The Mustang Tamer

Ben stayed up well into the night, Googling the same things Beth had the night before. He’d heard Niki mention the legendary Mustang Tamer before so, without thinking, he picked up the phone. Just as someone picked up, he noticed the clock. “Shit,” he muttered.
“Yes?” a male voice with a slight Spanish accent asked.
“Sorry Ace, I just realized what time it was.”
“No don’t worry about it. Pippa was acting a little colicky earlier so we’re still in the barn.”
“I thought you put Niki on bed restriction.”
Ace sighed. “I tried. She chewed me out this afternoon so now I’m just watching her like a hawk.”
“Well I had a question for her if she could spare a moment.”
“Sure, hold on.”
There was about forty-five seconds of dead air before the familiar voice came on. “Hey Ben what’s happening?”
“Nothing much. I’ve got a question for you.”
“About that black stallion you picked up?”
“Yeah,” Ben said slowly. “How…?”
“Beth e-mailed me last night.”
“Yeah well he attacked Gallagher as soon as we brought him in.”
“I heard that too.”
“And what’s your opinion?”
“Well I’d have to see him first. He sounds kind of like Trial when I first brought him in. He probably just needs another horse to put him in his place. Tribute kicked Trial’s ass and he’s been mellower since. I’ll never be able to ride him but I want to keep him wild to protect his mares.”
Niki had been raising mustangs for years. She kept what she called a “wild-running” herd on a three-hundred acre range and was working on building a second one. Her black stallion Trial ran the herd. The second herd was being shaped around her latest acquisition; a strawberry roan stallion she’d named Toledo. She also kept ten or so horses in her barn including Tribute, a jumper named Claimer who was Beth’s favorite, a pair of twin mustangs she was training to perform a trick-riding routine, a bossy mustang mare named Becca, and even a horse that Niki had bought from Ben, a quarter horse gelding named Bayou.
“Want another stallion?” Ben asked.
“He’s black?”
“With a blue eye.”
“Hmm, tempting. Tell you what, I’ll come over tomorrow and take a look at him.”
“Well, that’s my other problem. I can’t find him.”
“You can’t find him?” Niki repeated.
“He’s disappeared. We checked all the fence lines. Nothing, not even a hoof print.”
“Because wild horses are automatically put off by fences; they avoid them whenever possible. I’ll bring Bayou over and-”
“Oh no. If you hurt yourself, Ace will have my head.”
“Oh please. We’ll be over in the morning.”

True to her word, Niki and Ace showed up at nine the next morning, pulling a horse trailer.
Ace hoped out of the driver’s side, lowering the ramp and Niki began backing out the first horse.
The chestnut gelding, Bayou, swung his head around to take in his surroundings, and then found a patch of grass to munch on.
The next horse was Niki’s black stallion Tribute. She backed the horse out of the trailer without touching him and didn’t bother to grab the lead she’d draped over his neck.
“Coming Ben?” Ace asked as he tossed a western saddle over Bayou’s broad back. The Quarter horse bobbed his head in anticipation.
“You guys are really going to go riding in a five-acre field?”
“Yep,” they responded at the same time.
“If this horse is as dangerous as you say, we’ll want to get away fast. Plus, Bayou and Tribute don’t take kindly to being pushed around and will push back.”
“Well I guess I’d better come then.”

Half an hour later, the three were jogging across the field to a chunk of trees where the stallion was probably hiding. Ace seemed ill at ease, his nearly black eyes watching Niki closely. Niki had tied the reins of her hackamore and had set them over the horn of the saddle. She was leaned back in the deep western seat and appeared to be almost asleep.
When they entered the woods, Tribute stopped, causing Bayou to pin his ears. Niki’s eyes flew open and she sat up. Then she did something Ben had never seen her do with Tribute: she picked up her reins.
“What is it love?” she crooned as she stroked the stallion’s tense neck. After a few moments, he visibly relaxed under his master’s touch. Without the aid of reins, Niki guided him to the right. The horse took two steps and balked, backing rapidly.
“Tribute,” Niki scolded lightly. She tried again to move him forward. The stallion shook his head. Niki picked up the reins and moved them to the right and gave a light kick with her legs.
Tribute reared, lashing out with his massive front hooves. Not the show rear Ben had seen the amazing horse preform either. “Easy,” Niki said, shock clear in her voice.
Ace reached over to grab the horse’s bridle. Tribute saw the hand reaching for him and shied, bumping into Ben’s gelding who pinned his ears and lashed out at the stallion. Tribute wheeled with the precision of a barrel racer and landed a swift kick to the gelding’s chest and then rocketed off.
“Shit,” Ace said. He turned Bayou and galloped after the other horse.
Ben watched as Niki raised a hand to stop Ace. Ace obeyed and watched with Ben as Niki leaned forward to talk into the frightened stallion’s ears. Within ten seconds she had the horse slowing his pace and stopped in thirty. When she stopped, she bent in the saddle.
Ace and Ben were off like bullets, galloping towards Tribute. Ace didn’t even stop Bayou before catapulting himself to Tribute’s side. He pulled Niki off the black stallion and into his arms.
“What hurts?” he demanded with a more pronounced accent, running his hands down her side.
“Nothing,” she said quickly although she didn’t pull away. “Just a little nausea. Doctor says it’s normal.”
Ace’s touch turned gentle as he smoothed a hand over her hair. There had been a time, not so long ago, when Niki had hated Ace and all of his family because of a mistake her father had made; cheating on Niki’s mother with Ace’s mother. She’d resented Ace even more when he’d become her step brother. Then he’d blackmailed her into letting him work for her. No one had really known what had happened, but suddenly the two were engaged and then married.
“Let’s go,” Ace said firmly.

