A "Moment of Nothing" With Nechta
I walked around a corner into the main square of the stable yard and headed down one side and saw Nechta standing at the bar to her box facing me. She was looking at me, and as I approached she lowered her head, putting one front leg forward, then the other. Then she put her muzzle on one knee, and then on the other. I bent down to look and noticed some cuts just above the fetlock. I gently stroked down her left foreleg, holding my hand on her knee for a moment. I noticed her lips touch the top of my head and then my shoulder before moving to the nape of my neck. I looked up and saw that she had raised her head high and was looking across the yard. I stood next to her close to her shoulder and looked where she was looking across the corrals to the middle of the row of boxes at the top of the square, where a couple of ponies were standing at their stable doors. She showed white around her eye, as if in fear, then turned and withdrew into the shadow at the back of her box. The ...