Me and The Big K /2

We had a good lesson.Sonita had gone hard enough that she was willing to stand quiet. She still had enough gas to jingle her snaffle, her lips made a goofy flapping sound in time with her heaving flanks.
"She's not done yet." The Big K said.
"Her feet are quiet." I replied.
"You could make her stop clanking that bit if you wanted to."
"Her feet are quiet."
We sat in a silence that stretched away into the grey afternoon. I knew the Big K was trying to decide whether to get about my back talk, or be pleased that I was using my head.
A snowflake settled on my neck and instantly melted, even colder than the cooling sweat trickling between my shoulder blades.
"You circled up pretty good today."
I warmed at the rare praise. "I've been working at them."
"I could tell. What are you looking at when you run your circles?"
"What do you mean?"
"You aren't staring at her shoulders anymore. You were looking in front of you. What do you see?"
I was getting uncomfortable. "I'm not looking at anything."
The Big K shifted around on his horse to look at me. A warm smile invited me to share. C'mon, cough it up, what do you see?"
"This is kinda weird You'll think I'm nuts." I picked at the loose stitching on my saddle horn. My fingers were numb enough to not quite grab the rawhide lacing.
"I know you're nuts. Tell."
"It happened earlier in the week. I was working Sonita in the field out front of the barn."
"Why weren't you in the arena?"
"I needed to feel the circle. I thought the rails might be a crutch."
"Did it work?"
"Not at first. We were erratic and wobbly. Stupid head Sonita wouldn't settle, she was blowing all over." I pushed my stiff fingers under Sonita's red blond mane, her warmth curled through my hand. The snow fell like a steady rain. I settled deeper into my coat.
"I started to focus on a pop bottle laying in the grass. If we passed over the same spot each time around I knew we were on track.
She started to smooth out. I found other markers in the grass. A piece of trash, or a stick. Pretty soon we were clocking around pretty good. I was hitting all my markers every time around."
The Big K leaned back in his saddle and pushed his hands into his coat pockets. The horses let their heads drop, and cocked a hip. The steam rose from their haunches, as the snow soaked through their heavy winter hair.
"So what did you see?"
"This is embarrassing."
"What did you see?"
"I was staring pretty hard about 10 feet in front of us. I was trying to only look ahead, not really hunt out the trash.
A sort of path opened in front of us. It was like a track. It ran from under Sonita's
feet to about ten feet ahead of us. As long as I stayed focused, and followed that track, our circles were about perfect. You know, I think Sonita saw it too. If I got excited or distracted it would disappear, and Sonita would skitter."
"What did you do when you lost it?"
I looked at the Big K out of the corner of my eye. He wasn't making fun. His eyes were intent, his face serious.
"I would concentrate really hard, and it would just show up." I said. "I'm getting to where I can throw it out 25 or 30 feet ahead."
"What color is yours?"
"What do you mean?"
"What color is your track?"
I blew out an exasperated breath. "I guess it was silver."
"Your's would be silver. Probably all sparkly too." The Big K snorted."Mine's black, like a new tarred road."
"You see one?" He had my attention now. "It's not just me?"
"I could tell by the way you were riding today that you found one. I could see you watching it. Can you manipulate yours?"
"I told you I could throw it out ahead of me."
"No, I mean, could you follow one through a pattern?" He shifted around again. His colt picked up his head and snorted. He pawed at the icy mud, and leaned towards the warmth of his stall. The Big K gathered his reins for a brief second, and then dropped them loose on the colts neck. The colt sighed deep, and settled back again.
"I don't know, like at a show?" I said.
"If you can hold your focus long enough, you won't see nothing but the track. All you have to do is point your horse at it. She'll go right to it."
"Is that how it is for you?"
His eyes glowed in his wind burned face. "When I win it is."
"Does everybody find that track?" I couldn't believe I was sitting in the fading light, freezing my butt off, and talking zen with this cowboy.
"I don't know, you're the only other person I've ever talked to about this. It was just so obvious you were following that track around today. Anybody else'd think I was crazy."
He started his colt back to the warm yellow light of the barn.
I sat and stared at his broad back receding into the swirling snow.
"C'mon," the Big K called back to me, "It's gotta be beer thirty by now."