Brumby Mountain

by Karen Wood

  But Jess knew it wasn’t time to smile yet. It would be a long time before those horses understood that they’d just been saved. She wasn’t even sure herself if they had been saved, or just drawn further into a world that they clearly didn’t want to be a part of.

  ‘I’m going to get some hay for them,’ said Grace, running towards the feed shed.

  Shara ran after her. ‘Wait for me!’

  Jess felt Luke’s arm slip around her waist. ‘Thanks, Jessy.’

  She looked up at him. ‘They are some seriously messed-up horses, Luke. What are you guys going to do with them?’

  ‘Tame them.’ He gave her a comical look that was laced with uncertainty. ‘Somehow . . .’

  ‘Do you think that’s even possible?’ She watched the four brumbies slamming up against each other in the corner of the yard. ‘How are you ever going to convince them that humans are their friends after what they’ve been through? Horses never forget bad treatment. It just seems . . . like mission impossible.’

  ‘That’s the sad part,’ said Luke. ‘It’s not if you trap them properly. You’ll see when we get the next lot.’

  ‘The next lot?’ said Jess, horrified. ‘You mean there are more?’

  ‘Only another six,’ said Luke. ‘Lawson bought them.’

  ‘Only . . . another six? Are you guys crazy?’

  3

  ‘THESE ONES WERE passively trapped using salt and molasses,’ Luke explained as he took her by the hand and led her to the front gate. ‘They’re totally different. You’re gonna love these guys.’

  Jess heard the rumbling engine of another large vehicle. Around a bend in the road came a truck driven by Lawson’s friend Bob, wearing a big wide smile and a black hat.

  ‘Lawson and I started handling these ones,’ said Luke, as Lawson drove his truck away from the loading ramp, making way for the other to be backed in. ‘We can even get halters on some of them, and pick up their feet. The younger ones are the easiest.’ Suddenly he was glowing with the satisfaction that Jess always saw in him when he talked about handling young horses.

  The truck stopped at the loading ramp and Bob jumped out. His jeans were rolled up past his ankles and his feet were bare. He gave Jess a friendly nod. ‘Got some nice types in there,’ he said. ‘Make good station horses most of ’em.’ He grinned. ‘Maybe it’s time you got a young one and sold old Dodger to me.’

  ‘Nice try, Bob,’ Jess laughed. He’d been angling to buy Dodger for years.

  ‘I’d give you fifty bucks for him,’ said Lawson, striding past. ‘He’s not worth more than that.’

  Jess snorted.

  ‘She drives a hard bargain, Bob, trust me on that one,’ Lawson said, putting a hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘Come up for a cuppa before you head off, hey?’

  Bob nodded and the two men walked to the house.

  ‘You guys right unloading them?’ Lawson called over his shoulder.

  ‘Yep!’ Luke wrenched the back door open and one by one the horses clattered and slid down the loading ramp, some calmly, others like lunatics. They were mostly chestnuts and bays, all surprisingly stout, with thick manes and winter coats.

  Jess felt enormously relieved as they trotted through the gates out into the campdraft arena and cantered in a great swirling mass of tossing manes and feathered legs. At least these ones weren’t injured.

  ‘Let’s get them something to eat,’ said Luke.

  Jess helped Luke carry bales of hay from the feed shed, then split them and throw them around the arena. The brumbies quickly settled into feeding. As they ate, Luke slipped in through the arena gate.

  ‘Are you sure you should go in there?’ asked Jess, hovering at the gateway.

  ‘Sure.’ Luke walked slowly towards a pale chestnut of about fourteen hands, and lowered himself onto one heel, making himself small in front of the horse. It lifted its head and stopped chewing, a clump of hay hanging from its mouth.

  Luke stayed motionless as the horse stretched its nose towards him. It took a step forward and sniffed. Jess smiled as it ran its nose up the side of his arm and smeared green hay slobber over his shirt.

  Luke rubbed the horse’s cheek, then slowly stood. It resumed chewing while he rubbed it all over with circular, rhythmic motions. Soon the horse curled its lip in pleasure and Luke grinned as he scratched around its belly.

  ‘You have been handling them,’ Jess said, impressed.

