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Date Posted: 01:18:18 03/23/10 Tue
Author: Larn
Subject: Hi, everybody! Whoo!
In reply to:
Debi
's message, "Prepare for takeoff..." on 20:50:15 03/20/10 Sat
I posted the first half of this story a looooong time ago. I'm pretty sure I got yelled at for leaving it at a (literal) cliffhanger. So, here's the end of what I posted with the rest of it.
This is Emma's first round-up, on the second full day at the ranch. Her first day was a real hell, and it was only partially her fault. She's up in a funk, cause everyone thinks she's useless. Now, she's out one on one with her boss, a man who has largely ignored her except to bark orders at her. There some goodly action, I do believe.
Padlock is her horse. Thursday is Mike's horse. Mike is her boss. Padlock farts a lot. Enjoy.
For a split second, nothing happened, then I felt his haunches sink and gather up behind him. Padlock's neck came up, tossing his white and brown mane into my face, front legs kicking out like a leaping merry-go-round pony. He seemed to crow-hop on his hind legs, then all at once, he flung himself forward into a wild gallop. We flew down the ridge, bounding like a crazed deer over rock and patches of grass. I grabbed a hunk of mane, set my knees hard against the saddle, and leaned over his neck, praying he didn’t take a misstep. I’m pretty sure I swore profusely.
After a few terrorizing seconds, we reached the end of the breakneck slope and came onto a gentle rise, just behind Thursday. The herd before us was now a full gallop, so I reined Padlock in, not wanting to charge past the boss like a runaway. Mike looked back, saw my white face, and laughed and oh boy, that really got my goat.
Without looking away, I loosed my grip on Padlock’s mane and reached out for the long end of my reins. Grasping the two feet of extra leather, I swung it around and popped it on my stirrup, making a sound like a whip crack. Padlock darted forward, and in three strides was next to the chestnut. Damn, it felt good to be on a horse again.
As we galloped on, I turned to stare at the boss, surprise crossing his face as our horses matched stride for stride. He looked me straight in the eye as Padlock began to slowly pull ahead, and I held his glare, willing him to catch up. When I was even with Thursday’s bridal, I turned around to glance forward, then swore yet again. The ridge was about to split, and I was charging straight for the gorge.
This is where the first bit posted ended. I know, I'm such a little shit.
My heart fell down into my stomach. I leaned back and hauled on the reins, trying to slow the horse. But Padlock had the bit in his teeth and wasn’t in the mood to listen. I threw my left leg into him, trying to turn him. He fought furiously, his head pulled almost to my foot, but he kept on running straight. In ten strides we would be at the lip of the canyon.
Sitting as deep in the saddle as I could, I screamed and pulled Paddy’s head up with all the strength in my body. The horse sank back onto his haunches. I clung to him with my knees, my fingers tangling in his mane. We came to a scrambling, sliding stop about two feet from the edge.
Paddy struggled backwards, turned to rear away from the edge, leaving us facing back the way we had come. He stood quietly then, sides heaving. The world suddenly seemed too still. Except for my hands. They were shaking, still gripped in the brown and white mane.
The boss and his horse were standing a few feet away. His mouth was parted in surprise.
“Hot damn, you stuck like glue.”
I think I imagined it. There was no way he would sound impressed after something like that.
“What?”
“You take the left ridge. Work your way along the fence. Like I said, don’t push ‘em too hard.”
He started along the right side of the canyon, smacking his lasso on his hip to get the horses staring at us from a few yards away moving.
I relaxed my grip, swallowing back all of the profanity threatening to slide out. With a deep breath, I tugged gently on Paddy’s rein to turn him and gave him a nudge with my calves. The horse laid back his ears. I grabbed up the long end of the reins once more and this time popped him on his right flank. He jumped as if startled. Then with another, less gentle nudge from my heels, we started off along the fence, pushing the horses back towards the barn.
He only farted once on the way back in.
It was another twenty minutes before I met up with the others at the pasture gate, pushing a few remaining horses through into the south run which led to the big corral. Mike had the good graces to look the other way when I rode up, but the other two seemed impressed. At least I think they were. Clint took one look at me, smiled a tight little smile, then clucked up his horse to go down the run. Andy tipped his hat back and grinned.
