Here to Stay: Day 5

 Word Count: 30,003

Summary of Events:

The farrier came for his regular visit to trim the horses' hooves, starting with James' stallion not only because he was the closest at hand but because being a stallion made him more of a challenge than his fellow horses. Once all the horses' hooves were trimmed Jake took them back to the pasture, noticing as he did that a blond boy who looked about his age was watching him. The boy approached as Jake turned the last pair out and proceeded to condemn every single horse as ugly for the exact reasons that Jake thought they were gorgeous, prompting Jake to retort defensively to the arrogant stranger . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I want to be surprised,” the kid said snidely. “But considering you’re a backwater-dweller it’s really only a given that you’re going to think these kind of creatures are gorgeous, as you’ve seen nothing better, but you will, trust me. You’ll know what a real gorgeous horse looks like when my purebred Morgan stallion arrives from Tennessee in a few weeks.”

Jake was stunned. A stallion? Dad was the only person he knew who had a stallion — outside of Mr. Ellerington, but his were for breeding more than riding, while the Colt was vice versa.

“How old are you?” Jake asked.

“Fifteen,” the kid haughtily replied.

“There is no way you could be getting a stallion,” Jake said.

“Why not?” the kid contended.

“Because I’m going to be fifteen by the end of the year,” Jake replied. “And I don’t have a stallion.”

“That’s no reason at all,” the kid retorted, a haughty chuckle in his voice. “The real reason you don’t have a stallion is because your dad can’t afford a stallion if you live in that tumbledown old house on that tumbledown, overgrown yard.”

Insulted, Jake’s indignation flared up to rage like gasoline had been thrown onto the flames.

“My house is not tumbledown, nor is the yard tumbledown or overgrown,” Jake spat back. “It’s well-maintained, especially considering it’s over a hundred years old. Furthermore, my dad does, in fact, have a stallion, and most everybody I know considers my dad’s stallion to be the finest stallion in the area. Surely no American stallion could be finer than he is.”

The kid scoffed, looking dismissive. “Your old man’s stallion can’t possibly be that fine if it doesn’t stand out from all the other horses in the pasture.”

Jake looked at the kid incredulously for a moment. He could not be getting a stallion if he was this dumb. He’d get killed by it.

“Do you think my dad — who is not old — would be that stupid?” Jake demanded. “A stallion kept in a pasture dominated by mares who could still conceive?”

“A stallion’s just as much a horse as any of these ugly things, why would it have to be kept separate?” the kid questioned back. “It’s not like men have to be kept segregated from women to prevent women from miraculously becoming pregnant.”

Openmouthed and slack-jawed with further incredulity, Jake stared at the kid. This kid was dumb enough to be killed by a horse that wasn’t a stallion.

“You know nothing about horses,” Jake stated simply after pulling his jaw shut and shaking his head.

“I’ve been in riding lessons since I was ten,” the kid snapped indignantly.

“I’ve been riding since my legs were long enough to cue our old pony properly,” Jake scoffingly retorted. “Too, merely knowing how to ride a horse doesn’t make you — or anyone else — an expert about them, and horses don’t have the same kind of restraint as humans, they’re instinctual animals, so when their instinct tells them to make love, they make love, no worries about consent,  consequences, or fidelity.”