by Paula Boer
“Funny how other horses always want to go and check out things like that.” Ben’s uncle smiled and patted Louise’s arm. “It’s good that you care about the animals, but Sally’s right. The stallion would have died a horrible death on its own, and his body would’ve wasted away to nothing. This way, he didn’t suffer, and other animals benefit, even the foxes.”
Ben looked up in surprise and mumbled through a mouthful of banana cake. “Surely you’re not saying feeding foxes is a good thing?”
Uncle Graeme guffawed then smacked the table with his meaty hand. His voice lowered. “Just because we think of them as ferals doesn’t mean they don’t feel hungry like the rest of us. Of course I don’t want foxes around, but they’re here, and didn’t ask to be. I still don’t like to see any animal suffer.”
Ben had never thought about pests such as foxes and pigs like that. He supposed his uncle was right; the animals struggled like the native animals in these harsh conditions. “But you’d still shoot a fox if you saw one, wouldn’t you?”
Mr Naylor waved his hand to stop the conversation. “Don’t go on. Of course we’d shoot foxes if they came on our property. Enough of this talk. Can’t you see it’s not helping your friend?”
Graeme turned to a wiry man, a bit younger than himself, sitting on the other side of him that hadn’t said a word since they’d entered the room. “Sorry. Meet Simon. We’ve been out west tracking brumbies in the desert. Wouldn’t you rather hear all about that?”
“Awesome! Yeh, tell us more. What have you been up to?” Ben felt guilty that he’d gone on about shooting animals when Louise was obviously upset. He thought she’d have understood better about putting the stallion down. Maybe being a girl, or from the city, she saw things differently to him, no matter how tough she seemed.
Up until then he hadn’t paid any attention to the stranger sitting with Uncle Graeme. He looked closer, noticing the carved American cowboy boots and jeans that looked as if Simon had been riding bareback from the stained patches on the inside of his knees and thighs. He wore a sweat-stained shirt with the sleeves torn off, revealing sinewy arms covered in thick golden hair. His skin showed the signs of being out in the sun and wind, dry and dark like an old saddle. Despite the serious look on his face, his blue eyes twinkled with mischief. He still said nothing.
Graeme regaled the Naylors and Louise with the adventures of their last few weeks, darting the wild horses and fitting them with radio collars for research. “We’re going again next year. Maybe you can come out with us in the winter holidays.”
Ben and Louise looked at each other and grinned. “That’d be cool.”
“So how are you going with those brumbies you caught last summer? Simon is really keen to see that stallion of yours.” Graeme helped himself to another mug of tea, stirring in two heaped spoonfuls of sugar.
“Great. We’ve been ponying them out and working them in the round yard. We’re hoping to back them tomorrow, at last. We’ve been trying for weeks. Other things keep getting in the way, like stupid tourists getting stuck in the old mines.” Ben told his uncle about finding James and Francesca, and how Old Harry had helped.
Louise stood up and put on her coat. She looked much happier since the conversation had turned away from the dead stallion. “That’s where we went today, to leave Harry some food that Mrs Smythe-Waters brought over. I’d better get home now. I’ll see you tomorrow, Ben.”
A perfect winter’s day greeted Ben as he went outside to feed the calves on Sunday morning—a deep blue sky and no wind. Whistling Snifter to him, Ben started the tractor and loaded a round bale onto the forks. It wouldn’t take him long to roll out the bale in the paddock so he’d bring the horses in on the way back.
Snifter put his front paw next to Ben’s leather boot. “No you don’t. Get down. You can run behind.” Ben changed gear and rumbled off to the gate where a dozen Angus calves lowed in hunger.
Having fed the young stock, Ben signalled for Snifter to round up the horses in the next paddock. “Go get ’em. Bring ’em in.”
The blue heeler shot off as asked, ducking under the wire fence as Ben turned the tractor around and headed for the yards. He’d have the gates open before the horses came thundering across.
