The Snow Pony

by Alison Lester

  ‘Hey, horses!’ His voice was deep and soft, coming from around the back of the hut. The horses whinnied. She listened to him tipping feed into buckets and filling their water, talking to them all the time. The horses nickered softly as they waited to be fed, and Jade realised that they all had different whinnies. One had a high ‘hehehehe’, another sounded as if it just couldn’t wait, ‘hoo hoo hoo’, and the third horse was quite musical, ‘whoo hoo hmm hmm.’ She’d always thought horses just went ‘neigh’.

  The floorboard beside her bunk creaked and she opened her eyes. The little brother was standing, staring at her. His ginger hair stuck out in all directions and his ears poked out, too. He was very slight and bursting with excitement.

  ‘I let your dog outside.’ He peered over her to see if Dusty was awake. ‘He wanted to go out so I let him. You should see him playing in the snow. He’s crazy!’

  Jack carried a steaming mug from the table and handed it to Jade. ‘White with one?’

  She nodded and propped herself on one elbow. ‘Ow. Thank you.’

  ‘Jade, this is Stewie. He’s been busting for you to wake up. He thought Dusty had multiplied when he saw you there.’ Stewie pulled a face. ‘But don’t hurry to get up. It’s freezing and we won’t be going anywhere today. There’s a metre of snow out there.’

  The blankets behind Jade heaved and Dusty sat up, rubbing her eyes. ‘Are we snowed in?’ She looked at the windows, but they were iced over. ‘Has winter come early, like in that old newspaper story? What does it mean, Dad? Are we stuck here? Can we get the cows out?’

  Stewie swung on the end of the bunk, his eyes wide. ‘We’ve got to stay here aaaall winter. We’ll have to eat the cows.’

  Jack smiled. ‘We won’t be here all winter. Jokes aside, if it came to that they’d send a helicopter in for us.’ He walked over to the door and opened it slightly. ‘It’s eased off a bit, but it’s still snowing. I reckon it’ll rain later and wash the snow away, or at least pack it down, so we can get out tomorrow. The weather map on Monday showed a high pressure system coming over the Bight, and that normally means higher temperatures, but I think this is coming up from the south east. The weather can do anything up here. Cuppa, Dusty?’

  He squatted in front of the fire to pour her tea.

  ‘What if it doesn’t rain? What if it keeps snowing?’ Dusty’s mind was full of questions. What about the cows? They’d been out in the snow all night. What about Mum? She’d expect them to be at The Plains tonight. If a helicopter had to come in to rescue them, what would happen to the horses? She blurted them out in one long sentence and Jack outlined their situation as she sipped her tea.

  What they had to realise, he explained, was that the snow would be much deeper up on the top plains, at the house; it would be over their heads. It was colder there, so more snow would have fallen. The further you got down the mountains the less snow there was. If it kept snowing, they might have to go down, to try to ride out on the old bridle track, but it was very overgrown and there were dangerous places where the track had fallen into the river.

  Secondly, it was unlikely that this was the beginning of winter. There would almost certainly be a break in the weather when they could get the stock out, even if they had to feed them in the meantime. He and Rita had brought bags of chaff and oats to the hut when they had driven out in February, so there was feed for the horses, but there was nothing for the cows. They could survive a few days without food, as long as they had water.

  ‘Are they covered with snow?’ Jade asked, and Stewie laughed.

  ‘They’ve got white backs, but they look quite happy.’

  Jack poured oatmeal into the billy to make porridge. ‘They’re all camped together, up near the spring. I had to climb up on the side of the hut to see them because the snow is right up to the top rail of the yards. They’ve tramped the snow down as it’s fallen around them, and their body heat has melted some, too, so it’s as though they’re standing in a hole.’

  Stewie laughed again. ‘When Jade asked if they were covered with snow, I imagined them in a big snowy cave.’

  Jack stirred the porridge. ‘Well, that’s not as silly as it sounds. I haven’t heard of it happening with cattle, but old Mr MacNamara told me once that he found sheep like that. His family had ewes that got caught in early snow on the plains, and when they rode out to look for them there was not a sheep to be seen. They thought they’d all perished. They were about to go home when someone noticed steam rising from a hole in the snow, then another, and another. When they dug down they found the sheep in caverns under the snow. They had to dig them out, and then push a path through the snow with their horses, but they saved most of them.’

