Out of the Wild

Mark Rashid

Contents ( 50)

CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50

OUT
OF THE
WILD

ALSO BY MARK RASHID

A Journey to Softness

Considering the Horse

A Good Horse Is Never a Bad Color

Horses Never Lie

Life Lessons from a Ranch Horse

Horsemanship through Life

Big Horses, Good Dogs, and Straight Fences

A Life with Horses

Whole Heart, Whole Horse

OUT
OF THE
WILD

Mark Rashid

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

First published in 2016 by
Trafalgar Square Books
North Pomfret, Vermont 05053

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer quoting brief excerpts for a review in a magazine, newspaper, or website.

Disclaimer of Liability

The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. While the book is as accurate as the author can make it, there may be errors, omissions, and inaccuracies.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rashid, Mark, author.

Title: Out of the wild : a novel / Mark Rashid.

Description: North Pomfret, Vermont : Trafalgar Square Books, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016010720 | ISBN 9781570767685 (softcover)

Classification: LCC PS3618.A763 O88 2016 | DDC 813/.6--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010720

Cover photographs by Paul Krizan

Book design by DOQ

Cover design by RM Didier

Typefaces: Chaparral Pro, Bembo Std

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Crissi

CHAPTER 1

It seemed as though he would no sooner finish helping one of his first time momma cows deliver a calf in the muck of late winter when he’d see another cow down and struggling. This happened repeatedly, no less than one hundred and thirteen times by his count, once he started to keep count. He still felt lucky. He only had to call the vet out to help with nine of the births. Of those nine, eight calves lived and one didn’t. The one that died did so during the birthing process, having presented to the birth canal backwards, upside down and much too big for the cow, who was one of his smallest. He had found the cow, red ear tag #67, many hours into her labor, down in draw a mile or so from the main herd. The vet guessed the baby had already been dead for a while; it was the vet who ended up having to dismember the calf while still inside #67 to get him out and save the cow.