The last week of school. Teachers got anxious for their vacations and students anxious to start up their summer life. Many would party and run wild through the county. Many would graduate and start new lives. Few went on to college and even fewer actually did anything responsible. For the kids who didn't want to work in the lumber industry either logging or manufacturing there wasn't much to do out here except sling burgers for minimum wage, stock shelves or run a deli all locally. It was a 45 minute drive to your nearest WalMart, and even further for a name brand store. Macy's was almost hours away from where Ashley and Shana lived. Because of this they frequently stopped when they were competing out of town, or they shopped online and had it delivered. Life out in the country wasn't all that bad though. You could spend all day long outside and never be bored. Riffe Lake was just a few miles from home and hosted numerous families and their boats water skiing or fishing over the summer.
You could ride the Goat Rocks with your horses and pack mules, trail ride any logging road that was washed out or not used any longer and overgrown, drive for days on the logging roads, share some campfires, work cattle, hang with your friends, or anything else that you could find to do. Friends were plentiful, parties where fun, and the parents always worked. Out here in the "sticks" as the kids called it there was always great fun to be had. Shana and Ashley tended to spend more time riding their horses and taking project horses from the local community and putting the much needed time into them to relist and sell them as broke horses. They earned money doing it, and it kept them out of trouble. Along with the lack of supervision, also came with it's down fall. A good portion of the girls and boys ended up young parents. Sometimes their maturity was not enough to handle it and they ended up staying with the parents of one of the two until stable jobs could be found for at least one of the young parents.
Mark was certain that he'd be able to provide enough for his girls that he'd never have to deal with unwed children and grandbabies that soon. They lived simple in a three bedroom modular home that looked quite nice actually. They leased a plot of land near the lake for the cattle to graze and lived on 18 acres at home. The house set back along the back part of the property. The landscaping was simple with low maintenance shrubs around the house and along the driveway. The rest of the property was pretty bare since there was so much horse traffic. When the girls started to ride as heavily as they did Mark took his tractor out and tilled up a 200x175 plot of land. Worked the dirt until it was soft enough for the horses at rigorous speeds and events. In the beginning money had been great with both he and his wife working they were able to afford to put up the railings and a pole barn not too far away. But since Anne left Mark and the girls, they got used to taking care of their own tack and cleaning it. They cared for their own horses and learned to barter their services if they wanted something that dad wouldn't let them have because of cost. And it wasn't that he couldn't afford it, he just wanted them to learn to work for what they got. And it was a valuable lesson for them.
So here it was, the last week of school. The Jr. Rodeo's started same week and neither Ashley nor Shana had their horses ready in time for the weekends show. "What events are you focusing on this year Ash?" Shana asked as she made herself a sandwich. Pulling the lettuce apart and carefully arranging it on her bread she then reached for the mustard when Ashley grabbed it and started to toss is up and down in her hand. "Oh I don't know, what are you running?" Shana shot her a smirk and then said "Oh no you don't! I will NOT be competing against you this year! Can I have the mustard please?" Ashley signed and then handed her the mustard. "What is so bad about competing with me?" Shana rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that's right because last year I stole your buckle at the last series!" Ashley finished her teasing. "Because that's exactly it Ash, you got me." Shana grabbed her sandwich and walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Ashley followed and sat across from her in a recliner and turned on RFD-TV. A live horse auction was going on and the girls watched the catalog as it was displayed each horse. "This is a pre-recorded auction, but nice stock." said Shana. "Yeah if you're a Driftwood fan, what is this? A ranch dispersal?" retorted Ashley. "Nothing wrong with Driftwood, at least they aren't Poco Bueno or Impressive." Shana remarked. "Well everyone has their own likes and dislikes..." trailed Ashley. Which was true, everyone has their own preferences and both the girls liked their own bloodlines. "Well, enjoy the sale- I'm headed outside." Ashley stood up and walked outside leaving Shana behind on the couch eating her sandwich.
