Finally she reached her. Jess gently slipped her hand into the horse’s bridle and patted the soft brown head. The horse’s fear remained.
What was wrong?
Jess examined her with care, whispering softly as she ran her hand over the brown coat. Once she raised her voice above a whisper and the horse tried to rear away in fright.
It was as if noise hurt…
The mare’s eyes were strange-different. The third eyelid was visible and the pupils seemed dilated. For a horse to compete in a gymkhana like this…
She must be growing worse. Ray would never have tried to transport her like this-or risk putting his son on her.
Jess moved the horse gently along the fence, her hand tight on the bridle.
‘Come on, girl. Gently…’
There was a stiffness there-almost arthritic-and a definite tremor to the back legs.
Something…There had to be something…
She needed help. Jess turned to Niall and signalled him with her eyes.
He wasn’t stupid. Niall had seen what happened when Jess raised her voice. Without speaking he climbed the fence with careful unhurried movements and came toward them slowly-as aware as Jess that this was a horse on the edge of panic.
As soon as he was close enough Jess took his hand and guided it to the bridle, indicating again with her eyes that she wanted the horse held.
Niall’s strong hand touched hers again as he took the bridle, signalling that he’d understood. He took control of the horse, his spare hand coming up to run down the mare’s trembling face.
Jess stood back and looked.
She ran her eyes all over the big brown body, searching for something that she didn’t want to find. Then she knelt and looked again.
It was there. Just above the hoof on the left foreleg…
A recently scarred wound. Not big. Half an inch long, maybe, but it must have been deep. The scab had almost fallen away. Three, four weeks old?
The timing was right.
Everything was right.
Or everything was wrong, depending on how you looked at it. For a vet wanting a diagnosis things were right. For Matilda things were very badly wrong.
Jess straightened from where she’d been crouching and the horse sidled, fighting against Niall’s hold. She took the bridle from Niall.
‘We need a warm, dry stable,’ she whispered to Niall. ‘One as far from the house as possible. Can you go and tell Ray to organise it and I’ll bring the horse after you?’
Niall cast her a doubtful look.
‘Problem?’
‘Tetanus,’
There was a moment’s silence.
Then, very softly, Niall swore. Without another word he went to do her bidding.
‘How long since she’s been vaccinated, Ray?’
With the horse safely installed in a stable, Jess stood in the house yard with a grey-faced Ray.
‘Oh, Geez…’ The farmer put his hand to his face. ‘I dunno…We had her done last time she foaled, I reckon, and that was four years back. There was only a visiting vet once a month then-and afterwards, well, it never seemed worth the trouble. I mean, tetanus is rare, isn’t it?’
‘Not as rare as I’d like.’ Jess sighed. She reminded farmers of the need to vaccinate annually but as she’d never been called on to treat Matilda the old horse had missed her attention.
‘Is there anything you can do?’
Jess looked at Ray. The fisherman was almost rigid with distress and her heart warmed to him. To hear Ray with the other fishermen on the wharf you’d think he was as rough as bags but he was marshmallow at heart-and he loved the little horse.
‘The treatment for tetanus is often not effective-and it’s expensive,’ she told him, doing rough calculations in her head. Even if she gave the drugs at cost and didn’t charge herself…
She told him the approximate cost and Niall’s face changed.
Ray didn’t flinch. ‘Look, we have to try.’ The big man spread his hands. ‘I’ve had Matilda longer than we’ve had most of the kids-and to think I brought this on her by not vaccinating…The wife’ll be beside herself.’
Jess nodded. ‘Do you want to talk to your wife about it first?’
‘No. Treat her,’ he said roughly. He shook his head. ‘It’s been a dry winter and one of our big tanks sprang a leak. We’re having to cart water and Marg’s working herself into the ground to keep the garden going. This is all she needs!’
‘We’re having trouble in the vineyard, too,’ Niall said sympathetically, diverting his attention from the horse for a blessed moment. ‘If we don’t get rain soon…’
‘We’ll be in trouble,’ Ray said savagely. ‘I told Margy that last night-and here’s big trouble thumping down on us, anyway. Do what you have to do, Jess, girl. We’ll pay for it somehow.’
There was little enough that Jess could do. She drove back to the clinic and returned with tetanus antitoxins.
On her return she was surprised to find Niall’s Range Rover still in the yard. Paige was seated in a pool of kids and dust, playing a noisy game of marbles, and Jess looked down at the laughing little girl and saw why Niall had stayed.
He’d do a lot for this little daughter.
Niall moved with Jess into the stables, holding the mare while Jess injected the medication and carefully padded each of the mare’s ears with cotton wool.
‘It’ll reduce the noise level as much as it can be,’ she told Ray as she and Niall emerged from the stable. ‘But it’s worth telling the kids to be quiet. The less noise there is the lower her stress level.’
‘Yeah, well it’s school again tomorrow, praise be,’ Ray growled. ‘That’ll keep them quiet.’ He hesitated. ‘What odds, Jess?’
‘Low.’ It was no use dissembling. ‘I’ll come back in the morning.’
‘Right.’ Ray almost visibly braced his shoulders. ‘OK, you kids. I want you all inside watching the telly. I know I’m usually kicking you outside but Matilda needs quiet.’ He looked from Jess to Niall. ‘Can I offer you people a cuppa-or a beer?’
‘No, thanks.’ Niall shook his hand. ‘There’s a kettle on at the vineyard-and Dr Harvey’s promised us a visit. Isn’t that right, Dr Harvey?’
‘I don’t…‘ Jess started but was interrupted by Paige.
‘Yes,’ the child said definitely. ‘Hugo and me made chocolate chip cookies this morning especially in case you came. And now you have to drive practically past our front door to get home. So you’ll come.’
It was a statement of satisfied fact and Jess couldn’t argue. She didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Jess drove slowly to the Mountmarche vineyard, full of misgivings.
Why had she agreed to this?
Afternoon tea with a child and her two male relatives? What could be more harmless than that?
Fine, if one of the male relatives wasn’t Niall Mountmarche…
She passed Marg Benn on the road. Marg’s ancient truck was carting water from the bore at the south end of the island. She waved her hand in cheery greeting to Jess, not knowing what lay in store for her when she returned home.
A dying horse…
Could Jess save Matilda?
She didn’t like her chances, Jess thought drearily. Matilda was old, and the disease was known to involve months of recovery even in young, fit horses.
Marg was in for a hard time.