Ben leant on the yard rails as he watched the herd gallop in for breakfast. Snip, as always, led the way, closely followed by Shadow, a retired stockhorse mare. She was the real boss, despite letting Snip direct the others. Mud flew as hooves churned the soft ground along the well-worn track.
“Don’t they look fantastic. I love to see them run like that.”
Louise’s voice surprised Ben. “Yeh, I do too. Look at Brandy showing off in his paddock. I guess I’d better go and get him too. Will you feed this lot?”
“Sure.” Louise closed the gate behind the last horse and headed off to the hay barn.
Ben grabbed a headcollar from the tack room and crossed to the stallion paddock. Brandy reared and bucked at the gate, impatient to come in. “Alright, alright. Hold your horses. It’s your turn now.”
With the brumby stallion in his stable and eating, Ben went and found Louise where she watched the yarded horses jostling for the best position at the hay rack. “Let’s grab some breakfast while these guys eat. I’m starving.”
The Naylor kitchen looked similar to the day before, full of people settled around the big table, eating and talking. The wood stove glowed hot, heating up a large pot of porridge and a large black kettle.
“The eggs are ready. Sit yourselves down.” Mrs Naylor bustled around the kitchen as Ben and Louise kicked off their boots and dragged a couple of chairs up with the others.
“Morning Uncle Graeme, Simon.” Ben passed Louise the toast before slathering butter over a piece for himself.
Graeme clapped Ben on the shoulder. “Been working already? I thought you were going to back that stallion of yours today?”
Ben tried to talk through a mouthful of toast. Only a muffle came out. He swallowed then tried again. “Yeh, but we’ll pony them out first.”
Simon slurped on his hot coffee and put the mug down. “I broke my leg trying to break in a desert brumby a few years back. They’ve got spirit, them horses.”
“That’s why I want to take some of his bounce out first.” Ben helped himself to more toast.
Ben and Louise finished their breakfast and left the adults talking about beef breeding. Ben hopped on one leg as he pulled his boots on. “I’m going to run Brandy in the round yard a bit before we go out. Can you tack up Snip for me?”
“Sure.” Louise crammed a beanie down over her ears and slipped on her leather riding gloves. “I’ll come and watch when I’m done.”
Ben led Brandy past the horse yard where the others had settled now that they had food in their stomachs. Ned still had wisps of hay hanging out of his mouth as he vacuumed up the last few strands from the ground. Brandy pranced on the end of his rope with his head and tail held high. “Come on, time to work.”
Letting the stallion free in the round yard, Ben stood in the centre as the young brumby cantered in circles. If he started to slow down, Ben only had to click his tongue to encourage the horse to spurt away again. After five minutes, he turned the horse around using only his voice and a slight arm gesture.
“He’s really improved. You must have put a lot of time into him.” Louise leant on the rail with her chin resting on her folded arMs
“Yeh, but he’s getting very fit. It takes longer each time to get him to settle.” Ben worked his horse for another fifteen minutes, by which time the horse had lowered his head and relaxed through his back. He trotted evenly around the outside of the yard, transitioning to canter or walk as Ben asked.
Ben halted the stallion and let him come up to him. “Okay, let’s go out.” Rubbing the stallion’s ears, Ben clipped on the lead rope.
Louise fetched Snip and held him while
Ben tied Brandy’s rope around the gelding’s neck. “I don’t want to risk losing him like we did with Honey. Although he normally leads out without being tied, I thought we could go a bit further this morning.”
With Ben ready, Louise mounted Ned. Honey stood quietly at the Appaloosa’s side.
“I’ll go ahead. Let me know if you want me to slow down or anything.” Ben released Snip’s reins and walked his two horses out of the yard.
Simon watched from the garden gate. “I’ll be waiting to see the fun when you get back.”
Ben waved without answering. He wasn’t sure he wanted an audience when he backed Brandy, especially someone he didn’t know.
After giving the other horses time to warm up, Ben checked that Louise was ready. As they trotted along the old road, all four horses strode out, eager to go. Before long, Ben regretted the extra T-shirt he had worn. He unzipped his coat. Brandy also had sweat starting to curl the hair on his neck.