“Honey, I ain’t seen a stick on like that for quite some time. He usually has people off after the first jump.”
“You mean you guys knew he was going to pull that stunt?”
Andy had the good graces to look slightly abashed.
I whirled on Mike.
“You’re kidding me. I could have broken my neck out there!”
Mike shrugged.
“Had to know if you were gonna cut it or not.”
“Did you even read my resume? I know how to ride.”
“That’s just paper. Don’t mean much.”
“So you put me on a suicidal horse.”
“Paddy’s not suicidal, just pig headed.”
I spurred up the horse in question, cutting in front of Thursday and forcing the horse to come to a stop.
“Don’t you ever put me at risk like that again.”
He glanced up at Andy’s receding back, then spoke quietly.
“It was a test. After that stunt you pulled with the game rep-”
“That wasn’t a stunt and it was hardly my idea. Margie asked me to do it. And I thought I could handle it.”
“And you were wrong. So maybe I was seeing if you could handle being a wrangler.”
“I know horses. I signed up to work with horses not guns. But you’d know that if you had actually read my resume. Or can you read?”
“There’s no need to be a bitch about it. I get enough of that from Mandy.”
Boy, did that shut me up. Mike continued.
“Matter of fact, I did read your resume, and it was pretty impressive. Only the two job references you put down had nothing to do with horses, so I had to check. And if you hadn’t told the truth and couldn’t ride, well, you wouldn’t have gotten Paddy out of the corral, much less stuck on him like that. But you did. So there’s nothing for it.”
“I could have gotten killed,” I said, unwilling to drop the matter.
“But you weren’t.”
“What kind of person puts someone in guaranteed jeopardy?”
Mike took a long breath.
“Wrangling here isn’t a cake walk. The job is dangerous. Every time I put you on a horse and send you out on a ride, I’ll putting you and the dudes in jeopardy, as you call it. No matter how easy the trail, people can get hurt. Now, I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but my biggest responsibility is for the guests, so forgive me if I put you through the ringer before trusting their lives to you.”
He reined Thursday around Paddy, the matter closed. I counted to ten, then followed.
In his eagerness to get back to the corral, Paddy soon pulled even with Thursday once more. Further up ahead, Clint and Andy were closing the gate on the big corral, so for a few moments, it was just the two of us. I had been strictly informed by Mandy that there was to be nothing but walking in the runs, ranch rule, else I’d have sunk my heels into Paddy and left Mike in the settling dust. As it was, I was forced to sit straight in my saddle and fume silently beside him. But soon, my anger turned into something akin to shame.
I couldn’t blame him for checking me out, even if his methods were somewhat sadistic. It was obvious he took his job seriously and maybe even was fair about it. This man, at least, was worth paying attention to. Maybe even apologizing to.
I had just yelled at my boss. On my second day. Great start, Emma.
“Look, Mike? We kinda got off on the wrong foot.”
“No shit,” he said. “But I guess you just like yelling at folks.”
“You mean Mandy?”
He was silent.
“Well, she deserved it.”
“Don’t matter. She’s your boss. She deserves respect.”
“She called me a liar,” I said. Mike turned to look at me, a little surprised. “She grabbed me on the arm an accused me of some heavy stuff, for no reason. So forgive me if I don’t give her any respect. Not until she earns it.”
“Well, she’s earned it with me.”
“And you put me on a homicidal horse.”
Mike pulled his horse to a stop, so I reined in Paddy.
“How’s about we start things fresh? Reset everything to zero, ok?”
“Fine with me.”
“So let’s do some math. I’m the boss. I’ve been put in charge of a lot of staff and have a lot of horses in my care. I’ve done it for a while now, so maybe that earns me five points. Mandy’s been doing her job for a while now, too, and is pretty good at it, so five for her. But she is a bit of a bitch, so maybe we take off a few points. You just stuck on a horse that’s knocked off half the staff, so you get five points, too. Course it was me that put you on it, as you say, so I get two points off. Yet you yelled at both your bosses. Even if you had a good reason, it was still disrespectful. So we take a point off for each time. So now you’re at three and I’m at three and Mandy’s got three points, too. So we’re even. What do you think about that?”
