“Need me to take care of Hunter?” Jessup asked, coming up behind me with a wheelbarrow full of manure.
“That would be amazing.” I sighed. “I hate when my boy isn’t perfect.”
“Don’t I know it.” Jess shot me a little smirk, going into the tack room to get the tools he needed to take the nail out of Hunter’s hoof.
“Make Cara help you. I don’t need Hunter stomping down on your foot like Rex did to me last month.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Jessup teased before calling to his wife.
“Mrs. Daughtry?” a young woman inquired, standing in the middle of the barn.
“That’s me,” I answered, waving to her. “Are you here for class?”
She nodded, shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Sorry if I’m a little early.”
There was always that one student who showed up thirty minutes before class. I liked those students.
“Never apologize for being early for anything to do with my class. The earlier the better when it comes to caring for these majestic beasts.”
“Can I be honest with you?” she muttered.
“Of course, but follow me. I need to get my binder out of the office.”
Trotting along behind me, the student admitted, “I am really nervous about this class.”
“And why is that?” I dove behind my messy desk, grabbing the course binder forEquine Nutrition and Care.
“I have always loved horses and am really looking forward to getting more familiar with them, but I am more on the business side of things. I am a terrible rider, and sometimes the bigger ones scare the piss out of me.”
“Well, that is very honest. What’s your name?”
“Ella May, ma’am.” She bowed her head, backing a few steps out of the door.
“Well, Ella May, I can promise you that by the end of this class you will be handling and riding with confidence,” I assured the nervous coed.
“Do you really think so?”
“I know so.”
“You fucker!” Jessup exclaimed.
Wide-eyed, I turned to my new student. “Go take a seat and I will be over in a minute. I need to see what that was about.”
“Okay.” She shuffled away rapidly as I rushed to Hunter’s stall.
“Damn horse bit me again.” Jessup was holding his arm while Cara laughed uncontrollably.
Patting Hunter, I could feel him breathing hard.
“Were you able to get the nail?”
Cara laughed more. “Jess couldn’t even get close enough to him to try.”
“That damn horse is sexist.” Jessup cinched a rag around his arm.
“Come on. Let’s get a Band-Aid on that.” Cara ushered her husband out of the stall.
Picking up Hunter’s leg, I rested it on my knee. It wasn’t my first rodeo with Hunter, and I knew better than to send a guy into his stall. Ever since Freddy had passed, Hunter really didn’t like men. I couldn’t explain it, but it was a fact.