The inspection grounds were already shimmering under the weight of the summer sun, and it wasn't even midmorning yet. The heat clung to everything; skin, leather, steel, rising in slow, visible waves from the trampled dirt as sweat beaded on brows and trickled down the backs of necks, dampening shirt collars and plastering hair to temples, the smell of sunscreen mingling with fly spray and freshly oiled tack in the air. A bunch of trucks and trailers sat baking al...
