Old wounds
Even ten days later, Kendrick was still upset.
But the earl and his horses kept him busy almost around the clock.
At first glance, the animals seemed in good shape.
But as he took a closer look, he discovered things with all three he found so shocking that he didn’t want to believe them initially.
But there they were: barely visible scars in the saddle area, evidence that something spiky had been shoved under the saddle during training.
Put a jockey on top and whatever the object was must have caused considerable discomfort and pain.
As horses were flight animals, their natural reaction would be to run as fast as possible in an attempt to get out of danger.
The scars were particularly pronounced on Nihal.
No wonder the mare wouldn’t let anybody get in the saddle!
Kendrick also found a wide variety of substances in their blood: painkiller metabolisers, hormones in concentrations way beyond natural levels, and even banned substances that were known as performance enhancers.
Azzedine’s tendons in all four legs were so inflamed it was only too understandable that his performance had declined sharply. In fact, it was remarkable that he was able to walk at all!
For Kendrick and Rupert, these were plain facts, but the earl and his vet would have none of it.
Dr Hillington found new and different arguments practically on a daily basis.
Initially, he defied the validity of the results and claimed the animals had been in excellent physical condition up until their arrival in Scotland, which he himself had closely monitored.
Then he fabricated tales of faulty or contaminated blood tests and potentially bribed laboratories.
When retests at another lab came back with the same results and he could no longer question them, he started to blame the earl’s trainer and stable staff, claiming they must be corrupt.
Kendrick cringed when he imagined what these casually spouted allegations could mean for the people involved.
The Earl of Penningcard’s stables were not located in England but in Dubai, an autocratically ruled emirate with the death penalty ...
Even if these employees had been involved in torturing the horses, which he considered likely, he was convinced they had only done as they were told.
To make matters worse, these English snobs just annoyed him tremendously!
Blaming it on them being English was unfair, of course, as there were plenty of arrogant snobs among the Scottish aristocracy and certainly very fine contemporaries among the English.
It was the cold-blooded animal abuse that really got to him.
He had not seen anything like it in his career.
The earl did not comment on the matter at all.
Either he considered the shocking results of the blood tests irrelevant, or it was beneath him to discuss them with the locals.
He was not interested in the problem, only in the solution.
And he was outspoken about what he expected to see at the end of their stay: three powerful horses that were healthy, fit and ready to continue their racing careers.
“You have to put an end to this,” Kendrick implored Rupert and Hailey at their now daily get-together in the stable.
“Don’t forget that as long as the horses are here, they have a chance to recover and regain their strength,” Hailey replied dejectedly. Unsurprisingly, her initial enthusiasm for the high-profile client had vanished into thin air.
“Best case is that Faruk gets to the point where he will race again,” Rupert said calmly, and Kendrick nodded in agreement.
“Nihal’s panic runs too deep. With lots of patience and love, we might be able to regain her trust and get her used to accepting a rider again.
But patience and love are in short supply in professional racing and non-existent in the case of our earl.
I reckon Nihal’s best chance is a future as a broodmare.
With her pedigree and remarkable successes, her foals should be worth a lot. ”
“So you want to let Jonah turn Nihal into a breeding machine?” asked Hailey.
“Better than trying to force her back onto the track. Sooner or later – probably sooner – something really bad is bound to happen.” Rupert shrugged and looked resigned.
Kendrick couldn’t blame him. He had encountered his fair share of suffering animals – including some valuable sport horses – but this level of callousness and cruelty was a first for him.
The earl didn’t seem to care more for these animals he had spent several hundreds of thousands on at yearling auctions than he would for some stray dogs.
Not that those deserved poor treatment either, but apparently in some circles not even immense monetary value was a safeguard against abuse.
“And Azzedine?” Hailey asked miserably. “As a gelding, he can’t even go into breeding.”
“I’m sure I can get the tendonitis under control.
He will be completely healthy again. But that won’t last if he’s forced to go back to racing.
