“Let me grab the stallion afore he gets to feelin’ his oats,” Jack said.
“Oh, can I?”
He glanced at her. “Boss’ll have my head fer that. It’s my job.” To her pleading expression, he sighed and added, “Walk Peaches behind me if yeh want. Get a closer view of William.”
He kicked heels into his horse and galloped toward the bank, but slowed his approach when she neared the river, probably so as not to spook Raven into bolting. Kate made soft clucking sounds of encouragement and followed at a slow walk, halting Peaches with her hooves just dipped into the water’s edge. Jack sloshed into the cold water to where Raven’s reins hung slack to one side. The horse’s head bobbed this way and that as Jack eased up until he was knee deep in water, then caught hold of the reins. Raven shook his mane and water flew every which way, a few drops of spray landing on Kate. Still, he made little fuss when Jack lead him onto the bank and walked him to the tree where he tethered him to a limb. Relieved, Kate’s attention returned to the water.
The river was up to the wild stallion’s lower neck now, and much of William’s body was underwater as well. He’d kept his mount on the animal, which was thrashing its head and crying pitifully but didn’t seem able to do much else. For some reason it wasn’t swimming or treading its way toward the shore, where the shallower water would put it in better stead to throw off its human occupant. Kate wriggled her toes inside her boots and watched William ride the stallion deep in the water, and before long he surprised Kate by raising his voice in song. The tune was in Hupa, though not a song she recognized. Perhaps he’d learned it as part of a horse tamer’s ritual, or maybe like many of the Hupa natives, the mood of the moment brought on a spontaneous expression of song.
“Daydi-ch’ing te:singya:-te’, miq’it-dahch’idi¬tse?
“Xa’ na:yaydiL, ta:’a¬tul whi¬-’inda’
“La’ xo-na:t’aw. Qat ung whi¬ilyo’?”
Jack rode back up beside her. “Can yeh make any of that out?”
She nodded. “Some. He’s saying, ‘Where are you going, horse? Let’s go to the Boat Dance. Stay here with me as one spirit. Are you ready, my friend?’”
“Right amazin’, the effect William’s Indian songs have on the animals.”
Kate stood transfixed by the soothing, almost mournful sound of his voice, complete with the “sobbing” quality she’d heard Indians use in their singing. What purpose this served was unknown to her, but it did have a profound effect on her emotions and, it seemed, those of the horse beneath him. The animal calmed to the melody, neighing and chuffing softer and softer and shaking its head slower, almost as if trying to keep rhythm. Its body churned less in the deep water, until at last, the animal stood still. The eye she could see from the bank seemed to weigh heavier, like the music was putting the creature in some sort of trance. It was then Kate noticed a sight that dropped her jaw wide open and froze her in place.
The red mare that escaped the initial chase had wandered up to the water’s edge, staring off at the stallion now stilled beneath its singing rider. A warm puff of breeze lifted her silken red mane, but otherwise the world seemed perfectly still in that moment.
“Jack,” she whispered, and nodded toward the animal.
“Well I’ll be,” he said.
Several heartbeats passed before Kate’s utter shock gave way to lucid thought, and then she began to move with as much stealth as she could manage. She backed up her horse and veered around Jack. She wouldn’t get another chance at this, not with such an easy set up. Her heart raced as she went over in her mind what she’d just seen William do, and she took in a deep breath and held it for a full count of five. Then she heeled hard into Peaches, and with a shout of “Gid up!” the chase was on.
“What the devil are you doin’?” Jack shouted, but she ignored him.
The wild mare startled at the shout and sound of hooves, but lucky for Kate, reacted in just the way she hoped. The animal bolted straight into the glittering water. With a slap to her mare’s hindquarters, Kate plunged in right behind, feeling the thud of each pulse beat hammer her throat while they splashed through the water. She was dimly aware of William and Jack calling out to her, and she felt a belated pang of concern that her actions would spook William’s mount and undo all the work he’d put into calming him. Then she felt the weight of the rising water slogging down their speed, and she pushed her boots down hard in her stirrups until her backside was up off the saddle. The hind end of the red mare was just off to the right of Peaches’ nose.
