{Group, OPEN} So you had a bad day

[lovasz]

As usual, they didn't get much accomplished today. They had their good days, and bad days, but today was far from a good day. He could swear that the horse woke up on the wrong side of the beat 15/30 days in a month, and was the world's biggest grouch. On these bad days, it was somewhat silly to try to get anything done by way of actually improving, but he rode anyway. The horse had to get his exercise, otherwise he'd build up enough energy to light the whole of Pinewood for three days and would be completely impossible to get even close to without being severely injured in some way.

Today was one of the worse bad days. He'd tell him to run, and he'd start, and then find some way to either stop or throw his rider...not exactly what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to stop, yes, but not until they reached the end of the arena, not at the first few strides. If, by chance, they would make it to the end where he was supposed to stop, instead of digging in and sliding to a stop like he was supposed to, he would make an abrupt turn, and just about throw his rider again. Either way, the man usually ended up on the ground.

So why did he still have this devil of a horse? Why didn't he get some animal that was actually decent in behavior, he could certainly afford an already trained horse? Well, he wasn't like that. There was one thing he and this horse shared in common that brought them together. They'd both been severely injured doing what they did best, and had been forced to either start over or start something new. They both shared the knowledge now that they were not invincible, and he was going to stick with that horse until it killed him.

He finally gave up on trying to get anything done today, after probably the seventh time of getting thrown. They say you're supposed to get back up on the horse every time you get bucked off, but they never tried riding a former champion bucking horse now did they? He was rather sick of it, and somewhat starting to feel the consequences of getting back on as many times as he already had. Not only did the horse throw him though, he would come back around and try to trample him. He was anything but a nice horse.

The black horse came racing at him as he lay on the ground, and he quickly say up and jumped out of the horse's way. The horse thundered by, his hooves crushing the ground where he had only moments before lain. Had he still been there, he probably would have been killed. The horse wheeled again and came racing at him, but he didn't move. When he was on his feet, the horse didn't usually try to run him over. The black animal dug his hooves into the ground and slid to a stop in perfect form a few inches in front of his rider, a wild look in his eyes. "I swear," he said to the horse, "someday you will kill me." He took hold of the reins and started towards the gate of the arena, trying his best to put a good face on the situation. At least he was still alive, right? As he walked towards the exit, he glanced around to see if anyone had been there to witness the insanity of the black horse, or if anyone else was around at all.

[Liz]

Earlier that day, Liz had came to the barn. She had one thing on her mind and that was focusing on training Cherokee some in jumping. She would have to work him slowly, but she hoped that he would stop refusing as many jumps as normal. After driving over to the barn, she got out and set her tack out by his stall. She quietly walked through the huge, grass filled field searching for him. She slipped his purple, breakaway halter on him and then clipped the rusted red clip. She yanked the lead and then Cherokee obediently followed her. He sighed unhappily as he was being pulled away from his grass. She laughed some and then brought him to his stall.

She brushed the bay, arabian gelding down before proceeding in putting the saddle pad, his special saddle riser, and then his brown jumping, wintec saddle. Cherokee muched on some hay quietly while she tacked him up. Soon, she moved to picking out his silvery gray hooves. Dirt fell out without much resistence and soon she was ready to head out to one of the rings. She walked the beautiful gelding out to the ring. She went through the steps to mount and soon she was up and warming the gelding up. They did their normal warmup routine consisting of some bending and loosening exercises. She patted his neck and then jumped down. She set up some jumps about 18" tall. She wanted to start out fairly small.

Liz trotted Cherokee towards one of the jumps and he jumped it, but not without bumping into it first. She sighed and continued until she advanced him into a steady canter. She worked with him like this for an hour, giving him breaks here and there. By the end of the work session Cherokee was pooped and so was Liz. Together, they walked out of the ring and chilled out in a grassy area before heading back to the barn. Liz untacked him and then cleaned all of his tack. She put him out and Cherokee took off at a brilliant and majestic gallop, throwing in a buck here and there. Liz smiled lightly and then finished up.