What he needs is a comfortable life as an amateur’s riding horse.
” Kendrick stroked the beautiful horse’s soft nostrils.
Azzedine had grown on him because, despite his suffering and pain, he was an especially friendly and sociable horse.
He deserved a lot better than the fate that most likely awaited him.
Strangely enough, whenever he saw the four-year-old black gelding, he always thought of Shona.
Maybe because of his coat and her hair, which were both the colour of shiny black silk.
“How likely is it that the earl will agree to let him retire and be a regular riding horse?” Hailey sounded as sombre as Kendrick felt.
“About as likely as world peace I reckon?” he replied.
“Now, now, stop sulking,” Rupert interjected, pulling himself out of his own dark mood. “To quote our earl: I don’t want to hear about problems; I want solutions!”
“And what do you have in mind?” Hailey wanted to know. “My preference would be to keep them here.”
Rupert smiled lovingly at his daughter, and Kendrick thought that Hailey’s soft heart combined with her temperamental character was likely the reason why her father had not yet given her more responsibility in the business.
Though this would change going forward, he reckoned.
“You know we cannae save them all,” replied Rupert.
“What we can do is strive for the best possible compromises. So let’s be all matter of fact when we tell Jonah about our findings and explain the options to him.
I reckon if we continue to work a lot with Faruk, he will most likely overcome his fear of the starting gate.
He is stable and young enough to have two more good years or so on the racecourse.
With Nihal, we have to make him see the value of turning her into a broodmare. I think he runs a breeding stable too.”
“And Azzedine?”
“I’d like to buy him,” Kendrick heard himself say. What was that about?
“What?!” Hailey and Rupert called out in unison, equally surprised.
“He’s grown on me,” he replied defensively.
He knew it was a mistake that was bound to cause him pain, but he couldn’t take it back.
Azzedine had forged a path into his heart, and he had thrown his professional distance overboard – just like with Shona, though he was even less happy to admit that.
Both of them seemed cut out to haunt his soul.
Jonah would never give him the horse – and Shona would never give him her heart.
He was a fool to even think of it. Any of it.
When he had seen his English colleague grope Shona last week, he had been mad enough to clock Hillington.
The impulse to protect her had been almost too strong to resist. And when she coolly turned the earl down shortly afterwards, he was a lost cause.
A fool who wouldn’t learn his lesson, that’s what he was!
“Tha’s very honourable of you,” began Rupert, who recovered from the unexpected turn of their conversation more quickly than Hailey. “But I doubt he’ll sell you his horse just like that. And even if he’s willing to part with him, the price may be out of your reach.”
“But in his current state, Azzedine’s practically worthless,” Hailey jumped into the breach. “Jonah can’t do anything with him. When you approach it rationally, he should be grateful for any offer, even a ridiculously low one.”
“Do you really expect our dear earl to be rational? I wouldnae. And dinnae forget his huge ego. No, I wouldnae count on him selling the horse cheaply. Either we appeal to his good sense and generously offer to take the worthless animal off his hands, or ...”
“Or?” Hailey sounded excited, and Kendrick was equally curious to hear what the sly old fox had come up with. He was certainly right about what to expect from the earl.
“Or we pull a few strings. You know, the veterinary and customs authorities, that kind of thing. Animal welfare may no’ be a top priority in Dubai, but it is here. And since the animals are currently on British soil ...”
“You’re the best!” Hailey beamed admiringly at her father.
“I’d rather we didnae have to go that far, but I’m prepared to take that step.”
“I’ve got another idea.” Hailey suddenly looked much more optimistic again. “I’ll give Lila a call. She works for Horse & Hound and writes about scandals in equestrian sport. That would be a great story for her.”
Kendrick also sensed an opportunity, albeit a small one.
“Excellent plan,” he said cheerfully. “I’m going to re-bandage his legs and then I’m off.
It’s time I headed home. When are we going to talk to the earl?
” He yawned. The past few days had been beyond stressful, with the racehorses and quite a few sick animals to look after.