Leopard's Kin

by Becky Norman

  While Cody and Lori both came from a long line of farmers and horse people, both families lived quite a distance from Delhi, where the newlywed couple had chosen to start their life together. Cody’s father had died six years ago in a farming accident (when Cody was 15 years old) and his mother had opted to sell the farm to Cody’s older brother, Jesse, and move into a condo in Toronto last year. Jesse had offered to keep Cody on at the farm near Niagara-on-the-Lake, but when Cody had met Lori and they had begun discussing a future together, he had opted to make a clean break of it.

  Lori’s family farm was situated closer to the American border near Windsor, and like Cody, there were older siblings who would be first in line to get the established farm. Instead, Lori and Cody had done some research and found a nice plot of land, with 10 acres of good horse pasture outside of Delhi, which allowed them to be equidistant from all the people they loved. Since they were new to the area, they had to learn as they went such things as which contractor was reliable when building the 8-stall horse barn, and who would fix their wood furnace at a reasonable price. There had definitely been a dramatic learning curve for the two 21-year-olds, but they were in love and resilient and every day was treated as a new adventure.

  The house itself was a starting point and nothing fancy. It was a small log cabin, with a good-sized master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms that they were currently using as offices. The bedrooms were upstairs, allowing the main level to be designed in an open concept, with the kitchen and dining room to the left of the front door and the living room to the right. It was modest in size and the majority of the appliances were out-dated but even then they never would have been able to afford the place if their parents had not pitched in some of the money and added their names to the mortgage.

  The real value was in the land: lush, improved-grass pastures that had been left behind by the former owners, who had bred Friesian horses. It also came with a much-coveted indoor riding arena to the left of the house and an outdoor sand riding arena behind that, where Lori had already been doing her demonstrations. The barn where the Friesians had been kept was in disrepair so Lori and Cody had taken the large gamble of razing it to the ground and building the horse barn and tack-and-feed room combination instead, directly behind the house. That had set them back almost as much as the initial mortgage, so financially it was going to be tight for awhile but they had high hopes for the use they would get out of the 8-stall barn. Between renting it out to others who were sending their horses to Lori for training and using it to house purchased horses that Lori would train quickly and re-sell in high turn-around, they were hoping the barn would pay for itself within five years. The only two horses that would actually be a financial burden were their own – Piper, Lori’s 7-year-old Quarter Horse, and Ebony, a black Percheron mare that Cody had purchased impulsively for jousting.

  The two horses were an unlikely combination, Ebony standing almost a foot taller than Piper at the withers, but they had fallen instantly in love and were inseparable now. If Cody had bought the mare as a joke in one of his wilder moments of fantasy he was now forced into keeping her by an enamoured little Quarter Horse who insisted on following the heavy black mare everywhere she wandered.

  The two horses were standing at the gate of the pasture to the side of the house as Lori and Cody walked by, so the couple went over to say hello before heading into the house. Ebony, in her typical fashion, was all lips, searching for treats in Cody’s pockets, expecting her due as a beautiful Percheron. Cody laughed and gently pushed away the mare’s big head. “Go away, you greedy thing,” he said lightly.

  Lori shook her head with a mild degree of censure while she scratched a grateful Piper’s ears. “You know, you really should get after her more for that. It’s not a game. One of these days, she might bite down on one of those pockets and the Cody Pate line will come to an end.”

  Cody grinned and shook his head dismissively. “Nah, she’d never do that. She’s a gentle giant. It’s only your horse that has carnivorous tendencies.”

  “Hey, don’t pick on the Quarter Horse. That was over two years ago that he bit me and he’s learned some respect since then. Unlike your big behemoth,” Lori stated as she pushed Ebony’s questing lips away a little less gently.

  With a final pat to both, the couple said farewell and resumed their path to the house.

