I should have been a bit more suspicious, especially when Butch proffered a half dollar and said he would take her back if she did not work out. She was batty, of course. At first we thought she was merely highly strung, but she had a firm conviction, based no doubt on experience, that people were unpredictable, irascible, and painful. It made her unpredictable, hysterical, and dangerous. After a week spent trying to work out what panicked her, we could only infer that the college kid, infuriated by the Duchess's lack of talent as a farmhand, had hit her over the head, either with the rope or with his hand, from the right, when riding her.
People do hit horses, as they hit dogs, children, and each other.
Using patience, tact, and imagination rather than violence in overcoming misunderstandings comes more naturally to some than others, though anyone with humility and a horse can learn. Some never do. They confine themselves to breeds such as quarter horses, which when battered tend to stop whatever they are doing and await the next demand. But the more sensitive types, like Duchess, become so terrorized by violence that, at the signs they suspect might precede it, their thoughts turn only to escape. To make matters worse, the horse's perception of danger is further fueled by tension on the part of a rider expecting explosions.