When Will and I got to the stables, Sarah came out of the office. It was quite a bit colder than the last time we were here and I was glad for my jacket.
“Thanks so much for coming today, Mary, I really needed you. There´s a guy coming from the bank, and I would have had to cancel the class.”
“Why didn´t you say so when you called? That it was an emergency.”
“I really didn´t want to pressure you. I know you´re not happy with teaching yet. But this should be an easy class, they´re all pretty new, and I won´t give them anything hard.”
We began walking toward the barns, Will beside me.
“Here´s a list of things you can try. They´ve done all of them, just get them doing them a little better.
“Will, can you get sketches of each of the girls? Just let them take them home. They´ll show their folks, and I´m sure you´ll get some more commissions. After the class, come to the office. The guy should be gone by then, and I can fill you in on the orders I got this week... Oh, God, here comes First Central Bank.”
Sarah hurried off as a dark-red Mercedes entered the yard. There were no other horses around, and the girls were just starting to arrive. I met each of them as they came in and tried to learn their names. I said I was Sarah´s ‘helper-outer´, told them to saddle up.
Will came with me to Hero´s stall. Hero was glad to see me, nuzzled me and let himself be petted on the nose and between the eyes. He looked in my jacket for a treat.
“Will, bring me an apple from that box over there, will you.?”
I gave him a piece. The other half went in my pocket. Then, I led him out of the stall to put on his bridle and saddle. I asked Will to make several copies of Sarah´s list.
“Will, see how he keeps putting one ear back in your direction? He´s nervous about things behind him. Probably someone scared him from behind when he was a colt. It´s a good idea to keep away from horses who are worried about things like that. Save you a kick in the teeth that wouldn´t really be his fault.”
I led Hero out into the yard, mounted, and rode to the ring where the girls were nearly all assembled. Will climbed to his seat on the stack of hay. I introduced myself, took the list and waved it at the girls.
“Guys, Sarah gave me a list of things you´re supposed to know how to do. Here´s the deal. I´m going to read stuff off the list, and you do them as best you can. When we´ve finished the list, you tell me what you want to go back over, what you´re having trouble with, and we´ll work on it. Okay?”
By the time I was through half the list, I had a good idea who could do what. There were three good riders, girls who had learned the basics well. The rest needed help.
I pulled the three good ones out, brought the rest around us.
“Guys, you all know that Sally, Patty, and May have got this stuff down fairly well. Here´s what I want to do. Tell me what you think.”
I assigned each of the good riders an exercise. Then, I said, “Who wants to do which exercise?” The girls split up in groups with the three lead girls.
“Now, you lead girls. Your job is not to show your group how good you are. Your job is to make them as good as you are. If you need help, let me know.”
The rest of the class went fast and well. None of the lead girls was any good at teaching, but they really tried. When they got in a hole, they would call me and I would help them out. That way, I got to help all the girls with the things they really needed.
Before we finished, I ran them all through the routines we had started with. They were a lot better and they all knew it. I sent them off to take care of their mounts and rode over to Will.
“What do you think?”
“You are beautiful and you are good with kids. You gave responsibility to the ones who were good, and made them responsible for the improvement of the others. I´m pretty sure there are some of those girls who don´t like one another, but they sure put it aside in this class.”
“How was the sketching?”
“Oh, fine. I got a good shot at each of them. Just cameos, but it should work. Look”
Will´s sketches were simple, clear and caught something of each girl. If their folks wouldn´t go for the big pictures, they were dumb.
Sarah came walking into the barn as I was finished with Hero. He dug in my jacket again, just where he knew the rest of the apple was. I gave it to him.
“You two want to come to the office and talk about Will´s pictures?”
Will said, “First, here are the ones I did today. Do you want to give them to the girls, or shall I?”
“You do it, Will.”
“Fine, I´ll just say I was visiting and thought they´d like these. I won´t try to sell them anything.”
“I think they´ll sell themselves.”
Will went off to the other barn, and I said to Sarah, “While you and Will are talking, I´m going to talk with The Bay. Okay?”
“Fine. Be careful. But, you know that better than I.”
I picked up the saddle I had been using and set it in the back ring I´d used last time. Then I went to The Bay´s stall. He saw me coming, but he just watched me.
“Hi, fella.” I talked with him. His ears stayed calm and he did not seem afraid. I took down his hackamore, and he let me put it on him.
I led him to the ring. Once more, he pushed past me, running to the center, turning to face me. I let him go. For a while we did the same dance as before. I looked him in the eye, walked squarely toward him, forcing him back until he got really upset. Then I let the pressure off a little, and let him come back. It wasn´t long before he was gentle as a lamb in front of me. I walked alongside him, watching his ears, touching him, petting him, making him feel my hands all over him, making him know it was okay. But I kept watching for any sudden movement. There was none. He let me pick up his feet.
I went to the fence and picked up the saddle blanket. He eyed me when I approached, but didn´t get upset. His ear followed me. So did his eye. I put the blanket on his back. He just looked back at me and blew through his nose. The saddle went on without a problem. I cinched it up to normal tightness in easy steps. The Bay didn´t move. I went round in front of him. Talked to him. He pushed me with his nose and I gave him a hug around the muzzle. I took the lead rope on his hackamore and went back to the stirrup. I put my foot up and leaned some weight on him. He just moved to balance me. I swung up on the saddle, lying across his back. His ears turned toward me, but just alert. He looked around, made sure it was me. I swung my leg over and into the other stirrup and started him up. He walked off.
I was walking The Bay across the yard when Sarah and Will came out of the office. Sarah stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth open. Will turned white. I walked him up to the hitching rail.
“Sarah, next time I´ll put a bridle on him. I suppose he has one?”
“Uh, yes. He does.”
“I think it would be a good idea if you don´t let anyone else ride him for a while, okay? In a week or so, you should be able to use him for your better riders, or for yourself. I just want to be sure the fix is really in.”
“Mary, as far as I´m concerned, he´s yours. I would have had to put him down. You´ve saved his life.”
The Bay was getting a little twitchy. I petted his neck, talked to him.
“I´m taking him in now, Sarah. He´s had a busy day. Will, wait until I´m inside the barn, then come on over, will you?”
I walked The Bay back to the barn and swung down off his back. I went to his head and hugged him again, then took the saddle off. He went into the stall like a lamb. I broke up an apple and gave it to him. When Will came in, I gave The Bay another.
“Hi, Will. I´m really proud of this guy. He really came through for me, today.”
“Mary, if I hadn´t seen it, I wouldn´t have believed it. I just wish I had been there to see you get up on him.”
“Sorry, Will, I guess I just wanted to be alone with him, do it myself. I wasn´t at all sure I could. But it turned out to be easy, thank God.” We started walking back toward the office. “How´d you make out with Sarah?”
“She´s going to tell the three people who are interested that I´ll do a pastel ‘suitable for framing´ for $100. I´m going to sketch the rest of the girls in that Saturday class, and we´ll see what happens. Also, she thinks some of her other customers might want something.”
“That´s terrific!”
“Well, the problem is, there are only so many people who are customers for that sort of thing. That´s why Stubbs did such grand things – he could charge a lot of money for them, so even if there weren´t a lot of them, he could still make a living.”
“We´ll see, Will Spector. We´ll see.”
We went into the office. “How´d your meeting go, Sarah? All right?”
“Thanks, Mary. It went fine. I probably shouldn´t have gotten so nervous about it, but this place runs on a shoestring, you know, and these guys scare me.”
“Don´t I know. Well, it´s getting late, we have to get back.”