Release from Excellence

She stood waiting for the next instruction. The call came and she moved forward with grace and poise lifting her feet with exaggerated elegance floating across the floor like a ballerina. She felt the next command and moved forward into trot lifting her back to meet the rider above her. He sat squarely and she settled to his familiar movement. Together they moved around the arena as if connected by an invisible thread; this way and that they danced in trot and canter, years of training, sweat and tears culminating in a dance which lasted but three minutes. An exhausting dance of all her gaits; it pushed both her and the rider to the limit of their physical strength.  She heard the applause and the gentle pat of the rider. She had performed well and she could feel he was pleased.

She stood in the middle of the arena and waited as all about her seemed to be in a state of suspended excitement. A woman approached and placed a huge rosette in her bridle and a wreath around her shoulders. This was different, this felt different. The man on her back she knew so well felt different. He felt happy and yet tense, a state of sadness which she could not understand. Had she not performed well? Had they not received one of the big rosettes?

She left the arena confused but followed the instructions he continued to give. She was filled with pride. She had been around a long time and knew what the large rosette meant. She had done well so why was he so sad?

Wrapped in her travelling rugs she went up the ramp into her box. The doors were closed and she settled for the journey home. The lorry drove steadily and carefully and as usual she dosed, tired after the days activities. Arriving back home she went straight to her box ate and slept, she would be stiff in the morning.

As morning broke and breakfast was being delivered she noticed the man already there. She was pleased to see him and hung over the door to her box calling to him. He came and she was pleased to get the mints from him, but why so early? She usually got the day off after a major event, why so early today? He opened the box and came in with her. Stroking her he began to talk in that language she did not understand. She saw wetness round his eyes and felt he was sad. He put on the head collar and led her outside, she was very confused. She stood as he put on the travelling rugs and quietly went into the back of the lorry. Once more she was travelling but it seemed different somehow. She knew the saddle was not in the lorry; he did not have his stuff in the section in front of her. She was not plaited or groomed.

The lorry came to halt and she smelt fresh grass. The back opened and she saw open fields. The man was smiling but the wet hung round his eyes. She looked out at the fields and quivered. She nuzzled him and was scratched just where she had always loved it, but the smell and sounds excited her. She heard other horses calling and she strained to see out of the lorry. Untying the rope she quietly led down the ramp with the man. He took her towards a gate and she looked out over...just fields of grass and horses and trees and…

The man opened the gate and led her in. He slipped the head collar and she stood there next to her man but longing to run. He patted her and gave the command to move on. Without thinking she responded trotting in the way he had taught her, trotting out into the middle of the field looking this way and that whilst others looked on from fields around. She heard him click once more and she bounded forward into a canter, showing off her skills and style she had spent many years learning. She stopped and turned towards the man. He was the other side of the gate looking on. He was smiling but the wetness hung more heavily round his eyes. She trotted over to him and gently kissed his face and fussed round his pockets. He gave her a fuss and another mint then turned and walked toward the lorry.

She watched as he got into the front but this time she did not go with him. She called after him but he did not hear. She watched as he went up the lane, she listened as the lorry disappeared into the distance and she turned to the fields around her looking at a new day.