Kate heard Jack’s horse splashing in behind her. She whooped a, “Yah! Git on now,” to Peaches, and used her reins to beg more speed from the animal. Peaches tossed her head but complied, no doubt thinking Kate was insane as the mare pushed her powerful body through cool water high enough to hit Kate’s knees and fill up her boots. Her spirits sank as she realized the other horse was pulling ahead. If they couldn’t get alongside it, there’d be no way she could make the leap. Not that she was likely to manage the stunt either way.
“Stop, Kate!” Jack said, but she gritted her teeth and pressed on. Still, with the red mare gaining distance, it might be best to call Peaches off.
Then she noticed the horse ahead sinking into deeper water and floundering for a moment—long enough to close the gap.
“Kate, don’t!” It was William this time, but his warning was too late. With a tight grip on reins and saddle horn, Kate lifted her bent left leg until her boot was perched on the saddle, and before logic could sink in and change her mind, she used the boot to launch herself off the horse.
Her leap was a far cry from the easy grace William demonstrated. She landed almost sideways atop the mare, knocking the wind out of her. She gasped out a loud whoosh of air and fought to drag in more breath. What saved her was the depth of the river, now shoulder deep on the animal she struggled to climb aboard.
“Kate!”
She looked up and saw William getting off the stallion to come to her, but she shouted, “No! Don’t leave him. You stop, too, Jack,” she shouted over her shoulder, where Jack was almost on the horse’s tail. “Back off. You’ll spook her worse. I’m fine.”
Fine was a bit of a stretch, perhaps, for the mare made a valiant effort to shake Kate off by rolling its body sideways. Kate’s head went underwater for a moment, and she came up sputtering. Her crosswise splay allowed her to stay on board, however, and she squirmed herself along until she felt the animals’ withers. Then she twisted to seat herself square on the mare’s bare back. Once in place, Kate gripped the horse’s flank with her thighs for all she was worth, grabbing handfuls of wet mane to upright herself and keep her place.
The animal’s head lurched and tossed while it cried out in protest, and Kate felt a surge of pity for what the horse must be going through. She shot a glance over at William, whose mount was again agitated and had moved several feet downstream away from the female’s melee. Her earlier concern that chasing the mare could startle the stallion seemed to have merit, and she felt a stab of remorse. The cowboy on top of the animal gaped at Kate with what seemed a mixture of angry panic, to which she responded with a guilty smile and a shrug. This didn’t appear to lighten his mood any, so she ignored him and went back to her attempt to tame the red mare—one that felt an awful lot more like the mare’s attempt to tame a cheeky rider.
“Lord, woman,” Jack said. “Have yeh gone and lost yer mind?”
The red mare moved forward into the deepest part of the river, black and unfathomable beneath the shimmering highlights raised on the surface by the bright moon. There, the horse stopped. Kate understood now why the stallion hadn’t just rushed for the opposite river bank. The animals were reluctant to lose footing altogether and be swept downstream, and didn’t understand the water was not any deeper than this point either in front or behind. The plunge into the river with a human on their backs was disorienting, and the desire to not risk even deeper water effectively trapped them in place.
“Sh
ould I try to get her off there?” Jack called out.
“And have two riled females on your hands?” William said. “Wouldn’t chance it.” She shot him a look and saw moonlight glittering in his eyes. “You’ll have to stay with her ’til she wears down,” William called to her. “Takes a while. You can either get her to fight and wear her faster, or do what you can to calm her down so she’ll steady on her own.”
“Which one is better?”
“The horse’ll tell you.”
“Great.”
The mare heaving and stepping beneath her certainly seemed ready for a fight, though it appeared to be realizing there was little it could do about it in the deep water. Maybe a little calming chatter was in order.
“There, girl,” Kate said in as soothing a manner as she could in light of teeth chattering with nervous tension more so than the cool water churning around them. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you none. You’ll be just fine.”
