As he was visiting his horse, the veterinarian showed up. He explained that Old Dan had torn muscles and a torn ligament. He stitched him up and was so glad the horse didn’t have to be put down. With lots of therapy and care of the wound, the big horse would recover. The bad news was that leg would never support a saddle, let alone a person. He knew how much David cared for his horse. He never heard such a heroic story, so he did everything he could do to save his life.
A few weeks passed, David was walking with one crutch and could make it to the barn by himself. Old Dan was gingerly stepping on his bad leg. It was starting to heal and there would be a very bad scar. Today he was going to go outside. Juaquin walked him to the door with Ruth. They tried to coax him out, but he would pull back when he got to the door out to the pen. He seemed scared and wouldn’t be enticed out into the sunshine by Ruth’s yummy carrots. They were about to take him back to his stall when Old Dan spotted something at the other end of the pens. Ruth and Juaquin looked and could only see Rosie. Then David carefully stepped around her and Old Dan started to walk towards him. He still had a limp, but nothing could stop him from being with David. Ruth handed her husband the big carrots and left him alone with his horse. She sat on the fence with Juaquin and watched the two walk. It was quite a sight. They both limped and struggled but they made it around the pen. The pain and exhaustion were clear on both of their faces, so Ruth shouted at them to go inside. The whole time they were walking, Rosie was behind them. She walked very slowly with her head down, as if to catch either one should they fall. At first, it made Juaquin nervous but he saw that she paced herself so as not to get too close. Every day for the rest of the summer, David would go do physical therapy with Old Dan. His doctor was impressed at his improvement. By the end of summer, they were able to walk for hours. The entire time, Rosie would follow them. Early September, Old Dan was in the pen by himself. Rosie walked to him and gently pushed him towards the gate. When they got to the gate, she reached over and pushed the latch aside and opened it. She held the gate open and waited for Old Dan. Then she reached down and took the short lead rope Juaquin walked her with into her mouth then walked to the house with the big velvety horse behind her. She pulled him up onto the porch and waited at the Dutch door for Ruth. Ruth was in the kitchen making her peanut butter cookies and when she saw Rosie, she jumped. Rosie hadn’t been to the house in a long time. Ruth called out to David that Rosie was there and went to the door with a handful of cookies. Her husband who used a cane that time limped to the door right behind her. The cookies were for him and he didn’t want Rosie to eat them all. They opened the rest of the door and were both surprised to see the porch full of two horses. Ruth laughed at Rosie and gave them both a cookie and an apple. She led them off the porch and watched as the smaller horse took the lead rope again and led Old Dan back to the barn. David laughed too; he had not laughed like that since the day of the attack. He never thought Old Dan would leave the pens, the mountain lion scared him. But Rosie knew just what to do.
Every day, there was a visit from the two horses. David could lead Old Dan around, but his ears twitched and he jumped every time he heard a noise. David was a little jumpy too and sometimes carried his rifle with him. But when Rosie had the big horse’s lead rope, he was very calm and followed her everywhere. It wasn’t all good, though. Rosie wasn’t a good influence on Old Dan.
One day, she managed to get the kitchen door open and both were inside knocking things over and banging the furniture. Ruth’s favorite cup got broken and so did the cookie jar. It took the bewildered couple fifteen minutes to get them turned around and back out the door. The whole time, Rosie held onto Dan.
Ruth had a short fence around her garden. She had pretty fall flowers growing alongside tomatoes and carrots, and she even tried her hand at hot peppers for Juaquin. Rosie brought her companion and knocked a whole section of fence over to get in the garden. The first thing to go was the pretty yellow and orange flowers. She would pull them up and shared them with Dan. The tomatoes were next. They were big and ripe and they were gone in no time: the whole plant. A few carrots were pulled up before Rosie found the Jalapeno pepper plants. No one would have heard them until Old Dan started to react to the hot pepper. He stomped, yelped, coughed, and started to look for water. Ruth came out and led both of them to the trough to get some water. She would have been angry except the look on their faces made her laugh and the longer they stayed at the trough, the funnier it got. The two horses were still there when it got dark and Juaquin had to lead them back to the barn.