Ben carried on trotting until they reached the locked gate, slowing to a walk as they entered the trees. “You alright?”
Louise called that everything was fine. Honey seemed relaxed and Ned his usual well-behaved self.
They rode through the trees until they reached a clearing, where Ben sped up again. He wanted Brandy to be as settled as possible by the time they returned home. Ploughing through the deep snow, the horses blew steam from their nostrils. A pair of kookaburras flew overhead and settled in a nearby tree.
Ben could see tiny footprints of some mammal in the snow that had obviously ventured out in the night in search of food. The snow covered hills twinkled under a warm sun. Sure that today would be the day he’d finally ride Brandy, he sighed with happiness. “That’s probably far enough. Let’s go back.”
Chapter 15
Louise waited for Ben to circle around her before following in his hoof prints. The horses behaved as well on the way home as they had on the way out, not pulling like they sometimes did, content to settle into a rhythm and trot along.
By the time they returned to Tumbleford Farm, all the horses had a good sweat up. Graeme had Lady and Jake in and tacked up. “We thought you’d be longer than this. Looks like you’ve been going a fair pace.”
Ben dismounted and untied the stallion from Snip. Both horses puffed with their heads low. “I wanted Brandy really settled. Do you think I’ve pushed him too hard?”
Graeme shrugged. “I always want a horse to be paying attention to me when I back it, not wanting to go for a sleep. I’d give him a break if I were you. Why don’t you wait until we get back from our ride? I want to show Simon your Dad’s prize bull. We won’t be long.”
Ben hung his head. “Yeh, I could do with a drink. See you when you get back.”
Louise had already stabled her two horses. She helped Ben put Brandy and Snip away then went back to give them a rub down. She loved the smell of warm horse and the way they nuzzled her when she massaged them with handfuls of dry straw.
Ben called to her as he lugged his tack past her door to put it away. “Let’s go have a hot chocolate and give these horses a breather. Maybe you should back Honey first seeing as I worked Brandy before we went out.”
Mrs Naylor still pottered around the kitchen when they entered its steamy warmth. “You look exhausted. Sit down while I put the milk on. I’ve got news for you both.”
Scraping the chair across the tiled floor, Ben flopped down and fiddled with a spoon, not responding to his mother.
Louise wondered if he worried that he’d pushed his horse too hard. “What news, Mrs Naylor?”
“Adam Cartwright rang to tell us about the court case. You know, about the fire over at Willowlea.”
Ben sat up with a jolt. “You mean Robert Smythe-Waters? What happened?”
Mrs Naylor joined them at the table. “He was fined thousands of dollars and has to rebuild the fence along his entire boundary with the park. Even the old fencing that didn’t get burnt. He has to make it stock proof.”
Initially thrilled at the news, Louise slumped as she thought of the implications. “But that’ll mean he won’t be able to feed the brumbies. When we went there yesterday, he had put hay out for them. If he rebuilds the fence, I bet he won’t put any out. They’ll starve.”
Ben shook his head. “He won’t fence in the snow. He’ll have to wait until spring. That’s really good news. It’ll cost him a fortune to do the whole length. Serves him right.”
Louise furrowed her forehead and plucked at the tablecloth with grubby fingers. “What about next year?”
“Don’t worry, by then the pasture that he burnt will have recovered. Anyway, you can’t save them all. You’ve got Honey. Let’s go and get you on her.”
Honey stood with her head over the stable door, watching the geese waddle through the yard as if she had been born in captivity. Her ears pricked up as Louise carried her saddle and bridle across to her.
“Time for a ride, Honey. I hope you’re going to be nice to me.” After resting the saddle on top of the half stable door, Louise bridled Honey. The brumby mare lowered her head for the bit, chewing on the cold metal as Louise tightened the throat latch and noseband.
Taking great care that the saddle sat correctly on Honey’s back, Louise tightened the girth. “Thank goodness that sore healed so well. The hair’s grown back already.” She ran her fingers under the girth to ensure the skin lay smoothly and led the mare across to the round yard.