She then heard the squeals of a new, very dangerous stallion. She watched as Santiago, whom she had met at a club earlier, continued to fall. She watched in wonder as the stag chased after him also. She sighed and thought back to Cherokee, although he wasn't nearly this bad, She could possibly help him, from ground manners up. She stood back as she saw him walking out into the isle. She studied the proud and majestic stallion, although majestic didn't nearly cover his attitude. She sighed and continued to study his features, trying to find his personality. Which you can do, most horses have features that express their attitudes and personalities. She looked at Santi for a few moments before going back to Cherokee's stall and watching them both work together, not necessarily in harmony, but just how they seemed a lot a like somehow.

[lovasz]

Though not a particularly large horse, the black stallion could certainly put on a show and attract a lot of attention. He was a violent animal, and not many people could get anywhere near close to him. Santi was lucky enough to be able to get up on his back even for the short time before he got thrown. As far as he knew, he was the only human to ever stay on the back of the horse for more than seven seconds. Everyone else had come off the horse almost instantly. He had been a bucking horse and when Santi had purchased him, he knew it was going to be a long time before he got the horse out of the habit of throwing everyone. After all, for the first five years of his life, that'd been all he'd ever done, throw riders.

Both horse and man had a slight limp in their step, both on the right leg. Neither of the two of them would ever be ride of that pain that plagued them, but they were going to endure it together...or at least Santiago was going to try to not get killed while the horse endured it. The horse had been a cause of more than just physical pain for Santi though. That horse had caused him to lose his manager...ok, so he fired the guy, but he had it coming. The horse had caused the pain of seeing his picture all over the internet, bleeding and bruised, lying on the ground with the horse about to attack him. Still, he kept with it and continued riding the vicious stallion without fail. Someday, he was going to go somewhere with that horse, even if it killed him, which was entirely possible.

As he and the horse walked back up to the stables, Santi noticed Liz, whom he'd met at the club the other day a the club in town. He wasn't sure which was worse, the two guys he'd gone with getting completely wasted within an hour of arriving, or him getting thrown off his horse. Either way, he seemed to be on a role for making himself look like an idiot in front of her. He seemed to have extreme talent for that...making himself look like a moron wherever people could see him outside of the soccer world. Ah well, there was nothing wrong with that, he'd learned a long time ago to laugh at himself.

"Been there long?" He asked as he approached her, a smile lighting up his features. He'd gotten over being embarrassed over things like people seeing him just about get killed somehow or another. He did it often enough that it was normal now. He moved his hand up on the reins so it was right under the black stallion's chin, to keep better control over the horse. He knew the animal had a tendency to try to bite people, so if Santi cold manage to keep the horse's head closer to himself, he would be the one to feel the teeth if he decided to attempt to bite, not Liz.

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[Liz]

As Santi and the intimidating black stag approached, Liz looked up at the both of them. She studied the horse for a few moments more before looking to Santi and coming out of her thoughts. A smile creeped onto her face as she looked at him. Not long, but long enough to see you have some trouble. She stood up quietly and held her hand out, being ready the stag would throw at her, a bite, calm sniff, highly likely, she thought. She was ready for the stag to do something. She sighed and then thought about offering some help if Santi needed any. She looked back at Santi and then smirked, If you need any help with this handful of a horse, she laughed some before saying, I'd be glad to help. Cherokee was once like this guy. Definitely not as bad, but he had his problems. Liz thought back to all of the training she had to do before Cherokee was anywhere near ready for her to ride him and not have to work on solely behavioral problems.

The days of riding and fighting Cherokee the whole time, not cantering straight or at all, running through his shoulder and swerving to the side, throwing Liz and then running and jumping the area fence, oh yes. Cherokee was bad, but the stag made him seem like an angel. Cherokee had been a challenge from the other horses Liz had ridden, but she learned a lot of horsemanship and great ground work techniques. She had also learned a great trust building exercise to do in a roundpen. Although she hadn't used those training aids in the longest time, she was sure that going over them again would help her remember. She took into account though, that this horse wasn't only a throwing horse, but in a way was vicious and vengeful. She sighed and decided that if she had the chance, she'd like to risk her life and help Santi train the stag.

