“I can’t believe you got first place!” Sarah exclaimed.
“I know,” Michelle just about shrieked. Turning to look back at, Fools Gold, her palomino American Saddlebred, she said, “I think you’re getting an extra helping of alfalfa tonight, darlin’.” Fools Gold just flicked his ears inquisitively at Michelle, though.
“So,” Michelle said, still leading Fools Gold over to the trailer, “You want to come over to my place and have a victory drink? Burt picked up some wine the other day that is just unreal,” she added with an excited groan.
“I’d be game for it,” Sarah said with a smile.
“Great! I’ll load her up and then we’ll head over there.”
Sarah stopped in her tracks and looked back at Michelle as she and Fools Gold walked by. She was just about to head off to her car.
“We’re taking your pickup?”
“Yeah. Burt won’t mind. He’s in town at work, anyway. Plus, I figured you could help load and unload Fools Gold. I’ll drive you back over here when you’re ready. I just live about five miles down the road, you know?”
Sarah shrugged and pursed her lips. “Okay. Let me get something out of my car first,” she said before turning back to her car. On her way across the grassy field, she spotted a brown quarter horse with an oddly shaped white blaze on its head looking back at her as she stepped past its trailer. The horse had its head poking out of the window on the steel trailer and the owner didn’t seem to be around.
As Sarah passed under next to it, the horse craned its head down with its ears up curiously to try and take in Sarah’s scent. Smiling, and making sure no one else was watching, Sarah allowed herself to lean in and let the horse sniff her face. It was something she’d done plenty of times as a kid when she was still on her parents’ farm.
Just as the horse’s muzzle was getting close to her face, Sarah felt a yawn coming on and couldn’t hold it back. She closed her eyes for a second and then heard the shrill snort of the horse sneezing just as she was opening her mouth. A split second later she felt something warm and gooey hit the back of her throat. Sarah jerked her head back and clenched her mouth shut an instant later. She tried to spit it out, but felt the glob of horse snot slid down her throat as soon as she opened her mouth again.
“Ugh! Gross!” Sarah coughed, spitting her own saliva down on the ground. The quarter horse just stared back at her curiously, looking innocent. Sarah made one last strained cough before she wiped the spittle off her lips and cleared off the rest of the horse’s snot that had collected on her face.
“Perfect timing,” she sneered back at it before turning and walking back to her car. She definitely wouldn’t be telling Michelle about that one.