Check Up | [Bonus Prompt]

I raced into the barn. Running into a barn isn’t a good idea, I knew that. But I had to. I was told that 6505 had escaped from his run, and was heading to the forest. As I ran into the barn, I saw numerous horses being tacked up, and riders hopping on frantically. Some horses rushed right past me, heading to the forest.

I was of course thankful for the help, but ultimately nervous. I grabbed a halter and ran into Tilly’s stall, and hopped on. Though she wasn’t tacked up, she was a good horse and would behave well while we were looking for 6505. “Ali! Shouldn’t you grab some tack?” Lou asked. I shook my head. “I need to find 6505, and besides Tilly is one of the best bareback horses in the stables.” I responded and gave Tilly a little tap. She trotted out of the stables, and once we were on grass I asked for a canter. Today felt like a perfect and wonderful day, except for the obvious. Once me and Tilly entered the woods the smells entered my nostrils. It smelled beautiful and pleasant. I’d have to come back with Tilly to the woods on another day. As we cantered through the woods, looking for any sign of 6505 we heard shouting, the other riders who were out here as well. I didn’t hear anything to indicate they found him, so me and Tilly kept on. The forest was pretty large, but I was more worried about the wild herds. Some of them could be especially hostile to us, so I prayed that 6505 wouldn’t run into them. If he did, we’d probably never get him back. Not without a lot of reinforcement at least. I heard a twig snap, but it didn’t seem to be from Tilly, I slowed her and looked around.

On my right, there he was. 6505 just standing there. He seemed to be in bad shape. He had cuts all over his legs, most likely due to breaking out of the run. There was fear in his eyes. He sniffed the air, and licked his mouth. He backed away a little as I tried to urge Tilly closer to him. I forgot, he and Tilly had never met yet. Tilly could be reserved when it came to other horses, I hoped this wasn’t one of those times. I tried to stay as quiet and still as possible. A small sudden shift of weight could startle Tilly. “Ho, it’s alright baby. Come on, 6505, you can do it.” I spoke very softly. 6505 seemed to calm a little after hearing my voice. The fear in his eyes quieted. He looked at me with his piercing brown eyes. It felt like I could see his whole world by looking into his eyes. He took a step closer to me and Tilly. I felt Tilly start to tense underneath me. “Ho, it's alright guys. Let’s relax alright?” I said, still speaking softly. Tilly relaxed a little, but was still a bit tense. 

Thankfully, Tilly accepted 6505 as he came closer. Close enough for me to slip the halter on. “There we go, it's going to be alright.” I said softly, and tapped Tilly. She nervously walked forward, and 6505 followed. It was slow, but we made it back to the stables. Once we emerged out of the forest, 6505 had that familiar look of fear. “It’s alright buddy, come on. Let’s get you to the vet and make sure you're alright.” I whispered. I reached a hand over and stroked his muzzle. He reluctantly walked forward. Tilly seemed nervous, but she kept walking forward nonetheless. 

Once we walked into the barn, a few people came and took 6505 back to his stall, with the run shut off. I hopped off of Tilly, and led her back to her stall. She’s doing better with horses, but not perfect. 

I walked over to 6505. Here I could see his injuries a bit better. A few cuts on his legs were bleeding, and he had a pretty nasty cut on his cheek. He was probably limping on the way back, and would be limping for a while. “Awe, poor buddy.” I said, and entered his stall. “This poor guy needs some serious help. I’ll call the vet.” Elijah said, nodding to 6505 cheek. I nodded. “Elijah, do you know how this happened?” I asked. “Apparently there was a trailer that pulled up on the property. 6505 must have seen it, and freaked.” Elijah sighed. “Over seeing a trailer? You would have thought, with his reaction, that someone was trying to force him into a trailer.” I said, stoking 6505. “Mm, this is probably the worst that this has ever been.” Elijah responded. “That's it!” I said. “Zenith, it means the highest point a celestial body has crossed. That’s the perfect name for him!” I exclaimed. “That’s a beautiful name, the meaning I’m not too sure of, but the name is beautiful.” Elijah said, walking closer to Zenith. “Zenith.” he whispered as he stroked the poor stallion. 