  ‘Hasn’t taken long,’ he said. ‘Two weeks. Some of the older ones aren’t so friendly but this guy loves me. I called him Buddy.’ Luke ran a hand over the small horse’s back. ‘Cos that’s what you’ve been, haven’t you? You’ve been my buddy.’ The horse dropped its head and took another mouthful of hay.

  ‘Come in and meet them,’ Luke said to her.

  Jess joined him. A tall bay colt shied and darted to the opposite side of the arena, taking the others with him, but as they settled again, Luke moved closer to another chestnut. He approached calmly and ran a hand over the horse’s shoulder, repeating the rubbing and scratching until he was picking up its feet and running his hands around its head and ears. The horse let out a long sigh.

  Jess noted the size and stockiness of the horse. It was well put together, not at all like the melon-headed, ewe-necked brumbies she’d heard about.

  ‘That’s a really nice horse,’ she said, surprised.

  ‘It is, ay,’ said Luke, still rubbing and scratching.

  ‘I thought they’d be ugly.’

  ‘Not the tablelands brumbies. There have been some good stallions introduced to their herds over the years, real good ones, and these guys have been trapped and carefully handled. We shouldn’t have any trouble re-homing most of them.’

  Luke kept talking as he walked through the herd and Jess marvelled at the way he moved among them, knowing when to approach, when to retreat, how to put their wild souls at ease. He had less success with a couple of older mares, who eyed him warily and turned their hindquarters at him, but he let them be, focusing on the younger, more receptive ones.

  ‘Can I come in too?’ said a small voice from the sidelines. It was Grace, peering through two lower rails.

  Luke hesitated. ‘All right, pat Buddy,’ he said, nodding towards the little horse. ‘I’ve gotta go and unpack anyway.’

  Grace joined Jess in the arena and together they moved slowly and carefully among the brumbies, eventually turning some buckets upside-down and sitting side by side, just watching them.

  ‘Where’d Shara go?’ asked Jess.

  ‘To the movies with Corey.’

  Jess nodded. ‘Not tempted by any of these fine steeds?’

  ‘Nah, but I’ll help re-home them,’ said Grace. ‘I might ask Lawson if I can start that bay colt. I’d want a cut of the sale price, though. He’d get good money for him.’

  ‘You sound like a horse dealer.’

  Grace shrugged. ‘When my dream horse does come along, I want to be able to afford him.’

  ‘What about Luke’s mob?’ said Jess.

  Grace arched both eyebrows. ‘I don’t know what Luke’s gonna do with that lot.’

  Jess looked at the four bewildered horses, slamming up against each other in the nearby yard. ‘Nor do I,’ she said.

  Later in the afternoon, Jess found Luke sitting under the big coachwood tree near the round yard, staring at his mob of four brumbies. They were wild animals that had once galloped with the wind, knowing nothing but hundreds of kilometres of unfenced mountain scrub, deep ravines and trickling creeks, relying on fitness and speed for survival. Now they milled around in the muddy confines of a stockyard.

  She sat next to him. ‘You okay?’

  ‘Yeah, just sitting here thinking.’ He looked at her. ‘How good would it be to build a brumby sanctuary? We could rescue more horses like these.’

  Jess resisted the temptation to make loud choking noises. ‘So how come you ended up with this lot and Lawson ended up with the others?’ she asked.

  ‘Lawson s
aid these ones were too far gone. But I just couldn’t leave them. I know I can turn them around.’ He looked at her suddenly with an earnest expression. ‘I was kinda hoping you would help me.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Come and work with me, properly, you know, like full-time.’

  Jess laughed. That was ridiculous. ‘I can’t, I go to school, remember?’

  ‘So quit.’

  ‘Quit school?’

  ‘Yeah. I did it.’ He took her hand and squeezed it. ‘We could re-home wild horses; stop them becoming pet food.’

  ‘My parents wouldn’t let me. They’d freak.’

  ‘Can’t they see how amazing you are with horses?’ He paused. ‘If you could do absolutely anything for a job, what would you do?’

  ‘Train horses.’

  ‘See?’ He shrugged. ‘How will school help you with that?’

  ‘But . . .’ The idea of an education had been drilled into Jess’s psyche for as long as she could remember. The plan had always been to go to uni. ‘What would I say to Mum and Dad?’

