Rodeo Rocky by Jenny Oldfield

Author:Jenny Oldfield [Oldfield, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781402268328
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

“Here’s how I see it.” Kirstie helped at the cookout by serving barbecued chicken to the guests and explaining her theory about Rodeo Rocky to anyone who would listen.

It was one week after the ex-rodeo horse had joined the Half Moon remuda, and as far as Kirstie was concerned he’d been behaving like an angel. Now Sandy Scott, Lennie Goodman, Lisa, and Matt were considering the transformation that had come over the big bay horse.

Kirstie spooned barbecue sauce over the plates, then waved the ladle around. “No horse is born mean. He only gets mean if someone treats him rough. So, with Rocky, he had one bad experience and it scared him real bad. For two days he went crazy.”

“Hey!” Lisa protested as a splatter of barbecue sauce narrowly missed her clean blue T-shirt.

Kirstie ignored her friend. “You’d be crazy if you’d been kidnapped and forced into some dark truck that roared you away from the beautiful place you’d lived in all your life!”

“Sshh, honey!” Sandy took the sauce ladle from her and made her serve salads instead, hoping she could do less harm.

“… So!” Kirstie didn’t even notice that she’d changed jobs, she was so excited about Rocky’s progress. “With Rocky, it was like all men are the enemy!”

“Sure.” Matt conceded this much. “But you’re saying you’ve worked with him and got rid of this crazy streak?” All week he’d remained doubtful, and it seemed he wasn’t about to change his mind.

Kirstie nodded. “He’s smart; real smart. It only takes him twenty-four hours in the round pen to know all men aren’t the enemy after all. He checks me out and decides I’m OK, for a start. I’m talking to him, I’m feeding him, I’m taking him out to the meadow and showing him where to find the best grass.”

“He knows you’re with him, not against him!” Out of range of Kirstie’s waving arms, Lisa gave her friend some warm support. “Have you been out to the meadow to see him with the other horses?” she asked Matt and Sandy. “The herd gives him respect because he’s big and strong …”

“… Except for Silver Flash,” Kirstie put in. The big sorrel with the white blaze down her nose hadn’t exactly given Rocky a warm welcome.

“OK, and poor Jitterbug wasn’t too happy either,” Lisa admitted. “But there’s been no real trouble. Lucky made sure of that. He took to Rocky, showed him around real good.”

“Lucky’s been great,” Kirstie agreed, drowning Lennie Goodman’s salad in dressing. “He stuck with Rocky. Now it’s Cadillac and Crazy Horse; Lucky and Rocky. No one can get between those two anymore!”

“Well, that’s great.” Kirstie’s mom was genuinely pleased. “I’ve been checking Rocky out all week, and I agree with you, you wouldn’t know him as the same horse as the one we drove up from San Luis.”

“So when does he start earning back what we paid for him?” Matt stacked used plates on a nearby table. “Meaning, when do we put someone on his back and let him ride out on the trails?”

There was a pause.

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