John and Argent by cmsix

Chapter 5

I slept until noon the next day. After crawling out and dressing and stumbling outside to piss I went to check on the pups. They needed water and food. After filling the water pan I hand fed them one at a time. They were accustomed to me now and would actually play a little. They gained confidence daily and I knew that I would be able to start training them within a week.

Finishing with them left me free to go check for horses. As I left the cave I saw them about a mile and a half up the valley. I went right back inside and closed the door. I wanted them to drift up the blind canyon and there was nothing I could do outside that would hasten them into it. The only thing I would accomplish outside would be scaring them off.

I spent the day unpacking the wagon and putting my things into reasonable order against one of the cave's walls. There was plenty of room to spread the things out for easy access. I assembled the custom made ultra light desk and chair and put the computer system into operation.

Later I spent some time going over the map again to see if I'd missed anything important when I'd studied it before my departure. I didn't find anything of much interest that I didn't already know about. I wanted to go take a look at the camp of the Neanderthals but I knew that I should get hold of some horses first as they were close by. If I managed to get them stranded up in the canyon this time I would be tied up with them for several days. If I missed out again I could think about exploring then.

I worked with the pups again later in the day and then went to bed shortly after eating. I intended to be well rested and up early the next morning. If I were lucky with the horses I would have a big day.

I was up well before sunrise. Tending to the pups and then making my breakfast still let me leave the cave just as the sun was thinking about getting the day started. With the night vision goggles and the thirty ought six in hand I walked over to the mouth of the small blind canyon. I spotted the horses before getting half way to the back of it. This sent me in the opposite direction to begin building a fence.

I hated building fences; hated it even if the materials were bought and delivered. This time it was even more of a pain in the ass since I'd been obliged to cut the trees for the post and rails. The ground was relatively soft here. This made the postholes easier to dig but also meant that I would have to sink them deeper.

These horses had never seen a fence and would not have any idea that it was meant to hold them in. They would probably crash into it to get through and if I didn't make it high enough they would probably try to jump over it. At least they were on the short side and would have limited jumping ability.

I managed to get all the post in place and one string of rails across them before darkness was approaching. Knowing that this wouldn't hold the horses if they headed back out I decided to build a couple of fires to keep them from approaching. This meant that I would have to sleep outside to make sure the fires were fed through the night. Not a pleasant proposition.

I cleared two spots for fires and got them started bringing up more wood to add later. I got my sleeping bag and air mattress from the wagon after tending to the pups and took it out by the nearest fire where I prepared for my first night sleeping out doors in this world. I'd been camping hundreds of times on earth but this felt different to me. I assumed that I had a much better chance of encountering curious or even dangerous wild life tonight.

The night passed without incident though and I was up before the sun again the next morning. I built the fires up again and then went into the cave to fix a little breakfast and tend to and play with the pups for a while. Then it was back to work.

I finished the fence just before noon. Not bothering with a gate yet I had completely closed off the canyon. Now the horses were stuck in the canyon until I let them out. All I had to do now was build a capture pen.

I put it on the same side of the canyon as my cave. The canyon's wall was high and steep on that side and there was a fairly large overhang that would give some protection from the weather and would also make it nearly impossible for any predators to get above the pen and jump down into it among the captured horses. Nothing would piss me off more than to spend all this time pinning some horses and then have some animal jump in with them for an easy meal.

The capture pen turned out fairly large, about one hundred and fifty feet square. Using the original fence as one side and the canyon wall as another left me with only two sides and a gate to erect. It was still a lot of work and I wasn't finished by dark. Since the canyon was closed off completely now I didn't need to sleep in the open again tonight.

I knocked off and went into the cave around sunset. I spent a couple of hours with the pups tonight. They were not afraid of me in the least anymore. I even started teaching them to come when I called or whistled. It wasn't a big test since they were still in their pen but they did all right at it. Of course they were still doing a lot of youthful playing. I didn't mind that since it meant that they were accustomed to my presence now.

The two days of fairly strenuous manual labor had put a little soreness in my newly restored body and I was in the wagon and asleep early. I was also up and at 'em early the next morning. I finished the capture pen before noon. I'd put a large gate into it at the corner where it met the cross fence that closed off the canyon. I was hoping to haze the horses out of the valley slowly to let them find the cross fence blocking their way out. Then I intended to approach them carefully and see if some or all of them would enter the capture pen.