  Chapter 2

  Lori waited at Pearson International Airport with Cody’s favourite brand of coffee on the following Thursday evening, pleased to be welcoming him back from another business trip. Balancing the cup behind him as she got a long, tight hug, she took a deep breath in and exhaled with contentment. He smelled of his favourite cologne with just an underlying hint of horse and leather. The perfect cowboy, she thought to herself as she released him and stood back to present the cup.

  He laughed in delight and kissed her lightly on the nose. “How’s everything at the farm?” he asked as he picked up his carry-on and tossed it lightly over his shoulder.

  “All’s well. Horses are good, kittens are tiny terrors like normal, Shannon’s thinking about buying a really expensive Arabian to use for Competitive Trail – I don’t know where she gets these ideas, but they always seem to work for her – and Sam Dennymede called while you were gone. He says he has a ‘proposition’ for you. I shudder to think. I invited him and Rita over for supper tomorrow night, if that’s ok with you?”

  Cody steered her towards the exit doors and they made their way over to the parking garage. “Should be alright. I don’t think there’s much going on, unless you plan on doing a demo at the house this weekend?”

  Lori shook her head and tucked a resulting loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “No, I had advertised one for next weekend in the Horse Trader so I’ll take my time getting ready for that one.”

  She watched him put his bag in the back of the Outlander and nudged him lightly with her elbow.

  “What about you? Did you get that colt for Rick?” She made her way over to the passenger side of the car and waited for him to unlock the doors.

  “Nah,” Cody said as he slid into the driver’s seat. “Prices are really starting to skyrocket for Pepto’ babies and I couldn’t justify what they were asking for what Rick is going to do with it. It was a good-looking colt, though – Rick definitely has a vision. I told him I’d keep my eyes open for prospects and let him know if anything pops up.”

  The next evening felt like déjà-vu for Lori, as she sat at their dining room table, speaking to Rita and Sam Dennymede about bloodlines once again. Sam and Rita had been long-time friends of Cody’s father and had made the 2-hour drive on a Friday evening to speak to Cody. Lori knew only something near and dear to Sam’s heart would have convinced him to make such a trip.

  He got to the point as she was serving up the chocolate fudge bundt cake, coffee and tea after supper. “I’ve decided to get out of the roping horse business, Cody, and focus on my reiners,” the grizzled, older man said as he leaned back in his chair and patted his belly.

  Lori had always thought of Sam as an older version of Hoss from the TV show Bonanza. He worked hard but he also lived well and had the paunch and heavy jowls to prove it. “That was a mighty fine supper there, Lori,” he said as he winked at her and took the proffered cake.

  She smiled back at him and then turned to Rita. “I’ve got ice cream, too – would you like some on your cake?”

  Rita was much slimmer than her husband and more delicate of feature, but a rancher’s wife for all that and tough as nails behind the make-up and layers of jewellery. She’d also spent years in the sun and had the dark, leathered look to her skin that such women sported. She shook her head vehemently at Lori’s offer. “Oh, Heavens no. That’s the last thing we need, is more calories!”

  Lori handed her a plate and then served up Cody’s while Sam continued on with his plans. “I’ve been going to a lot of horse shows this year with the grandkids,
you know, and I’m telling you, Cody – reining is going to be the next big thing in this country. You should just see the amount of money those competitors are dropping on their tack, their riding outfits and their horses.”

  Cody nodded and stirred his coffee reflectively. “You’ve got a few nice mares in your herd already, Sam, that I think you could use.”

  Sam leaned forward and slapped Cody on the shoulder. “Already ahead of you, son,” he crowed. “I’ve got them bred to Smart Chic Olena lines this year but I want my own stallion to bring along.”

  Cody raised a fair eyebrow at him. “That’s pretty ambitious, Sam. You sure you want to get that involved with this?”

  Rita looked up at him with a blend of curiosity and caution. “Why? Do you have concerns with that, Cody?”

  Cody gave Rita a gentle look then lowered his eyes to the tablecloth, deep in thought. “Not really. I agree that the reining market is starting to boom, but a stallion.... That’s a huge commitment. You’re essentially getting back into the breeding business full-time when you do that. Are you sure you want that kind of responsibility at—?” Cody stopped abruptly, realizing how the question would sound.