This decision wasn't because she thought Santi was extremely hot or anything, but because she wanted to help this horse get through either his past or just his hate for people. Don't get Liz wrong, Santi was pretty good looking, but she already had met Logan, whom she had found she liked a lot more. She checked Santi over and could see little bruises all over himself. She smirked and then said, Just can't get enough of falling off I guess. She laughed a little and then sat back on Cherokee's tack box right outside of his stall.

[lovasz]

The black horse lurched back away from Liz, throwing his head, rolling his eyes, pinning his ears, and even attempting to rear a bit. He was slightly thwarted though by the hand that held firmly to the reins just below his chin. He was very easily aggravated by even the slightest things that shouldn't bother any horse. But he hated people in general it seemed, and even just a strangers presence in proximity to him got him worked up. No one knew why he hated people so much, it wasn't like he'd been abused or anything, he just really didn't like humans. Perhaps he had reasons that no one had noticed before, but whatever the problem, it was very slowly being fixed...very slowly.

Can't say I really blame him. Santiago said when she offered her help. He seemed to completely ignore the horse's little temper tantrum, as if it had never happened. He was really used to it by now. He used to be a rodeo bronc, so all he really knows is throwing people. Although I'm not quite sure why he's so determined to kill me. All of this, he said with the smile still alighted on his face. He knew how to laugh at himself, and he figured it was probably a pretty laudable situation he was in. There was nothing wrong with that. Everyone does something stupid at some point in their life, he just happened to do it more often than most did.

Yeah, he did have a lot of injuries to his list, many of them bruises and nothing more, though he had quite regularly been bloodied by some mode of injury sustained by the horse's doing. Makes the falling in soccer seem a lot less intense. He said jokingly, and it keeps me in practice during the off season. The soccer world knew him quite well for the falling and getting hurt he did. Aside from getting the cleat spikes in his knee, he'd also fractured his wrist, broken a bone just below the eye socket, for which he'd had to have a steel plate put in, and taken an elbow to his face which cut it open pretty bad just to name a few of the many injuries he was notorious for. He was also a big fan of sacrificing himself to get the ball from the other player and into the game, which mean he ended up on the ground quite regularly. So, in a way, it was true that it kept him in practice for soccer, though he was certainly not intending to get thrown from the horse at all.

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[Liz]

Liz laughed at his comments about, being thrown keeping him in shape. He had a point, but the point of riding a horse was staying on. This was a special case though and for Santi to even stay on for the long moments that he did...that was improvement there. She pondered for a few moments, The first thing to get this horse tamer is some ground work. Some very easy ground work, that is. Liz sighed trying to think back to what the rodeo might've done to him. From his features, he did have a bit of an attitude, but nothing this bad. She hadn't ever seen a horse this hateful of humans. The rodeo must've done something to him, to hate people.

Liz stood back, but kept a more aggresive and defensive position to the hateful brute. She sighed and then concluded, Well, whatever you do, I think you might have to reteach him that humans won't harm him. I'm kind of thinking that the rodeo made him this way...she trailed on, How, I don't know exactly, but I haven't ever seen a horse this hateful of humans. She watched Santi keep control of the ill-tempered brute and had to give it to him, anyone who could control this brute this much, was doing something not many other people could do. Well, you've at least been able to stay in the saddle for longer than most people...that's an accomplishment in and of itself.

[blah post, but w/e]

[lovasz]

Santiago nodded to what she said. That's what he'd assumed at first too. After all, most rodeo horses seemed like the sort to hate humans, but he'd looked into the horse's history a bit, and had learned otherwise. From what I hear they started him out as a regular saddle horse, Santi said with a shrug, He wouldn't take to it, and ended up hurting some guy who was trying to saddle him. I guess it all went south in a hurry from there. Turned into a sort of love hate relationship I guess you could say. From what he knew of the horse, it seemed more like he had taken a liking to throwing people, and that just made him turn plain old mean.