That was for tomorrow though and I spent the rest of the day covering the outside of the capture pen with electric fence wire and setting up the other charger. This wasn't for the horses it was to discourage predators. I put plenty of contact wire on the outside of the fence on all three sides. I wasn't going to all this effort to make the horses easier for something to eat.

It was then another few hours with the pups and back off to bed for me. I could see the end of the horse capturing now and was glad of it. I was hoping that this would be the last of my fencing for a long while.

I got up before sunrise this morning. After fixing breakfast and feeding the pups I slung the rifle over my shoulder, strapped on the Glock and headed outside. Crossing the fence I checked to make sure that the charger wasn't on at the pen. I didn't want to chance the horses getting a shock. It would probably panic them and I surely didn't need that.

Walking up canyon I saw the horses were about halfway back. They were by the stream just now and a couple of them were drinking. I slipped over to the canyon wall farthest from them and made my way to the general center of the canyon between them and the back. Every horse was focused on my movements by now.

I started toward them very slowly and hadn't gone far before they headed away from me. I stopped and let them move off at their own pace. It was a slow one and that suited me fine. When they felt safer and stopped I would move toward them again. Four or five repetitions of this had them down by the cross fence and backing off a little I let them explore it and look for a way out.

When the stallion moved down to the end and entered the pen I was thrilled. It couldn't be this easy. It was though. Moving toward them as soon as he entered the pen caused the rest to follow him in. As they moved around in the pen and discovered there was no way out of it I approached and by the time the stallion was moving toward the gate to leave the pen I was close enough to make him move back.

I walked slowly up to the gate and shut it not really believing how easy it had been. Of course this was only the beginning of a lot more work but it was a good beginning.

My next project would be letting some of them out. I wasn't surprised that this was the same bunch I'd seen in the canyon a few days ago. There were still fourteen grown horses, six yearlings and nine foals. I only needed three grown horses at the most. I didn't need any of the yearlings or foals. If I happened to keep a mare that had a foal that was all right but it would be a little extra bother.

I spent the rest of the day mostly thinning my new heard and still had more than I wanted. It was a bitch to try and let one out of the gate and still keep all the rest from escaping, especially since I had to single out a cull and then open the gate a little for it to leave through and then I had to practically drive it out while keeping the others back. It's a wonder I didn't lose them all. By the time I was too tired to fuck with them anymore I still had five mares, the stallion and six foals in the pen.

Since two more foals were staying close to the pen on the outside I assumed that I had some mothers and babies separated. I could sort that out later. I tied the gate closed, turned on the charger and called it a night.

Damn, this was worse than a job. I was up early again the next morning, fixing breakfast and tending to the pups. After eating I went out to get started with the horses. Not only were all those in the pen still there but all the others were hanging around close to it. I did notice that they all seemed to be aware of the sting in the thin wire on the outside now though as if they got very near the fence they shied back pretty quickly before touching the charged wire. I turned the charger off first thing.

Two more hours of chasing my tail in the pen and swinging the gate back and forth left me with the two best mares and the stallion in the pen. All the foals were outside now and none of them seemed to want back in. I assumed this meant that I hadn't selected a mare that had a foal with her.

I left them to settle down and went back into the cave, feeding and playing with the pups some and getting a little bite of lunch for myself. I also thought about what my next move would be. As bad as I hated the thought I knew that I was going to have to build some more fence. I had to extend one from the corner of the pen to the opposite canyon wall. I needed to be able to work with one horse at a time in the pen and I also needed to be able to turn all of them out to get water. It took the rest of the day and all of the next one to get everything ship shape with the fencing, including stringing plenty of electric fence wire all along the outside of all the fences.

I had also taken the time to put a large gate in both the original fence and the new one so I could let the horses that I didn't want to keep out. I didn't care if they hung around for a while, especially since there was a chance that one of those I wanted to keep would injure itself while I was calming and training them. I didn't want them out in the canyon grazing though. I was going to need all that grass and more for the three I was keeping. I didn't even want to think about all the hay I would have to cut by hand to feed the three over the winter.

After I figured the fence building was finished for a while I took a day off. That afternoon I walked upriver to see if I could run across another deer. The pups and I didn't have much of the first one left and while I could feed myself and even the pups from my stored food I didn't want to have to.

I was in luck sort of. I spotted a nice sized doe after walking about three miles up river. She was about three hundred yards from me when I saw her and taking a good rest before firing, killing her was no problem. I did have plenty of work packing her back the three miles to the cave though. Even after gutting her she probably weighed nearly a hundred and seventy pounds.

