This is the ninth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, and Part VIII before continuing.
Having gotten Cordy inside, I didn’t want to leave her alone in a strange place. She’s not normally destructive, but you can never know for sure what a dog is going to do when left alone for an extended period of time in a new environment. Moving these cattle was likely to going to take all morning, and the last thing I needed was for Uncle Phil and I to get back to the house, only to find the dog he didn’t want to allow inside in the first place had peed on the living room carpet or scratched up his door.
So I got her carrier from my car, set it up in the living room and lined it with an old towel before putting her inside with her water bowl. She tried to give me the Pitiful Puppy Dog Eyes through the bars of the crate, but I held steadfast. If she gave Uncle Phil any reason to kick her out, we’d be homeless, and I couldn’t let that happen. Leaving her in the crate was best for everyone, even if I couldn’t explain that to her.
“That’s a well-trained dog you have there,” Mike said as I walked outside.
“Thanks. That means a lot coming from you.”
“Why me?”
“You work with horses,” I said, reaching up to stroke the nose of the brown-and-white mare he was standing beside. “You know a well-trained animal when you see one.”
“Horses aren’t dogs.”
“They’re more similar than you might think.”
“How so?”
“They’ve both been domesticated for ages, so they have the ability to form strong bonds with humans. You just have to lay down some ground rules so they know what to expect, then stay consistent with those rules to build trust. And herd mentality isn’t so different from pack mentality. They both know they need others to survive, so they’re highly motivated to make sure they don’t get kicked out. When humans become part of the pack (or herd, as the case may be) they’re highly motivated to keep the humans happy so they can survive.”
Mike seemed to consider this for a moment before saying, “Think Cordy knows she’ll be out on her ass if she pisses off Phil?”
I snorted. “No. He’s not part of her pack.”
“You do have a strong bond with her, though.”
I nodded, still stroking the horse’s nose to get comfortable and let her get comfortable with me. “I know. She’s my girl.”
“Don’t let Star hear you say that.”
I smiled, finally looking up from the horse and meeting Mike’s eyes. “Named for the star on her nose, I assume?”
“Yep. I started calling her ‘the one with the star’ when she was born. Eventually we shortened it to ‘Star’ and it stuck.”
“That and she’s clearly a star.”
“That, too.”
We shared a smile before he said, “Need some help getting up?”
“Yes, please.”
He got down on one knee and interlaced his fingers to form a stirrup for me. I stepped into it and he hauled me up at the same time I pushed off with my other foot and swung it around to the other side of the horse. I landed in the saddle harder than I meant to, a little dazed as my brain tried to adjust to the new vantage point.
Star shifted and I automatically laid a hand on her shoulder to calm her. “Sorry about that, Star. I’m a little rusty, but I got you.”
She calmed down as Mike helped me get my left foot into the stirrup. “How’s that feel,” he asked.
I had to get my right foot in the stirrup so I could really get my weight in them to answer the question. They were the perfect length.
I grinned down at him and said, “Like riding a bike.”
To be continued…