I am the real Jesse James

It took four men with big heavy hands to hold the horse down. The horse kicked its stomach, collapsed like an ironing board and rolled over, pinning the legs of the men beneath it. One man sat on its neck while the other administered the needle--Bute and Demerol in the night paddock. The horse's eyes were like stop lights in the headlights of the men's trucks parked in a circle around the animal. I have faced this animal in a paddock when it was too late to run. I was young but I was no girl when my hand came down hard on the muzzle of the horse that charged, half a ton of meat and muscle thrown my way.

--from Bandit Letters by Sarah Messer