  “At our age, you mean?” Sam boomed out a laugh as Cody turned red. “I’m only in my sixties, kid – I’m not dead yet! Besides, I’ve bred before – I’m pretty sure the stallion and the vets have most of the work cut out for them, right?” He winked again and shovelled a huge forkful of cake into his mouth with a grin.

  Cody smiled over his coffee cup at Lori and subtly shrugged his shoulders at her. She knew he was wondering where this was leading. “It sounds like your mind’s made up then, Sam. What do you need from me?”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Well, I thought that was obvious, son. I need a stallion! Now, mind – it doesn’t have to be well-established or anything like that. I can’t afford millions, you know. No, I’m just looking for a two-year-old – or weanling, even – that I can develop into the next great sire. And I know you can spot potential better than anybody in these parts. What kinds of lines should I be looking for?”

  Cody leaned back in his chair and exhaled softly. “Well, let’s see...aside from the obvious, like Smart Chic Olena and Wimpy’s Little Step, you’ve got Topsail Whiz, Hollywood Dun It, Nu Chex to Cash, Custom Crome and Shining Spark. But you know what?” Cody said with more excitement in his voice, as he leaned forward again and let the idea carry him, “I think I’d be inclined to look more at something like Highbrow Cat, Skipper W or maybe even something from the Driftwood line. They’re great, versatile horses.”

  Sam had a huge smile on his face as he looked over at his wife. “You see? I told you he’d be able to rattle off a couple hundred names for us, just like that.” He snapped a meaty thumb and forefinger and chuckled.

  Lori beamed at her husband, but then gave a mock groan as he untangled his long legs from under the table and got up. “In fact,” Cody said as he walked away, “I’ve just recently received some information from the AQHA about the Western States Horse Expo Sale going on in Sacramento in June. There were a bunch of horses with those lines coming up for sale, I saw.”

  Cody retrieved several sheets of paper from a stand they kept by the door to hold mail and brought it back to the dining room to show Sam. “I printed this off last week – it’s a list of all the horses entered into the sale.”

  Lori and Rita sighed with resignation and removed the plates from the table. Both women had been around horsemen enough to know when an idea sprang to life in this way, there was no hope for it but to let it run its course. By the end of the evening, as Rita and Sam were standing at the door and saying their farewells, Sam and Cody had already firmed up plans to fly to Sacramento in three weeks’ time.

  Chapter 3

  The days grew longer and the sometimes-cool evenings of May gave way to a June full of sunshine and warmth. It rained just enough for the hay to grow, but not enough for it to be an inconvenience when cutting and baling, and Lori and Cody were able to lay claim to two thousand small, square bales of high-quality grass hay from a local supplier. Cody grimaced as he wrote the cheque then made arrangements for it to be picked up in instalments. They would need to break it up into July, October, and December shipments since their outbuildings weren’t large enough to hold more than 800 bales at a time. Reluctant he may have been to part with so much money at once, but Lori felt nothing but relief in knowing that they had enough feed to get their horses through a full year.

  Considering they still had about 50 bales left from the stash of last-year’s hay they’d convinced Cody’s brother, Jesse, to sell them, Lori felt optimistic they would have enough to see them through until she picked up the new shipment in July. She filled a wheelbarrow full of the older hay and rolled it out to sit beside the feed room door, in preparation for the evening’s feeding. Horses were sensitive creatures, needing the same food and the same routine on a daily basis in order to be truly healthy. Knowing this, Lori planned to gradually integrate the old hay with the new when it arrived and then gradually wean them on to nothing but the new hay by the end of July.

