Instinct told the colt to stay where he was, away from the human, but something deep inside urged him forward. He began moving toward Jessie, one hesitant step at a time, keeping one eye on the rope that dragged on the ground beside him, the other eye trained on Jessie. Jessie continued to keep her head down and hands behind her, in a passive posture until the colt was within arm’s reach. At that point, Jessie let out a long, relaxed breath and began bringing her head up so he could once again see her eyes. She let out another breath and lowered her hands to her sides.

“Well, there you are,” she said quietly. “Ready to get that thing off?” The colt seemed a little surprised when she spoke, tightening the muscles in his neck and raising his head. Jessie stood quiet for a couple seconds, smiling at the colt and after a few seconds, he warily lowered his head back down and let out a nervous breath. “I know,” Jessie whispered. “You’re okay.”

Out in the pasture, Henry wasn’t having quite as much luck with the horse he went to catch. He went out feeling better than he had since he arrived at the ranch, mostly because his day was going to have a purpose other than scooping manure. But as he got closer to the horse he was looking for, he began to see things might not work out as smoothly as he had hoped. First, the big red horse he was trying to catch was caked with mud from a recent roll on the bank of the little creek that ran through the draw the gelding, as well as a number of horses, were standing in. Once Henry reached the draw, he began to build a loop with his lariat as he moved down into it, only to have all the horses move away from him. The big sorrel gelding stayed behind, and at first, Henry thought he was going to have an easy time catching him. As Henry got to within twenty feet of the horse, he slowed his pace and began to talk to him in a low, relaxed voice. “Easy boy. That’s it; stay right there for me. I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

Henry was almost up to the gelding when the side of the tall heel of his boot caught a small rock, causing Henry to stumble. “Dang it,” he grunted. Henry’s sudden movement and the change in the tone of his voice startled the horse and he turned and started walking after the rest of the herd. “Whoa Red.” Henry stumbled again. “Damn it.” He regained his balance and continued after the gelding. “Red…Whoa!”

Henry ended up following the gelding, along with the rest of the herd, for another twenty minutes before they all stopped to graze on some new spring grass down by the creek. It was there he was finally able to slide the loop of his lariat over the gelding’s head and snug it high around the geldings neck, just behind his ears. He then fashioned it into a halter by slipping a coil of the rope between the loop and the horse’s bottom jaw and slipping the coil over the horse’s nose. With the makeshift halter, Henry then led the gelding back to the hitch rail by the tack room, tied him up and groomed him, which took another half hour. After over an hour since he and Jessie went their separate ways near the bunkhouse, Henry was finally saddled, mounted and heading toward the round pen. He moved the big, smooth gaited gelding into a slow jog, while at the same time building a loop with his lariat, which he planned on using to catch the colt. Jessie met him half across the yard and Henry pulled to a stop next to her.