Chapter 11: Branching out

Mary slipped into Will's car where he waited outside North College. She was dressed for riding: boots, jeans, a light jacket against the fall air. They drove out of town, talking about the stables they would visit.

"I called Sarah Posito this morning before we left to let her know we're coming. She's got a class this afternoon I want to watch, and you can look at the horses, maybe do some sketches."

"Sounds good. I had a great time yesterday. And I like Anne, too."

"Good. We're really close. Pretty much a team."

"This weather is beautiful. I love the colors. I'm from Florida. We don't get autumn color there. What's Colorado like?"

"Nothing like this. The evergreens stay green, the aspen go golden. The only other thing you see in the mountains is now and then a larch. They turn red. 'Course on the flatlands, or where there's water, there are cottonwoods and sycamores. They give a little color. Mostly it's green and brown. Glad I've seen this. Wouldn't want to miss it."

"This our turn?"

They turned into the drive of the stable. When they walked toward the office, Sarah came out and met them. Mary introduced Will.

"You're an artist?"

"Well, a student. I'd like to sketch some of your horses, if it's all right."

"Sketch any thing you like. Just be careful where you step, and stay out of the way of horses unless you know them well... You guys had anything to eat? I've got some sandwiches if you haven't."

They went into the office and talked their way through sandwiches and coffee.

When they were done, Mary said, "How's Hero today?"

"Go find him and see. My class starts at two, come and join us, see what goes on."

Will and Mary walked to Hero's stall. Mary introduced Will to the horse, gave Hero an apple, and spent a few minutes grooming him and talking to him before she reached for his bridle. Will stood outside the stall, watching her. He had his book out, making sketches all the time.

"You really know what you're doing, Mary."

"Well, I grew up with horses, and I like them. They aren't as smart as people by a long shot, but they have personalities, some good, some not. They like you to treat them like people. If you do, they'll do anything for you. And these quarter horses really like to work cattle."

When Hero was saddled, Mary led him out of the stall.

"You want to ride a horse? Not Hero, though. He still needs someone who knows how to handle him. Oh, and try not to get behind him. He gets worried when someone's back there."

"Not this time. Maybe later. I know nothing about horses and I want to spend today sketching. Maybe later I'll want to learn to ride."

"Well, let's go see what there is to sketch."

Mary swung into the saddle and walked Hero into the yard. There were several horses tethered there, and a few weekend riders in the exercise pens and some riding toward the woods. Sarah's paint was outside the office.

"See what you can do with the paint over there, Will. She's Sarah's horse, and you can't go wrong if you do a sketch she likes."

Will found a bale of hay to sit on and started to work with his pad and pencils. Mary took Hero into the largest exercise pen and began working him in all his gaits. She paid special attention to his foxtrot, gave him a careful and thorough workout. As she worked, she talked to him, telling him what she wanted him to do, letting him know when he got it wrong, praising his good ideas. Before long, he was well warmed up. She took him back to the yard and swung down next to Will on his hay bale.

"What you got?"

Will showed her his book. He had done several pages of sketches of different parts of the pinto and its tack. Then there was a page from a different view, the paint standing in front of the office, her head to one side, one hoof cocked. The pencil work was detailed, and the figure was very lifelike.

"You've really got her right, Will. I think she looks like that a lot — like she's thinking about what to do tomorrow."

"Well, that's what I think, too. Do you suppose it's true?"

"Who knows? Let's show this to Sarah."

Sarah was delighted with the sketch and thanked Will profusely.

"Zulu's my favorite right now. I'm going to frame this.

"Mary, the kids for the afternoon class are saddling up. How about joining me? You can just watch and listen, if you want. But, if you see something worth saying, speak up. And if you see someone in trouble, see what you can do to help them. We'll be doing lead changes, figure eights and that sort of thing today."

Mary went outside with Will and mounted up. There were girls coming from the stables, leading horses into the main ring. All of them wore jeans and many had cowboy hats. A few had English-style riding helmets that looked a little incongruous.

Will climbed up on a pile of bales just outside the ring and settled down with his book and pencils.

Sarah entered the ring on Zulu and called the group around her.

"This is Mary Travis."

Mary tipped her hat to the group. A couple of the girls tittered.

"She's from Colorado, and she's been riding since she was six. You'll notice she's riding Hero, one of the horses I won't let you use. She met him last Wednesday, and they're buddies already. Mary's thinking about helping me, so if you have any questions or need any help, just ask her."

Sarah began the class, getting the girls to walk their mounts in line, turning them on command, working up to more complex maneuvers. Mary and Hero just stood to one side, watching.

As the group worked, Mary noticed one girl was having difficulty controlling her mount. The horse kept trying to run the girl's leg into the rail. Mary could see her sawing on his mouth, trying to move the horse away from the fence without success.

Mary suggested to Hero that they go take a look. Hero leisurely strolled alongside the girl, between her horse and the fence.

"Hi, what's your name?"

"Jane Pinski." Her jaw as set, her brow furrowed. She seemed not far from tears.

"Okay, Jane, and who are you riding today?"

"This is Eddy, and he won't do what I tell him. I hate him."

"I think he feels the same about you. He doesn't understand what you want. Why don't we go over here and see what we can do?"