  She also ensured that the horses’ daily routine was kept to a minimum of disruption. Awakened at 6:00 a.m. with Lori’s entrance to the barn, they listened to her preparing the “good stuff” – traditionally a warm bran mash, or soaked beet pulp – in the “kitchen” of the feed room. That was usually enough time to get a horse like Ebony drooling in anticipation and caused even the more relaxed members of their herd to shuffle or pace in their stalls. She would then make a tour of the barn, throwing a couple of flakes of hay in each stall to keep the horses occupied until the food that required water had time to soften up. As she dumped the hay, she would do a quick visual inspection of each horse to ensure all four legs were still on the ground and they looked healthy and alert.

  Then it was back into the feed room to stir the mash or pulp and add any necessary vitamins or supplements, specific to each horse’s needs. Those were dumped into feed buckets labelled in marker with each horse’s name, and wheeled around in another cart. Dumping this into the corner feeders in each stall also gave Lori the opportunity to train the horses on manners at feeding time. If it required haltering them and working them in the stall to back away and come up only when invited, then she would take the time to do it. They usually caught on quite quickly that if they wanted to get fed, they’d better honour her space when she arrived with the food.

  While they ate, Lori would clean tack or tidy the barn and by 9:00 the horses were ready to be turned out for exercise. If they were trained well enough, she would take two at a time to speed the process up; if they were new in the barn she would take them one at a time and use it as another opportunity for training. Today, the four horses up for sale were out in the riding arena. With the grass still young and bright green, early in the summer, she would only allow them to graze in small increments at a time. It took some adjusting for their stomachs to get used to the rich, fresh grass after eating hay all winter and she was cautious not to risk a bout of colic or laminitis by letting them gorge too early in the year.

  Ebony and Piper had a two-tiered pasture for this reason, as well. The one was smaller and considered a “sacrifice” area – no grass grew there any longer, but it was large enough that the horses could get into a canter if they felt the urge to kick up their heels and stretch their legs in the winter. At the back of this area was a fence that opened up into a 3-acre pasture where they could spend their summers, grazing to their stomach’s content, and chase each other around in earnest.

  Once all the horses were out for the day, Lori rolled up her sleeves and got to the dirty work – mucking eight stalls. While they used pellets for bedding that turned into a lightweight equivalent of scoopable kitty litter when moistened, it was still a large amount of work for one person to do by herself. Lori usually stopped half-way through and took a break, munching on a granola bar an
d drinking the bottle of water she brought with her from the house, as she perched on a bale of hay. Then it was back to work, shaking the salvageable shavings away from the manure, dumping what couldn’t be saved, and wheeling barrows-full out to the manure pile behind the barn. She would scrub water buckets if needed and refill them and then put the evening’s hay in the stalls so that when the horses came in at sundown, everything was ready for them.

  “All they need is the mint on the pillow,” Lori muttered under her breath, with a smile.

  **********

  Lori poked her head into Cody’s office, where he was busy scanning websites for horses for sale, and tapped lightly on the door. “Hey you,” she called, and smiled as he spun around in his chair with an answering grin. She noticed that he was starting to let his hair grow out and there was now a definite wave to the blond locks. If he let it grow long enough, he would have soft curls – something he was acutely embarrassed by, as he had told her when they first met. He had recounted horror stories to her of his mother and sisters fawning over his head, wanting to style it with ribbons and pins when he was a youngster.

  “Hi Beautiful,” he greeted her. “What’s up?”

  She walked into the room and sat down on the futon they had stored in this office for guests. “I just wanted to see how you were doing with your plans for the day. I was going to grab some lunch then start the afternoon’s training with the four we’ve got up for sale.”

  Cody inched his chair closer to her and ran his work-worn hands across the knees of her jeans and down her calves, caressing her with a glint in his blue eyes.

  “Don’t get any ideas, Cody,” she protested with a laugh as she pushed his hands away. “I’ve got a lot of work to get done today, even if you don’t.”

  “Geez, you can be so cruel,” he said as his hands evaded her attempts to push him away and found their way up the outside of her thighs. He slid his chair closer until the heat and the strength of him were enveloping her and she was pinned. She sighed in surrender and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, melting to his kiss, if only for the moment.