Breeding Ground by Sally Wright Read Free Book Online Page B

handle him, so I took him off her hands like her husband wanted.”
    â€œHe’s good lookin’.”
    â€œTuffian’s made real well. Moves real well too, but he was no great shakes on the track. He don’t have the heart. Don’t have good ground manners neither. He got taught, and he’s smart enough. He just don’t want to do what you ask. You’d put up with it if he was Man O’ War, but for some six-year-old also-ran like him, maybe not.”
    Buddy nodded as though he’d been there before.
    â€œHe’s real dangerous in his stall. Protects his food like all get out and don’t want nobody in there with him. His breedin’s good, and he’s thrown a couple stakes winners. But I reckon in the long run, he’ll end up at the killers, behavin’ like he does. You can’t just give him away. You’d be worryin’ who he’d hurt.”
    Neither one of them said anything else till they’d stubbed out their cigarettes.
    â€œMr. Watkins, did you—”
    â€œToss.”
    â€œD’you tell me that for a reason?”
    â€œ
If
I take you on here, you need to know to be real careful of him. That’s the first thing. Pour the grain in his feed tub from the aisle-way. Throw his hay in the stall through the bottom half of the door. Don’t get in the stall with him.”
    â€œNo-sir. I’d be real careful.”
    â€œSo who’s gonna decide what happens to Tuffian?”
    Buddy stared across at the horse, before he said, “Him.”
    â€œYep. I’m gonna work with him, and see what I can do. But it’ll be up to him.” Toss took off his battered straw hat and wiped his forehead. “So what’d’ya figure folks want in barn help? Or in a trainer, either one?”
    Buddy didn’t answer till he’d scratched a circle in the dirt with his burned out match. “Somebody who’s good at the work. Who’s dependable, and real honest, and works harder than most.” Buddy’s face was pink, under the tan, and he wasn’t looking at Toss.
    Toss nodded, still gazing at Tuffian. “Somebody who shows up before time, and works harder and longer than he has to. That’s the kind that gets ahead. Now, some folks’ll take advantage of that, but in the long run, they’ll suffer, not the one that works that hard.”
    Toss shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back on the bench. “You did good today, showin’ me what you know about horses, and how you can work. I take it as a fine example of what a barn hand can do. If you want the job, you can have it. You can have the tenant house on the north lane past the big house too, if that suits you and your wife.
    â€œBut if just once, you don’t show, you’re done. ’Cept for some real emergency, that you tell Jo or me about first. I can’t say for sure how long I’ll need you. Long enough to get your babies born, and more, and let you get back up on your feet, and find you a new direction.”
    Buddy was looking at Toss by the time he’d quit talking with a light lit up in his eyes. “Thank you, sir. I sure do appreciate it. I won’t let you down.”
    â€œNo, I don’t reckon you will. There’s no job here that’s not important, neither. Everything you’ll do will add to running this farm right, and taking good care of the horses. If you do your work well, I’ll give you more opportunity, too.” They were walking then, toward the yearling barn, rolling their cigarette butts between their fingers, shredding tobacco on the ground. “Josie tells me you want to be a trainer.”
    â€œYes-sir.”
    â€œThen you’ll need to work for a real good trainer who can teach you what gets handed on from one down to the next. ’Course, sometimes I think a groom can have as big a part in how a race horse performs as most trainers or