Spirit Horses (18 page)

Shane turned back to Tommy, “They wouldn’t really
attack me, would they?”

Tommy grinned, “No sir. They’re not like that, but
they sure are curious about you.”

Shane hadn’t noticed the animals following him. He
decided he would keep an eye out for these two from now on.

While walking home he saw Tigee putting food out for
the dogs, but, as usual, they kept their distance. Shane watched as Tara’s
grandfather sat down on his porch steps in hopes the animals would come close.
The pups continued to maintain their cautious space and waited patiently until
he went inside before they approached the bowls and scarfed down the scraps.

Shane sat down on his own steps to watch the dogs.
They kept looking over in his direction while holding their noses high and
sniffing the air. Shane gazed down at the ground so he would not be looking
directly at them. Soon he could feel the wolf-dogs moving closer. The two
carefully edged their way toward him until they were only five yards away.

Tigee came back outside and watched from his porch.
The two then laid down a few feet in front of him, still sniffing the air.
Shane slowly raised his head and looked into their yellow wolf eyes. This made
them nervous enough to quickly stand and trot away. The old Indian clapped his
hands, gave Shane a thumbs-up, and yelled, “You got them close, hey!” Shane
smiled and waved back, then he went inside.

After a quick cup of coffee, he jumped into his
truck and drove to the nearby reservation town of Crowheart. He had seen a pay
phone there the other day, and since his cell phone didn’t have any signal out
here, this would be his main line of communication with the outside world.
There was a phone at Tara’s and her grandfather’s house, but Shane felt awkward
asking to use it. Besides, the smallness of their house created a privacy
problem.

He had two calls to make this morning. The first was
to Terry. He had not checked in for some time now and wanted to make sure
everything was okay at the farm.

“Things are going well,” Terry assured him, “The
business is doing fine, and I have everything under control.” The old friends
chatted for a few minutes, and Shane thanked him again for all he was doing.

His next call was to Mr. Jensen. “How are you,
Shane? Are you staying out of trouble out there?”

Shane replied with a laugh, “Yes, sir, so far I am,
but it’s still pretty early in the day.” The two kidded around a minute more
before the sound of Shane’s voice changed into a more serious tone. “I’m
telling you sir, there has to be more going on in the valley than just some
white men chasing mustangs to tick off the Shoshone. I’m beginning to wonder if
someone could be trying to get rid of the herd for some other purpose. I may be
grasping at straws, but someone sure as hell wants these horses gone, and
they’re going to an awful lot of trouble to make it happen.”

“It sounds like living on the reservation is making
you a little paranoid.”

“You might be right, but I want to make sure my mare
is going to be okay when I set her free. From what I’ve seen so far, I’m not
too sure she will. I know you have a lot of friends in the area, and I’d really
appreciate it if you could, discreetly, check around town and see what you can
find out.”

Mr. Jensen remained quiet for a moment and then
replied, “I’ll start by talking to my cousin who works at City Hall. If there
is anything happening concerning that land out there, he’ll know about it. I’ll
get back in touch with you if I come up with anything.”

Shane then gave him Tigee’s phone number. “He’ll let
me know if you call. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” When Shane
returned to the ranch, Tommy was just finishing up his chores. The two spent
the rest of the morning working with the three young horses that Tommy was
training. One of the horses was, of course, the big roan gelding. He was doing
well. By the end of the session, Tommy was able to ride him around the corral
without Shane’s help.

The second horse was also a gelding. This one had a
naturally good mind and was a good, safe horse for the boy.

The third horse was an Appaloosa mare. She would be
more of a challenge. She was very sensitive, and, if you even blinked your eye
wrong, it seemed to scare her. This one would need a ton of preparation before
she could be saddled for the first time.

Tommy watched intensely as Shane skillfully worked
with the mare in the corral. In about an hour Shane took the filly out of the
pen and gave her to Tommy. “That’s about all she can take for the day,” he told
the boy. “I want you to turn her out, then come to the barn.”

When Tommy returned, Shane was sitting on Sloppy and
holding Tory, who was also saddled up. He handed him Tory’s reins, “Mount up.”

The kid’s eyes opened wide. “I can ride him?”

“Yep, go ahead and climb on. The best way for you to
learn how to put a good foundation
on a horse is to ride a well-finished
one. Then you will be able to see and feel what it is you’re after.”

The boy already knew how to properly sit on a horse
and displayed some pretty good hands and rein control. One of the things Tommy
still needed to learn was how to position a horse for what he was asking it to
do.
 

Shane started with some instruction that would help
Tommy get a better feel for what Tory’s feet were doing underneath him. Then,
from atop Sloppy, Shane demonstrated how he could separately control the
horse’s hips, ribs, shoulders, and head.

“In the beginning, we teach our horses how to
control all of their different parts individually. Once a horse can do this,
we’re able, step-by-step, to break down our maneuvers, much like a dancer
learns step-by-step how to put together a complete routine.”

Tommy couldn’t believe how much control he had on
Tory. Soon, Shane had him maneuvering the horse sideways, backing him in
circles, and moving into position to open and close gates, all with ease. Shane
was extremely impressed with how he absorbed all this in only one lesson.
“Okay, bud, I think we better stop now before I overload you with too much
information.” Tommy was a natural and, even though Tory had never left a walk,
the boy was bubbling over with excitement at what he had learned. Tommy’s
enthusiasm brought a smile to Shane’s face. “I’ve shown you some pretty cool
stuff today, haven’t I?”

“Yes sir!”

