A Facebook Message to Andrew.
I used to ride this horse sometimes whose name was Cokes Ajax (weird name), but we just called him Ajax. He was this beautiful sixteen-hand-high buckskin Appaloosa Quarter Horse mix with what horse people call a blanket butt (meaning he had a white patch covering his rear). His musculature was just about breathtaking, and his canter was smooth as butter. And although he was pretty young, he slowly began to go blind in his left eye. Sandra asked me if I would continue to train with him until he got used to compensating for the missing eye. He had always been a favorite with the younger kids because he was very gentle yet energetic, as well as very handsome, but unfortunately, his clouding blue eye understandably made him much more skittish. Soon only advanced riders were allowed on him, and our lessons were almost always one-on-one because Ajax was unused to hearing other horses come up behind him when he couldn't see them.
One day we were on the jump field and we did seven courses in a row, each course consisting of about six to ten jumps. The gate to the field was open because it was just me and my instructor. On the final line (two jumps in a row) he ducked out between the jumps and ran out into the adjoining field. Once he got there he seemed confused and just turned back around and went into the jump field at the same pace he had left it.
Today I had a dream that I was grooming him with Teg (the barn manager from camp) because she wanted me to give the older girls a demonstration. We were working on his tail when he got spooked. He ran away from us and down a road. I was trying to hold onto his tail to stop him, but he was determined to get away. A car whizzed right by us and I dropped his tail, scared. But his fear made him run faster down the enormous hill. He got to the bottom and an oncoming car slammed into his blind left side. The woman got out of the smashed car and looked around all confused. Ajax was lying in the middle of the road, screaming and bleeding. Then another car ran over him and crashed off the road. By that time Teg and I had gotten to him and he looked up, snorted, made a faint nicker, and died.
One day we were on the jump field and we did seven courses in a row, each course consisting of about six to ten jumps. The gate to the field was open because it was just me and my instructor. On the final line (two jumps in a row) he ducked out between the jumps and ran out into the adjoining field. Once he got there he seemed confused and just turned back around and went into the jump field at the same pace he had left it.
Today I had a dream that I was grooming him with Teg (the barn manager from camp) because she wanted me to give the older girls a demonstration. We were working on his tail when he got spooked. He ran away from us and down a road. I was trying to hold onto his tail to stop him, but he was determined to get away. A car whizzed right by us and I dropped his tail, scared. But his fear made him run faster down the enormous hill. He got to the bottom and an oncoming car slammed into his blind left side. The woman got out of the smashed car and looked around all confused. Ajax was lying in the middle of the road, screaming and bleeding. Then another car ran over him and crashed off the road. By that time Teg and I had gotten to him and he looked up, snorted, made a faint nicker, and died.