Quote Originally Posted by thomas_g50 View Post
DarkSister,
I liked it. I was dying to find out what happened after the door opened.
I'm a newbie here, and I don't feel qualified to critize. There are two things I'd like to pass on for your information for use in other pieces. When I was a kid my first job was on a ranch in Colorado breaking horses. No horse is going to stop because you "say" something to him. Horses shouldn't be confused with Fido or Spot. They rein in because someone puts a little muscle to the reins. And horse will go the summer and then some on rough, rocky terrain without throwing a shoe. A horse shoe will last a lot longer than you Nikes.
But I had no complaints about how you used those items to build the drama of the scene. When I read those items in the story, I suspended my judgement and thought, "Good way to build the drama." I only included the info for FYI in some other piece.
And PS DarkSister, I'd love to hear the rest of the tale.
A horse can be trained to respond to very slight signals, or even a voice. I know this is rare, and would not be the case in a carraige horse in any case, (unless the horse was Black Beauty, of course) but it is not something that no horse will do. besides, human nature is to talk to animals in a effort to get them to obey. I have been known to talk to my car to get it to do something, so it does not detract from the general story. Plus, she did say he reigned in the horses.

As for the story about the horses throwing a shoe, could it be a bit of local color added by the coacman? Something to maybe make the passengers complain less about the rough ride in a cramped coach?