“I think that’s...actually...kind of lame,” I said, snickering. “What am I, four years old?”
Mike smiled a little.
“Well, it’s the only thing I could come up with on the spot.”
“No wait, please, can we put up a poster in the saddle barn and put gold stars up? Or maybe golden horseshoes.”
“Ok, so it wasn’t that brilliant,” he said, laughing.
“And if we’re bad, we get manure-shaped stickers. Oh, and we get candy at the end of the week if we get all horseshoes.”
“You’re supposed to be apologetic right now.”
“That’s no fun.”
Mike laughed and started his horse back towards the corral. Paddy followed.
“I like this idea,” I said. “I wonder if they even make manure stickers.”
“Course they do,” said Mike. “They’re scratch and sniff.”
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Re: Hi, everybody! Whoo! -- Alex, 10:33:49 03/23/10 Tue
I remember reading the lead in scene way back when...and I think I was one of the yellers of 'No fair!' too. *s* Very gratifying to get to read the rest. Terrific illustration of action and other than a few spots where I thought the dialog got a little wordy (which I suspect is just me being picky) I breezed right along and was annoyed I couldn't turn the page and keep going! *g* Get this story published, will you? I want to take it down and thumb through it at my leisure. ;0)
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Yeah, it was a bit wordy... -- Larn, 14:26:41 03/23/10 Tue
>... a few spots where I thought the dialog got a
>little wordy
No, I hear you. Mike tends to wax poetic, if I want him to or not. He likes to talk, and I need to get a handle on it.
As for publishing well, I should probably finish it first, eh? Sigh.
Thanks for the words of encouragement!
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Larn>>> -- 
susiej, 12:44:58 03/23/10 Tue
I remember another post from this but not the cliffhanger post- woo ee! I'd have been spitting mad at you!
And I liked the other post- it was the beginning, I think.
Anyway, its nice to see the whole piece. Good work.
My only comment seconds Alex, somewhat- but it wasn't the dialogue that got wordy to me ('cept that one long paragraph about points). It was all the talk of rein lenghts and horse muscles and such. I had a horse. I love horse talk, but it was a little much for me. Maybe because I could imagine what was going on without it? I just know I wanted the action/results faster. But I am greedy that way.
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But it's so much fun to have readers salivating! -- Larn, 14:31:31 03/23/10 Tue
>It was all the talk of rein
>lenghts and horse muscles and such. I had a horse. I
>love horse talk, but it was a little much for me.
>Maybe because I could imagine what was going on
>without it?
I suppose it should have dawned on me when I kept having to think of synonyms for everything that I was getting a little too loquacious. Spot on, the both of you. Time to edit!
>I just know I wanted the action/results
>faster. But I am greedy that way.
No, I get you. And I think that's what I've been worrying over the scene for. It just needs to get out and get over with.
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Re: Hi, everybody! Whoo! -- debikm, 21:07:45 03/26/10 Fri
For a split second, nothing happened, then I felt his haunches sink and gather up behind him. Padlock's neck came up, tossing his white and brown mane into my face, front legs kicking out like a leaping merry-go-round pony. He seemed to crow-hop on his hind legs, then all at once, he flung himself forward into a wild gallop. We flew down the ridge, bounding like a crazed deer over rock and patches of grass. I grabbed a hunk of mane, set my knees hard against the saddle, and leaned over his neck, praying he didn’t take a misstep. I’m pretty sure I swore profusely. Love this description! I've been in similar situations on a horse before and it's hard to claw your heart out of your throat and back down where it belongs!
After a few terrorizing seconds, we reached the end of the breakneck slope and came onto a gentle rise, just behind Thursday. The herd before us was now a full gallop, so I reined Padlock in, not wanting to charge past the boss like a runaway. Mike looked back, saw my white face, and I would drop this 'and' myself;-) laughed and oh boy, that really got my goat.
Without looking away, I loosed my grip on Padlock’s mane and reached out for the long end of my reins. Grasping the two feet of I think you could leave the "two feet" part out. Might make the sentance tighter without it. extra leather, I swung it around and popped it on my stirrup, making a sound like a whip crack. Padlock darted forward, and in three strides was next to the chestnut. Damn, it felt good to be on a horse again.
