labelled

the doctors probed
while I persisted stamping my hooves
on the cold floor of the locked ward

“Mr Watson ... you don’t eat grass!”
“Crap!” I flared.

hooves tap, clop, tok, tap...

“Molasses, salt tablets. Now!” I snarled.

“Mr Watson ... why these antics?!”

“Let me out of here ... I’m a winner ... I have a Cup to win!”

“Mr Watson ... you’re not a race horse ... you’re a human being!”

Oh yeah?

all my life I’ve been under some kind of label—
full blood?
half blood...
half breed!
half caste—
and even questioned about being
a quadroon
well
with magnificent bloodlines like that
I decided
I must be a goddamned pedigree of some sort!