“And, in my opinion, the worst of the lot is what Saint Hubert would consider a mountebank, a deceiver. Maybe ‘poser’ is a good word for that. Someone who tries to look like a foxhunter but doesn’t have the skill to back it up, can’t control their horse, and isn’t humble enough to admit it. That kind of behavior, my friends, is an a-bom-in-ation!”
A flash of gray off at the horizon caught everyone’s attention. The crowd turned to see Thumper still trying to stop Ozzy as the horse raced across a distant field.
“Well, well,” Ryman said, “speaking of someone who can’t control his horse. There’s a spectacle for you.”
“I can’t believe that,” Mildred said. “Thumpah’s never been unable to get a hoss stopped. Something must be terribly wrong. Maybe we should try to do something.”
Ryman sat qui
