back doors were shut. Jerry and Sam stroked his neck, while UB looked around, thoroughly bored.

UB had previously indicated that it was the noise, commotion and all the bodies crammed into the gate that bothered him, but I was having a hard time trusting my animal communication skills with the welfare of so many at stake. My heart was racing, right up until Jeremy opened the back doors, and UB backed out.

“See what I mean? Nothing.” Jeremy said. “Bring him back a couple more times to school, and then he’s off the list. You can enter him.”

Jeremy was concerned about his future race-day antics, and rightly so. He would be the one that had to handle him for the race. He indicated that in the past, he had loaded UB with a chain run over the horse’s nose so that he could “keep his attention.” Problem was, it was difficult to get the chain off the horse once he was in tight quarters in the gate. At that point, every second counted.

My fear was that the added stress of a chain over his nose was further pushing UB’s panic buttons. As I walked back toward the barn, I put on my thinking cap. We were going to have to get creative.

Daily Notes: Very little time today…impending big snow storm necessitated a trip to the big city (Lexington) to lay in some supplies for the 2-leggeds and the 4-leggeds, just in case it actually materializes. I did get to see my daughter, Brit, briefly at the grocery. She was working on some RAKs of her own, purchasing some jars of peanut butter for the Peanut Butter for Haiti Project. A quick stop by church to drop off the peanut butter, and then I stopped by my friend’s house for one RAK of my own. No one was home, but thank goodness she left a key under her mat! J

Now I’m off to visit my friend, Judith, who is in much need of prayers right now. Judith, and her husband Brian just moved here from California. Judith’s health is very bad, and the parade of specialists that she has been seeing for the past two years have not been able to figure it out.