Chapter 44
Finally, Jake pushed her down onto the ground and they crawled forward a bit more to watch. The gray stallion screamed a challenge at the bay. The bay answered the challenge. One of the horses in the gray's herd, a red dun, started biting some of the other horses in the gray's herd, keeping them back.
"She's the lead mare," Jake whispered.
"Isn't the boy horse the boss?" Sam whispered back.
"No," Jake shook his head. "The lead mare is the one who really runs the herd. The stallion breeds and keeps the rest safe."
"Breeds?" Sam asked, looking up at him.
"Makes baby horses," Jake explained, his eyes not leaving the horses in front of him.
"Oh," Sam nodded in understanding and turned back to watch.
The bay approached very nonchalantly. The gray struck out with a foreleg.
"The gray stud's not buying that the bay doesn't want trouble," Jake was almost narrating what was going on.
The gray's neck bowed until his head bumped his chest as he came forward, snorting towards the bay. The bay half reared and snorted back.
"The bay just challenged the gray," Jake told her.
Sure enough the gray squealed and ran towards the bay who turned and ran the other way, the gray following.
"He chickened out," Sam said.
"Nope, watch," Jake shook his head.
The bay circled around, running through the band of mares. He nipped at the rump of two of them, trying to get them away from the main herd.
"See, it was all an act," Jake said.
The gray stallion pursued the bay and the two mares that he had stolen. He put on a burst of speed and snaked out his neck, reaching over and biting the neck of the bay. Then he bumped the bay to turn him, getting between the bay and the mares.
The mares turned and started running back to the safety of the herd. The bay tried to follow but the gray cut him off. The bay reared, then when the gray reared with him, the bay tried to knock the gray off balance.
Instead, it was the bay who lurched off balance and the gray swept his head against the bay, knocking the bay to his knees. Sam winced as the bay squealed in pain.
"It should be over in a minute," Jake told her.
The gray's front legs stomped on the bay's back as the gray stallion came down. The bay threw up his head in pain as the gray snapped at the bay's neck, opening a wound in the process.
Sam turned away putting her head on Jake's shoulder as she did. Jake continued to watch the two stallions fighting. He knew how softhearted Sam was, but for once he didn't tease her about it. To him, this was better than TV and it really helped him to understand horses and the herd mentality.
The gray backed off slightly, allowing the bay to admit defeat and get away if he chose. The bay scrambled to his feet.
"He's up," Jake said to Sam and she turned back around to watch.
The gray stallion snapped once more at the bay who turned tail and ran off. The gray chased him, nipping at his flanks until the gray stopped and screamed another challenge.
"He's rubbin' it in," Jake grinned.
"Do they ever kill each other?" Sam asked.
"Sure, but not often," Jake told her. "Grandfather says that the stallion doesn't do more than he has to because if he gets hurt, he can be challenged and he'll lose his mares."
"Your grandfather knows a lot about horses, huh?" Sam murmured.
Jake nodded eagerly. Sam looked at him. This was about as animated as she'd ever seen Jake.
Thinking about it though, he always seemed more open when he talked about horses. When he was teaching her how to ride bareback, when they rode and now.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked suddenly.
"A cowboy," Jake answered immediately. "I want a ranch and work with horses."
Looking at him now with his black Stetson down low on his face, Sam could picture it.