Niki shook her head. “No way. Tribute needs to see he was overreacting and there’s nothing to be afraid of. He probably caught wind of the other stallion and wasn’t expecting it.”
Ace looked like he didn’t believe it. “I’ll walk him back up then,” he said. “You take Bayou.”
“No. I was the one riding him when he was scared, I’ll be the one riding him when he realizes there’s nothing to be afraid of. And even you never, ever ride Tribute.”
Ace released her reluctantly and collected Bayou who’d come trotting back like an obedient collie.
Niki swung in to the saddle and stretched her legs before putting her feet in the stirrups.
“Let me go in first,” Ben insisted.
Niki shot him a look.
“It’s my place. And unfortunately,” he muttered under his breath, “my horse.”
Niki glared at him another moment and then shifted her weight to have Tribute step out of Ben’s way. They rode again to the group of trees. Before he could back off, Niki eased rather than jumped out of the saddle. She took the reins over Tribute’s head and led him behind Ben’s gelding.
Halfway in, Ben heard a twig snap. The next second, the black stallion charged from the trees. Ben’s gelding reared. The stallion, taking it as a challenge, reared up and went after the other horse.
Ben was thrown sideways. He felt a hoof graze his leg and jumped off the opposite side. Niki was working on taking off Tribute’s tack. By the time he’d scrambled to his feet, Tribute was charging into the fray. He quickly landed a blow to the other stallion’s side.
The black abandoned his attack on Ben’s gelding and turned to Tribute. Fortunately, Tribute had almost hand’s advantage on the other stallion, as well as the advantage of surprise. He latched on to the other horse’s neck and swung him in a half-circle. The other horse kicked and screamed, trying to get free. When Tribute finally let him go, he wheeled around and landed a kick to the black’s side.
“Tribute!” Niki called as Tribute began to chase the other horse away. Already the black had disappeared into the trees.
Tribute turned around and trotted back to Niki. He was breathing slightly harder than normal but other than that he seemed unphased. Niki ran her hands over him anyway. “Good boy,” she said when she finished. She looked over at Ben, who was checking his own gelding. “Is he okay?”
“Spooked by other than that I think he’ll live.”
“Well he’s a mustang,” Niki concluded. “A little more aggressive than normal-”
“You could say that again,” Ben muttered.
“Trial was almost the same way. Aggressive with other horses. Not to such a degree. Then Tribute put him in his place and he calmed down once he knew he wasn’t top dog. Niki’s stallion was just as bad as him,” he pointed the direction the stallion had gone. “He attacked Talehga and…” she clenched her teeth. “I just about shot him.”
“What about Toledo?”
“I got Toledo from the Mustang Tamer’s personal herd. He was never aggressive.”
Ben frowned. “I thought the Tamer went out of business.”
Niki frowned nonchalantly. “He doesn’t commercially train anymore. He still sells horses. How else would he keep the place up?”
“You’ve met him?”
Niki smiled secretly. “Yeah. I’m probably one of the only ones that ever have. I managed to pick up a few techniques.”
“So, what you inherited the name?”
“I guess you could say that it was passed down.”
“Well Beth’s got some crazy idea about taking the horse up to the original Mustang Tamer.”
“He doesn’t train anymore.”
“I know.”
“Well, I mean no one else has tried to go up there in the last couple of years except for me to pick up horses.”
“I’d take the horse up there just to drop him off in the wild.”
“I tell you what. Go up there and talk to his groom. She can tell you if he’ll train him or not.” Ben had turned around and missed Niki’s secret smile.