Chapter 11
At Killarney, Stevie and Xander were planning to ride along the creekbed to check for anything unusual to explain their rapid water loss.
Ben had gone off with Bobby, to check the fence lines on their border with Wilgul. Since Jaz had built MEETC at Wilgul, checking the border fences had become even more important. It was a training center for Elite Equestrian athletes, not a working farm, and most of the horses who resided there were not trained to be around livestock. If cattle or sheep pushed through the fences, the horses could spook and people and horses could get hurt. Ben was not going to let that happen, so riding the border was a regular occurrence.
It left Stevie and Xander on their own for the hydration investigation. Although Xander was only thirteen, he was already over five foot nine. Alex had been six foot five and Stevie was five foot eight herself, so she expected Xander to be quite tall as well. He was riding a full sized horse at nine years old and just kept growing. Stevie loved seeing the man he was becoming. She swore he would be shaving soon. She decided she would have Ben or Marcus talk to him about that when the time came.
"Wombat, I don't want you to push Rufus too hard. He was in that trailer for a long time yesterday. He's probably feeling pretty stiff," instructed Stevie.
"No problem, Mom, I'm feeling a bit stiff from the long ride too, we'll take it easy." Xander replied.
As they approached the creek bed, they were both pretty shocked at how low it was.
"Wow, Ben wasn't kidding. This is crazy. I'm not sure I've ever seen it this low." said Stevie.
"I know. I haven't seen it this low. Where do you reckon all the water is going? It doesn't usually run out this fast, does it?" asked Xander.
"That's what we need to figure out, Wombat. Here, you take the east bank. I'll take the west bank. We will slowly ride the full length of the creek bed from the southern border with Drovers and ride it all the way up to our Northern border with the old Kinsella's station."
"What exactly are we looking for, Mom?"
"I don't really know, but anything that looks off or weird or like it doesn't belong. We should also check all of the pumplines running from the creek. Sorry, I can't help more than that."
"Ok. No worries Mom."
Xander steered Rufus across the nearly dry creek bed, then he turned and smiled at his mom. He loved his Mom and loved that she loved horses and the bush as much as he did. Plus, he got an incredible rodeo coach in the deal. He felt like a lucky bloke for sure.
Stevie and Xander had been slowly walking the creek bed for about an hour when Stevie's phone lit up.
"Hey Ben. What's up?" Xander heard his mom say into the phone.
"What? How did that happen? Damn it. Yeah, we're on our way." Xander thought his mom sounded annoyed about whatever she had heard.
"Xander! We gotta go. The sheep got out of the holding pen. They were supposed to be dredged tomorrow, first thing, and now we have to muster them again. Ben and Bobby will meet us there." explained Stevie.
"Righto! I love mustering." Xander was proud to take on important jobs on the farm. He felt good working with the other men and doing his share of the work on his property.
Stevie and Xander turned back around and set off to muster the sheep.
"So much for examining the whole creek bed," said Xander as he rode off.