  The verandah had been transformed into a room – a room with walls of icy blue snow. Dusty couldn’t believe her eyes when she stepped outside. The snow had fallen so quietly that it hadn’t drifted under the verandah at all, just settled down in a straight bank. There was a gap of about a metre between the top of the snow and the verandah, and the world looked very beautiful through it – white and silent with fat individual snowflakes floating down. At the western end of the hut the snowy walls were smashed and flattened where Stewie had been playing with the dogs.

  ‘Come and see her mad dog, Dusty. He and Spike are having the best time.’ Stewie grabbed her hand and they ran out the opening he had made. The snow flew around them, as light and dry as goose down. Jade came outside, too, and Stringer bounded up to her with a great kangaroo leap that sent her flying backwards in the snow. He licked her face and when she screamed, raced off like a lunatic and buried his head in the snow. Then he jumped up, grinning and covered with white, and raced in the other direction. Digger watched from the verandah. He was too old for games. But Spike tore after the hound, trying to keep up with him.

  Grey clouds filled the sky, so not a glimmer of sun got through. Each falling snowflake was stark white against the dull landscape. Jade had never seen snow like it.

  ‘When we went to the snow it was really wet and horrible. Nothing like this.’ She shook her head and the snow flew off her hair like powder.

  ‘There’s lots of different types of snow.’ Dusty was trying to make a snowball but the snow wouldn’t stick together. ‘They say the Inuit, the people from the north pole, have about a hundred different words for snow. I guess because they live in it all the time, it’s not just snow, it’s wet heavy snow or wet light snow, or snow that sticks to your feet, always some sort of snow.’

  ‘Don’t get your clothes wet, kids.’ Jack was wading along the side of the hut, white fluff billowing around him. ‘We haven’t got many spares.’ He stood with them, laughing at Stringer bounding after sticks and diving into the snow. ‘He’s a character all right. We’ll have to tie him up this afternoon, though, because we’ve got a job to do in the yards. I’ve just been up to check the cows and there’s a calf there with a broken leg. She must have been trampled when those idiots were shooting yesterday.’

  Jade blushed and Jack noticed. ‘It’s not your fault, Jade,’ he said kindly.

  Dusty thought what a difference it made to meet someone, and talk to them, rather than deciding who they were by the way they looked. She was glad Jade couldn’t hear the harsh words Jack had had for her yesterday.

  ‘Anyway,’ Jack went on. ‘I’m going to try and put a splint on her leg. And wouldn’t you know, it’s that stupid old roan cow’s calf. You know the one, Dusty, with the hook horns?’

  ‘She’s as mad as a snake.’

  ‘Yep, we’ll have to be careful. That’s why I said we’ll have to tie up the dogs. Don’t want them stirring things up.’

  Jade stood on an up-ended log, combing the knots out of Captain’s mane. She had never been close to such a big horse and felt frightened when she first stepped into the stable. He’d looked so fierce and powerful when she’d seen him yesterday. Dusty reassured her by swinging on to his back from the fence and sprawling there like a model in a car advertisement. ‘Come
ride with me,’ she purred, playing the role. ‘Feel the horse power under you.’ She realised suddenly that she was being like Sally, being the funny one, and it felt good. She slithered off the big horse and adjusted his woollen rug. ‘I think navy blue is your colour, Captain.’ She ducked underneath him to check the other side. ‘Don’t you think he looks handsome, Jade?’

  Jade thought he was the most beautiful horse she had ever seen. The only other horses she had been this close to were at the Happy Valley Riding School, near Bankstown, and they were scrawny little ponies. This horse was so big she couldn’t see over his back, and he was as solid as a house. If he put his head up in here it would touch the roof. Dusty introduced her to Drover and the Snow Pony. They were beautiful horses, too, but Captain was the one she liked best. Drover was quiet and aloof. He accepted attention but it was as though he was saying, ‘That’s enough fussing now, I’m a working horse, not a pet.’

  ‘Don’t they kick each other?’ Jade asked. ‘I thought they’d all be in separate stalls.’