The horses stayed out of the garden and kitchen for a while. Everyone thought the hot peppers taught them a lesson.
It was early October when Ruth decided to wash all the sheets and David’s mother’s quilts. It was hot and sunny out and she raised the clothesline to hang the sheets to dry and whiten in the bright fall sunlight. Everything would smell so fresh when it was time to make the beds. The first round of sheets was on the line and Ruth was starting to hang the quilts. She had three on the line and went inside to get more. Rosie took Dan out of the barn for his walk. He was doing so much better but still refused to leave by himself. Along the back fence was some rhubarb and they stopped to munch on the still tender sweet stalks. The gate to the garden was closed, but the horses were free to wander in the yard. As they were standing in the yard, a bunny found its way out of the garden. Ruth was losing her garden to horses and rabbits this year. The bunny startled Old Dan and he tried to get away, but Rosie still had the lead rope in her mouth. She tried to keep up with Old Dan, but the clothesline pole was in the way. Both of them got tangled in the sheets and quilts. Clothespins were flying and sheets and quilts were on the horses and on the ground. Rosie finally let go of Old Dan’s rope and they stopped struggling. Ruth heard the commotion and came out of the house to see the clothesline cleared and the two horses covered with laundry from face to tail. David followed her out of the house and watched her peel the laundry off of the two guilty-looking animals. He was laughing so hard at the two of them that he had to sit down.
After the laundry was back in the basket, Ruth pet both horses to let them know they weren’t in trouble and sent them back towards the pen. That time, Rosie didn’t have to take Old Dan’s rope. He wasn’t shaking and nervous anymore. David stood up, scratched his head, and helped his wife redo the wash.
Chapter 9
David and Old Dan healed. The big horse couldn’t wear a saddle anymore or take a rider but that was okay. He was getting old and was more like a family friend. David was in his sixties then and was riding Rosie. She wasn’t the good cutting horse that Rusty and Old Dan were, but she was the most surefooted and smooth ride David ever had. He had to get her a new saddle. It was plain but fit her very well and she never had a sore spot after a long day. He didn’t ride her very much but when he did, it was just for pleasure. Ruth rode her too and she was so gentle with his wife that she never complained of being sore and tired. Ruth was funny when she went for a ride. She had a nice straw hat but somehow the edges were nibbled away by Rosie. His wife kept the hat and felt that each bite was Rosie’s way of showing love. There were two odd things about Rosie. One was how much she loved to ride the hoodoos in the canyon. None of the horses liked it in there but she did. The multicolored cliffs and caves were hers to explore. David liked riding in the canyon. He would ride out there with Ruth and Rusty but could tell that Rusty didn’t like going in there. Sunsets in the canyons were pretty and David fell in love with Ruth there. The other odd thing was they would saddle up and ride a little way and Rosie would start to talk with him. Not people talk, just nod her head and say “hmmm” and “oh” to let him know she was listening. If he didn’t talk, she would go for miles making the worst whinny sounds till he would talk. David loved to take his notebook and lunch for these rides. Rosie would stand perfectly still while he would brace his notebook on the saddle horn and write. She brought out the best in him and sometimes their conversations made him fill the
whole notebook.
David would have good days and bad days. Some days, he just stayed home. The wound from the mountain lion was sore at times. Those were the days he would spend with Old Dan. He would wash him, brush him, rub liniment on the horse’s leg, and take him out for a walk. Sometimes, he would take him to the bench on the hill to write and watch the storms coming from the west. Juaquin was running the ranch with several foremen now and David would run into town for supplies with Ruth, stop at the post office for some town gossip, and lunch at Roosters. Some days, he would dress up and take his still pretty wife out for a nice lunch and movie in Colorado Springs.
