The Wild Mustang of Colorado

Chapter Twelve

  The next morning after breakfast, Mr. Bradshaw and his daughter took me outside from the barn. There were four inches of snow on the ground. The sun was shining on it, and everything looked sparkling white.

"Where are you gonna put him, Pa?" Jennifer asked as she walked alongside her father and I.
"I thought you had that already figured out?" He said. "I'm just gonna let him run loose around the yard. He shouldn't hurt nothing."
"But what if he runs off?"
"He's not gonna run off. Not in this snow, he ain't."
He unclipped my lead line. I walked a couple feet away from where they were standing, sniffed the ground, and pawed at the snow, then laid down and rolled. They laughed as they watched me. I stood back up and shook the ice crystals off of my back.
"Look at that. He made a snow horse," Jennifer funned, pointing at the imprint I had made on the snow-covered ground.

A couple hours later it had started to precipitate again, and I was taken into the barn and fed some hay. It continued to snow all day and all night, and by morning, the cow and I had been snowed in the barn. I let us out of our stalls, and we went over to the hay and ate to our heart's content. A couple days later, the snow had melted enough for Mr. Bradshaw to come in the barn to give us water and milk the cow. By the end of the week it was only a few inches deep again, and in another two weeks the ground was completely visible. When the mountains were safe enough to travel in, Mr. Bradshaw hitched the cow to a wooden cart, and he and Jennifer rode off. I voluntarily decided to go along with them, so I walked behind the cart they were riding in, curious to see what the town what was like.

We walked through a valley in the mountains, which led to a small mining town. The little stores and buildings were spread about. Some dirty clumps of remaining snow laid idly at the bottom of fence posts and rocks. The street was muddy, leaving foot prints and wagon wheel tracks in every direction.

The Bradshaws stopped at the General Merchandise store, where they bought a couple bales of hay and stacked them on the back of the cart.

While Jennifer went inside one of the shops and Mr. Bradshaw talked with his friends, I decided to take a stroll. I wandered to the back of the barn, where two little children stood. I reached down and playfully exhaled on the girl. She giggled and pet me. The boy reached in his pocket and pulled out a red-and-white stick. He held it up to me. I sniffed it. I figured out it was something to eat and took a bite of it. It was hard and crunchy and sweet. Just as the little boy was handing another one to me, Mr. Bradshaw showed up. "What are you youngsters up too? Giving candy to the horse. You're gone give him a sweet tooth. Scat!" He shooed the children away.
"And you!" He humorously scolded me. "What are you doing? I turn my back for one second, and you go pussyfooting off somewhere, stealing candy from little children!" He laughed and grabbed my halter, then led me back to the cart, where Jennifer waited.
"I don't think we can both sit in the cart," she stated. "We bought so much stuff, some of the sacks are gonna have to sit in the front seat."
"You're right Jennifer. You sit in the cart and I'll walk alongside the cow."
"You don't have to do that. How about if you sit in the cart, and I'll ride the horse?"
"Ride the horse?" He retorted. "We don't even know if he's broke."
"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out! Give me a boost." She put her hands on my withers. Mr. Bradshaw shook his head and helped her onto my back. Jennifer was a hard person to say no to. Seeing that I was well-behaved, he sat down in the cart, cued the cow to go, and we were off.

Since Jennifer knew for a fact now that I was broke, she decided to ride me. She came outside to where I was standing, soaking up some winter sunshine. She wasn't wearing her usual white blouse tucked in her long-train skirt and apron tied around her waist. For this occasion, she was wearing her blouse tucked in a pair of jeans, which hung over her brown leather boots.
"Hey there, boy," Jennifer cooed, patting my neck. "We're gonna go for a ride today." She hooked a pair of reins to my halter and climbed onto my back. "Come on."
I walked off. She started to talk to me.
"You know, it looks like there's nothing around here for miles but just mountains and rock. This spring, when the snow's all melted and it's warm and wonderful, I'm gonna take you to the prettiest meadow you've ever seen in your life."
There she went again, talking like I was going to stay with her forever. She went on describing how beautiful the mountain meadows were, and how lovely the birds and the flowers and the creeks were. It would probably break her heart if I left. If only I could tell her!