The Cowboy Way

Chapter 5-The Rescue

"Anything else," she queries.

I glance around, grab my jacket and the long, cotton lunge line. I tie them to my saddle and then slide the rifle into the scabbard. "Nope." With that, I swing into the saddle and turn to see her do the same. She got on her mare so effortlessly you could tell she had done it a thousand times before. Quite a different performance from yesterday when she had gotten on slowly, carefully. I chuckle at the memory of how she played me, but then clear my head to the task at hand. I don't want to leave an injured horse out all night and I don't look forward to riding back over rough ground in the dark. We already have one hurt horse, we don't need two.

I walk over to the pasture gate, lean down, and open it. I walk my horse through and then wait for Tris. Once she is in, I carefully close the gate, double checking that it is closed. With that I head out to an area where I will be able to see most of the pasture. I hope I will be able to see the yearling from there.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the rise where I can survey the pasture. Once there, I stop my horse and look around. I don't see anything so I dig my binoculars out of the saddle bags. Tris has been quiet the whole ride, but finally asks, "Do you see him?"

"No, I don't. Which isn't good. I can see most of the pasture from this location."

Tris twists around in the saddle scanning everywhere she can see. "Well then. Where can't we see?"

This catches me by surprise. The thought goes to the root of the problem whereas most people flit around on the edges. "There is an area to the far north that is hidden behind that ridge. There is also an area to the east that is lower. It dips down enough that most of it is hidden. Unfortunately, we only have time to check one of them before it gets dark."

Tris glances to the north and then to the east. I can see the gears turning in her head. Finally she turns back to me and says, "Let's look to the north."

"Why?"

She shrugs. "It was windy today. Out of the east. That low spot that you mentioned would have been really windy today. Most horses don't want to stand in the wind. That area to the north looks like it might have been sheltered. If I was a horse, I would have been there."

I can't fault her logic. Without saying anything, I nudge my horse forward and head north. It takes about half an hour to reach the ridge. As soon as we get over to the other side, we see the yearling standing a couple of hundred yards away with his head hanging down.

We both ride slowly up to the young horse. I stop about twenty feet away and get out of the saddle. I reach up and grab the cotton lunge line. I slowly walk toward the yearling. I don't need him running right now. I know he is already hurt and I don't want him hurting himself more. As I get closer to him, I notice Tris slowly riding around behind him. She's smart. She realized that he might bolt and is not only splitting his attention, but blocking his most likely escape path.

Once I am close enough to touch him, I slowly bring my left hand up to his nose, letting him smell me. My right hand, with the rope in it, slowly goes up and over his neck. I let part of the rope fall to the other side and grab it again, encircling his neck. I quickly tie a knot in the rope so it won't tighten around his neck, and slip the running length of the rope back through the tied loop. I place this loop over the yearling's nose, creating a quick halter.

Once I have him secured, Tris dismounts. She approaches the yearling from his off rear, but starts talking to him, letting him know she is there. I can see his ears swing in her direction. I notice that she sees it too. She keeps an eye on him until she can reach out and touch his hip. She runs her hand along his body until she reaches his neck. At that point, she bends down and seems to be looking at something. I duck under his neck to see what caught her attention.