Chapter 21
Jake lay on the ground, watching the herd. He had tracked Bryan successfully and the twins had gone off to do something on their own. Jake had taken that opportunity to lose them and go check out the horses.
He was upwind of the herd, so they didn't know he was there. His horse was tied up far away from where he was at. Jake had made sure that he had taken one of the geldings so the stallion wouldn't smell a mare.
Jake knew that mares cycled, making them smell good for the stallion, but he didn't understand why. Oh he knew about breeding, he had seen cattle and horses breed often enough, but he didn't understand the ins and outs of it.
All he knew is that if he wanted to observe the herd, it was best to come out on a gelding.
One time he had brought one of the mares, not realizing that she was cycling and therefore attracting the stallion. Jake had almost lost that mare, only his shouting and waving his arms had kept that stallion from stealing the mare from him. Wouldn't he love to explain that one to Dad!
Right now, the herd was just grazing. Jake could see that the coats were starting to get fuzzy, indicating that winter was coming. The horses had lost their sleek appearance.
One of the mares must have crossed an invisible line between her and the lead mare because all of a sudden the lead mare attacked the other mare. Jake lifted his head as the first mare turned tail to the lead mare and kicked out. That made the lead mare snap her jaws at the first mare, connecting with skin. The first mare squealed as she suffered a nasty bite. The lead mare then bit the first mare again.
The first mare started to run away from the lead mare. The lead mare followed biting the rump of the first mare. Suddenly the stallion was rushing down from his lookout position. His head was lowered in a snaking, herding motion. Both mares turned from him, running back to the herd. It was the stallion's turn to nip both mares.
Jake felt the wind shift a second before the stallion slid to a stop, his head lifted towards Jake. Jake stilled, not wanting the stallion to charge him. Just Jake's eyes moved as he found the nearest tree in case he needed to get away quickly.
The stallion struck out with a foreleg at the same time he uttered a challenging neigh. Jake heard his gelding neigh back. Shoot!
Jake slowly got to his feet, keeping his eyes on the stallion. Jake broke into a run when the stallion shot forward.
His arms pumping, listening for the hoofbeats behind him, Jake ran for his life. His legs were like pistons as he ran. Up, down, up, down, he reached for even more speed in his legs.
Jake reached the tree and swung up onto the lowest branch just as the stallion reached him. Jake felt the bite on his leg and yelled, screaming at the top of his lungs at both the pain and in hope that his yelling would frighten the stallion off.
Once the stallion let go of his leg, Jake scrambled up the tree ignoring the pain in the bitten leg. The horse had torn his jeans. Jake understood that once a horse made to bite, it couldn't stop which is why he had to wait for the horse to open his mouth back up before getting away.
Grandfather had told him that was how most people got injured by horses, trying to pull away when being bitten. The horse couldn't stop and by pulling away, the person forced the skin to rip worse than it would have with just the bite. Jake silently thanked his Grandfather as he sat panting in the tree, now out of range of the rearing stallion.
The silver horse screamed challenge after challenge at Jake as he sat in the tree. Jake didn't move, afraid to aggravate the horse and the bite that he had received.
The stallion finally snorted at Jake and he heard the answering snort from his tied gelding. The stallion raced off towards where Jake had left his horse. He heard squealing then the sound of retreating hooves. Jake would bet that his horse had seen the stallion coming for him and pulled loose to head for home.
Jake knew he had a long walk ahead of him, but still he didn't move until the stallion came back and stood under the tree once again. He neighed a challenge and when Jake didn't respond, the horse ran back to his herd.
The herd scattered as the stallion ran through his mares, nipping and biting them to get them out ahead of him. Jake watched as they disappeared and gave a sigh of relief.