Chapter 35
"So, what were you guys doing with Sam during recess?" Jake asked after the bus had dropped them off and Sam had started for home.
"Playing football," Bryan responded.
"Samball," Quinn corrected.
"Oh yeah, that's right. Samball," Bryan said.
"Samball?" Jake questioned.
"Daisy said something about her so we decided we'd rather hang with Sammy," Quinn shrugged.
"Which one is Daisy?" Jake wondered.
"You're not going to punch her out are you little man?" Bryan teased.
"'Course not," Jake gave him a look.
"Daisy's the blond one," Quinn told Jake.
Jake snorted. "You need to be a bit more specific."
Quinn and Bryan laughed.
"Blond, curly hair," Bryan clarified.
Jake nodded. "She's what? A fourth grader?"
"Yep," Quinn nodded. "I've decided not to let her hang with us anymore."
Bryan nodded in agreement. "This is the second time she's dissed Sammy."
"She'll try somethin'," Jake predicted.
"Why do you say that?" Quinn asked.
Jake shrugged. "Something I saw on her face."
"She better not," Bryan said.
"What are you going to do, beat her up?" Quinn laughed.
"No, we'll let Sammy do that," Bryan responded.
"And get her grounded again," Jake gave Bryan a look.
"Oh, we can't have that, huh Jakey?" Bryan teased.
Jake ignored the teasing.
"So did you get many valentines, Jake?" Quinn asked.
"Some," Jake shrugged.
"Sammy give you one?" Bryan asked.
Jake nodded, refusing to allow them to tease him about his friendship with Sam.
As they reached home and started walking across the ranch yard, all their eyes were drawn to the pasture where the very pregnant mare was standing. They were excited for Quinn and Jake couldn't wait until this time next year when it would be his colt or filly the mare was carrying.
"Dad's going to the auction this weekend to look for a yearling for me," Bryan said.
"You goin' too?" Jake asked.
"I hope so," Bryan answered. "You know Dad though. He doesn't like to drag us along on his trips."
"Grandfather's going too," Jake said.
"We'll all have new horses to train," Quinn smiled.
Jake nodded, excited to have his own foal. He planned on implementing everything that Grandfather had taught him over the years. He might be only ten, or he'd be eleven when he got his foal, but Jake had plans.
His plans for this foal were what he hoped would get him started in the horse training business. Jake realized that there weren't too many adults who would turn over the training of their horses to a young kid like him, but he hoped to prove he could do it with this foal.
Jake would take training advice from Grandfather and Dad, but the actual training would be all his. It's what he wanted to do with this life. He wanted nothing more than to be a rancher that also trained horses.
The book that Sam had given him on his birthday had been a big help. Though he already thought like a horse, it had given him even more information he needed. She couldn't have picked a better gift for him at the time.
Some of the ideas were so new and radical for this part of the country. Here, most of the cowboys still wanted to train horses the old way, by breaking them. Jake wanted to think like them and train according to their instincts. He felt that training them this way, the old Native American way, the horses would be better connected to their owners and riders.
He had pretty lofty goals for someone who was just ten years old.