He's not all bad though. He added, knowing it was perfectly true. You just happened to catch us on a bad day. He's made a few accomplishments since he broke his leg and left the rodeo. The injury seemed to have humbled the horse a bit. Before, he would have killed anyone who came across his path, but since he was injured, he seemed perhaps slightly more respectful of humans. Like Santiago, he'd had to go through a heck of a lot of pain before he finally started pulling out of the shell he'd created around himself. He was very slowly learning to trust Santiago, and even though he knew it would take a long time before he could actually ride without worrying about getting thrown, he wasn't just going to give up on him.

A powerful hoof stretched out and struck the ground as the horse started another little temper tantrum. This time though, his head snaked out towards Santi, his white teeth bared and ready to sink into whatever he could grab hold of. Santiago saw it in the corner of his eye though, and maneuvered out of the horse's way just in time for the horse's teeth to snap shut hardly an inch away from his shoulder. He was given no reproach though, Santi knew better than to punish the horse at all. That would just make him hate people more. Yes, it was something he needed to get over, but punishment wasn't the way to do it, not with this horse.

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[Liz]

Liz was slightly surprised when she heard what Santi had to say. The horse had been saddled or at least had tried to be saddled a while ago. Liz added everything up in her head, but it didn't make sense. I wonder how hard the people training him at first really tried or how harsh they were on him? She asked thinking out loud. She sighed and looked at the a big black horse. She sighed frustrated that she couldn't figure everything out there and then. This horse could've been a beautiful horse for anything like dressage, jumping, or even western events. He had a great build and was set up for success at probably anything he tried before all of his attitude started to get worse. He amazes me because I've never seen a horse purposefully want to kill someone like this one does. She smiled and then looked at the horse. She shook her head and then laughed a little. Well, at least he has some good days. Liz looked back to Santi before saying, I know what it's like to have a horse as untrained as him. Cherokee was a big mess when I got him. Most people say, after seeing me showing, that they would've quit on him way too long ago, but I felt I needed to stick with him. Now, he's a whole lot better.

Liz watched as everything went by so fast...The horse striking his powerful hoof and then baring his teeth to sink into some flesh. She sighed and watched how Santi had anticipated every one of the horse's moves. She laughed a little at the fact of how fast Santi could react. Well, I guess you've really gotten to know when he wants a little human instead of his own food. She laughed some and knew this wasn't a good time to really joke, but it added some humor to the somewhat tense moment between horse and rider. She grinned a little bit and then looked to one of the other stalls as the other horse that was in was starting to get impatient and restless. She sighed and walked over trying to calm the horse down, she noticed that he didn't have anymore hay, so she put another few flakes in and he was happy. She walked back to the tack trunk in front of Cherokee's stall and sat down, ready for anything the horse that Santi had might do that required her to move out of the way quickly. She studied the horse one last time, still amazed at just how vicious he was.

[lovasz]

Santiago smiled to what she said about never having seen a horse so ready to kill someone. There's a first for everything. He said, I haven't quite figured out if it's hate or enjoyment that drives him. He added with a shrug. It seemed like it was more enjoyment than hate seeing as how if he really wanted to he could probably kill the both of them right now. Either that or he was restraining himself and waiting for just the right moment to actually kill Santiago.

Santi laughed with Liz, he didn't care if it was an improper situation to laugh about. He did that all the time. I'd say it's more along the lines of luck. He said lightly, I've not gotten out of his way in time more often than not. He's kind of unpredictable if you know what I mean. The horse lifted his huge head and rolled his eyes menacingly, but didn't strike out at Santiago again...at least not yet. Santiago had learned a long time ago not to trust the horse to not bite him, and was always watching him out of the corner of his eye. Peripheral vision, it was a gift from God, no doubt about it, and he was one of the lucky ones who got it.

To be perfectly honest there were some days when Santiago considered getting a less violent horse to ride as well as Fire's Aftermath, but he knew he didn't have time for that. It was hard enough to keep "Son" worked as it was, especially since he only had half the year to devote full time to riding. Juggling two different lives could be quite time consuming and exhausting at times, though when he really thought about it, at least he was getting to exercise both of his passions in life. That, he wouldn't trade for the world.

