To Sam's surprise, he moved closer.
Now, Sam could reach out and touch him if she tried. But she didn't want to spook him.
It was very possible the gelding was domesticated. Clean, calm, not scared by humans. Sam wondered who he belonged to and why he was out here.
Oh, well, if this horse was domesticated then he wouldn't get spooked if she pet him , right? This time Sam confidently put her hand up to the horse and slowly stroked his neck. She talked to him softly, hypnotized by her hand and the pattern on his neck. Nothing made sound except for the running river and rowdy pasture horses playing.
"Sam!"
Startled, Sam quickly looked up from her daze and looked around to see who was there. The call sounded like Jake's voice, but why would he still be here?
Finally her eyes landed on Jake and Witch, on the other side of the river. So he was going to his house. That made a little more sense...
While Sam was still processing those facts, she noticed the horse was still there. This horse was domesticated.
"How long have you been watching?" Sam asked.
"The whole time." Jake was now closer to her and the horse.
"Okay," Sam said, confused. "Why?"
"The other day, I was groomin' Witch when I saw this horse drink from the river. What was strange about that was my brothers were over there too. So when they realized the horse was domesticated, Adam walked up and the horse bucked at him and almost knocked him down."
Sam stared at the horse again. Nothing about him seemed dangerous. It didn't look like he was going to buck anytime soon.
"Maybe Adam walked up too fast and spooked him."
"Sam, even if he did, domesticated horses usually don't try to harm someone unless..their former owner abused them."
"I know," Sam snapped. What Jake said was right, but then why didn't the horse act mean when she walked up to him? Moving quickly, Sam walked right up the the horse, waving her hands like bird.
"Sam what are you doing-"
Rolling his eyes, the horse backed away one or two steps and stopped. Then, looking sideways at Sam like she was crazy, lowered his head to drink out of the river. He swished his tail.
Sam met Jake's eyes. Brows furrowed, he signaled Witch to move closer to him. Snorting, the paint sidestepped and half-reared, unmistakably scared. Offended, Witch tried to do the same but Jake kept her under control. Sam looked at the paint who was now almost at the end of the river, taking sips from the water but still had his eyes pinned on Jake.
Jake intently studied the paint for one more second, then looked at Sam and shook his head. "I don't know."
"Don't know what?"
"Go up to him one more time," Jake ordered, not answering her question.
"Okay," Sam said, then, once again, walked up the the horse. He looked up, and then lowered his head to drink as quickly as he had looked at her. as if trying to get flies away, parts of his patterned body quivered, but that was all he did besides drink.
Why was she the only person he wasn't scared of?
Suddenly, coming from the hills, something sounded like thunder. But Sam knew what it really was. Shooting down like the king he was, the Phantom dashed down and through branches that were in his way, heading straight toward them. The paint neighed loudly, and without her realizing it, Sam's face muscles had tightened from the sharp scream. Then, reminding her of a dog, he jumped in place, not sure of where to go. Answering that question, the Phantom ran past and nipped his rump, leaving him no choice but to follow. Which he did.
Sam watched in amazement as the two ran up the hill and, finally, out of sight.
The sound of a horse walking away made Sam turn around to see Jake leaving. She would have let him if he had answered her question.
"Wait," Sam yelled.
Quicker than she expected, Jake turned Witch around. She forgot how good cow horses were skilled at that. "Yeah?"
"What were you going to say before?"
It took a moment for Jake to respond. When he did, his voice sounded unsure.
"I was saying I don't know why that horse likes you so much."
And with that, he turned Witch back around and left.
Why did the horse like her so much? Sam thought. But that was the last thing she should be worrying about. Why was the horse in the wild instead of with it's owner? And if his owner abused him, then maybe he escaped somehow.
"Sorry Ace, looks like you'll have to wait for your ride." Ace stared at her longingly from the pasture as Sam jogged to the house.
Good. Sipping water and tapping away at the keys to her laptop, Brynna sat at the kitchen table focused intently on whatever she was looking at.
Sam cleared her throat. "Um, Brynna?"
Sam waited for her step mom to acknowledge her with a nod before continuing.
"We might be wrong, but this is what Jake and I think." Sam waited for Brynna to eye her again. "There's a paint gelding on the loose, and we think he might have..escaped."
When that got her attention, Brynna stood up, closed her laptop, and put it gently on the counter. Then, still paying attention, she dumped the vegetables out from a bowl Gram had set up and started chopping them up.
"Go on," She ordered.
Sam had to pause to think about how she should say the next part. "He only appears to like me," Sam said, cringing at how self-centered that sounded. "We don't know why. And we're thinking that his former owner abused him because he acts like a demon around other people. But one thing is for sure; that horse is definitely not wild."
Wiping her hands off on a towel, Brynna nodded in understanding then said, "I'll call BLM right away."
As Sam watched her pregnant step mom head up the stairs, she felt a twinge of sadness. But she knew she shouldn't. The paint would surely find another happy place to live. And he would get good training on how to trust people again.
She hoped.
