“Yeah, more like a lucky study. I swear I forget everything until I get my hands in there and do it myself.”
“I’m the same way. I’d much rather learn by doing something than by having someone tell me what to do. You can imagine how hard that made business school for me,” she laughed.
Again, with that laugh, I couldn’t turn away and stopped walking mid-step to watch her. Sarah’s entire face lit up when she laughed; it was like a sneak-peek into the real her on the other side of the giant wall she tried to keep up most of the time. I loved it. I wanted to see it more and more and found myself trying to think of something else that would make her laugh. But I also liked actually talking to her, getting to know her, and learning what made her tick.
“So, what did your father say when you asked to bring me out here with you? He probably didn’t like the idea all that much.”
“He’s not as unreasonable as you might think. And I did promise him separate tents. Plus, if he wants to sell off this land and get a decent price for it he’s going to have to show just how damn beautiful it gets out here.”
“Then separate tents it will be. I am truly grateful to your father and wouldn’t do anything to go against his wishes.”
“Nothing?” Sarah said with a mischievous smile.
“Well, almost nothing,” I said.
The look on her face was so mischievous that I couldn’t help but think that she was thinking about something naughty. I could only hope. And yes, if Sarah made a move on me, I would have to forget about Sid Miller and just enjoy the moment with Sarah. But I wouldn’t make a move on her. Of course, I couldn’t help teasing and flirting, but if we were going to take it further than that, Sarah would be the instigator and not me.
She continued to take care of the horses and went around to check each of their hooves while they drank their water. It was mesmerizing to watch her work with the horses, even with Buckjoy; they loved her and seemed more than willing to comply with anything she asked of them. It was clear that Sarah had the confidence that animals needed in order to trust her. Even though Buckjoy wouldn’t let Sarah ride him, he allowed her to look at his body and check how he was holding up on our journey so far.
“So teach me more about taking care of the horses. Why are you looking at their shoes?”
“Come here,” she smiled.
I got up and tried to hold back the moan that my body felt. Riding for an hour had used different muscles in my body than I was used to and I was already feeling extremely sore. I did my best to straighten up and walk normally as I made my way to Buckjoy and Sarah.
“Okay, stand right next to his body and let your hands slide down to his hoof. You want to give him a warning of what you’re doing and then gently lift it up so we can look at it. Move slowly so he doesn’t feel threatened by you.”
Sarah stood next to me and allowed me to lift Buckjoy’s right front hoof up. I looked at it and didn’t see anything that seemed unusual. He was calm and balanced on his other three legs while I took my time looking around to make sure he was all right. I didn’t really know what I was looking for though and I didn’t want to tell Sarah I had no idea what to keep my eye for.
“Okay,” I said as I started to put it back down.
“Wait, look right there,” she said as she pointed to a small needle looking thorn that was poking into the middle of his foot. “We need to remove that before it gets pushing in any further.”
She had her body pressed up against mine as she looked at the animal and all I could think about was how delicious she smelled. I wasn’t sure if it was her hair shampoo or some sort of lotion on her body, but either way, she smelled so distracting that I thought I had misheard her.
“Um, remove?”
“Yes, it’s long enough. Just gently grab it and pull firmly and see if it will come out on its own. Go slow so you don’t scare him. It will hurt, so I’ll hold onto his reigns to prevent him from running off. But be ready in case he tries to kick you.”
I felt my body tense up at the idea of inflicting any sort of pain on Buckjoy. I had come to love that horse and knew he was still a wild animal. I was afraid. It wasn’t the same kind of fear I had for the men who might try to kill me because of my testimony, but I was afraid I would cause harm to this horse that I cared about. Then Buckjoy would be angry with me and try and cause me harm.
“Um, just grab it? Won’t he get angry?”
“Trust me. He’ll be angrier if that thing gets pushed into his hoof any further. Do you want me to do it?”
“No. I can.”
I already felt like Sarah was better at every task there was around the ranch, I couldn’t show her that I was weak in this area as well. I needed to touch it out and just do it. I held my breath and grabbed a hold of the tho
rn then pulled it out quickly. Buckjoy moved a little as I pulled the thorn out, but otherwise he stood relatively still and didn’t seem to be in pain at all.
“See, he’ll trust you even more now because he’s not going to be in pain later.”
“Does he know that I was helping him and not hurting him?”
“I think so. He was probably feeling that thorn in his hoof a bit and now he knows it’s gone. That’s how you build trust in animals. Take care of them and make their lives easier and they’ll appreciate it.”
“Have you always loved animals?” I asked as we finished checking Buckjoy and then sat down.