[open] A Restless Cowboy

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Alright... last time, give me your right. Derrick instructed the large red paint horse. The animal though, clearly wasn't paying much attention to what the human was saying, and lifted his front left hoof, which was already trimmed and re-shod. Derrick raised his eyebrows and straightened up, looking up at the horse whose eyes were half closed and his lip drooping lazily. Hey Johnny. He said pushing the horse ever so slightly to the left, making him lose his balance since his left hoof was raised. The horse stumbled slightly and jerked awake, then turned towards Derrick with a look of contempt. Derrick just chuckled at the horse, your other right genius. He said with a smile. The horse still looked like he was bitter for having been interrupted from his sleep, but shifted his weight, and lifted his right front hoof just as he was supposed to do in the first place.

Derrick shook his head, and grasped Johnny's leg, positioning the shoe on his hoof, and setting about replacing the nails. He was no farrier, though he could be if he wanted to. He'd learned years ago when he worked on his dad's racing farm how to trim hooves and put shoes on them, and the skill had come in handy these days. With not much income to speak of, Derrick had to do most things that other people normally paid others to do for them. He did the shoeing on his horses, he did the vaccinating, the stitching up of cuts, the balming of bruises... anything that he could possibly do himself, he did. It was hard enough paying for boarding two horses and paying his own bills, not to mention the dog as well. There was no room for anything extra in his budget, and he just went without. The life of a cowboy was never easy in all the western stories from the old days... and it was still true today.

Of course, if Derrick ever ran into any financial distress, his parents were more than happy to help him out since their business had been thriving as of late with several excellent colts out there bringing in plenty of prize money, but Derrick had always been the kind of guy to do things himself, and as long as he could help it, he was going to make it on his own. His parents had a summer home in Pinewood that they hadn't been to in about five years, and when he had moved out, they'd given it to him, despite his protests. Though now, he was quite glad they had... there was no way he could afford to buy a house on the minuscule salary he got while he was working on the ranch, considering he hadn't been working at all the past two years while he'd been off on his ride. He essentially lived paycheck to paycheck these days, and considering the small size of his pay checks, that was easier said than done.

Once each of the nails had been secured, clipped, and filed, Derrick let Johnny's hoof drop down to the ground once more. That'll do you for another two months He said, patting the horse on the neck, but I'm definitely not going to even attempt Jube's yet... he added, glancing over at the smaller paint that was out in one of the pastures spooking at a squirrel in a tree. The difference between the two horses was incredible. Johnny was big and stout, but agile and fast. Jube was small and thin boned, but clumsy and lazy. Johnny was willing and calm, Jube was stubborn and afraid of everything. Of course Derrick loved both of the horses, but he honestly had to say he trusted Johnny much more than he trusted Jube. He'd only had the smaller horse for two years, while he'd had Johnny all of the horse's life, a good five years. Derrick was a horseman, and he knew that every horse was different, but Jubilee had his own realm of different.

He had only been home for about three months now, and he had to admit, it was nice to not be traveling right now. He loved long riding, he really did, but being home where people knew you, and you knew people was definitely a good feeling after two years on the road. A quick glance told him that Johnny was falling asleep again, for such a young horse, he sure did enjoy sleeping. Enjoy it while you can big guy... he said, stroking the animal's muzzle, unless things change, we'll be heading out again in nine months, not sure how long we'll be gone this time... probably longer. Derrick had always been the sort to wander, and although Pinewood was the place he called home, he was rarely there for long. Unless someone made him change his mind, he'd be heading off on another trek, this one probably around the entire country instead of just half of it, which would make for an extremely long ride, probably at least five years. It was a long time to be gone, but as things were now, there wasn't much to keep him from leaving again.

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Soncee walked into the barn. Lots of things had been on her mind. The other day she met a really nice man. But she hadn't seen him in weeks. Well, so much for thinking that relationship would work out. She was very frusterated with men these days. They didnt' seem to stay in one place and keep committed. She had liked a man named Todd Johnson. He was a football player. Drop dead gorgeous is what she said he was. But that didn't work out, he ran away and soon after got shot and died. Then she met Ian and he left her after he asked her to marry him. And he also left her pregnant.

