“If we’re going to work together, then some common courtesy would be nice.”
“Oh? Really?” I say, crossing my arms. “Just like the common courtesy you’ve shown me every time we’ve interacted?”
“Hey,” he says, stepping away from Brown Sugar and towards me, “I didn’t start this. You did.”
“Excuse me? Are you fucking insane?” I say, becausehonestly.
“The first time we met, you treated me like dirt on the bottom of your shoe for no good reason.”
“Nathan, are you having a stroke? Because that is not what happened.”
Before Nathan can respond, Brown Sugar jerks her head up and I say, “Let’s go. We’re going to make her anxious if we keep fighting.”
“Well it’s impossiblenotto fight with you when you’re rude as hell all the time.” He grinds his teeth as he says this, and itmakes me smile. “I’m pretty sure we won’t get anywhere training together if you’re constantly attacking me.”
“And I’m pretty sure you won’t learn anything from me if you keep expecting me to be like one of the many simpering fools who fall over themselves just to have the honor of polishing that ridiculous championship belt buckle with their tongue. Now, let’s go.”
Nathan looks like he doesn’t have a comeback to that, thank God, so we head over to the ring where I do groundwork and train all of our horses. Immediately, Brown Sugar blanches at the sight of the unfamiliar building. She stops dead in front of it, and refuses to follow Nathan inside.
“I guess she’s a bit more nervous than we thought,” Nathan says. His voice carries a note of sadness in it, and to my surprise, he doesn’t pull at her halter and try to tug her forward. He just stops and starts petting her on her neck and telling her it’s alright. “The ring isn’t scary, Brownie, I promise,” he says.
“I’ll go get Maggie,” I say. When he shoots me a quizzical look, I explain. “She’s already met Maggie and likes her, and Maggie is confident and calm. A lightning strike wouldn’t shake her. If Brown Sugar sees Maggie go into the ring, she’s more likely to know it’s safe. And having Maggie around for training will help, too.”
I head back to the barn, grab a halter, and bring it with me to Maggie’s paddock. She’s munching on a bit of hay and I feel a bit bad for taking my girl away from her food. But I give her a treat from my pocket, and like always, she’s happy to do whatever I ask.
“We’ve got a nervous one on our hands, Mags,” I say softly, leading her towards the ring. “You need to show her how it’s done, and that everything is okay.”
I bring Maggie up to where Nathan and Brown Sugar are standing, and Brown Sugar immediately greets my horse, whichmelts my heart. I love watching the horses at Star Mountain make friends.
“Maggie is beautiful, Candice,” Nathan tells me. “Where’d you find her?”
I push a bit of Maggie’s mane away from her neck. Nathan takes in the numbers etched there and understanding dawns on his face.
“She’s a mustang,” he says.
“Yep. She must have been at a holding facility at some point, but she got loose. The owners of the ranch she was running around called Grandpa and we went to go get her, and immediately decided we wanted to adopt her. She was skinny, and scared, and completely unsure of herself at first, but I worked with her until she got her confidence back.”
“Are there any other mustangs here?” he asks me.
“We’ve got a few. Buckles is a mustang who was in a wild horse race at a local rodeo a few months ago and he was injured…” I trail off, unsure of how Nathan is going to take this, especially after our conversation about barrel racers.
“I don’t like that event,” he says quietly. “I know it’s traditional and has a long history, but if someone treated Ballantine the way those horses get treated I’d skin them alive.”
“Good,” I say, nodding, and forcing myself to meet his gaze.
“Found something we agree on, I guess,” Nathan says, that charming smile of his stretching across his face.
I avert my eyes—I’m not interested in the charming version of Nathan. It’s too dangerous.
“Let’s see if Brown Sugar will follow Maggie’s lead,” I say.
“Sure thing.”
I lead Maggie into the ring, and Nathan follows behind me. I don’t turn around or try to see what happens, wanting to project total confidence. I park Maggie near the back of the ring, and when I finally do turn, I see that Brown Sugar has just the tipof her muzzle through the doorway. Nathan drops the halter and after a few moments she starts walking forward by herself, evidently more concerned with making friends with Maggie than with her persistent fear of the ring.
“Are we going to lunge?” Nathan asks when he reaches me.
“No, not yet," I say. “All Brown Sugar knows right now is go, and go fast. That’s what barrel racers are trained for. If we try to lunge her, I think she’ll just zoom in circles around us. For the moment, I just want you to work on getting her to back up and then walk forward.” I pass him the long training stick I keep in the arena. “Just use it to get her attention. Light taps?—”
