Amy studied her mother through the fence, her backpack slung over one shoulder, while she waited for the school bus to come. Marion was driving a grey gelding around the corral, making whooshing and clicking noises with her mouth to keep him moving and focused on her. It didn't take long, only a minute or so, for her to turn away from the horse. The reaction was instantaneous as he turned in and walked to her shoulder, nudging it gently and looking for his peppermint.
"How come you're still joining up with him if you know he's going to come to you every time?" she asked.
Marion rubbed the horse's forehead and walked to the fence to join her daughter, Pegasus following loyally behind. "To keep enforcing that trust and just reminding him that as long as I'm around, nothing will hurt him."
"But it's Pegasus." That horse had been a part of their family for as long as Amy could remember. It seemed odd to think that he'd just suddenly lose trust in any of them, especially after the long hours they spend helping him recover from the accident that tore their family apart.
Marion smiled. "How come you still praise Max for sitting when you tell him when you know he's going to do it every time? she countered.
"Touche." Amy laughed, shaking her head. "But what happens if a horse doesn't choose to come in to the center? What if they just never gain your trust?" In all of the years she watched her mother work with the horses that came to Heartland, she never met one that hadn't been able to be helped unless it was due to medical reasons. There were some more challenging than others, but with enough time they all found their place in the center of the circle.
"You keep at them until they do. Eventually, they'll get tired of running and realize they'd rather be with you. They're herd animals and when you take away their option to be with other horses, they have no other choice but to find a new one. And that's with you. One way or another."
"But what if they don't." Amy persisted, not believing that every horse will ultimately decide to join up. They could be just as proud as any human.
Marion scoffed playfully at her difficult daughter. "You, go to school." She nodded toward the bus that began winding down the driveway. "We'll take Swallow and Sundance out on a ride this afternoon, I want to check his progress, okay?"
"Okay," Amy reached through the fence to pet Pegasus' muzzle before darting off to catch the bus.
"My mom was a… well, I'll just say a horse whisperer, though that's not exactly the politically correct term. She helped horses like Spartan that had been neglected or abused, or just had vices and phobias that their owners couldn't fix no matter what they did." Amy paused, a smile coming a little wider to her face as she laughed softly at a memory. "Like this one time, this man brought over his draft horse that was terrified of chickens. By the time she was done with him, he had chickens hopping up to sleep on his back." That had been an experience Amy never forgot, but those lighthearted cases were always a great relief to balance out the other darker challenges that came to Marion.
"But that's how I knew how to help Spartan. I spent my whole life watching her work miracles on what people deemed as lost causes. I just… never really tried to help one myself before. Not without her," Amy added in a low voice, her eyes glazing over a moment as she stared into the fire. But she snapped out of it and shifted to look at Ty. "Which is why I'm so afraid that I'm going to screw it up."
"Well, so far you've done better than anyone else I've seen. And I've seen some really good experts trying to help him," Ty praised Amy a little, who smiled sheepishly and lowered her gaze. He was still amazed by her ability to get so close to the gelding. Like she knew what Spartan was thinking. Amy could just very well be his last hope and the hope grew bigger by the day.
"Horse whisperer…" Ty then repeated, causing Amy to look at him again. Now he had a word to use for the things Amy tried with Spartan. "I thought they were sort of a… myth. I don't know why, but it makes me think about the Natives and their relationship with horses. Riding bareback after taming those mustangs."
He laughed a little, almost feeling embarrassed.
"I don't know if I'm totally making this association up, because to tell you the truth, before I moved here, I thought mustangs were only cars," he laughed, recalling feeling the light bulb over his head when he had finally realized that the horse in the logo was not just a comparison for speed, but actually the origin of the name.
"That's not surprising, but it did begin with the Natives and those Mustangs - the real ones - centuries ago. It just became a little more mainstream by this guy named Monty Roberts. He spent his childhood just watching a herd by his home and learned to read their body language. He started gentling them and hosting clinics for people to come watch. Over the years, other trainers began picking up those methods, or making their own variations, but the true whisperers were the Natives. My mom learned directly from them - all the herbs and techniques were passed on to her. She spent years collecting it all in journals." Now was another moment Amy wished she had at least one of them with her to show Ty how detailed everything was. Her mother didn't leave out a single detail and even sketched drawings of the herbs for reference before she knew them all by sight.
"There are people that still think it's a waste of time to build a relationship with an animal - that they are meant to do what we ask - but my mom never forced a horse to do anything they didn't choose to do on their own. They may just be animals, but they have families and fears and feelings that can be hurt. She believed that to have a partnership with a horse was one of the greatest, but also most fragile, bonds a person could ever have." Amy nodded toward the dark outline of Spartan in the setting sun. "With a horse like Spartan you need to build a solid foundation before you can start building on it or else it'll crumble and you'll be left with nothing to hang onto. That's why I told you not to expect a miracle because even the progress we made can be destroyed with one wrong move." She was trying the best she knew how not to let that happen, but it was that pressure she placed on herself that made her question her actions and doubt her abilities.
"That's pretty amazing," Ty commented and watched Spartan as well. He didn't want to let down the horse's trust, even if the gelding probably wasn't aware what he was trying to do. "I don't think it's stupid, to build that kind of relationship with an animal. It's actually kind of cool. Like, take me and Remi for example."
The dog was alerted by her name and watched her owner curiously as Amy glanced down at the dog with a smile, continuing to rub between her ears.