He still went to auctions, but it was more modern these days. His friends seemed older to him now, but it was always good to see them. On his good days, he would ride out with Rosie to help with cattle sorting or the well calf operations. Even though Juaquin was several years older than he was, he had a way with horses still and it was always fun to watch him cutting calves. Ironwood was a much bigger ranch now. He added onto the ranch house and built a nice one for Juaquin. The barn was torn down and replaced by a steel building. That way, he could walk Old Dan in the wintertime too. There was a new bunkhouse and he had several full-time hands who lived on the ranch, and there was room for the seasonal ones. Juaquin always had a way of making sure there was plenty of help. Ruth and David’s mother had planted trees by the front gate and they had grown so tall that they towered over the hand-carved entrance. He was glad he chose to keep Ironwood. He and Rosie would ride every inch of it and enjoy it all. Of course, he now carried a handgun and a rifle and watched for a mountain lion. Truthfully, nobody had seen one on the ranch or even the neighbor’s ranches since the attack. No one quite knew what happened to the big cat’s body. Most speculated that it was taken by his mate, but there were no prints in the grass and no drag marks. It was as if he was scooped up from that spot and made to disappear.
Winter came, David and Ruth finally got a DVD player and would pick up movies when they were in town. If they weren’t inside the nice, warm barn with the horses and occasionally handfeeding a calf, they were snuggled up by the fire watching movies. The snows started early that year and there were days when the storm would go on and on. The wind howled outside and made the hairs on their arms stand up. On those days, David would really feel his age. Lately, he would have numbness in his arms or feel a tightening in his chest. Nothing worked right and he would get dizzy when he got up too fast. These were small issues to him and he chose to ignore them. He was never sick, and the most he was around the doctors was when Ruth was so sick or when he was injured. He had made peace with his age and was glad he had his wife to compare aches and pains with. She was still vibrant and loved her jeans, Ropers, and signature blonde ponytail. Her blue eyes still sparkled when he entered the room and he was so happy to have her in his life. She still made him laugh and made the bed warm at night too. Her relationship with Rosie made them even closer. The pretty and mischievous horse was like a child they never had. They both regretted not having children, but life was so busy on the ranch that they had no time to think much about it.
Spring came, David wasn’t feeling too much better but it was calving season and even though he wasn’t up to the physical taxing job of helping, he would saddle Rosie up and take his rifle to watch for predators. That was what attracted the lion to the ranch and led to the attack. He would just ride and stand watch. He didn’t go out in the bad weather; his leg would get stiff and it was hard to sit in a saddle all day.
David and Juaquin would watch the news to check on the weather every day. One day, the forecast was for a front to come up from New Mexico and curl up against the Front Range and stay there for days. The snow would vary from light to intense but was not predicted to stop for at least a week. Most of the time, the snows didn’t make it past the continental divide and the prairies only got a little snow followed up by days of sunshine. That year was different. It was cold and windy and the snow had piled up against the fences. There was going to be a lot of repairs this summer. The decision was made to move most of the cattle closer then put the mothers and calves in the pens and make sure they had a lot of hay. Preparations were made and the cattle were moving. They were out in different parts of the ranch so it would be a slow process. David hoped they would all be in and accounted for before the storm was upon them. Rosie was good at finding calves and he was ready at a moment’s notice to go get any strays, but he prayed that that wouldn’t happen. Sometimes he would find them too late.
