Bernard
by Catherine · 18 June 2026 · Short Stories
Bernard, a 17-year-old quarter horse, has bitten Catherine three times — shoulder, arm, back of the head. Owner Pat says he does it because he likes her. Catherine chooses to believe this — the alternative is worse. Bernard is otherwise reasonable. Once actively co-operated — practically sainthood. Pat reserves judgement.
The horse is a seventeen-year-old quarter horse named Bernard who has bitten me on three separate occasions: once on the shoulder in 2021, once on the upper arm in 2022, and once, memorably, on the back of the head in February this year when I was leaning over to check his feet and he decided that was unacceptable. His owner Pat, who has had him fourteen years and is entirely unsurprised by all of this, says he does it because he likes me. I've chosen to believe this — not because it's necessarily true but because the alternative, that he does it to people he doesn't like, is a more troubling scenario I prefer not to think about.
Bernard is otherwise a reasonable patient. He stands for injections, tolerates examination, and has once in my experience actively co-operated with a procedure, which for a seventeen-year-old quarter horse is practically sainthood. I told Pat she should be proud. She looked at me the way Pat always looks at me, which is with the expression of someone who has heard everything twice and is reserving judgement.
Read in the app, leave a resonance, discover more stories.