When I had her back to the cave I skinned her out and then cut her up into pieces. I built a fire and put the back strap on to cook, cutting off some of the neck and giving it to the pups. They approved of the fresh meat and gorged themselves, promptly settling in for a nap afterward.

I decided I needed a smokehouse outside to cure some of the meat I would be getting for winter. I hated to think about building something else and I didn't want to cut any more of the trees near me unless I had to. I also needed to think about getting a larger supply of firewood for the upcoming winter. It would have to wait until at least one of the horses was slightly trained. That was going to take a while.

I didn't bother getting up early the next morning. When I did I fooled with the pups for a while and ate some breakfast then went outside to deal with the horses. I managed to turn the stallion and the biggest mare out into the bigger pen that I had put up last then I got my rope and shut the pen's gate securely.

Roping the mare that was left in the small pen, I let her scramble around and fight for a few minutes while I just held on to the end of the rope. Gradually I worked my way toward the center of the pen and the snubbing post that I had put there. When I got a turn of the rope around the post I tied it off and then, keeping to one side of the mare, I worked her in the other direction until she wound the rope up around the post. Even though this was the smallest of the horses it still weighed at least eleven hundred pounds. There was no way for one man to handle a grown horse with brute force. I'd had to rely on the rope and the snubbing post to get control.

When I'd roped her luckily the loop had slid up near her throatlatch before it tightened. It sounds cruel I know but with a completely wild horse you almost always have to be able to choke it some at first. I had to this time too. The mare, I decided to call her Sally, was barely winded by the time I had her roped and snubbed. She fought the rope hard when she discovered that it was pulling back so hard at her. I had put the snubbing post in as deeply as I could manage with the diggers and it was a little over four feet in the ground. It was enough and the mare couldn't come close to pulling it out. As she fought and pulled the loop tightened around her neck and cut her breath off. She wouldn't let up and finally she slowly fell over unconscious.

The aggravating thing about working with horses, especially completely wild ones, is that it takes so much patience and waiting. It takes a long time for things to sink in for a horse and you just have to wait them out. You also have to move very slowly around them as any sudden move can panic them and make them fight again.

I spent nearly half an hour working my way thirty feet. Finally I was able to very slowly reach out and touch the mare on the side of the head. She tensed and jerked when I did it but I just kept talking to her softly and finally I could rub up and down her cheek without too much agitation on her part.

It was slow going all the way. I spent another hour just getting her used to my touching her and petting her. Finally I tied the rope so she couldn't get loose and walked back into the cave to fetch a halter.

I found the heavy-duty breaking halter in a size that would work for the mare. Knowing that I would be wanting to catch and train at least a few horses, I'd had Argent supply me with the approximate head sizes of horses I was likely to encounter and with several halters for those sizes. A halter that is too small for a horse can rub raw spots and make sores, one that it too loose can easily become entangled and sometimes leads to a horse injuring itself trying to get loose. This particular halter that I was about to use had and extra wide and strong strapping in the portion that went around behind the head. This was to help distribute the force, as the horse would be pulling with all its strength at first to try and break away.

When tied with a halter no tightening around the head or throat occurs. This means that the only thing that holds the horse in place is the strength of the bindings. One important lesson a horse must learn is to stand still and wait when it is tied. This is a lesson it needs to learn without ever being allowed to break free. If the horse is not allowed to break free, especially during its early training, it will soon stop trying. If it is able to break free it will almost always try to escape at least once each time it is tied.

It took me another half hour or so with a slow approach to get the halter on the mare. When I finally got it on her and adjusted properly it was only a matter of tying an extra strong lead rope to the snubbing post and attaching it to the halter. I gave her no more than eighteen inches of free line. Having her tied securely to the post I removed the rope from her neck and left her there. Teaching a horse to stand tied without struggling to break away involves getting it securely tied, leaving it alone to discover the facts and hoping it doesn't injure itself in the process.

Hoping is about all you can do for possible injuries. If the horse manages to get a foreleg over the lead or if it falls all you can do is watch it try to free itself. Any attempt to help it will almost surely lead to the horse injuring you and it.

I left her tied and went into the cave to spend a little time with the pups and get a little food for myself. The lead rope was tied off high enough on the post so she probably couldn't accidentally get a foreleg caught over it and as I left she was leaning back with all her strength trying to pull loose. I felt sure that she would be occupied for a while.

I left her tied to the post until near sunset. When I went back out to her I had work gloves on and a longer lead rope. She was standing resignedly by the post. There was evidence of a long fight on the ground. The grassy earth was marked and torn from her pawing and pulling hooves. It was also evident that the mare had pulled and fought until she became fairly sweaty.