The first snows started to roll in and Juaquin came in with a tally sheet to compare to the tag numbers. He and the other hands had been out rounding up calves and moms for two days and they were thinking they had them all. They worked out there day and night and the cook had to bring them food. Everyone was exhausted and still had to brush and bed the horses, secure the barn, and put out hay and feed for the cattle. They were all tired and dirty and wanting a warm bed. While they were winding the preparations for the storm down, Juaquin went in to check the books. He sat down for dinner with Ruth and David. Ruth noticed how tired he looked and noticed his age. She was amazed at how long the old cowboys in her life would work. After dinner, they brought out the ledger books and started to check off the tag numbers of that year’s calves. Even though Juaquin had covered the whole ranch and was meticulous about checking tags, there were two missing. He thought it was his tired old eyes so he asked Ruth to doublecheck. Two tags were missing. Two calves were missing. Juaquin had gone out in the Jeep and looked everywhere before he came in. That could only mean one of two things: a mountain lion or a coyote got them, or they were in the canyon. If they were in the canyon, they would get lost in there. He stood up from the table and put on his Carhartt and prepared to go look again. David stopped him. He pointed out that he was tired and the Jeep only could go to the entrance. The rest had to be done on foot. He sent Juaquin home and said he and Rosie would go find the calves. The ranch hand and Ruth gave each other a concerned look, but both of them knew they could never talk him out of going. He, at least, let them talk him into waiting for morning.
Early the next morning, the snow was just starting to fall. The flakes were pretty; they swirled and had not started to stick on the ground yet. David saddled Rosie and packed extra clothes and blankets. He packed some food while telling Ruth he would be back that afternoon. That time, Ruth had a worried look on her face. It reminded him of his mother when he rode the bull. He walked back across the porch, took her chin in his hand, and tilted her face up to look him in the eyes. He promised her he would return and kissed his wife. It was the same protective and sweet kiss as their first. It always made her feel safe. She reached her arms around his neck, put her face on his chest, and said she believed him. He left in the dark on Rosie. They hadn’t gone very far when the snow intensified. The ground was already covered and to make things worse, the wind kicked up and the visibility was getting bad. David wouldn’t have been able to see the calves in the grass anyway, unless he rode right on top of them, so he rode directly towards the canyon. It was noon by the time they reached the entrance and the snow was at least six inches deep. It slowed the horse down. David got out a blanket and wrapped it around himself and parts of Rosie. They kept on going. They entered the canyon and the wind died down. Immediately, they heard the calves crying. There were so many spires that they found themselves wandering in and around each rock formation. They didn’t want to miss them. David only hoped to find them together. The snow got deeper and deeper and soon it was up to Rosie’s knees. She was so surefooted and lifted each leg carefully out of the snow. It was starting to get dark and David got out his flashlight. They rounded a large rock formation when he spotted them. They were together. The snow was almost up to their shoulders and they were crying and shivering. He got rope out to put around their necks so he could lead them to shelter. It was hard to walk in the deep snow. Rosie walked ahead of him so he could follow her tracks. She would make sounds at him as if
she was talking to him and he answered her back. He kept telling her he hoped she knew what she was doing. They were going further into the canyon and he was getting very nervous. Rosie stopped. David walked up beside her and looked around. He didn’t see anything in the formations that would offer shelter from the snow. As he stood there puzzled, Rosie pushed him to her left. He still couldn’t see anything. She kept pushing his back and as he brushed up onto a spire, he could see it. He never saw the cave before, even when he was a boy. David quickly grabbed a shovel and cleared the cave entrance. It wasn’t a big cave but it was a shelter. He pushed the calves in first and went in himself after grabbing all he could from the saddle. He had blankets, clothes, water, and food. He had some carrots and pellets for Rosie. The calves were standing in the back of the cave and had stopped shivering. David wrapped himself in blankets and had an extra for his horse. She didn’t fit all the way in but he thought she would be okay in the entrance. It wasn’t very big and if David fell asleep, she would keep the calves inside. It was quiet in the cave as he ate and drank. He talked to the horse who nodded and made noises back at him. He was starting to warm up and get drowsy but Rosie kept him awake by nudging his foot with her nose from time to time. David felt bad for breaking his promise to Ruth. He was afraid she would try to come get him and would get lost in the deep snow. All night, Rosie stood watch over the cave with him in it.
The Winter's Trail Page 10