As we galloped on, I turned to stare at the boss, surprise crossing his face as our horses matched stride for stride. He looked me straight in the eye as Padlock began to slowly pull ahead, and I held his glare, willing him to catch up. When I was even with Thursday’s bridal bridle, unless someone's getting married., I turned around to glance forward, then swore yet again. The ridge was about to split, and I was charging straight for the gorge.
This is where the first bit posted ended. I know, I'm such a little shit.
My heart fell down into my stomach. I leaned back and hauled on the reins, trying to slow the horse. But Padlock had the bit in his teeth and wasn’t in the mood to listen. I threw my left leg into him, trying to turn him. He fought furiously, his head pulled almost to my foot, but he kept on running straight. How do they do that? I've seen so many horses damn near run sideways out of pure stubbornness. In ten strides we would be at the lip of the canyon.
Sitting as deep in the saddle as I could, I screamed and pulled Paddy’s head up with all the strength in my body. The horse sank back onto his haunches. I clung to him with my knees, my fingers tangling in his mane. We came to a scrambling, sliding stop about two feet from the edge.
Paddy struggled backwards, turned to rear away from the edge, leaving us facing back the way we had come. He stood quietly then, sides heaving. The world suddenly seemed too still. Except for my hands. They were shaking, still gripped in the brown and white mane.
The boss and his horse were standing a few feet away. His mouth was parted in surprise.
“Hot damn, you stuck like glue.”
I think I imagined it. There was no way he would sound impressed after something like that.
“What?”
“You take the left ridge. Work your way along the fence. Like I said, don’t push ‘em too hard.” Nice! A smartass compliment, then work instructions, like she hadn't nearly died just then.
He started along the right side of the canyon, smacking his lasso on his hip to get the horses staring at us from a few yards away moving. The end of this sentance made me go back and read it. Two different actions of the horses could maybe use a little distance between them, just to clarify.
I relaxed my grip, swallowing back all of the profanity threatening to slide out. With a deep breath, I tugged gently on Paddy’s rein to turn him and gave him a nudge with my calves. The horse laid back his ears. I grabbed up the long end of the reins once more and this time popped him on his right flank. He jumped as if startled. Then with another, less gentle nudge from my heels, we started off along the fence, pushing the horses back towards the barn.
He only farted once on the way back in.
It was another twenty minutes before I met up with the others at the pasture gate, pushing a few remaining horses through into the south run which led to the big corral. Mike had the good graces to look the other way when I rode up, but the other two seemed impressed. At least I think they were. Clint took one look at me, smiled a tight little smile, then clucked up his horse to go down the run. Andy tipped his hat back and grinned.
“Honey, I ain’t seen a stick on like that for quite some time. He usually has people off after the first jump.”
“You mean you guys knew he was going to pull that stunt?”
Andy had the good graces to look slightly abashed. You used 'good graces' twice close together.
I whirled on Mike.
“You’re kidding me. I could have broken my neck out there!”
Mike shrugged.
“Had to know if you were gonna cut it or not.”
“Did you even read my resume? I know how to ride.”
“That’s just paper. Don’t mean much.”
“So you put me on a suicidal horse.”
“Paddy’s not suicidal, just pig headed.”
I spurred up the horse in question, cutting in front of Thursday and forcing the horse to come to a stop.
“Don’t you ever put me at risk like that again.”
He glanced up at Andy’s receding back, then spoke quietly.
“It was a test. After that stunt you pulled with the game rep-”
“That wasn’t a stunt and it was hardly my idea. Margie asked me to do it. And I thought I could handle it.”
“And you were wrong. So maybe I was seeing if you could handle being a wrangler.”
“I know horses. I signed up to work with horses not guns. But you’d know that if you had actually read my resume. Or can you read?”
“There’s no need to be a bitch about it. I get enough of that from Mandy.”
Boy, did that shut me up. Mike continued.
“Matter of fact, I did read your resume, and it was pretty impressive. Only the two job references you put down had nothing to do with horses, so I had to check. And if you hadn’t told the truth and couldn’t ride, well, you wouldn’t have gotten Paddy out of the corral, much less stuck on him like that. But you did. So there’s nothing for it.”