Rigorous head tossing and whinnies assured Kate that the mare did not share this opinion, so Kate silenced and held on tight.
“Keep yer head up or the mare’ll break yer nose,” Jack called. He’d backed his animal off a ways, but Stronghold still stood in water up to the knee.
During a moment’s respite Kate remembered Peaches, and she twisted her head over her shoulder. The horse stood grazing on the shore, apparently unconcerned about Kate’s sudden leap onto the back of another mare. Another half-roll from her mount brought Kate’s attention whipping back to the task of not getting sent downriver. This time, Kate used her body to pull upright and tugged firmly on the right handful of mane to bring up the side of the mare trying to dunk her under water. Kate succeeded and sat herself back just in time to avoid another head toss from butting her square in the face. A martingale to hold the horse’s head down would serve her well about now. And a saddle. And someone more qualified for this madness. Why the heck had she done something this stupid?
“That’s it,” William said. “Stay with her. Start teachin’ her your commands.”
“Right now I’m not sure who’s commanding who.”
“You can always jump off and let her go back to the herd,” Jack said. “I’ll help you.”
“No way. She’s mine. Well, Tyler Ranch’s.”
Kate felt the animal quivering beneath her, even as her own body shuddered with high tension. The horse’s muzzle splashed in and out of the water with every head toss, which Kate knew would amount to a full buck or rear had they been on dry ground. When the mare tried again to lower its body down and roll to slide Kate underwater, however, she took charge and “reined” up strong on the animal’s mane.
“Whoa, girl. Up, now.” She used her thighs and heels to straighten the horse, and she gave a shaky laugh when the mare righted. “It’s working.”
“Keep her steady,” Jack said. “Let yer body talk to her.”
Time and again the mare dipped, fidgeted, and head tossed, and for a long stretch the pair battled for dominance. Every now and then Kate looked over at William, and soon saw that his own fight had ended with cowboy as the victor. She saw him pull out a boot knife and cut a long section of the rope that was coiled around him, then fashion one end into a loop with a sort of half-hitch knot. She watched, curious, while he slowly eased the loop over the stallion’s head, and when the animal opened its mouth in protest, the end with the half-hitch slid inside like a bridle bit. The rest circled the top of the animal’s head, and the long free end of the rope became a single rein. With this makeshift rope bridle and body commands, William managed to turn the stallion around to watch Kate’s progress.
It felt like half the night before Kate finally felt the mare’s resolve melting, though in truth the moon hadn’t traveled the sky more than an hour’s worth since they’d first arrived at the river. When the horse did give up the struggle, Kate began cooing reassurance again.
“That’s a good girl. You’re going to have a nice life. You’ll be given plenty of food and water, will get run time in a corral and be bathed and groomed and appreciated. In return you just have to give someone a lift once in a while. Good deal?”
The conversation went on for a time until finally the horse stilled completely. Both had stopped shaking by now, and at last Kate let loose her death grip on the mare’s mane with one hand and stroked its forelock and neck.
“You can start bringin’ her up to the shore now, I expect,” William said, “unless you’d rather I go tie up the stallion and ride her up myself.”
“I can do it.” Kate hesitated, wondering whether the seemingly tame animal would turn wild again once on land. “Maybe I better watch you get out with the stallion first. See how it’s done.”
“Fight’s gone out of ’em,” Jack said. “Shouldn’t be too much trouble, other than knowin’ how to go bareback.”
William tapped the rope looped around the stallion’s head. “I prefer an Indian war bridle for the first ride in to the ranch, rather than tryin’ to control the animal with just fistfuls of mane. I’ll come back with Raven to help you get one on her.”
He demonstrated by egging his horse on with a kick of his heels and tug on the rope rein, and after a while of encouragement, the horse waded through the river to shallower water. Kate’s breath caught once the animal was in the shallows, but it showed no sign of breaking into a run or bucking off its rider. William rode him up onto the bank, and after a couple tries, the animal walked with an odd sort of caution over to a different tree from where Raven was tied. Jack still had his mount up to the knees in water, eyeing Kate with a mixture of wary concern.
