The Smartest Horse in Texas (The Traherns #2) Read Free Page A

long-tailed mouse, but that
wasn’t what Hero had focused on.

2
    A young woman, sleek and fine-boned with long blond hair, stood
in a small corral just southwest of me. She was enough to stir the spirits of
any man, and the filly running in circles around the young lady was enough to
stir Hero’s blood. He started forward, pushing at me to hurry up.
    I took my time walking up to the corral, enjoying the lift of
her head, the grace of her movements. The filly was good looking too, circling
the young woman with head and tail held high and snorting like one of those
new-fangled trains I’d seen during the war.
    The lady had a rope in her hand, about six feet long and she let
it trail out in front of her. I was trying to figure out if she was attempting
to catch the animal, when it suddenly occurred to me that she was taming it.
    Not wanting to distract either one, I led Hero into the shade of
a thorn bush and settled down to watch.
    She let that filly keep running around in circles until it
suddenly stopped, snorted, and faced her. She still did nothing, although she
might have been talking to it, since its ears pricked up and it nodded its head
and chewed air like it was talking back.
    She moved the rope a little and the filly ran again, only this
time not so long and more reluctantly. Finally it just walked over to where she
stood and nuzzled her.
    She walked around the corral a few times, with that horse
following like a big dog. She finally stopped where a hackamore and saddle were
placed on the lower poles, took the hackamore and rubbed it against the filly’s
shoulder, then placed it gently on the horse’s head.
    Next she put the saddle on and cinched it up. The filly looked
curious, but not afraid. The lady mounted and I realized her skirt was divided,
as she was able to sit astride. The filly looked completely comfortable, and
she urged it to move, working at getting it to respond to the reins.
    I watched, amazed, realizing that in the short time I had been
there the animal had gone from looking wild to acting like it had been
hand-raised.
    So what kind of witchcraft was this? I’d heard of some of the
Indian tribes who tamed horses this way. Where had this girl learned the secret
of stillness? For that was what it was. She was still while the horse ran
around, then gave up and came to her.
    Even when she dismounted and walked across the corral with the
filly following, she was a study in stillness. I’d seen it in some older women,
but never in one so young.
    I had to get to know her.
    I waited until she was done and had turned the filly loose, then
got up and walked over to the corral.
    “Howdy, ma’am. I was wondering if I could get a drink for me and
my horse.”
    She looked at me and then at Hero. Her expression changed. She
looked back at me like I had just crawled out of a pig wallow. I knew I didn’t
look like much, but when she said, “There’s water for your horse, but none for
you,” I changed my mind about her. She wasn’t a quiet, gentle sort after all.
At least not to humans. Or maybe just not to stray men?
    “Then Hero thanks you,” I said, and led him to the water trough.
I had given him all my water and was sufficiently thirsty that after he had
drunk, I ducked my head in.
    “I said, not you.” She was right behind me.
    “I didn’t drink,” I said, straightening up, the water dripping
off my head and face. “But I’ve got to ask, why won’t you let me have any
water?”
    She didn’t answer, just pointed at Hero and walked away.
    Something had riled her up. She had a manner that blocked me
out. It wasn’t arrogance or pride, I’d seen that too many times. It was as if
she had seen enough life, somehow so early, that nothing new surprised her.
    I took Hero and started leading him down the road.
    “Wait. I’d like to buy your horse,” she said.
    “Sorry, ma’am. He’s not for sale.
    “Not even for ten dollars?”
    “Ma’am, he’s not for sale.” The fact that she would