Horses -- Juvenile fiction; West (U.S.) -- Juvenile fiction
It was then that he figgered it best to take it slow till he'd seen
just what was up; if some rider had got caught in his riggin' some
way as a horse fell, and that horse was wild and unbroke, riding in
on a high lope would only make things worse and cause the horse to
stampede.--Nobody knowed that better than Jeff did.
He got off his horse, walked a ways, and peeking thru the tall grass
seen the whole goings on at a glance. Fifty yards below him was a mouse
colored horse,--looked like a half broke bronc to him on account of
the way the hackamore was rigged,--but that horse didn't act like half
broke. He was going thru a performance that most gentle broke range
horses wouldn't put up with, and that was to half carry and half drag a
man, _and on the wrong side_.
Jeff recognized that man as his "bronc peeler" Clint, and he was
all for rushing down to see what had happened and help, but he held
back,--he wasn't sure but what the mouse colored horse would scare and
run away at the sight of him, and he couldn't tell but what Clint's
hands was fastened to the saddle horn the way he was hanging on.
He could see there was still life in the rider, but if the man was
conscious he wasn't showing very good sense by hanging on the wrong
side of a half broke horse that way. Still, as he watched, Jeff begin
to wonder. He noticed for one thing that the horse was headed straight
for camp, Clint's camp, and then there was another thing he noticed
and which made him wonder and watch more than ever--The mouse colored
gelding wasn't dragging his man, he was more kinda helping him along
seemed like, each step that horse took was with care and in favor of
the man alongside; the pony watched every move that man made, and if
the steps sorta lagged or hesitated he stopped or slowed down till the
man braced up some and went again.
Jeff's mouth was wide open with wonder as he watched the goings on, and
when a little while later the gelding happened along a big rock, and
seen him stop while the man tried to use the rock to get from it up in
the saddle, Jeff wondered some more.
"By japers, I've seen and handled thousands of horses," says Jeff, "but
I never thought any horse ever had that much sense."
The old cowman watched for near a half an hour while Clint tried to
get on his horse. He seen the horse stand there, all patience and a
helping the best he could, and finally, with the help of the rock, the
favoring of the horse, and the little strength the man had, and all
put together, Clint was setting in the saddle at last. The hackamore
reins was hanging loose; nothing was holding that pony from bucking,
stampeding, or do anything he pleased, but he stepped slow and easy,
and ears cocked ahead, packed his man to camp with the same care any
human would take.
Jeff got on his horse and keeping well behind followed. What he'd just
seen had got him to the point where he begin a talking to himself, his
horse, and the country around.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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