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Copyright 2008 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
January 2008 Issue
I was a horse crazy girl with no horse until Daddy bought Maude, a
gigantic draft horse. He had gotten her cheap because she was kind of
crazy. She was nervous and shied easily, and was about to be shipped out
as dog food when Daddy rescued her.
“Be careful around her,” he told me. “She may have been abused.”
She was a big red sorrel with giant white feet. At first, her massive
head and wild eyes were intimidating.
But I wasn’t afraid. I was twelve and weighed about 90 pounds. I often
felt powerless. I fantasized how I would love this big girl and she
would trust me. We could take on the world together.
I petted her, brushed her, and gave her treats every day.
The
previous fall, when Daddy had worked away from home on a construction
job, we had not gotten the winter wood in until Christmas vacation.
It had been cold, miserable work. We kids had broken the logs loose from
the frozen ground and wrestled them into place. Daddy had looped the
belt of the buzz saw up to a wheel on an old truck to turn the big round
blade. The smell of exhaust and fresh sawdust had whirled about as the
deafening scream of the blade cut through the wood. We would squint to
keep the sawdust out of our eyes as an Arctic wind bit our noses,
fingers and toes.
This fall the same thing was bound to happen because Daddy was out again
on a road job.
My sister Beverly and I thought we had to do something. Even though
We had watched Daddy harness up Maude and use her to pull a plow. We
thought we could hook her up to the “stoneboat,” a big “sled”
without runners used to remove rocks from the fields. If we could pull
some logs into the yard from a tree that had been cut down on the lane,
maybe we could get some wood into the yard before Daddy got home. We
could even cut some into stove lengths with a crosscut saw and
sawhorses.
We had seen how Daddy had put on the big collar before. The heavy
harness hung on the wall in the garage. We brought Maude in beside it
and struggled to get it down and across her back. I don’t know how
many hands high she was, but I only had to bend over to walk under her
belly. Getting the harness on was a chore.
Together, Beverly and I tried to figure it out. Maude was cooperative.
She liked the attention.
I was proud of myself as I clicked my tongue and worked the reins. I
drove Maude ahead of me out to the stoneboat. Beverly and I hooked up
the single tree and fastened it to the flat sled.
When Momma and the other kids saw what we were up to, they came out to
help us load up the sled. Everything was going well until a large tree
branch whacked Maude in the back of her leg. Her huge head dropped, her
shoulders leaned into the harness, the sled loosened, and away she went!
Several of the kids and Momma were on the sled with the wood, but all
went flying off!
“Whoa! Whoa, Maude!” I hollered as I bolted after her. Momma
wouldn’t let the other kids follow, but I was unstoppable.
Maude clopped down the lane faster and faster. The big stoneboat bounced
and waved like a giant flapjack, and made such a racket that it
frightened Maude even more.
As hard as I ran, I could not catch up. As she galloped past the
neighbor’s house, the sled came loose. She left it in the dust as she
turned onto the county road. She was headed for the highway with the
harness slipping and flapping.
I had to catch her. Daddy would be home in a few weeks. He would be mad!
What if she didn’t stop until she got to the mountains? What if I lost
her?
My heart pounded as I dashed after her. I came to some trees and
couldn’t see her anymore. I kept on running.
When I reached the highway, I saw traffic stopped for a mile both ways.
My hot, red face turned white with fear. I was out of breath and my
mouth was dry.
I thought something terrible had happened to Maude or that she had hurt
somebody. As I ran up, I was relieved to see that a woman was holding
Maude’s reins and two men were standing straightening the harness.
I hugged Maude’s big head and cried. She gave me a slobbery nuzzle.
The woman started chewing me out. “You have no business messing with a
horse like that,” she said sharply. “You have the collar on upside
down, and the harness, what’s left of it, is all wrong.”
The woman was still yelling at me as I led Maude away. Maude was soaked
with sweat, but completely calm.
I felt embarrassed and sorry for myself. A conversation was going on in
my head. “I seem to have to learn everything the hard way. No one ever
teaches me anything. I always have to figure things out myself.”
I set my jaw in determination. I’d get it right next time. “Maude and me. We aren’t beat yet!”
The author lived on small farms in
Copyright 2008 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
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