So now she had four months left until the baby would come flying out. She wasn't suppose to be riding but she told the doctor it was either she quit smoking and drinking and keep riding. Or quit riding and smoke and drink. The doctor agreed for her to ride. So she got her way. She would admit that quitting smoking and drinking was hard. It wasn't the easiest task she had done. She didn't even know why she started. It was just kind of in the family genes to smoke and drink. Back in high school that was all she did. She walked through the barn and found TinMan's stall. TinMan whinnied to her.

TinMan was a barrel horse. He had won Soncee many many rodeos. All through high school and even now days. He would never slow down. The stud horse was a dark brown, almost black. He had no markings on his face or legs. He was just a plain looking horse, but the way he was shaped, he was almost perfect. He was the smoothest horse and that made barrel racing easy. Soncee had many other horses but she had got rid of them when Ian left her and she was left pregnant. But she kept one other horse named Daisy. She was a bay paint mare. She wasn't bred for barrel racing but Soncee had confidence that the two year old will have a great future in it because she was so freaking fast. She slipped a halter on TinMan and led him from his stall and tied him up.

She brushed his dark coat out and then put a bride one him and put her barrel saddle on his back and cinched him up. She walked him down the aisle to the arena and she noticed a man shoeing his horse. She smiled a little and walked past and to teh arena. She tied TinMan's reins up on teh saddle horn and let him go in the empty arena to let him buck because he hadn't been ridden in quite a while. She didn't want to get hurt, though TinMan wouldnt' hurt her purposely. SHe walked back toward the man and looked at his horse. The horse looked very nice. She was impressed.

"Hey. I'm Soncee Grover. " she told him. She was sure he had heard some stuff about her. Like that she was a slut and what not. But she really didnt' care. She wanted to be friendly. She wasn't scared to talk. Maybe that was her problem. She wasn't scared to flirt and talk to men and then they got scared when she got pushy. She looked at him then to his horse. "That is a very nice looking horse. He looks fast." She said seeing that the horse looked very athletic. She didnt' think she had ever saw this man around here before either.

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Johnny and Derrick were essentially the perfect pair. Johnny was unusually large, but Derrick's height and broad shouldered build made him look the perfect height. He was the sort of horse that people would look at and say "with the right rider he would be amazing," and boy was Derrick ever the right rider for this horse. Derrick wasn't exactly overly tall... at an even six foot, he was more about average height really, but he was the kind of guy who looked good on a big horse. He and Johnny just looked like the kind of pair that would go far as teammates. Plus, the horse was almost exactly like the man in disposition. They were both friendly, social, perhaps a bit protective, strong willed, enduring... nearly every characteristic that Derrick had, Johnny mirrored in some way. It was fairly obvious that Derrick had done the horse's training, and that was why he was so reflected in the horse.

Derrick was the kind of guy who could be just about anything he wanted to be. Maybe not in the way he did things, but he could pull of practically every look there was in existence, and still look good in it. The cowboy look was the most... common look for him, though if there was some fancy something or other he had to go to, he wasn't against the suit he was required to wear, and damn did he ever look sharp in a suit. Then there was the every day average joe look... jeans and a t-shirt. He could pull that off just as well as anybody. The california beach boy, though rare, was one he could go with as well. He hadn't ever tried a hippie look or gangster or anything, considering those would sort of be against his character, but other than that, there really was essentially no look he couldn't pull off, and he could fit in just about anywhere.

At the end of the day though, he did have to admit that he was a bit of a player. He hadn't really had many serious girlfriends, and he had certainly had his fair share of one night stands. Ladies' man was a term that was quite often used to describe him, but no one really seemed to mind. For whatever reason, a one night stand with a cowboy seemed thrilling to most women, so it never really came back to haunt him too much. Besides, where did he have time for a serious relationship? Between working on the ranch, training Jubilee, working Johnny, and fixing whatever trouble Badger had caused during the day, he hardly had any time for himself.