“I could have gotten killed,” I said, unwilling to drop the matter.
“But you weren’t.”
“What kind of person puts someone in guaranteed jeopardy?”
Mike took a long breath.
“Wrangling here isn’t a cake walk. The job is dangerous. Every time I put you on a horse and send you out on a ride, I’ll putting you and the dudes in jeopardy, as you call it. No matter how easy the trail, people can get hurt. Now, I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but my biggest responsibility is for the guests, so forgive me if I put you through the ringer wringer before trusting their lives to you.”
He reined Thursday around Paddy, the matter closed. I counted to ten, then followed.
In his eagerness to get back to the corral, Paddy soon pulled even with Thursday once more. Further up ahead, Clint and Andy were closing the gate on the big corral, so for a few moments, it was just the two of us. I had been strictly informed by Mandy that there was to be nothing but walking in the runs,This part seems a little awkward to me. It makes sense, but it still made me pause. And an alternative suggestion is eluding me at the moment. ranch rule, else I’d have sunk my heels into Paddy and left Mike in the settling dust. As it was, I was forced to sit straight in my saddle and fume silently beside him. But soon, my anger turned into something akin to shame.
I couldn’t blame him for checking me out, even if his methods were somewhat sadistic. It was obvious he took his job seriously and maybe even was fair about it. This man, at least, was worth paying attention to. Maybe even apologizing to.
I had just yelled at my boss. On my second day. Great start, Emma.
“Look, Mike? We kinda got off on the wrong foot.”
“No shit,” he said. “But I guess you just like yelling at folks.”
“You mean Mandy?”
He was silent.
“Well, she deserved it.”
“Don’t matter. She’s your boss. She deserves respect.”
“She called me a liar,” I said. Mike turned to look at me, a little surprised. “She grabbed me on the arm an and accused me of some heavy stuff, for no reason. So forgive me if I don’t give her any respect. Not until she earns it.”
“Well, she’s earned it with me.”
“And you put me on a homicidal horse.”
Mike pulled his horse to a stop, so I reined in Paddy.
“How’s about we start things fresh? Reset everything to zero, ok?”
“Fine with me.”
“So let’s do some math. I’m the boss. I’ve been put in charge of a lot of staff and have a lot of horses in my care. I’ve done it for a while now, so maybe that earns me five points. Mandy’s been doing her job for a while now, too, and is pretty good at it, so five for her. But she is a bit of a bitch, so maybe we take off a few points. You just stuck on a horse that’s knocked off half the staff, so you get five points, too. Course it was me that put you on it, as you say, so I get two points off. Yet you yelled at both your bosses. Even if you had a good reason, it was still disrespectful. So we take a point off for each time. So now you’re at three and I’m at three and Mandy’s got three points, too. So we’re even. What do you think about that?”
“I think that’s...actually...kind of lame,” I said, snickering. “What am I, four years old?”LOL! I like his method, it works.
Mike smiled a little.
“Well, it’s the only thing I could come up with on the spot.”
“No wait, please, can we put up a poster in the saddle barn and put gold stars up? Or maybe golden horseshoes.”
“Ok, so it wasn’t that brilliant,” he said, laughing.
“And if we’re bad, we get manure-shaped stickers. Oh, and we get candy at the end of the week if we get all horseshoes.” And it keeps getting better.
“You’re supposed to be apologetic right now.”
“That’s no fun.”
Mike laughed and started his horse back towards the corral. Paddy followed.
“I like this idea,” I said. “I wonder if they even make manure stickers.”
“Course they do,” said Mike. “They’re scratch and sniff.”
Brilliant work Larn! I always enjoy your scenes from the ranch with Emma. You paint a vivid picture of the people and the places and I love it. More please!
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Glad to see you back >>> -- Esther, 12:03:57 03/29/10 Mon
And it's good to be back at the ranch. Missed this story
Yup, a lot of action happening here, but your descriptions were so vivid, even I, as someone who knows nothing about horses, had no problem following. I got the sinking sensation at the start, the indignation when she was being tested and I just loved the exchange between her and her boss. Scratch and sniff! *G* All in all, this is a keeper in my books.
Hugs
Esther
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