  ‘Just talk to them, they’ll understand.’

  But Jess wasn’t as confident. ‘How would we afford to pay for all the feed and everything?’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ he said. ‘I’ve got it covered.’

  ‘But it’s going to cost a heap to feed them and vet them. That colt needs gelding. They’re all injured. They need worming and vaccinating . . . ’ A huge list of bills was building in her head. ‘How come you could buy these brumbies in the first place? What happened about your dad? You were going to try to find him while you were down at Mathews’ Flat. Why were you away for so long?’

  Luke plucked at a piece of grass in front of him, hesitating. ‘My dad’s dead. He died of cancer six months ago. I already knew before I left to get the brumbies.’

  ‘Hey?’

  ‘We stopped in at Armidale on the way,’ Luke continued, ‘went to a solicitor, to sort out my father’s will. Turns out he left me everything he had: a property at Mathews’ Flat and a bit of money. It wasn’t a lot. I used some of it to buy the brumbies.’

  Jess looked at him, stunned. Luke owned a property in Mathews’ Flat? That was miles away, interstate in fact – not even in Queensland!

  ‘Lawson wanted me to put all the money in the bank, lock it up for years in some account and do nothing with it. But finding those brumbies was like some weird sort of calling. It was just too much of a coincidence that they were from Mathews’ Flat.’ He shrugged. ‘I felt a really strong connection with them.’

  ‘And you got a property? You mean, like a house?’

  ‘Yeah, with forty hectares of land. It was my father’s place,’ said Luke. ‘He’s buried in the cemetery nearby. So is my mum.’ He looked at her with troubled eyes. ‘It’s where I was born.’

  So, it was like . . . home . . . to him?

  Luke never spoke much about his childhood, but Jess knew it had been all over the place and mostly unhappy. His mum had died when he was two, then his father adopted him out when he was four. He’d lived with several foster families before he finally came to Harry and Annie’s place.

  ‘Did you go and look at it?’

  He shook his head. ‘Not yet. I will when I’m ready. But I want to do something about these brumbies first.’ He stood up and held out a hand for her. ‘Speaking of which, the vet’s here.’

  Jess followed him back to the yards, her head spinning like a flywheel.

  By the time all the brumbies had been vetted and assessed, it was nearly dark.

  Luke’s brumbies were pushed into the cattle crush and sedated with a dart gun so John Duggin could stitch wounds and generally patch them up. It was a horrible process which Jess found almost as distressing as the brumbies did.

  Sapphire, the creamy stallion, had to be knocked out cold so that John could clean and stitch the gaping wound on the horse’s face.

  Sapphire was left in the big arena to slowly wake, with his herd standing groggily nearby. When he did, he seemed more traumatised than before, and charged around, roaring at the other horses through the fence.

  ‘Should just put him down,’ said Lawson, watching from the sidelines. ‘It’s cruel keeping him alive.’

  But Luke refused. John sedated the stallion again in case he broke his stitches, and those of his mares, and left them to it.

  Jess walked back to the stables. The night-time sounds of bats and possums mingling with whinnying brumbies, clinking gates and friendly and familiar voices made her smile. For some reason, she always seemed to feel happiest when she was utterly knackered.

  ‘Do you need a lift home?’ asked Grace, wandering up behind her. ‘Lawson said he’s leaving in ten minutes.’

  ‘That would be great,’ said Jess. ‘Don’t fancy riding home in the dark. I just want to say goodnight to Luke and then I’ll come up.’

  Luke was sweeping the stable aisle with a big, wide broom, making long swishing noises that echoed against the quiet night. The feedroom was closed and locked and the horses were quiet except for an occasional sleepy snort. He propped the broom up against a wall when he saw Jess.

  He put his arms around her shoulders and breathed into her hair, making a big warm cocoon around her that she wanted to stay curled up inside forever.

  ‘You’re like one of those therapy pets,’ he said. ‘You know, the ones they take around to old people’s homes.’

  ‘You calling me a dog?’

  ‘An old Labrador,’ he said teasingly. ‘A nice one, though, a girl one, one that gets washed a lot.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she grumbled. ‘Hey, I’m really sorry you didn’t get a chance to meet your dad.’

