Two days were as long as he could wait before he called. “You should do a video about training horses. I could help you put it together and shoot it and Bear could market it.” She was full of ideas. She extended the invitation to the Double Rainbow.
“Wow. Would I like to do that.” His heart pounded at the thought. “This place would disintegrate in two days if I left right now. But I’ll sure put my mind to it. I know you’ve got things to do there, but if you find you’ve got time to come back to Texas before I can come to Colorado, even if it’s just for two or three days, I’ll send you the tickets. I miss you.” It was out of his mouth before he could help it.
When he’d first put Soot in the smaller pen, the colt trotted its fence with anxious mutterings and much tossing of his head. Then Jesse put Chauncy in with him and all was well.
The colt nickered as Jesse walked in to halter him. He had progressed so much faster than any horse he’d ever trained. Jesse had but to ask and the colt would oblige. When Lamar McCarthy called to ask how Jesse was getting along with “Satan,” Jesse said, “Well, I haven’t canned him yet.” He wanted to brag on him but knew he wouldn’t.
Abbie had brought in the cattle and bunched them at the end. Jesse rode slowly into the herd, feeling the energy within the colt focus with aggression on the herd. He rode him two-handed in a side-pull, a simple rope noseband hung from a headstall with a rein attached to each side. A good tool for tipping a horse’s nose in the direction you want to go while saving his mouth. Jesse wasn’t looking for anything fancy from Soot, he just wanted him to nose around in the herd and get the feel of cutting a cow easily, without pressure and driving it away from the herd and maybe keeping it out there a little. He pushed a fat heifer out from the herd about twenty feet. Soot was on it like a shark, his connection absolute. The heifer made a move toward the herd. Soot dropped to his belly like a panther, pinned his ears, and threatened to eat the cow.
Biting isn’t allowed in a cutting contest. Soot was aggressive enough to try it and Jesse knew he’d have to be quick to discourage attempts to chew on a cow and still not inhibit the colt’s natural keenness. As he thought about it, the cow changed direction and before Jesse could even think to guide the colt, he’d swept an arc and dove into the cow’s face like a hell-born fiend. The cow shrunk back as if it might cry. The colt’s move was so quick, Jesse had to adjust his seat to catch up.
They worked four head. The colt was scary spectacular. Jesse took him off to the side and stepped down to loosen the cinches and stroke him. He wanted to leap in the air and click his heels together. Instead he whispered something private in his ear, like lovers in a crowd.
Abbie was beside herself. “Am I dreaming or did he really just do that?”
Jesse blew out a breath and just shook his head. He led him to the fence. Abbie got off her horse and followed. Her face beamed excitement. “He is unreal.”
Jesse, with a serious face deep in thought, pulled the saddle from the colt’s back. “I know I’m asking the impossible, but I want you to not say anything about this colt…to anybody. Let’s just keep him our secret weapon for a while…for as long as we can, anyway. Okay?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Wire staples and duct tape couldn’t get that done.”
“Hey. Hey.”
“Excuse me. I lost my head. C’mon, I’ll buy you lunch.”