[Liz]

Liz laughed and then said, He probably has a little bit of both towards you, hates you and then likes to scare you. You never know with this horse. She pointed at the stag and then sighed. She watched him grow a little more impatient, but ignored him for the moment. Sooner or later, if Santi wasn't too careful, she could see him become more than just bruised, but hospitalized or even get killed. She sighed at the gloomy thought and then turned her attention to reality. Yea, my best advice is to just be careful, which I'm sure you're probably doing already. She laughed a little and then added, If you're having bad days and still want to work with him, I'd be happy to give a go, but only if you want me to. She shrugged a little bit, putting the suggestion out there so he could think on it.

A smile krept onto Liz's face as she knew what he was refering to as he said,"He's undpredictable." Liz nodded and then said, Yea, I definitely know unpredictable... She trailed on and then added, Maybe not your unpredictable, but yes, I know that feeling. Liz watched the proud horse roll his elegant eyes and she had to laugh again, not only was this horse a possible killer, he had an arrogant attitude too. He couldn't just be vicious and mean, why did things always come in packages, good or bad. She thought to herself. She sighed and then walked over, situating herself next to Santi. She watched the horse out of her peripheral and was ready to scurry out of the way, were he to act up.

[lovasz]

Santiago watched the horse carefully out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to get himself beat up more than he already was today. He had a slight limp, which matched the horse's own limp, though it wasn't caused by the animal. No, it was a result of that soccer injury, the one thing that tied them together. They'd both injured their right leg and had been forced to start over completely in their careers. What were the odds of that happening? It didn't really matter though, they had something in common, and that something was the only thing that was keeping the black horse from killing Santiago.

I appreciate it. Santiago said with a smile and a nod. He was hoping to get the horse at least somewhat manageable by the time soccer season started again so that he could have someone exercise him, or at least let him out in the paddocks occasionally while he was gone. As I said earlier, a single day in the stall without getting out and he would have enough energy to power the whole of the stable. It was a problem, especially when he would go off to Europe for a month at a time, then come back and have a very wired and angry horse to deal with when he got back. It was sort of like a squirrel on speed...only worse, because the horse was far larger than a squirrel and he was intentionally mean.

Son didn't look like he was planning on attempting to bit Santiago again, but then again...this was the same horse that had just tried to kill him, so there was really no telling what he would do next. As long as Santi kept his hand on the reins just under the horse's chin, he would hopefully be able to avoid being bitten and prevent him from biting Liz. Not only was he mean, but he was fast, and unless you had lightning fast reflexes, he was more than likely to get at least a little flesh between his teeth.

A moment of silence drew out between them, which was strange because with Son, there were rarely any quiet moments. The silence was interrupted though at the sound of a tractor that was dragging a field backfiring. The black horse was taken completely off guard and leapt forward in fright. His moment of fear passed, but he decided to take this opportunity and use it how he would like to. Santi was thrown completely off balance by the horse's sudden lurch, and before he could even react, the horse's black hooves rose up into the air, striking out in fierce violence, this time the hatred directed intentionally at the girl in front of him.

[Liz]

Liz nodded and then said, No problem. I actually really like to work with wild horses. She looked at the horse being tightly held by Santi. And with this one, wild is an understatement. She had learned so much from Cherokee, compared to what she would've learned on a push-button horse. The first thing she learned in training was that the horse was always right. That was the basis of everything, yes, with most horses it didn't seem that way, but if you think about it, most horses aren't responding correctly in dressage due to rider error. Granted though, not all problems are rider error, like the horse in front of her. She knew Santi wasn't doing that much wrong and knew that the horse was the main problem in that picture. The next thing was ground work. A horse wouldn't learn to respect you on the ground or riding, until you established boundries and established those boundries clearly. Everything else, fell into place, the ground manners, clipping, trailering, showing, and many other basic things came together after hours upon hours of tireless work on training him.