William tied the rope rein to a low branch before sliding off the animal’s back, then spent some time rubbing and stroking the animal with soothing words before returning. “Jack, see to Kate’s other mare, will you?”
She was grateful to see the man retreat to tether Peaches while William headed back on Raven. He guided the horse with a purposeful, slow gait, no doubt wanting to avoid startling Kate’s mount the way she’d done to his when plunging headlong into the river after the mare. Still, when Raven drew close, her animal nickered and stepped sideways. A reassuring stroke and words from Kate soon calmed it.
When William drew alongside, he pulled off the remaining coil of rope from his shoulder and gave Kate the first smile she’d seen out of him since her decision to experience horse taming first hand.
“Sure you want to do the rest?” he said.
She smiled back. “I started this. Might as well finish it.”
He nodded while he fashioned another loop. Then he pulled his horse in a bit closer. “Let me help you get this on, at least. It’s a bit tricky.”
Tricky was right. William might have had a better time of it had he actually been mounted on the mustang’s back, but between the horses’ nerves toward one another and the mare’s unhappiness at having a rope anywhere near her head, it took a number of attempts to get the war bridle on and set inside her mouth properly. She chewed and worked her tongue a good deal more than the stallion, which seemed to have decided cooperation was the better choice. Nevertheless, the bridle went on at last. After a few tries to get the hang of using the rope rein, Kate managed to turn the horse around. The mare wanted nothing to do with Raven, so William rode the stallion out ahead to give Kate an easier time getting her mount onto dry land.
Despite being soaked to the bone and having swallowed a fair bit of river water, Kate felt her mouth go dry as the mare left deep water behind and got its legs beneath it. The higher above river the horse got, the more nervous Kate grew. Then she felt a water-logged boot slip off her foot and fall into the shallows, and her resolve nearly slipped off along with it.
“Yer doin’ fine,” Jack said, seeming to sense her distress. “Don’t show the animal yer nerves, or it’ll be worse for both of yeh. Just guide her to the tree.”
“That rope bridle don’t do much good for turnin’,” William added. “You need strong legs and upper body work to get it done. That
’s it.”
The mare made it to the tree at last, and Kate repeated what she’d seen William do by tying the animal before trying to slide off. It was with no small amount of ambivalence that she finally allowed herself to slip to the ground on wobbly legs, careful to steer clear of horse legs, head, and teeth in case the mare had any surprises in store. Jack was there to catch her on the way down. The horse stood at the tree, snorting softly to itself.
Jack’s arm slid around her waist while they went to meet William halfway from where Raven was tethered. Walking proved more of a challenge than she would have guessed. Not just because she’d lost a boot on the way, either. She’d spent a great deal of energy trying to keep astride and guide a wild horse with thigh and calf muscles, all of which were now lodging loud protest. Her fingers ached from her frantic grip on horsehair, too.
William had her lost boot in hand, and when he saw her staggering and Jack steadying her, he rushed up to put an arm around her other side. “What the blazes were you thinkin’, takin’ on a wild mustang yourself?”
Kate took the boot from him and shrugged away from their arms. She hobbled to the shore to rinse off the foot now crusted with pebbles and dirt. “Why, you’re very welcome for my help. You did say you wanted two horses tonight. Now you got ’em.”
“Not at the risk of your hide,” he said, following her to the water. “Even Jack even knows better than to try tamin’.”
“Jack knows better than to go against boss’s orders, yeh mean,” the other man said. “She did fine.”
She sat down with a groan and pulled off her other boot. She dumped out what seemed to be a gallon of river and squeezed more from the toe of her wool stockings. She’d never been so wet in all her life, and her garments clung to her like an itchy second skin. The night air was still warm, but the cool swim left her shivering.
“What if she’d gotten pulled under that horse?” William went on, fists on equally wet hips. “She could have drowned.”
To Tame a Wild Mustang Page 8