By the time the vet came around, which wasn’t long Zenith was pacing his stall. “I’m Kayla.” The vet said as she shook my hand. “I’m Ali. This is Zenith.” I said, while pointing my hand to his stall. The once beautiful deep brown stallion with pink molting on his skin was now covered in blood. Kayla entered the stall, a little boy not much taller than me followed her. She turned around and saw him. She grabbed his shoulder, “This is James, he’s going to be helping me today. He’s my son.” She said to me, “James you have to introduce yourself next time, alright?” she said to him. James nodded. 

Kayla worked on checking Zenith, she was kind of talking to herself? Which I thought was odd, but to each their own. After she had checked Zenith down entirely she began to clean all of his cuts. She used some type of disinfectant with water, and made sure every cut was clean. Zenith didn’t like this process at all, and I had to grab a halter and throw it on him to keep him still. Once the cuts were disinfected, the vet put some ointment onto the cuts. “This will help them hopefully heal faster.” She then sprayed on some silver spray. “This should help keep stuff out of the cuts, you’ll have to spray it on every day or so.” She said, handing me a bottle. “Okay.” I said while grabbing the bottle. I looked back over to Zenith. He didn’t seem to be very happy. I felt so bad for him, first the traumatic process of getting over here, and now this?

Once the vet left, I just sat in the stall with Zenith. I didn’t really know what else to do. I watched him for hours. He seemed to not want to move as much as normal. When I got up and tried to pet his face, he flinched. Poor baby. I tried to say calming things, but no matter what I did Zenith didn’t really want to be around me. I decided it was better if I left, so that Zenith would have some time to relax and calm down. 

The next day, when I came back I went right to Zenith’s stall. There he was, laying down. He did still seem to be in some pain but would you expect him not to be? I grabbed his halter. Today was the day we were supposed to see the vet. The vet, Kayla, didn't check him for any diseases or injuries other than the obvious because she didn’t have the supplies and we didn’t want to walk Zenith over to the vet who was on the other side of the property. 

I opened Zenith’s stall door, and he stood up. I walked over and carefully placed the halter on his head, trying not to touch his cut. Once the halter was on, I walked out of the stall and he followed. I was holding the leadrope, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t even need it. 

Once we had finally made it to the vet’s office slash stable we walked in. Zenith’s loud hooves could be heard echoing off of the floor. “Ali!” Someone in one of the stalls called out. They made an appearance, coming out of the stall. “Jacoline! How great to see you!” I said. “And this must be the famous Zenith?” She asked. I nodded. “Where do you want him?” I asked. “Ah, over here would be fine.” She said while pointing to a stall. I walked Zenith in, and unclipped his leadrope from his halter. 

“Poor baby.” Jacoline said while looking at him. “Kayla told me what happened and his diagnosis, but I’m going to double check and see if we can see any underlying issues.” Jacoline spoke, still watching Zenith. I nodded. “If you want you can come back in a couple of hours. It’s going to take a while.” She said, nodding at the papers in her hand. “Alright, just give me a call once you are done.” I said, and headed out. 

I didn’t really know what to do with myself. Maybe Elijah would be free? But I doubted that, so I headed over to the little cafe on the property. 

After a while, I got a phone call. I frantically answered, without even checking who it was. Thankfully it was the vet. “Hey Ali, you are free to come back now. Zenith is all done, but I’ll tell you more details when you come.” She said over the speaker. “Of course.” I said, rushing out of the cafe. I almost forgot to pay! I rushed back and put a twenty on my table. 

Once I finally made it to the vet barn, Jacoline was standing in the stall with Zenith. “Jacoline?” I asked frantically. “Hey, Ali, relax.” She said, “Nothing is severely wrong, mostly just stuff I expected since he broke out.” She reassured me. “His right hock is a bit swollen, but considering the stunts he pulled yesterday that's to be expected. That's really the only thing I could find wrong, other than the cuts. He’ll need to take it easy for a few weeks, but that should be that.” She said while patting my shoulder. “Here’s his lead rope. If you need anything give me a call alright?” She said, handing me his lead rope. I walked him back to the stable, relieved.