As time went on, this way of training proved worthy. Cherokee had become a great showing horse and would do anything and everything to please you. The horse in front of Liz though, was different. He didn't seem to want any human interaction and if anything wanted to kill the person who most got involved with him. This was so unusual for horses, even for untrained horses or horses from different disciplines, if you could even call rodeo bucking a discipline. She sighed and then looked up, only to see Santi holding and keeping complete control over the agressive horse.

The next few moments flew by, tractor, uncontrolled horse, hooves flying. Everything went by so fast, and there wasn't a thing that Liz could do to stop it. She heard the tractor drive by, watched the horse spook, watched Santi loose control, and then everything went black. The feeling of powerful hooves hitting her head and then running down her body, hearing something crunch under the pure and raw power of the horse. It might've not been her skull, but some other bone, as the horses hooves made contact with the rest of her body, broke. Liz had tried to move out of the way before the hooves came crashing down, but she had only been able to wedge herself between the floor and the tack trunk, unfortunately, the horse could still reach her and did damage to the full extent. She was unconsious for what seemed an eternity and would stay that way for a while, a powerful blow to the head like that would've put someone out easily and kept them that way. She lay where she had gotten, barely breathing and severe bruises already forming. The only hope she had before everything went black was that the horse wouldn't continue to attack her, for it might be life threatening.

[lovasz]

The reins that Santiago had before held so tightly in his grip were ripped out of his hand, tearing through the flesh as they flew from his grip. He hardly noticed though. The only thing he saw was Son's powerful hooves striking out at Liz, and connecting with her body. He knew the power that horse had. He'd been injured by him enough times to know that he could easily kill anyone he wanted to. There really wasn't much he could do to stop what happened, even though it seemed like it all happened so slowly. Really it was only a few moments that it took Son to rear and attack Liz.

Santiago watched in horror as Liz fell to the ground, and Son's hooves came crashing down to earth, not on top of her, but dangerously close. In all his years of throwing bronc riders, Son had never killed a human, and it didn't seem quite like he was intending to do now. Either that or he thought Liz was already dead. The black horse wheeled back around to face Santiago, and rushed towards him. Santiago barely managed to duck out of the way of the horse's flailing hooves, though his right hoof did catch Santiago's shoulder slightly. No crack, that was good, but already a red stain was starting to form on his shirt.

The men on the tractor came running towards them as Son went ballistic. Santiago ignored the pain and reached up to the horse's chin, taking hold of the reins and jerking them firmly, bringing the horse back around. This of course made King even more angry, but as he saw the other men coming running towards him, he froze. He wasn't going to take on all these men. He wasn't a stupid horse, he knew it wouldn't end well for himself. Other people began to gather, all of them rushing to Liz's fallen form and staying well away from Santiago and the black assailant. From where he was, he could see Liz lying still on the ground as someone called 911 on their cell phone while he fought to maintain control of the horse.

The pain was starting to hit him, and he wasn't sure he could keep control over the enraged animal for much longer. Someone approached him and offered to take the horse, but Santiago waved them away, they would only get killed. With some fight, he managed to drag the horse back to his stall, and un-tack him, and get him put up. Normally he would have walked him out and brushed him and whatnot, but this time, he couldn't. As he made his way back over to Liz, he could hear sirens in the distance. He pushed his way through the crowd which parted as the blood stained man moved towards Liz. He knew better than to try to move her, that could only do harm and not good. The flashing lights of the ambulance lit up the area around them as Santiago knelt beside her and put his hand on her arm. I'm sorry. He mumbled, still somewhat in shock from the whole thing.

A paramedic pushed him aside as they surrounded her, completely ignoring the blood that covered him. She was more severely injured, she needed the help. A feeling of helplessness came over him as he stood to the side, watching as the EMT's worked to stabilize her before moving her. He didn't know what to do or how to react, so he just slumped down on a tack trunk, propped his elbows up on his knees, and let his head fall into his hands. Could this day possibly get any worse?