“Well, now it’s your turn to show me something
pretty cool.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want you to show me a place you think is very
special on this reservation. Take me somewhere with incredible scenery�—�a
place where you wouldn‘t normally take a visitor from Tennessee.”

Tommy thought for a second, then suddenly his face
lit up. “I know just the spot.”

They rode for quite a while and talked about horses,
school, and how much the boy liked living on the ranch.

Tommy asked, “Did you notice, they’re following you
again?”

“Who‘s following me?”

“The wolves,” Tommy said as he pointed to an opening
that ran parallel to the trail. They were now four miles from the ranch and
Shane was surprised to see the dogs here.

“Do they usually follow you away from the ranch?”

“No sir. They aren’t following me, they’re following
you! Maybe they think you’re their ma,” he said with a grin.
 

The two rode for at least another hour before
arriving at the location Tommy had picked out. What a scene! It was a large,
clear pool situated in line with one of the many Alpine streams that flowed
through the area. It had a waterfall on the far side of it steadily splashing
into the pool, as well as the creek that ran in one end of it and out the
other. There were large shade trees scattered about and you could see the
majestic mountains in the background.

“Is this good enough for you?”
          

“You did okay, bud.”

They tethered the horses and decided to go down to
the water for a quick cooling swim, before making the long ride back. They
stripped down to their skivvies and plunged into the clear, refreshing pond.
They’d only been in the water a few minutes when Shane noticed the horses
snorting loudly as they pulled back on the reins that were loosely tied to some
small trees close by.

At that moment, Tommy spoke in a high-pitched voice,
“Mister Shane, look!” He pointed at a large rock about fifty yards behind the
horses. There, crouched down in a stalking position, was a full-grown mountain
lion. Just then, the two horses broke away from the saplings and took off in a
panic.

“Oh, shit,” Shane hollered, as the cat jumped off
his perch in hot pursuit. Shane had brought a rifle, but it was in his scabbard
on Tory, who was now running for his life. Tommy and Shane began to yell and
splash, trying to break the cougar’s charge at the horses. A helpless feeling
came over Shane as he watched his two horses inadvertently corner themselves
against a rock wall near the pond. The cougar had slowed his approach and was
moving in for a kill.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the two wolves came
leaping down off the six-foot-high rock wall. They positioned themselves
between the horses and the big cat, snarling and baring their fangs. Shane
watched in disbelief as the two dogs attacked the cougar, who wasn’t about to
give up his dinner easily. It was a vicious battle, but the dogs had the cat
outnumbered and worked well as a team. The three moved around fighting for
several minutes. Finally the cougar decided he’d had enough and ran off in
defeat. The brother wolves were victorious, but both had cuts and were bloody
from head to toe. As Shane and Tommy jumped out of the pond to catch the
terrified horses, the tired dogs sorely eased down to the pool for a drink.

Shane gave the horses to Tommy and gestured to him
to let them get a drink also. The boy watched, in amazement, as Shane walked right
up to the wolves that were lying down, catching their breath next to the creek.
He leaned down between the two, with each of them only a couple feet away. “I
owe you guys one,” he told them, as he looked closer and saw their injuries
weren’t too severe. “When we get home, you’re each getting a big steak.” Then
he stood up, still in only his undershorts, and walked back to get dressed for
the ride home.

“That cougar must have been awfully hungry,” Tommy
exclaimed, as they were mounting up.
      

“Well, I think the dogs taught it a lesson. I doubt
it’ll try that again,” Shane replied.

The wolves stayed closer to Shane and Tommy on the
way home. “We need to come up with some names for ’em,” Shane said, as they
rode.

“Yes sir, no one around the ranch has given them
names, but I think they deserve them now. And since they think you’re their ma,
you should be the one to do it.”

“Very funny,” Shane said, as they approached the
entrance to the ranch.

Before Shane ate his dinner, he did as he had
promised. He thawed out two sirloins for the wolves. When he walked out onto
the porch, he was surprised to see the two lying there. He set down the steaks
with a bowl of water and then relaxed in the old rocker next to his front door.
The dogs wasted no time in gobbling up the meat. After finishing their meal,
they lay down only a few feet from Shane’s chair, keeping just out of reach.
  

“What am I going to call you guys?” Both of the pups
perked up their ears. “You two are always sneaking around like a couple of
outlaws, so I think I’ll call you,” while he pointed to the black and brown one
first, “Butch. That’s short for Butch Cassidy. And you,” he pointed to the gray
one, “I’ll call you, Jessie. That’s short for Jessie James. Those were two
famous outlaws from the Old West,” he told them. The two wolf dogs cocked their
heads and looked at him like he was crazy. But Shane took it as though they
were pleased with their new names. He laughed at the curious look they had
given him and then went inside.

The next couple of mornings Shane and Tommy worked
hard with Tommy’s three young horses. The two geldings were doing well under
saddle. Tommy was doing most of the riding, but when it appeared that he might
be getting in over his head, Shane would climb on the horses and demonstrate
for him what he needed to do.

Although both of the geldings were coming along
nicely, the Appaloosa mare was much more complicated. She was smart, but her
mistrust of humans made it difficult to get her confidence. Without confidence,
her insecurities made her dangerous. She was quick and athletic, which are
great things to have in a horse when they’re working for you, but bad if she
used them against you. One nice thing about her was that she wasn’t aggressive.
She was dangerous only because of what she was capable of doing to a person if
she felt threatened. Shane knew from experience, once they got her trust, she
would make a nice horse. He also knew she would need someone with his skills
and experience to get her going in the right
direction. He would have to do the foundation work with this one before Tommy
could deal with her.