It wasn’t long before the colt and Henry were sliding to a stop out of a gallop, spinning circles in place, and side-passing across the arena, all things the colt enjoyed doing. He was finally getting a chance to use himself, to free up his body, get air in his lungs, use his mind and most of all, get out in the open. His body was beginning to feel strong again, like it did before he went off the ledge on the mesa, and the stronger he got, the easier the tasks Henry gave him became.

The easier the tasks became for the colt, the more Henry showed him. He was always careful not to overdo any particular session or push the colt too hard. In one such session, Henry had shown him how to move up next to a gate, get in place so Henry could open it, turn and walk through the gate, then turn back and close the gate, all without Henry getting off. In another session, Henry tied his lariat to a log and, dallying the other end around the saddle horn, taught the colt how to drag the heavy thing around the arena. Of all the things Henry had done with the colt, dragging an object was the most difficult for him to grasp. It was initially frightening for the colt to feel the added weight pulling against his shoulders and watch as the log appeared to chase after him. It was only his trust in Henry that kept him from turning tail and bolting away from the log that was not acting like any other log he had seen. But with Henry’s help, it soon became understandable and even doable for the colt. Henry showed him, first by facing the log and backing away from it while it was dallied to the saddle horn by the rope, that whenever he moved, the log did, but it never got closer to him, and it always stopped when he did. Eventually, he could turn and go forward for short periods of time with the log following him, and soon he could drag it all over the arena.

The colt wasn’t sure when it happened, but one day Henry took the colt out of the arena and began riding him all over the ranch. It was then the colt started to feel good about his new life. There was something about being out with Henry, the two of them moving quietly through the desert, that caused his spirit to soar. He now understood why Henry, and most every other human he had come in contact with, had done the things with him they had. It was to get him to a point where he could once again go back into the wild, to smell the fresh desert air, feel the wind in his mane and be able to look out for miles without any buildings, people or fences in sight. He was doing it under someone else’s rules, but then, there had always been rules. These were just different rules than the ones he had grown up with, but he was beginning to see that maybe having rules to go by wasn’t such a bad thing after all.