  ‘No, they get on okay. The Snow Pony and Captain are in love, and Drover keeps to himself.’ Dusty pushed Captain aside with her shoulder and Jade was amazed how happily the big horse obeyed her. She moved amongst the horses as easily as Jade would walk down a supermarket aisle. ‘It’s important to let them huddle together, so they keep each other warm.’

  Dusty told Jade the story of the Snow Pony as they petted her. Jade could see that the beautiful mare adored her, breathing against Dusty’s neck and nuzzling her hands.

  ‘Be careful of her though, Jade. She’s a pain with people she doesn’t know. I guess it’s all those years of living in the bush, when she had to rely on her wits to survive. Mum says she has a very well developed flight instinct.’

  Jade reached up to pat Snow’s forehead and the mare snorted and threw her head up.

  ‘See what I mean? She’s just highly strung.’

  While Jade worked on Captain’s mane, Dusty filled the water drum and shovelled the horse manure from the dirt floor out into the snow. At the far end of the lean-to was a small room, where the feed drums and spare gear was stored, but the other sides of the verandah weren’t closed in. Crooked rails, wired to the verandah posts, formed a fence to keep the horses in, and a wall of snow had formed behind them. Hollows in the snow marked where the horses’ warm breath had melted the snow as they looked out the gap between the snow and the roof.

  Dusty put the shovel away and came back with Captain’s bridle. ‘Do you want to have a ride on him? Let’s surprise Dad and Stewie.’

  Jade looked doubtful, but Dusty grinned at her as she bridled Captain, guiding the bit gently between his teeth and pulling the headpiece over his ears in one smooth action.

  ‘You’ll probably double-dink with Stewie tomorrow, anyway, so you might as well have a practice now. You’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll go in front and you can hang on to me.’ She led the horse out of the stable and replaced the slip rails, then backed him around so that he stood beside the fence.

  Dusty climbed up the fence and scrambled on to him. Jade followed quickly, before she had time to chicken out. She put her arms around Dusty’s waist and held on tight as Captain moved away from the hut. There were no bones poking into her like the other time she had ridden bareback. Riding this horse was like sitting in an armchair, he was so round and comfortable, and his walk was slow and even. Jade relaxed slightly and drew her head away from Dusty’s back so she could see. The snow was still falling lightly, with big flakes that drifted around them, and the powder flew up as Captain moved through it. They could have been floating through the snow.

  Dusty turned her head. ‘Are you right for a canter?’

  Jade didn’t have a chance to say no. She held on to Dusty as Captain broke into a canter, expecting to bounce straight off, but it was like sitting on a rocking horse.

  ‘Hey, Dad! Stewie! Come and see the snow circus!’

  They cantered past the hut, sending up showers of snow. ‘We are the alpine trick riders!’ Dusty guided the big horse with her legs, making a circle in front of the hut, and held her arms up in a V. Stringer loped beside them, grinning over his shoulder. Jack and Stewie watched from the verandah, laughing, and Dusty whooped. ‘Isn’t this good, Jade? Isn’t he the best?’

  Jade loosened her grip on Dusty’s waist and raised one hand in the air, waving. Her seat didn’t shift. Riding had never been so easy.

  ‘Yes!’ she shouted. ‘He’s the best!’

  20

  The roan cow

  Jade and Stewie watched from outside the yards as Jack explained to Dusty how they were going to catch the calf. They would never run it down, even though it had a broken leg, so Jack had rigged up a makeshift trap by wiring an old mesh gate to the fence and propping it open at a slight angle. He and Dusty were going to walk quietly through the mob, push a group of cows and calves along the fence and try to jam the injured calf behind the gate. Jade and Stewie were to stand as still as statues until the calf walked in, and then they had two jobs: to pull the gate towards them to hold the calf tight, then shove a rail behind her so she couldn’t back out.

  ‘The mother is as crazy as a loon,’ Jack told Jade, ‘but she won’t get over this fence. You’ll be safe here.’ He handed Dusty a stick. ‘Are we all ready? Remember, you two, keep still. Don’t move a muscle. And you, Stewie, make sure you pay attention. Don’t muck up this time.’

  Stewie made a face and Dusty wished her dad would give him a break.

