Chapter 6

Like another song said, "Easier said than done." I was waxing philosophical over the horses I intended to capture and claiming them all. Well, they could be mine, but roping one wasn't the end of the work.

The lead mare had wandered, as if accidentally, over by the stallion. He was head man in charge, mostly, but he and I both knew she ran the band. I further knew she was next in line for an education.

Hazing her down the primrose path wasn't even as much trouble as he'd been. Within an hour I had my rope on her neck and she was making her last few dance moves toward her hitching tree.

With smart horses it usually went about the same and she was smart too. Soon enough she was wearing a halter and tied by a stout lead rope. She fought it a little harder but not much. She pawed at the ground around the tree more too, but she was still tied and she wasn't going anywhere until I let her.

For me the hard work was done for the day, but just getting started for the week. There were eight mature horses in this bunch, along with four two-year-old mares, four yearling males and six fillies. For some reason there were only four young females and two colts. It crossed my mind the now dead cave lions had visited them before.

I'd have to train all eight of the mature models first, and probably the two-year-old mares too, at least halter break them anyway. The rest would most likely follow along for a few months.

I might be biting off more than I could chew, and even if I wasn't there were more than I needed. In any case I had some training to do after I did a lot more catching.

My next trick was limbing six more hitching trees up to head high and then I needed to make a hitching rail to provide a firm place to tie individuals after they were already standing tied and leading without problems. It wasn't a lot of work, but it was some, and I got to it.

This was the first night I didn't have to worry about waking up so often. Both tied horses were fairly close to where I slept and there was no way something sneaky would get near them without causing a commotion which would surely wake me. I built up the fire before lying down, but didn't even bother to worry about waking and tending it.

Sure as shootin' the stallion snorted about two AM. Something he didn't like had to be prowling around. I didn't even look for it, just got up, stirred the coals, and built the fire back up. When I lay back down I knew he'd raise hell if whatever had disturbed him braved the new fire and kept coming. It didn't.

Nothing focuses your thoughts and actions like knowing you're working toward your own survival. Realizing you are the only one working on it just sharpens the focus. At sunrise I cooked and ate breakfast and got to work.

Maneuvering mature horses into the catch pin and then roping and working them over to a hitching tree was easier with the two ringleaders already tied. This part was the end of the beginning. Teaching a horse to stand tied where you put it is the basis for all other training.

It's true in the cowboy movies and in western books most of the talk is about breaking horses and there is something to it, but it's never mentioned you need to be able to lead a horse around before you break it.

A horse you can only mount while several men hold it in place so you can saddle it, climb aboard, and then hang on isn't worth a shit to you unless your main intention is to break bones. Getting aboard and staying aboard until the horse stops bucking from sheer fatigue doesn't magically make it a trained horse. It does look good in the movies, but don't try it at home. It's like most movie stunts, pure bullshit for entertainment value only.

I wasn't making a movie and I didn't want a bunch of horses for fun. These would have work to do and I had to train them to do the work. You can't break a horse to pull a travois, or a plow either for that matter. You have to train them to do anything useful and the first thing you train them to do is stand still when you tie them to something.

At least the first lesson is easy on the trainer. You get a stout halter on the horse and tie it to a stout post with a stout rope, and then you leave it alone. It gets the complete message by itself within twenty-four hours or so. You also need to make sure if you tie it to anything else for the next couple of years it is something it can't fight free of on its own. Any other lessons come next.

It was after noon before all the mature horses were tied to posts. Some were even still fighting to get free. If any of them were too dumb to learn this lesson they'd break their neck and be released from school and dragged out of the way by the first student which learned to follow on a lead rope.

I went over to fix myself a little lunch and sit on my ass for a breather. Sometimes you learn something valuable while just sitting on your ass too. While I was spooning in my chili and beans I saw something moving in the wooded area, not far from the catch pen I'd put up.

Staying mostly as still as I could I moved enough to get hold of my binoculars for a better look. After I had the moving animal in focus I saw it was a bitch wolf and it was apparent she was nursing cubs.

She was braving the light of day to sneak up to a stream for some water and she also sneaked by the most out of the way lion carcass for a bite to eat. I kept still so she could get more than a mouthful.

As soon as she headed back to her young ones I was up and jogging to my cave. All I could do for my horses right now was hope nothing bothered them while I was gone. As soon as I'd spotted the bitch I'd known I was a dumbass for not bringing the tender-trap I had with me when I started the horse project.

I had several of the traps in fact. What the hell, they barely took up any space at all when they were disassembled. They simply laid flat. Now that I'd spotted a nursing mother wolf though, one of the tender-traps was going to have to stand up and earn its pay.

Even jogging all the way both ways it still took more than twenty minutes to get back. Nothing bad seemed to have happened so I rested to catch my breath then I assembled the trap.

Before setting it I took my rigger's axe and cut a hindquarter off one of the lions for bait. I carried it, the trap, and a large flat water-pan back into the wooded area near where I'd seen the wolf emerge and put it in business. I didn't bother with water for the pan now, but I wanted it in the trap with the wolf later so I could water her without opening the cage.

With the trap in place and set I got back to the horses. Most of the young ones were now up milling around the ones in training. They barely paid me any attention when I came near. I figured the stallion was resigned to his fate by now.

Using a long thick lead rope and good gloves I hitched to his halter and unhitched the hitching tree's lead. It didn't take much to get him to follow me now since I headed directly for the stream and I'm sure he was thirsty.

At first he tried to pull away after we'd moved about ten yards, but he discovered the halter had an even better grip on his head than the lariat had around his neck. No doubt his neck was also sore from his straining attempts to pull loose from the tree.

He was glad when I let him take a drink, but gave me some trouble when I made him stop. I didn't care. Drinking too much at one time could be a disaster for a thirsty horse, and I hadn't put this much work into him already to see him rolling around, bashing his head against the ground, and twisting his guts into a rat's nest from colic. I led him off about a hundred yards and then back before letting him have more water.

Horses are smart enough about things they've already learned, but basically stupid about everything else. That's why you teach them one thing at a time and do it slowly and over and over. I led him back and forth for little drinks of water until he didn't want any more and then started leading him all over.

I'd lead him a while and then stop. I made sure to say whoa every time I stopped. We did about an hour of this and then I tied him to the hitching rail I'd made and went to get the mare.

I'm sure to the mare's way of thinking she was being smart by not following me when I tried to lead her off toward the water. This was not an unusual event. In fact about seventy percent of horses will not follow you off on the first try. It's much easier to get them going with a helper to urge them on gently from behind, but it isn't absolutely necessary.

The fall back plan when a horse won't follow you at first is to keep facing away from them and keep a light pressure on the lead rope. You can also put in a gentle stronger pull every now and then. In this situation it comes down to the one with the most patience. Sooner or later a horse will bow to the inevitable.

Warning! Do not try this with a mule if you ever want to do anything else in your life. For some unknown reason mules are almost always smarter than horses and they seem to understand learning and doing what you want them to do will mean more work for them later. The fact you want them to go somewhere doesn't seem to bother mules. If you want to train a mule to follow where you lead get a helper before you start.

After getting her off the schneid we went through the sip at a time water break in the same manner Red had. When she'd tanked up we kept up the leading, stopping, and whoa instructions. Around an hour later I let her join Red at the hitching rail and I christened her Bonehead, for her early recalcitrance.

All the other pupils were still learning the details of standing tied. I spent another hour or so walking among them, putting a hand out to pet or stroke them if they'd allow it and leaving them alone if they wouldn't.