A Horse's Tale, Chapter 36, Championship Chicken
Steph and Rob pull up to the house, Steph says, "It 11:30, we got out of Mavericks at a good time.", Rob nods, "Yeah, and it was a pretty good evening. Oh, did you notice that three horses are missing out of the Ladies Parlour." Steph jumps out of the car, and looks toward the Ladies Parlour, "How do you know three horses are missing?" Rob gets out of the car, locks the doors, and heads to the house, "I counted the blobs as we drove by, don't know who is missing, but there are three fewer blobs then when we left." Steph walks over to the Ladies Parlour, does a quick count of the blobs, ahhh horses, "Dublin come here please." Dublin not to excited about it, walks over slowly, Steph asks "Who is missing and where are they?" Dublin kind of shrugs and looks around the pen as if mentally trying to figure out who is missing. "Ahh, looks like Jonah, Spirit and 'B', I think they were talking about seeing General about something." Steph nods, pats Dublin on the nose, and walks back toward the house.
'Wonder what they needed to see General about, I hope they are betting on stuff.' Steph stops on the patio, looks at Justice standing in his pen, something looks funny, she walks over and takes a closer look. Justice is standing with one hoof in the small tub used for salt and minerals. "Justice why are you standing in the tub?" Justice looks up, "Ahhh, What?" Steph points to Justices right front legs, "Why do you have your hoof in the tub?" Justice looks down, "Oh, I didn't know what is was called. It kept getting in the way while I was eating, so I decided to carry it around." Steph looks at him, "What do you mean carry it around?" Justice looks down and raises his right front leg up off the ground, and lifts the tub up. Steph says, "Is it stuck to your hoof?" Justice shakes his head and drops the tub. As the tub hits the ground, Steph asks "How did you do that?" Justice puts his hoof back on the ground, "I lets go of it." Steph nods, "I figured that, but how did you manage to pick it up?" Justice to demonstrate how smart he is, places his hoof back in the tub and picks it up. "I grab it will my hoof." Steph nods and thinks a bit, "I didn't know you could do that." Justice nods, "I didn't either til I stepped in it, the only problem I have is when I run around, it makes a lot of noise." Steph smiles, "I bet it does, well don't hurt yourself or break the tub." Steph turns and looks around Casper and Dancer are both standing quietly in the right Round Pen, she turns her gaze to the front Round Pen, she sees some blobs, and looks like some lights moving around.
As she walks over she sees three blobs, ahh horses standing on the outside and what appears to be Sampson standing on the inside, looks like they are talking. As she gets closer she sees that at least two of the horses have flashlights in their mouths, and shining the light on the ground inside the pen. She stops and watches for a while, 'I wonder what they are doing?' Just as she starts to walk over, the flashlights are turned off, and the three horses start walking toward her. Steph stands there, waiting, Jonah, Spirit and 'B' walk right past her, and keep on going. Steph follows, as she and the horses pass Justice, they stop and look at him, each shaking their heads, as Justice walks around with his hoof in the tub, after a bit, they turn and continue, as they get close to the patio, Steph says "What are you three up to this late at night?"
All three stop, Spirit kicks the ground, and they turn around. 'B' says "Didn't think you would notice if we were quiet." Steph nods, "Pretty good job, so what were you doing talking with Sampson, and why did you need to see General?" Jonah steps up, "We needed a book and there isn't many pictures in it, so we had Sampson read some of to us." Steph nods, "That seems very smart of you. By the way what book were you interested in?" Spirit steps forward with a small book in his mouth, and hands it to Steph. "To dark to look at it here lets go to the patio. Steph wipes a bit of horse slobber of the book, and steps under the light on the patio, "So what is this book all about?" As her eyes get accustomed to the light, Jonah answers, " Its about chickens." Steph asks "What interest would you guys have in chickens?" Again Jonah answers, "We heard that you got some baby chickens and were talking about making them show chickens. So we know what a show horse is, we could learn to be judges for show chickens, so we got the book." Steph replies, "That almost makes sense. Let’s see what the book says." Just to help 'B' turns on her flashlight and shines it at the book. Steph reads the title "How to Judge Championship Chicken." she opens the book, turns a few pages, "I think you need to get another book, I don't think this one will help you much." Steph closes the book and hands it back to Spirit, Jonah look at her, "You may be right, we were a bit confused when Sampson was reading the book to us." all three horses nod, Jonah asks "What kind of chickens did you get? All we can find in the book are fried, roasted and stewed."
To Be Continued.
Author Samm
MHR PMU horses