  Luke sighed. ‘So weird. I always thought once I was eighteen I would just look him up and find out what happened, but I never imagined he wouldn’t be there.’

  He looked into the yard, where the brumby stallion still paced frenetically. ‘I’ll be all right, though. So will that stallion, once he gets used to the idea.’ He looked at her happily. ‘You and me, Jessy. We’ll sort them out.’

  Jess gave an awkward laugh. Surely he didn’t really expect her to just drop out of school?

  4

  THAT NIGHT JESS lay on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. She pulled out her phone and stared at Luke’s photo for a while. Then she messaged Shara.

  I want to leave school.

  Huh? Why?

  I want to work with Luke and brumbies.

  Don’t be insane. You’re too brainy.

  Mum probably wouldn’t let me anyway.

  Within seconds her phone rang. ‘What’s going on?’ said Shara.

  ‘Luke wants me to leave school and work with him full-time.’

  ‘Yeah, right,’ said Shara. ‘And who’s gonna pay you? Isn’t he supposed to be doing a farrier’s apprenticeship?’

  ‘He could still do that.’

  ‘What about you? You wouldn’t earn any money.’

  ‘I don’t care about money. Some things are more important than money, Sharsy. ’ ‘Yeah, like an education. Surely you’re not serious, Jess.’

  Jess groaned. ‘School gets in the way of everything!’

  Shara laughed. ‘Horses get in the way of everything. So do boyfriends. Corey is the biggest distraction. I don’t know how I’ll ever become a vet with him hanging around. But seriously, Jess. Don’t go blowing off school for something that can wait.’

  ‘But it can’t wait. Luke needs me now and so do the brumbies.’ She told Shara about Luke’s father and his inheritance: the property in the tablelands of New South Wales. ‘What if he wants to move down there, Shara?’

  ‘So that’s what this is about,’ said her bestie. ‘He wouldn’t leave you, would he?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Nah,’ said Shara, brushing it off. ‘Luke would never move away from Coachwood Crossing. It’s his home. He loves it here. And he’s totally crazy about you.’

  ‘Maybe I could just take a gap year,’ s
aid Jess, wishing she could feel as confident as Shara. ‘Everyone takes a gap year.’

  ‘Everyone takes a gap year after Year Twelve, and I was kinda hoping to spend my gap year with you!’

  Jess was silent.

  ‘Jess, you can’t give up your whole life just because you’re scared Luke will leave you. That’s insane.’ Shara changed to her feminist career-woman tone. ‘Get a bit of guts about you, Jessica Fairley. A woman’s destiny must be her own!’

  ‘What if my destiny is to be on my own?’ said Jess glumly.

  ‘Je-e-ss!’ Her mum called from the kitchen. ‘Dinner’s ready!’

  ‘I gotta go,’ said Jess. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

  Jess sat at the dinner table and stared at the spinach ravioli without any appetite.

  Caroline untied her apron and joined Jess and Craig at the table. ‘Good to use up some of the spinach from the garden,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Full of iron and folic acid. We’ll have to put more sawdust around the plants, Craig. Slow those snails down a bit.’

  Jess stared into her dinner, deep in thought.

  ‘Eat up, Jess,’ said Caroline.

  Jess poked at the food with her fork.

  Caroline took hold of the salad servers, plucked out some radicchio leaves and passed the salad bowl to Jess. She pushed it on to her dad without looking up.

  Jess could feel her dad’s gaze moving between herself and her mother.

  Caroline put her knife and fork down and took a calming breath. ‘What’s wrong, Jessica?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about my career,’ said Jess. ‘I hate working in the bakery.’

  ‘Good. I’m glad you do,’ said Craig. ‘You might aspire to something a bit more challenging.’

  ‘Brumbies are challenging.’

  ‘And they’re very worthwhile, but they’re not a career.’

  Jess slumped.

  ‘I heard about Luke’s inheritance,’ said her dad.

  ‘Who told you?’ Again, Jess felt miffed that she hadn’t been the first to know.

  ‘Annie talked to Caroline about it.’

  ‘He wants to build a brumby sanctuary and re-home horses.’

  ‘And he wants you to join him?’