Sonita

Sonita hollered as I drove in. As always, she was ready to go. She paced up and down her run, carefully walking as close to the rail as she could. It had rained the night before and she refused to get mud on her feet.

As I worked through my chores I kept looking over at her. The new coat that came in with the harvest moon every year was thick and glossy. Deep cherry red, she was at her prettiest in the early fall.

Sonita became nervous under my gaze and she lunged at the horses on either side of her. Her muscles bunched and slid, smooth under her skin.

I went back to work, releasing her from my eyes. She settled and walked back into her stall for a bite of hay.

When I put her in the line-up, I was careful to tie her so the other horses were well out of her kick zone. She squealed a few times and settled in, happy enough to watch me ride the other horses and snake at them over the rail as I loped past.

"Hssss," I would mutter as I flashed by her and lifted my rein in a mild threat. It was just enough to get her to keep those bared yellow teeth at bay. My own version of horse whispering, I guess.

I brought her out to ride in the middle of my day. I was warmed up enough to deal with her and still fresh enough to survive what ever my little darling cooked up for our ride.

We walked around the perimeter of the rail. I made her bridle through the corners and past my tie rail, but let her spook and blow at the walls and shadows in between.

After we had made it around once each way Sonita had enough. She rattled her rein chains and savaged the roller in her bit. She began to strike out a forefoot every step or two. She didn't break gait, or lean on my hand so I caved. We picked up our lope.

I let her go around the rail at her own speed. Today she was content with a fast lope.
"Good girl," I said. This usually meant we were looking at a good work-out.

Sonita tried to come off the rail, afraid of the dark shadows against the arena walls. I pushed her into frame and loped her through the scary corners, driving her hindquarters forward, her shoulders into the center of the arena, easing the pressure building in her mind.

We went into our circles and Sonita relaxed into the zone. We loped our standard twenty circles each way, ending collected and correct for the last five.

As she stood in the center to blow, relaxed, alert and ready to go, I ran through my mental checklist of our strengths and weaknesses.

She still wouldn't stop worth a damn. I'd gone through a time thinking she wasn't able to. But she would park it as hard and long as necessary to turn a cow.

My inexperience as a cow horse trainer combined with Sonita's fierce determination to only obey if she saw a purpose had made it clear that World Show or no, we were going to take a hit on our stops.

She would still well up against my hand and look to the outside of her circles. I had never succeeded in getting her to focus on the track ahead. She was way too busy checking for her friends, the dreaded judges and something she may need to spook at.

Our spins were lovely.
Her feet never went off course. Her circles were clean and perfect, her run downs were true.

If the moons were in their proper phases and the stars were aligned in our favor, nothing could stop us on a cow.

We were qualified. We were going. Sonita was what she was and so was I. I sighed and loped her off.

Once I was satisfied we had done everything needed and Sonita had her edge off, I took her outside to walk in the fields behind the indoor arena. Sonita relaxed as soon as we came into the bright sun. As always, she was so much happier when we were outside.
I looked at my watch. We were an hour and a half into our ride. As usual, her workout had put me behind. I would be riding until at least 7 o'clock now.

Getting Sonita ridden was exhausting. We both needed the walk through the fields to regroup.
She still skittered and played, but most of her urgency was gone. She slowly cooled. I took her back to the barn, washed her down, threw on her cooler and brought her back to the arena to spend the rest of the day on the rail. Putting her up too soon still caused her to fret. I gave her a scratch, checked her legs for heat and went back to work.

That night as I started to put my horses away, one of my clients came out to help. (I had very well-trained clients)

"I'll take Sonita," Crystal told me.

Sonita nuzzled Crystal's hair and walked quietly next to her. Crystal was one of the few people Sonita liked, much less acknowledged.

I walked next to them and the two horses I was leading stayed carefully back and to the side. They knew to stay away from Sonita's teeth and heels.

"Are you excited about the Worlds? Are you getting scared?," Crystals friendly chatter brought me out of my thoughts.

"You know what, I'm starting to get excited," I said.

"You know what I'm scared of? I've decided to sell Sonita."

Crystal fell silent and stared. It was official. I had said it.