Page 48 of Here With Me

Ranger boards here during their busy training months since Ellie doesn’t want to move him too much. But between all the traveling and training, it’s possible he could have an infected hoof.

“You’re the one who won at the rodeo,” Fisher says to Ellie.

My face flushes at the mention of Ground Zero.

“Yeah! You were there?” Ellie asks.

“Yep, I was in the audience when I saw Noah screamin’ for ya.” He smirks, and butterflies invade my stomach at how he looks at me.

Ellie laughs. “Yeah, she’s a good cheerleader.”

“When’s the next competition?”

“Week from Saturday, so that’s why I’m a little nervous. He’s been jumpier and slower than usual.”

“No problem. We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Fisher winks, and I swear a faint blush covers her cheeks.

I side-eye her giggling response. Then I mentally slap myself for reaching a new level of pathetic.

Once he’s done, I take Millie back to her stall while Ellie walks Ranger so Fisher can examine his gait.

“His back leg seems to be the problem. Tie him up, and I’ll start there.”

Once Ranger’s in position, we stand next to him as Fisher checks his hoof.

He carefully feels around and furrows his brows. “There’s definitely somethin’ here. I’m gonna remove his shoe and clean out the dirt so I can get a better look.”

Ellie’s face drops as she wraps her arms around herself. Ranger means everything to her, so if there’s something wrong with him, she’ll be devastated.

Fisher removes the shoe and uses his knife to remove the excess dirt. He inches closer to the hoof and carefully feels around.

“Found the problem.” His voice is filled with remorse.

Ellie gets closer. “What is it?”

“Two nails are wedged near the frog, causing irritation and a possible infection. I’d get your vet out here right away.”

Ellie’s lips tremble. “Oh my God.”

My brows pinch as frustration rolls through me. “I don’t understand how this happened. He’s been trainin’ here since the rodeo and was doin’ fine.”

Fisher looks at me with a grim expression. “He likely got them from here, then.”

“That’s not possible,” I say defensively. “His stall gets cleaned out every other day, and there’d be no reason for anyone to have nails ’round here.”

The training center is only used by me or my brothers, which means no one else who isn’t training is in there unless it’s to watch. It’ll be set up for the fundraiser in a couple of weeks, so having nails in the dirt is a big problem.

“This makes no sense...” I shake my head. “I’m gonna halt all trainin’ until we look through everythin’ to make sure there aren’t more.”

Ellie puts a hand on my arm. “Noah, it’s not your fault. These things happen. He coulda stepped on them at the rodeo, and it just started botherin’ him now. Doesn’t mean you did anythin’ wrong.”

Although she’s trying to make me feel better, it doesn’t. I take full responsibility when something like this happens to my boarders, which is almost never because we make sure the ground stays clean. But I feel sick to my stomach that I kept pushing them to keep practicing and run faster. He couldn’t tell me what was wrong and had to work in pain.

I give her a sincere look, fighting back angry tears. “I’ll call the vet now and tell him it’s urgent.”

“I can soak his hoof in Epsom salt if you wanna grab me a bucket of water,” Fisher says. “It’ll relieve the pain temporarily.”

“Good idea. I’ll get one of the ranch hands to do it.” I grab my phone and rush into the barn.