I had forgotten that Maurice did not know the mare well. She had but recently arrived from Tennessee, and even more recently she had been transferred to his stable.
“I wouldn’t take the risk, sir,” he reiterated in a whisper.
I was about to say, “Oh, yes, you would!” but I could hardly resort to such a cheap acknowledgment of his kindness. To have overcome his usual diffidence and made any suggestion at all, had cost him an effort, evident in the heightened color of his clean-shaven, pink cheeks. He glanced toward the grooms. A quick light shone in his brown eyes when he again looked up at me.
“You’ll ride her, sir?”
This was not so much a question as a challenge. He had raised his voice a bit, evidently intending the other grooms should hear him. I thanked him and told him to get the mare ready. I wondered if she had developed some dangerous trick since he had been taking care of her. I was curious and, I admit, a trifle nervous.
Instantly Maurice’s manner changed. He nodded, shuffled to the stall, and led the mare out. Deftly he snapped the pillar reins in the halter ring. With brush and cloth he went over her from muzzle to hoof accompanying each stroke with a sibilant breath. The mare was spotless and sleek, yet Maurice’s old-country pride would not allow him to turn a horse out that did not shine like burnished copper. Even in the semidarkness of the runway, her coat glowed and shimmered like sunlight on water. When it came to “doing” horses, Maurice had no favorites. He was as impartial as a machine.
I could hear him talking to the mare.
“There, now! Be quiet, ye huzzy! ’Tis old Maurice that’s taking up your foot and not some murdering horseshoer, me lady! Be a good girl, now! ’Tis not I that would hurt you!”
Schooled to the pillar reins, yet resenting them, the mare stamped with haughty impatience.
Bridled and saddled, she was led out, her fine, glossy coat changing hue, as she moved, her head high, her ears sharply to the front. In her full eye glowed the courage of her breeding, not unmixed with mischief. Maurice made her pose and held down the right stirrup.