Plus, with being a long rider, unless someone managed to talk him into taking on a permanent job at the ranch or something, he would be gone a lot, and what kind of girl wanted to hear from her boyfriend by only the occasional phone call or letter from the road while he's gone for two years or more? No, Derrick really hadn't had any time for a serious relationship. He supposed he simply hadn't met the right girl yet, and until he did, he was still going to be that wandering cowboy that showed up in random towns that nobody had ever heard of, stayed for a night, and continued on in the morning. He was a restless sort of guy, and he'd found no reason to settle down.

Johnny suddenly reached over and grabbed the shoulder of Derrick's shirt, and gave a good forceful tug, as if trying to repay the favor of being knocked off balance earlier... unfortunately for Johnny, pushing and pulling at fabric had two entirely different results. Instead of being knocked off balance, the fabric of Derrick's shirt simply separated at the seam with a lovely tearing sound. Unfazed, Derrick turned and looked at the horse skeptically, Oh come on Johnny... have you really been spending that much time with Jube? he asked the horse, not in any way bothered by the fact that his shirt was now torn. The big paint just swiveled one ear back, and turned his head away slightly as if trying to act innocent.

Just then Derrick heard the voice of a human and turned towards the girl who was introducing herself. He couldn't say he was all that used to people coming up and introducing themselves on a whim like that, but you know how it goes... Derrick was a social person, so it didn't bother him in the least. Derrick Tanner. He replied with a nod, extending his hand towards her. He cast a glance at Johnny when she commented on him. He's more into endurance, but if I ask him he's got good speed. Makes for a good cattle horse. Johnny was no show pony. He'd done a few competitions with Derrick back when they were younger, but it didn't suit their fancy. They were real true blue cowboys. They didn't do it for the crowds or the prizes... they did it because they had to. When they roped they did it for branding. When they penned they did it for loading and vaccinating. When they cut they did it for ear tagging. When they herded they did it for roundups. Everything they did had a purpose... and they preferred the challenge of range cattle over the cows that did the same thing every time... run out of a shoot get roped and hog-tied, release, end of story. No, they wanted the wild beasts that really fought you, the ones that didn't go down so easy. They were good at what they did, so there was no reason for them to do differently.

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Soncee tended to have more of the stay and leave relationships. She hated it. She wanted to just find someone to love her for her. And to her, to talk to every guy she saw was a chance to find the perfect man. So the last three haven't even been close, though she thought they were. Maybe this man had it. But for some reason she was doubting it. No man could ever want a pregnant twenty-one year old rodeo girl. Seriously, in the summer seh was usually gone. But she was pregnant and didn't want to travel alone pregnant. Being pregnant itself was scary to her.

Yes, Soncee never thought that she would have kids. And this situation she was in scared her. She would cry almost every night scared she wouldnt' make it. Scared she wouldn't be the mom she should be. There were times when she thought to jsut give it for adoption. But she wanted to see if she could find the right guy before she decided. And when the baby was born and she had no future with any man...it would most likely go for adoption. Soncee jsut couldnt' take care of a kid by herself. Soncee looked at the guy in front of her. She felt kind of embarrassed for talking to him all of a sudden. But he didn't seem to mind.

Derrick Tanner he told her his name. She smiled and shook his hand, her other hand holding her stomach as her baby kicked. "Nice to meet you." she said. He's more into endurance, but if I ask him he's got good speed. Makes for a good cattle horse. He told her. She nodded and smiled. The horse was kind of big for a barrel racer though. "Well, he looks like a great ride. He is gorgeous too." She told him and looked back down the aisle to see TinMan at the gate in the arena and whinnied and pawed at teh gate mad she wasn't giving him any attention. She giggled a little and looked at Derrick. "That horse in the arena is TinMan. He is my money earner in barrel racing." She told him. Then she stuffed her hands in her pants pockets, getting this feeling that he didnt like her.

