The men had tried as hard as they could not to overstress the colt any more than he already was during the process, but the bottom line was, they needed him in the trailer. As Tug had directed, once the colt got to the back of the trailer Matt was to open and close the sliding gate behind him, intentionally making a little noise and trying to encourage the colt to move forward. As soon as the colt decided to jump in, Tug closed the escape door. Now it was just a matter of getting the colt to Jessie King. The rest was up to her.

The trip to Jessie’s place was supposed to take a little over an hour and a half, one way. If everything were to go right, Tom (who would be driving) would be back to the ranch before lunchtime. Unfortunately, on this trip it seemed nothing would go right. Tom hadn’t gotten more than ten miles down the road when the left rear tire on the trailer blew. It wouldn’t have been that much of an issue, but the trailer jack, a piece of equipment that is always with the trailer, wasn’t. Tom was forced to unhitch the trailer and leave it on the side of the road with the colt still inside, while he drove back to the ranch and retrieved the jack. An hour later, Tom had removed the flat tire, put on the spare, and was back on the road. He hadn’t gotten another five miles when the right rear trailer tire blew. With no spare, Tom was forced to once again, unhook the trailer, this time drive to town, get the tire replaced at the local tire store, drive back and replace the flat. All of that took an additional two-and-a-half hours.

Worried that he still had no spare for the trailer, he hooked the trailer back on to the truck, drove to the tire store in town and bought a spare. Another hour was shot. By this time Tom was beyond hungry. He accidentally overslept that morning and had to skip breakfast. Figuring he’d be home in plenty of time for an early lunch, he hadn’t thought it a big deal. But now his blood sugar was running low and he was getting cranky. He was already late, and he figured a quick stop in the local diner wasn’t going to hurt a thing. Unfortunately, he got to the diner for his lunch about the same time everybody else got there, and just like that, another hour and a half had been added to his day. Then there was the road construction, which he wasn’t expecting, that added an additional hour, and the jackknifed semi tractor-trailer that blocked both lanes of the two-lane highway for another two-hour delay. When he finally got to Jessie’s place it was nearly a quarter to five in the afternoon.

By the time they reached their destination, the colt was beside himself. For nine hours he had been stuck in the smallest enclosure he’d ever seen, much less been in, and if it wasn’t moving, it was rocking side to side or throwing him forward or back. He tried to understand how he was going to live his life in the dark box that thoughtlessly threw him around, as for all he knew, he would never get out of it.