Ben held the gate for her. “You’d better do a few ground work exercises first, even though she seems really calm.”
“Being out in the park earlier certainly paid off.” Louise looped the reins around Honey’s neck and buckled them under the mare’s chin so they didn’t get in the way. Using her arms to direct the horse, Louise made her turn a full circle on the forehand in both directions. The brumby picked up her feet exactly as she had been taught, placing her front hooves within a small circle while her hindquarters pivoted around. As the mare tried to walk forwards, Louise changed her body position to block her.
Concentrating on what she was doing, Louise became oblivious of anything outside the round yard. She couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the paddocks or feel the cold. It was just her and Honey, as if they were enclosed in a sealed container.
Having achieved two full circles in both directions, Louise moved to Honey’s side and asked her to turn on her hindquarters. This time her hind hooves walked on the same spot while her front end moved around, her front legs crossing over as she turned.
“You are such a good girl. That’s the best you’ve ever done.” Louise stroked the mare’s neck and stood a little distance away to give the horse a break.
Ben leant on the rails. “I think you need to challenge her more. That was too easy. Do you want me to get the stick with plastic bags?”
Louise startled at Ben’s intervention, having forgotten he was there. Realising she had deliberately performed exercises she knew Honey could do, she supposed Ben was right. She needed to have the mare listening to her, not only doing exercises she could do in her sleep. “Thanks. Maybe that metal bucket too.”
Waiting for Ben to return, Louise backed Honey up a few paces and then had her follow her around the yard. She made sharp turns, stopped, walked off again and backed up. The mare followed her every move, soft and willing.
“Here you are.” Ben handed Louise a schooling stick that he had tied orange and blue bags to. The slight breeze rustled the plastic.
Honey baulked as Louise raised the stick, rolling her eyes and laying back her ears. Her head came up as she pulled against the lead rein that Louise had clipped to the headcollar under her bridle.
“Whoa, girl. It’s okay.” She turned to Ben. “It’s ages since I’ve used this on her. I always forget about it.”
Taking her time, Louise accustomed the spooked mare to the flapping bags. Within
a few minutes, she could run the stick with its noisy bags all over the mare’s body, up her neck, down her legs, and under her belly. “That’s better.”
Louise took the metal bucket from Ben and rattled it around Honey’s legs. The mare paid no attention other than to check it out in case it held food. Standing like a statue, Honey stood while Louise waved her arms, shouted, rattled the bucket and waved the stick.
Honey turned and looked out of the yard. Graeme and Simon rode in on Lady and Jake, relaxed and looking like the expert horsemen they were, the horses obeying unseen signals to come to a square standstill next to the yard. “Are you going to dance around like a banshee all day or get on that horse?”
Graeme’s smile took the sting out of his words, even though Louise felt embarrassed that they had been watching her. “I wanted to make sure she was ready.”
“She looks good to me.” Graeme swung down out of the saddle and loosened Jake’s girth. “Don’t let us stop you. Let’s see you get on her.”
Honey tried to greet her paddock mates through the rails, pushing her nose forward to sniff them. Lady squealed and lashed out with her front legs, almost clipping Simon. He stepped out of the way. “Hey! You two girls behave. Perhaps we should take these horses away while Louise is working Honey?”
Graeme nodded. “You’re right. We don’t want to cause an accident. Let’s turn them out. They had breakfast and they’re not hot.”
Louise’s shoulders lost their tension as Ben’s uncle and his friend led their horses away. Even though she liked Graeme a lot, she didn’t want him watching her as she mounted Honey for the first time. Realising that she’d better be quick if she was to get on before they returned, she backed Honey into the middle of the round yard.
Standing on the bucket next to Honey’s shoulder, Louise leant across the mare a few times, leaning all her weight into the saddle. Honey turned her head to look at what Louise was doing. Other than that, she stood still. Encouraged, Louise stood in the left stirrup and again lay across the mare. Apart from a slight shuffling of her feet, the brumby seemed untroubled.