They moved to an empty part of the ring. Mary dismounted and asked Jane to get down, too, and stand beside her. Their mounts stood before them, Hero now outside Eddy, who was next to the fence. Eddy lifted his head and bared his teeth, pulling the reins in Jane's hand. Mary could feel the girl tense beside her.

"Eddy," Mary said gently, "you need to get to know Jane a little better."

They worked together, talking to Eddie, while Hero subtly kept the other horse from moving aggressively. After a few minutes, Eddy began to calm. Before long, Jane was able to approach him, touch and talk to him as Mary suggested, telling him she needed him to help her, not hurt her.

In fifteen minutes, Jane and Mary mounted again. Eddy moved off easily, following Jane's lead. When Mary saw a disagreement begin, she said to Jane, "Now, easy, he knows what he's doing. Let him show you how to do that."

The girl and the horse began working together, and Jane looked to Mary. "Gee, thanks. I was fighting him and he was fighting me."

"Right. Let him show you what he knows, and you learn how to give him the cues he needs so he knows what you want. He's a mature horse and knows his stuff, but you can learn together."

"Thank you, Mary. Thanks a lot." The girl's eyes were bright as she and Eddy, now a team, went back to the group.

After the class, Will and Mary met Sarah in the office.

"Mary, thanks for working with Jane. I don't know what you told her, what you did, but it really worked."

"Sarah, she was fighting the horse and he was fighting back. I just got them to talk it over and agree to be a team. That's the only way I know."

Sarah turned to Will. "You were drawing your heart out up there on the hay. Can I see what you did?"

Will opened his sketch book for both of them. He had spent the hour and a half of the class capturing the horses and their riders in little vignettes, each superbly detailed, each catching a moment of the class in strokes of his pencil.

"Wow, Will. That's great stuff. You can come and do this anytime," Sarah said. "Will, you draw horses like you knew them. I love this one of Eddy. You can feel his frustration and anger. And then, this other one, where he and Jane are friends."

"If you want, Sarah, you can give these to the girls, if they want them." He took the sheets from the book and passed them across the desk.

"Oh, Will. That's very generous. I will do that. But you haven't done all the girls. You'll have to promise to come back next week and do the rest, or there will be war out there."

"I guess I can do that. Uh, Mary, I saw this horse in the stable. Kind of deep brown. Is there any way I can get a look at him?"

"I think he means that bay we were talking about, Mary. What do you think?"

"Well, if you'll let me have a while with him, I'll see what I can do. No guarantees. After all, Eddy was just confused this afternoon. Jane wasn't on his wavelength. And if Will wants to try and sketch him, it's okay with me."

Mary and Will went to the barn and she approached the stall where the big bay was kept. She went to the door and looked in. The horse neighed and kicked the walls. He rushed the door.

"Uh, Mary, should you be doing this?" Will asked quietly.

"Well, so far, he's no danger, as long as I don't get too close. I'd kind of like to see what his trouble is. He's a beauty, you know."

Will withdrew to a safe distance and watched as Mary leaned on the stall door, talking to the horse. For a while, the response was noisy, with repeated blows of his hooves against the walls of the stall. Mary just stayed and kept on talking, watching him.

Eventually, Mary was able to put a hackamore on the animal, who had calmed down considerably. She broke an apple in two and fed it to him.

"Stay up on the bales, Will. I'm going to take him out in the small ring. You can come and watch once I'm out there, but don't do anything to get his attention."

She opened the stall door and walked off with the horse's lead held easily in her hand. He followed her, but not without pulling and jerking on the lead. Mary tightened her grip on the lead, but just kept on walking.

In the gate to the ring, the bay pushed ahead of her, shoving her out of the way, pulling the lead from Mary's hands and running to the far side of the enclosure. She let him go, made no attempt to hold the lead.

Mary stood in the ring facing the horse, looking him in the eye. For a moment, he stood, looking back, the lead on the ground between them, his fear and anger showing in his flattened ears and bared teeth. Mary simply looked at him making no move, until he turned and ran around the outside of the ring. After a while, Mary stopped glaring at him and moved her shoulders. The bay became calmer, and Mary walked slowly toward him. He turned away, his nostrils flaring, running around the ring ahead of her.

About three quarters of the way across the ring, Mary turned and walked back in the direction she had come. The bay followed her. At the gate, Mary turned and again walked toward the bay. His time, he turned and simply walked away from her. When she walked back, so did the bay.

For almost a half hour, Mary and the horse just walked back and forth in the ring. Will sat on a stack of bales sketching furiously. Now and then, Sarah's gray head appeared around a corner.

At the end of the time, Mary stood in the ring, the bay in front of her, his nose not more than a few inches away, perfectly docile. She raised her hand slowly and the bay nudged it with his nose. Then, she walked to the gate, the bay only inches behind her, following her like any normal horse. At the gate, Mary reached behind, took the lead in her hand, opened the gate and walked back to the stall. The horse went on the lead without pulling, walked into the stall without a murmur. She broke another apple and fed it to him, talking to him and stroking his cheek as he chewed. Then, she turned and left the stable.

Before they left the grounds, Sarah said to Mary, "I watched you with the bay. You come any time you want. You can have anything you need."

"Thanks, Sarah. But be careful with the bay. He's got a ways to go yet. Talk to him before you try to do anything, tell him what you're going to do. And don't let him think you're afraid of him. Someone's been real mean to that horse, and it's going to take time for him to get over it and trust people again. Help him and he'll be all right.