[Liz]

Liz remained unconscious for the next few moments, before wearily trying to open her eyes. She just barely got one open, but then she drifted back into unconsciousness. For the few moments that she was barely aware of her surroundings, she made an inaudible groan. Too many questions were being directed her way. Liz? Can you hear us? Squeeze our hands if you can? Those were of course, the voices of the EMTs trying to get her to become completely conscious. She heard the last few words before, once again, everything went black. She remained like this even after they approached the hospital. As the doctors wheeled her to the Emergency room, they got the information about Liz from the EMTs that had gotten from the barn. The doctors immediately started to find what was wrong and started Liz on basic fluids.

(kinda blah, but she's unconscious, so...xD)

[lovasz]

The voices filled the air, people asking what had happened, EMT's trying to get Liz to respond, people commenting about killer horses not belonging at Pinewood, questions being raised about both Santiago and Liz. As much as he would have liked to block them out, the voices filled his head and refused to relent. He closed his eyes against the sounds that invaded his mind and about drove him mad, but it didn't help. It was part frustration with Son, part frustration with himself, and part complete shock from the incident that was controlling him at the moment, and he had no power over his body. He felt completely drained of everything.

Exhaustion finally drowned out the sound of the people, and he very nearly forgot everything that was going on. He didn't even realize that people had begun to leave and that Liz had been loaded into the ambulance. He was completely out of it, at least until he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He looked up slowly to see one of the EMT's looking down at him with concern written all over his face. Are you alright? He asked, obviously knowing what the answer would be. Santiago just shook his head, not having anything to say really. From the blood that ran from his shoulder down to his waist, the EMT figured Santiago had lost substantial blood and was quite out of it.

He put his hand against Santiago's chest and pushed him back to where he leaned against the wall. He carefully pulled the fabric away from his shoulder, revealing a deep gash on his shoulder. A few other EMT's had gathered around him, and they quickly set to work sterilizing the wound. It didn't appear bad enough to need hospitalization, but it would need stitches, which they could do here. Santiago was so completely drained of energy and brain power that he just sat there and let them do their thing. Even if he hadn't wanted to protest their help, he would have been unable to. He felt like he couldn't even lift his hand, let alone push a medic away.

Santi didn't even notice that they had finished, he hadn't felt the needle entering his skin to pull the wound closed, he hadn't realized that they had bandaged his hand with a thick gauze wrap, he hadn't noticed that they had all but the first one packed up and left. You might want to go and get yourself cleaned up. The EMT suggested kindly, referring to the blood that had soaked through his shirt. The sound of his voice snapped Santi back into it, and he looked up at the EMT for the first time and actually registering in his mind. He didn't look much older than Santiago was. Thank. He mumbled, getting slowly to his feet and picking up the blood stained shirt from the tack trunk. Normally, he would have put it back on, but the whole thing was disgustingly bloody, and he didn't really want to wear that.

He made his way back to Son's stall where his coat he had left on his own tack trunk. He slowly eased it on over his shoulders, doing his best to keep from moving his stitched shoulder too much, and then headed to his car. It was a short drive from Pinewood to his high end home at Bella Vista. He didn't even see the reporters waiting for him at his front door, and continued ignoring them as he pushed his way through and into the safety of his house where he was greeted by the boisterous great dane. He walked, as if in a daze, up to his room, pulled on a clean shirt, and headed back down. He got back into the car, letting the dog some along with him, and headed for the hospital.

When he got there, the nurses informed him that he would have to wait until she was completely stabilized. Determined to see Liz, he took a seat in the waiting room. He didn't care how long it took, he would wait. He felt in part responsible for it, knowing that it was his horse that had attacked her. he understood that it had been an accident and was really out of his control, but that didn't matter, he owned the horse, and he would hold himself responsible for it. He wasn't blaming himself, he was just accepting it. Even if he didn't want to, he would have had to eventually when he got the bill for her medical expenses, which he would more than happily pay. He made over a million dollars every year just for playing soccer, he could probably afford to pay the bills of everyone in this hospital and still be well off.