Ashley sat down on the decking and took out her bag, she had one last paper she had to write and still couldn't decide what she was going to write about. How could she possibly pick one thing from her history class and recall all the events, dates, and come up with a 1500 word essay without repeating the same material over and over again? She carefully reread what little she did have and then crumbled the paper up and threw it across the deck. Of course not paying attention it bounced off her dad's chest as he came out the sliding glass door with a mixed drink in his hand. "Hey easy now!" Mark laughed. "School trouble?" Ashley groaned. "I take that as a yes." he sighed. "Is that the paper that you where whining about last week?" he asked. "Yes, and I'm about ready to just say screw it and find something online." Mark interrupted her "You can't do that! You know, I had your same teacher when I was your age. It's a miracle that she's still teaching. Anyways, what I'm getting at is- her favorite period in history is the Civil War." He winked at her. "Think about it, an event in history so large that it simply can not be fit into 1500 words." he nudged her shoulder and walked back into the house leaving Ashley to her work. Mark peered around the corner of the living room from his hallway to his room and noticed Shana flipping channels. "It's not raining today, want to show me how much progress you got on that colt of Jack's?" "Sure, let me get my boots, he's doing great!" Shana jumped up and walked into her room to get her boots and followed her dad out to the barn passing Ashley as they walked out the back deck.
The colt came to the Mienars in pretty shabby shape, he was still a stallion and neglected. His hair was heavily matted and his skin was ulcerating under the patches of coat that where woven so close to his skin you couldn't tug them off. His eyes where sunken and his feet where long. Jack had bought him off an old Mexican man who lived down the road from him. The guy they called "Toni" hadn't taken care of him probably since he was born and the colts mother passed away last year. Sadly the mare was in similar shape and a shame she was like that when she passed away. It had now been three weeks since Comanche was brought over for the girls to work on. Jack was paying them $600 a month to break the colt out and they'd have him for three months. The girls considered it easy money and it paid their rodeo entry fees.
Shana grabbed a halter off the rack in the aisle and walked into Comanche's stall talking to him. He was still timid, but he didn't run away from her like he did when he first got there. With her soothing voice and her calm hands she stroked his neck and his cheek. Carefully following him as he pulled away from her touch to touch him more and to calm him. He was becoming more quiet. In the first 48 hours of his arrival Mark and the girls sedated him and gelded him before he knew what was happening to him. Took about a week after for the majority of his recovery and slow hand walking to keep the wound open and draining correctly so that it could heal from the inside out. During that week the girls focused on just sitting in his stall in a chair and reading a book. Making them present without asking anything of him. He got curious and would come up and sniff their hair and within a couple days the girls were able to halter and unhalter him with little fuss.
"He's looking much better now isn't he?" Mark asked. It had been a while since he was able to see the colt since he's been working during the day. The girls couldn't do much work outside with the colt due to the rain and the crappy ground. The ash from when Mt. St. Helens blew provided an unfavorable muddy mixture with the dirt, the result was a thick goo. Mark was already surprising the girls with new arena footing in the coming weeks when his buddies from the local landscaping yard was discontinuing a sand base concrete style mixture. It would blend perfectly with this "goo" as the girls called it. It would provide drainage, hold the footing, and would be easy on the horse's legs.
Shana lead the colt out of the stall and down the aisle of the barn into the overcast light. Mark followed and opened the round pen for her as she got close to it and stood back and she lead the youngster inside letting him loose. She left the pen back to the barn for her saddle and gear and returned dumping it in the middle of the pen standing it up so the colt can see it, sniff it and so she can get him tacked up if he permitted it. "You've not saddled him yet?" Mark asked confused. "No, the weather's been too shitty." she replied. The colt pranced around the pen eager to be outside and Shana started to work with him getting him to run around in circles and slowing and speeding his pace based off her own body language. She was free lunging him. She held his lead rope in one hand and twirled it as needed, tossed the end of it at him as needed and got him to do rollbacks on the fence line to switch direction. The colt was kicking out in her direction, head held high, lips puckered and eyes wild. He was not having it. Shana got after him and worked him around and around and around. She'd turn away from him and lower her body position, and the colt would continue to run in circles. Finally he'd stop and look at her lower his head and stand there. As soon as she turned back to him to approach him, he'd run off again. This was a process of rinse and repeat for another 10 minutes until finally when she turned away he slid to a stop and faced her. She'd turn around and walk up to him and stroke his face. Turning away from him as she walked away, the colt stayed with her. She called this "Joining Up." Shana beamed with excitement.