I approached her slowly and she seemed calm enough. I attached the long line to her halter and took a couple of wraps around the post with the other end then I released the short rope. When the mare discovered she had more freedom she back away and was about to run off. Then she found the end of this new freedom and it nearly yanked her down. It seemed then that she was beaten.

I unwrapped the end of the lead rope and went up to her. I turned around facing away from her and gave a small tug on the rope and tried to walk off hoping she would follow. She didn't.

After teaching a horse to stand tied the next step in their education is teaching them to follow you when you want to lead them somewhere. This is a harder concept for a horse to grasp than you might imagine. In the first place you must lead them while facing away from them. The old saying that you can't look at a horse and lead it too is a true one.

Horses have no natural inclination to follow a person that wants to lead them. They are also much stronger than any person and in a pulling contest they will always win. After all if people could out pull horses the horses wouldn't be very useful. Usually when teaching a horse to follow as you lead it is easiest to have someone help by approaching the horse from behind as you try to lead it. I didn't have anyone to help so I would have to rely on persistence.

I spent about twenty more minutes trying to get Sally to take the first step without positive results. After that I used the long lead rope to wind her up around the snubbing post again and I tied her short for the night. Then after checking to make sure all the gates were secure I activated the electric fence before returning to my cave.

The next morning when I got out to Sally with the long lead rope I finally got a breakthrough. I could tell from the way she stood with her head hanging low that she was tired of being tied. When I had switched lead ropes she didn't even try to escape. When I turned away from her and tried to lead her she finally took a tentative couple of steps before she stopped. I repeated and she took a couple more steps before stopping again. I knew that it was all repetition from here.

I was glad that she had come around. She hadn't had any water for a couple of days now and I knew she needed some. I did not want to have to bring it to her but I was determined not to release her until I'd made some progress. I spent a few hours getting her to follow when I led and stop when I stopped. She seemed to learn quickly now that I had her attention and just after noon I decided to try leading her to the stream for a drink.

The other two were still in the larger part of the pen but I doubted they would approach too closely while I was leading Sally. They didn't. They did approach but stayed well away and only nickered a time or two. I led Sally to the stream and let her drink a little. I knew better than to let her have all she wanted and soon I led her back to the smaller capture pen with little difficulty. I worked with her most of the rest of the day and when I left her tied that night I was sure that I was even more tired than she was.

I spent the next morning with Sally again. Around noon I left her tied and went into the cave for a bite to eat. I left the gate to the small pen open.

After eating and then spending about an hour with the pups I went back outside and as I'd hoped the stallion and the other mare were in the pen by Sally. It had probably been the first time they'd been separated in years and horses seem to enjoy each other's company. I took a circuitous route out and around and approached the pen's gate to close it. The other two didn't realize what was going on and I was able to shut the gate with no trouble. After that they moved to the far side of the pen when I approached Sally.

Taking the breaking halter off Sally I replaced it with a normal one then I led her to the gate, opened it and let her out into the larger pen. An hour of hazing and guessing later I had the other mare, Jane, in the pen and the stallion loose in the larger pen with Sally. I quit for the day and spent the rest of it in the cave resting and handling the pups.

The next three days were spent going over the same lessons with Jane and things went about the same. After she would follow when I wanted and then stop when I wanted I led her out for a drink and then back to be tied again. I went to the cave for a while leaving the gate open again hoping that the other two would be with her when I came back out.

When I did come out Sally was standing by Jane but the stallion wasn't even near the small pen. I shut the gate and had a surprisingly easy time getting a lead rope on Sally and tying her to the snubbing post also. Then I left for the day.

When I came out the next morning the stallion was up near the gate. Apparently he hadn't liked spending the night without being near either mare. I only opened the gate and went back to the cave.

I looked out at them about an hour later and he was with the mares. In a few minutes I had the gate shut again and then I led first Sally and then Jane out to the larger pen. I didn't bother with the stallion today as I figured that he would be much more trouble. I decided a day or two without food or water would make him much easier to deal with.

I checked on the stallion, Ben, the next morning but he still had more spring in his step than I wanted to deal with. I went back to the cave to lounge around and work with the pups.

I was making progress with the pups also. I could let them out of their pen one at a time and they would come to me when I called them or when I whistled to them. I thought that this was a big step for a completely wild wolf cub. I had only limited success getting them to sit so far but I was making headway.

