Shock

Keeley followed Dr. Mike and Liam out to their truck. "I'll follow you- I'm only parked right over there."

"No problem. The horse is just about ten minutes up the road from here. Easy place to find."

Keeley walked briskly over to her truck and climbed in. She was still having a tough time accepting the fact that this might be Legacy. She pulled her phone out for a quick call home to check in on Dad, and to tell Mrs. Evans she might be a bit longer than she initially thought. All was well on the home front, and Dad was entertaining Mrs. Evans with stories. Keeley felt better going to take a look at the horse.

Legacy. As Keeley pulled out behind Dr. Mike, she could not help but recall that horrible day, and the horse at the center of it all. A blood bay, standing a full sixteen hands, broad bodied, heavy boned with big, solid feet, Legacy was known far and wide for his athleticism. He was also known for being a bit difficult at times since he had also been blessed with a strong mind. Keeley could still see him, standing over her mother's still form, refusing to move away from her fallen body. Ears flat back against his skull, he challenged Keeley's father time and again as he tried to reach his wife. Wailing with grief, her father picked up his rifle and lined up a shot at Legacy's head. Keeley pushed the barrel of the gun down at the last second, and the sound of the shot finally moved Legacy off enough for her father to reach her mother. Her father was not the only one broken that day- Legacy came in from the paddock a completely different horse.

Keeley shook her head. Best not think about that too much. She would be in no shape to help any horse, let alone Legacy. When Dr. Mike said a horse was in bad shape, it meant the animal was near death's door. Keeley knew she would have to dig deep and not fall apart no matter how bad it was. And there was still a chance that the horse in question was not Legacy, too.

Dr. Mike soon turned his blinker on and made a left onto a one lane dirt road. His brake lights twinkled as he slowed to ease over and around ruts and pot holes. After a few hundred yards, he carefully turned into a narrow overgrown lane. Keeley looked around, wondering where the horse was in all the over grown mess, leaning and drooping fences, and rickety looking shelters scattered about. Dr. Mike eased up next to one of the more solid appearing sheds and he and Liam climbed out. Keeley parked next to them, and slid from her truck.

Dr. Mike looked at Keeley closely. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked quietly. "You don't have to you know."

Keeley nodded her head. "Yes, I'm OK Dr. Mike. Lead the way, I'll follow you guys."

Liam came around the truck with a big flash light in hand. "Kinda dark in there. I've got this to help us sort things out a bit better."



They entered through a flimsy door. Keeley was afraid it would fall off in her hands, but maybe the door falling from it's hinges would be a good thing as it would let in light and air. Liam clicked the light on, and shone it down a narrow aisle that was loaded with junk, cobwebs, moldy hay bales and rusting farm implements. He stopped and shined the light into a dark stall.

Keeley came up and stood at his shoulder, peering into the darkness beyond, holding her breath in anticipation.

The horse slowly turned his head towards the door. His eyes were dull, his long mane matted and full of burrs. The horse was nothing but a rack of bones with hide stretched over it. He turned his head away from them, and dropped it back down past his knees.

"Dr. Mike, what on Earth makes you think this might be Legacy?" Keeley could not take her eyes from the horse. Legacy or not, something was going to have to be done, and done fast.

"Do you remember when Legacy was a yearling, and he went tear assing around the pasture with the other colts? And he wiped out in a corner, and smacked his head on a post? We had to stitch him up from that, and up under the forelock he had a scar."

Keeley remembered the scar. They all thought that the colt had fractured his skull, and would either die from his injury or be brain damaged. She nodded at Dr. Mike, saying quietly, "I remember that. It's kind of crescent shaped."

Dr. Mike moved to the horse's head and lifted his forelock. Liam shined the beam of the flashlight on his father's hand. Sure enough, there was a crescent shaped scar buried up underneath the matted mess.

"Legacy?" Keeley took his head in her hands. She looked him in the eye, whispering his name. "Is it you boy?"

The horse gave a quiet nicker and nuzzled in her pocket.

Keeley let out a whoosh of breath. She ran her hands over the horse's dull coat, feeling the scars, knobs of bone, and open sores all along his barrel and spine. His legs were stocked up, swollen from his body not moving and circulating properly. Always touchy about having his legs handled, the horse didn't move an inch as she expertly ran knowledgeable hands over them.

"You're a right mess aren't you old boy?" She fought back tears, knowing crying now would not do a thing to help this shell of a horse.

Turning to Dr. Mike and Liam, she quietly asked, "How do we get him out of here? He can not die here. I need to get him home. If nothing else, he needs to die at home- not in this hell hole."

Dr. Mike looked at Liam. They both knew the chance of this horse recovering was slim. A horse as skeletal as this one was at high risk of organ failure and Keeley might well be right in her assertion of the horse dying once he got home. Liam quietly slipped from the stall to let his father and Keeley talk.

Dr. Mike asked Keeley, "Are you sure? You've got enough on your plate Keeley, what with your father." What he left unsaid was worry over bringing back the horse that had killed his wife. Everyone in the equine community knew the death of his beloved wife had severely altered Keeley's father and left him unstable to say the least. Dr. Mike worried sending Legacy home, even if to die, would push him over the edge.

Knowing what the vet was not saying, Keeley stiffened her spine and looked Dr. Mike in the eye.
"He comes home. Who do I talk to in order to get him out of here?"

Dr. Mike nodded his head. "Knew you would say that. Let's go find the owner."


Keeley gave Legacy a rub along his thin, bony neck. "Hang in there big horse. I'll spring you and get you home. Just hang on a bit longer."


Legacy dropped his head lower in the quiet. He was going home. He too had to dig deep, and find the will to live long enough to get there.


The sun slipped lower in the sky, warm winds tugging at the trees once again. Bad Ass stirred- something in the wind whispered to him. Something.. something was changing. A homecoming was in the air. Could it be? "Yeeessss..." the wind whispered. Bad Ass listened hard. The birds grew silent, and once again hoof beats sounded in the yard. This time, there was a sense of urgency attached to them. A homecoming indeed. Lifting his head to the breeze, looking down the long driveway, waiting... waiting. He listened for the sound of the big diesel engine to come growling up from the paved road.


Homecoming indeed. Legacy. Legacy was on his way back to the farm he had been born to and banished from. Bad Ass merely hoped it was not too late for the horse.


####################