Trickster

Chapter Fourteen

They find Trickster on the ground in his stall, rolling in pain. His coat is sweaty and covered in straw and manure. The stall that was cleaned just half an hour ago. It’s a mess again, and it smells extra awful. When Trickster knows David is there, he twists his head and tries to get up, but freezes halfway through in a seated position.

Dr. Mac says it’s a classic colic sign. His stomach is hurting him awfully, so sitting like that helps. But if he rolls on the ground, it can make his intestines twist, and horses die from that. Dr. Mac instructs to get him out of the stall just as he slowly gets to his feet, legs shaking, eyes rolling in his head, belly spasming.

Dr. Mac enters Trickster’s stall and clips a rope to his halter and leads him out. David goes ahead to guide him. The paddock outside the foaling barn looks like a hospital waiting room. Jared is watching Gertie, Gus, Claiborne, and Elsa (who Brenna rode today instead of Blitzen) graze. Mr. Quinn is in the foaling barn with Starfire. Too many horses, not enough hands.

They bring each horse into a foaling barn stall, just as Dr. Gabe arrives, unloading supplies. With two vets, the examinations go faster. They check the vitals—temperature, respiratory rate, and heart rate—of each horse. Trickster’s heart rate is twice the rate it should be. Whatever this is, it’s more than colic. The stomach pain indicates colic, but they have diarrhea. They’re drinking lots of water, but it’s passing through the other end. It has to be intestinal. They get each horse started on I.V.s.

After that, David points out the bumps on Trickster’s nose. He also mentions he was drinking water strangely by sticking his whole nose into the bucket, and then only lifting to breathe. Also, his stall would be clean one minute, and then thirty minutes later, manure there again.

Dr. Mac looks at Trickster’s mouth for a minute, and then declares cantharidin. Dr. Gabe shakes his head. That can’t be right. Dr. Mac argues and shows him inside his mouth and along Trickster’s tongue. Cantharidin are blister beetles in the hay. It’s a nightmare. Mr. Quinn replies they’ve never had blister beetles before. Dr. Mac checks inside Starfire’s mouth, and sure enough, David can see the same kind of blisters as in Trickster’s mouth. Smaller, but still ugly.

Dr. Mac explains to David that blister beetles live on plants like alfalfa, which is harvested for hay. They have a chemical in their body called cantharidin. This chemical burns body tissues. Trickster was sticking his whole head in the water because it cooled the blisters on his lips. The cantharidin irritated their stomachs, kidneys, and intestines, blistering their insides, too. And all the irritation caused diarrhea.

Linda enters the foaling barn. She must have just arrived because she asks why the horses are still in the pasture. They should be getting ready for their next lesson. Dr. Mac looks up and quickly explains they were accidentally poisoned. Did they get any new hay recently?

Linda responds yes, and it came just in the nick of time because they were almost out. Dr. Mac explains the blister beetles again. But most likely Linda wouldn’t have seen any bugs on the hay. They were most likely all chopped up. Even a couple blister beetles can kill a horse, so these horses didn’t eat very much.

Mr. Quinn comes into the barn after fetching a small sample of hay. He scatters the hay on the ground outside the barn and they all get on their knees. Mr. Quinn points out a small black dot. Dr. Mac warns not to touch it, otherwise his hand will blister. They’ll have to analyze the sample.

Dr. Mac instructs them to order new hay from a different grower immediately. They need to ensure that the horses that haven’t had the new hay don’t have any. They need to notify the grower of the infected hay immediately, and they need to meticulously clean the barn. Every stall must be swept clean.

Mr. Quinn asks what the antidote is. How do they treat the horses? Dr. Mac turns and says there is no antidote. They just have to keep the horses’ fluids up, give them antibiotics, and wait. Dr. Mac mentions they can take Starfire to the equine hospital if he wants. There, they can monitor his calcium, magnesium, and protein levels, too.

David asks if they can take all the horses to the hospital, but he already knows the answer. Mr. Quinn can’t afford to take all the horses. The show horses would be the only ones to go. David can feel something squeezing in his chest. When he looks at Mr. Quinn’s eyes, David can see he feels the same way.

Dr. Mac takes out her phone. She’ll call Brenna’s father to have him take the kids home. David protests. He wants to stay and help. Mr. Quinn turns to David and says that it’s obvious he cares a lot about the horses and his concern is appreciated. But it’s time for him to go home. David protests again, but is interrupted by a whinny and a loud whump from the foaling barn.

Dr. Gabe calls out that it’s Starfire. Mr. Quinn and Dr. Mac run to the barn just ahead of David, but they all see what happened. The beautiful black stallion has collapsed in his stall. His head is stretched limply on the straw, his eyes open and dull. Mr. Quinn kneels, touches the horse’s leg, and turns his face away from the rest of them.

Starfire is dead.

After a few moments, Mr. Quinn quietly tells David to go home. This is not a place for kids. David knows it’s not the time or place to argue again.