  It was sickening to see the calf hobbling on three legs, its broken shin flapping uselessly.

  ‘You be ready to get over the fence if that cow even looks at you, Dusty.’ Jack guided her through the yard as cows and calves scrambled out of their way, snow slipping off their backs. ‘Your mother would have my guts for garters if she knew you were in here, but it’s a two-person job. I’ll push the cattle towards the fence and you be ready to rush the calf behind the gate.’

  Jack let most of the mob past him until there were only about six cows left, with their calves. ‘Push them along now, Dusty,’ he called to her quietly.

  Dusty walked towards the cows, arms out. ‘Come on, girls, ho, ho.’

  The roan cow was in the middle of the mob, head up, and her calf was just where they wanted it, at the back, near the fence.

  ‘Looking good, Dad,’ Dusty murmured.

  The cow at the front of the group started to walk behind the gate, then stopped when her shoulders jammed. Jade and Stewie held their breath, then she backed out and moved along, with the others following. Dusty crept closer to the calf, ready to block her if she shied away, but she walked behind the gate without hesitation, and Jade and Stewie pulled it tight. She bawled in fright as Dusty scrambled over the fence and helped shove the rail behind her and tie the gate.

  ‘What a team!’ Jack was out of the yard, too. ‘You’ve got her as tight as a pressed flower.’ He held the splint he had improvised out of wire and wood beside the calf’s broken leg. ‘Yep, I think it’s going to work. The knee will stop it riding up and the fetlock will stop it falling down.’

  The roan cow bellowed on the other side of the fence. Jack reached through the rails and fitted the two pieces of wood around the calf’s foreleg. She bleated in pain as he manipulated the fracture, and her mother roared like an angry dinosaur.

  ‘Pliers please, Stewie.’ He held his arm behind him and Stewie placed the pliers in his hand like a nurse in an operating theatre. ‘There you go,’ Jack grunted as he twisted the wire together, holding the broken leg firmly between two pieces of wood. ‘That should make life easier for her.’ He stood up and rubbed his hands together. ‘Let her out and we’ll go inside and warm up and pray for rain.’

  Dusty removed the rail from behind the calf, and Stewie untied the gate and pushed it away from the fence. The calf turned and went to join its bellowing mother. Its first steps were steady, and Dusty smiled to think they had made such a difference, but suddenly the calf fell
over and lay writhing on the trampled snow. Every time she tried to get up the splinted leg collapsed underneath her, and Dusty’s first traitorous thought was that Jack must have done something terribly wrong to her leg, something that made it worse instead of better.

  ‘It’s caught on the gate!’ Stewie yelled to Jack above the bawling and bellowing. ‘The wire on the splint is hooked on the gate!’

  Jack swore violently. ‘Give us the pliers again. I’ll bend those ends down before I let her go this time.’ He went to climb over the fence and Jade looked at Dusty, eyes wide.

  ‘He’s not getting in the yard with that cow, is he?’

  ‘He has to.’ Dusty picked up the branch she had carried in the yard and climbed on to the fence. ‘He can’t leave the calf stuck there. He’ll keep the calf between him and the cow, and the gate will give him some protection.’

  Stewie was very pale, his face yellow against the snow. ‘Be careful, Dad.’

  Jack pulled the gate closer to the fence and inched up to the struggling calf. The cow rushed up, snorting, and glared at him over her baby, saliva hanging from her mouth in long dribbles. Jack kept his eyes on her, reached down the splint and unhooked the wire, then briefly looked down as he crimped the wire flat. He pushed the calf to her feet and she ran to her mother, who nuzzled her then turned back to the mob. But suddenly Spike was in the yard, silently heeling the calf. When it bawled, the mother bellowed at Spike, and raced at him, horns lowered and dangerous, and the dog ran straight to Jack. Jack was lifting the gate to lean it flush against the fence, so the cow’s charge took him by surprise. As he turned towards the noise, her head caught him across the ribs with a sickening crack and sent him thudding to the ground.

  ‘Dad!’ Dusty leapt into the yard and swung her stick at the cow. ‘Get back, you old bitch.’ The cow rushed at her, eyes crazy, and Dusty dived through the fence.