The next morning when I checked on Ben he was looking a little tired. I got my lariat and got a loop on him without much trouble. That was when the rodeo began. Ben did not like having a loop over his head and he led me a merry chase before I got a turn around the snubbing post. It was fairly straightforward then to wind him around it but when he got close he pulled so hard that he choked himself badly.

He went down a little harder than I wanted but I took a chance and got the breaking halter on him while he was out. I didn't have time to get a lead rope attached before he was back up and fighting though. Ben was really pissed about the rope and I don't know if he was stupid or just panicked but in just a few minutes he was out again from all the pulling and choking. I got a lead rope on his halter then and when he got back up he was disoriented for a while and I was able to get him tied off short to the snubbing post. While he was fighting this new demon I was able to get some slack in the loop and get the lariat off him. I left him pulling against the snubbing post as I went back to my cave.

Ben was still not resigned to his fate by the next morning and when I approached him at the snubbing post he started fighting again so I went back to the cave to find something else to do. By the next day Ben was worn out and thirsty. The extra day standing and what I'm sure was a sore neck from pulling against the lead made it much easier to teach Ben the wonders of following a human.

I was able to lead him down for a drink without incident shortly after noon. I then took him back to the post and changed him into a normal halter and tied him. I left the gate open and went to my cave for an hour of lunch and pup work.

When I came back outside the mares were standing by Ben. I walked directly to the gate and shut it. The mares didn't even consider trying to exit at my approach and I didn't have much trouble attaching a lead to their halters and tying them.

When I tried releasing Ben to let him walk around on his own for a few minutes I had a little trouble getting him to let me attach the lead rope to his halter. I had to get the lariat and rope him again. Two more rounds of this during the after noon showed him the error of his ways I guess because the third time he let me walk up to him and hook the lead on.

I led them down to the stream one at a time for a drink and then brought them all to the small pen. I turned them loose in it for the night. The next morning I had no trouble walking up to them to attach a lead. I led them for a drink each separately again and then let them spend the rest of the day tied to the post. Just before sunset I returned to them and led them separately to the gate to release them for the night.

The next morning I was able to walk up to each of them in the large pen and attach a lead rope. I led them into the small pen and spent a couple of hours tying them and then taking one at a time for a lead around the pen.

The days began to run into each other with training the horses and also the pups. Progress was slow and it was frustrating sometimes. Within two weeks though the horses were accustomed to me and to the routine. A couple more days spent teaching them to let me saddle them and lead them around with a saddle on and then tying things on the saddle to make noise and flop around while I led them gave me confidence and finally the day to try riding them came.

It was thankfully uneventful. They expected me to handle them and lead them around every day now and it wasn't much of a leap when I put my weight into a stirrup and urged them to walk around. Next I had a leg over their back and was sitting in the saddle. I stayed alert in case one of them wanted to buck but it never came up.

Breaking a horse cowboy style by having plenty of men to hold it down while someone straps on a saddle and then having a brave soul climb aboard for the hell raising to come looks good in the movies. It is hard on the horse though and it can be deadly for the brave soul. I didn't have the luxury of this style of breaking. I didn't even like to do it that way when I had help and medical care only a 911 call away. The method I'd used this time took a lot longer but it was a lot safer and I liked to think that the horses came out better for it. I knew that I did.

After they had all been trained to let me ride them and to take at least some direction from the reins and my feet and legs it was not much trouble to teach the two mares to wear harness and then to pull a drag with it. Finally I had some locomotion available for the wagon and I could concentrate on cursing myself for not putting in a door large enough so that I could get it out of the cave.

It only took a day to rectify this problem and I decided that tomorrow I would go out for a drive with my wagon and my new team.

That night I emptied the wagon of the few supplies that remained in it. I found that I could push it by myself without too much effort so I moved it over toward the new door and had it ready to push out the next morning.

I wanted to go and check on the Cro-Magnons and I also wanted to go see what the Neanderthals were like. I knew that meeting them with the wagon and team or even horseback would be too much culture shock for them though. Tomorrow I would let Jane and Sally learn to pull the wagon and if I had time I would teach Ben to follow the wagon while tied on a lead rope. If things went really well I might try shooting from the wagon while Sally and Jane were pulling it to get them ready for things to come.

In the movies cowboys are always shooting from horseback without any trouble at all. I can tell you that it doesn't come about by accident. You have to train a horse to things like that and the first time you shoot a firearm while sitting a horse you had better have a good grip on the saddle horn.

I finally went to bed, still wondering about the best way to introduce myself to my neighbors.