"We live together in this small house, yet we don't speak each other's language, but somehow we know how to communicate. It has taken some time to know what every bark and snarl means, but… she's become a friend to me. A companion. At the same time she's learned to tell the difference between the words I use and how I say them, and what my body language gives away. She's been a great help and supporter to me. I want to treat her the best way possible."
"And that's the attitude that's going to help you establish a relationship with your horse." When it came to natural horsemanship so many people were skeptical of the benefits because it took a great deal of time and energy that people didn't want to bother wasting. If Amy had sensed any skepticism among Ty after this long, she wouldn't have bothered to continue because there would be no point if he was just going to leave her work unfinished when she left. The fact that he was willing to keep at it gave Amy the encouragement to get him there.
"But my mom, she could just… look at a horse and know what was wrong and how to fix it." Giving Remi a last stroke, Amy took her hand back as she scooted back to against the back of the chair. "It didn't always work, though. Like with people some horses just… they can't be helped," she said with a heavy sigh, remembering a few horses that had left Heartland in the bucket of a backhoe. "She always tried, though," Amy went on absently, her eyes staring back toward the crackling fire. "Until time ran out."
"How does that work?" Ty wondered, feeling genuinely curious. "Horses are complicated creatures, just like us. How could your mother just look at them and know what's wrong? Some things, obviously, are visible, but I would think there are things under the surface that you have no way of knowing - not unless they tell you. And as far as I know, horses don't speak our language."
Ty took a sip and let his eyes wander from Amy to Spartan. How could he ever learn to know what the horse wanted, especially since there was so much damage underneath that he could accidentally poke without knowing.
Even Amy had to shrug at that reasoning. "To be honest I always wondered that myself. I could never truly figure it out. But like all animals, horses have their own language and she learned to speak it." She shifted again, leaning to rest her arms on her legs as she tried to figure out a way to explain. "It was like… whenever she was with a horse everything just went so still… and so silent you could just feel this… other worldly connection buzzing through the air. It sometimes felt like I was eavesdropping on a conversation I couldn't hear and wasn't a part of." At that moment Amy laughed, shaking her head. "I must sound so ridiculous. It's just one of those things you have to experience to truly understand," she paraphrased, finding no other way to really explain in proper words. "But no matter how many times I've experienced it, I still don't quite understand how she did it. Growing up all I wanted to do was be like her. She was my hero." Her voice drifted off and she glanced at Ty with a brief smile. Ty returned that smile. Amy's experience with her mother was so different from his.
"Then," Amy sighed and once again slid back in the chair, taking her water into her lap. "one day I woke up. And realized I couldn't be like her because there was no one else like her."
"So…" Ty rubbed his thumb across the beer bottle, "if you're saying you're not like her, does that mean we're just wasting our time here or are you trying to find some other way into Spartan's head?" He studied Amy. Maybe he didn't know what it had been like with her mother, but he had never seen anyone do the same as Amy had done with Spartan. Ty wasn't stupid enough to think it was just something every horse crazy girl could do - what Amy possessed was a gift that she must have practiced at least to some degree.
"I guess, in a way." Amy shifted uncomfortably, wondering if Ty maybe thought she was really some kind of phony. "She once told me I had 'the gift' like she did," she gestured with air-quotes, "but I never found myself totally capable of believing her. What she did was magical - almost so unbelievable you'd think it was some kind of trick. I never thought I could do that, though for most of my life that's all I wanted. But then I kind of… gave up on it after I moved to the city. I learned a lot from her, though, and what I'm doing here is all rooted in everything she taught me, but it's been a really long time since I've tried to do anything like this. And I've never done it without her before. So, I guess you'll just have to accept that I'm trying. I did tell you not to expect miracles," she reminded him for about the third time. Maybe she wasn't her mother, and maybe it would all turn out to be a waste in the end, but it wouldn't be because she didn't give it the best shot she was capable of giving. It was just hard to dig back through so many years of memories and ask herself 'What would Marion do?' when she spent so long suppressing all that had to do with them.
"I know. And I'm not expecting you to do magic tricks either. I… I trust you. I know we haven't done much yet, but I don't know - I have a good feeling about you," Ty admitted, hoping it wouldn't come off too creepy. Amy looked at him a little curiously, but a light, almost shy, smile tugged at her lips. "Just your attitude with this whole thing. Even if it seems hopeless and even if you're not too sure about your own abilities, you still think it's worth a shot. Like you won't quit if there's even a tiny chance that things will be a little better. I like that", he smiled a little after the compliment, feeling naked in front of her after being so honest. "I think I should learn more from you than just few horsey tips."
He took a sip, letting his eyes wander a little while, so he wouldn't make Amy intimidated.
"Sorry… I'm just talking all sorts of stuff now that I finally have some company," he laughed, feeling a little embarrassed how he somehow opened up to her without her even trying. Ty stood up and checked their food, hoping he wouldn't ruin this completely even if he was unable to keep his mouth shut. If anything, at least Amy would leave with her stomach full.
"I don't mind. It's been kind of quiet on the road. The radio isn't the greatest conversationalist," she joked, tipping her body toward him slightly with an amused simper. Originally that had been the whole point, but after the first day Amy wasn't so keen on listening to her own thoughts any longer. "But I've still got a couple days, right? That's time enough for some progress to be made." Ty nodded. Whether for Ty or his horse, Amy wasn't sure, but maybe the both of them would learn a little something from each other along the way.