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As far as Derrick knew, there wasn't anything in the world that could being about a stronger bond between a man and his horse than going on "long rides" across the country, not carrying more than what could fit on a single pack animal, and for the most part having to live off the land. Of course he and Johnny had already had quite a bond before the trip, since Derrick had trained him up from a colt, but after two years, they were even closer to one another than before. People often thought Derrick was crazy for the amount of time he spent talking to his horse as if it could understand him, but he really didn't care. He knew the horse couldn't understand him for the most part, but that wasn't why he talked to the animal. Sure, everybody talked to their horses, but Derrick practically had conversations with his horse. He probably spoke more to the horse than he did to other humans.

It wasn't that he had anything against humans... on the contrary, he quite liked the company of another person, but after spending two years, mostly away from other people, talking to the animals you're with becomes a habit that you just can't break. It was almost impossible for Derrick to dislike anyone... unless they were green peace, animal rights activists, environmentalists, concrete cowboy city slickers, or land developers. He wanted his part of the country to stay country, and all of those people seemed determined to turn it into urban developments... he would have none of it. He didn't mind cities, so long as the cities stayed where they were and didn't move out here to where the last of the cowboys were making their last stand. If types of humans were put on endangered species lists, Derrick's kind would certainly be on there. These days, even ranchers were using ATV's to round up their cattle and everything was becoming technological... he hated it. There were very few true blue cowboys out there who rode horses and herded cattle as a living, and Derrick wasn't ever going to revert to the "new" way of doing things.

He looked down in the direction of the arena where Soncee had indicated her horse was. Though most people might see the brown horse as a plain looking animal, Derrick didn't see horses that way. When he looked at a horse he saw their personality, their build, their ability to perform... to him, there was no such thing as a plain or boring horse. They were all different, all unique, and every one of them had some feature that made them spectacularly different from every other horse. Take Johnny for instance, he was a beautiful horse, yes, but there were a lot of red paints out there in the world. However, when Derrick looked at him, he saw the sort of horse that would do anything his rider asked him to... even if that meant jumping over the edge of a cliff. Jube... well, anyone could see how he was different from any other horse. Tinman... he seemed to have an infatuation with his owner. Most horses, if let loose in an arena like that would go about looking for something to eat or entertain themselves, but Tinman seemed much to attached to Soncee to even consider looking away from her.

I take it you're into rodeo then? He asked, though he already knew it was true. He had tried rodeo for a while, but it just didn't suit them. He hadn't ever done barrel racing... while Johnny was fast and agile enough for the sport, the big horse just wouldn't look right doing it... besides, they preferred to have a cow out in front of them for their sports. It was indeed an interesting horse sport though, barrel racing. Those animals were definitely spectacular animals with a lot of skill. It took incredible speed, balance, and coordination to turn like that, and Derrick definitely had the utmost respect for those who did it well. Since Tinman was her "money earner" in barrel racing, he had a feeling that the horse was good at it, and of course she was too. He had hardly noticed that she was pregnant... and even if he had, it would have just been a fleeting thought in his mind. He wasn't one to judge people. Horses were a better judge of human character than any human ever could be, and so he figured he would leave that job to them.

As soon as Derrick's attention had left him, Johnny seemed to be content that he could go back to sleep, and lifted one hoof, resting it just on the tip of his toe lazily. His eyes closed again, and his thick bottom lip drooped. The big red paint was definitely loving his time off. He was a quiet horse for the most part, and he was never bothered much when attention wasn't on him. He did love being paid attention to, but when he wasn't he didn't beg for it. He was, I suppose you could say, a very mature horse. He wasn't bothered by anything, and he didn't bother anything. Big Bad John was a live and let live sort of animal, and definitely wasn't living up to his name... but Derrick was just fine with that.

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Soncee was usually gone most of the summer. She went to rodeo after rodeo. She usually was home about once or twice a week. that was if she was lucky. Sometimes she woudl be home more than that, sometimes she wasn't. All depended on how far she had to to go. But she was rarely home for long periods of time. And havign this kid worried her if she was single, who would take care of it while she was driving and out competing? She couldn't just leave it in the car. All thsi was stressful to think about but she needed to think and make a decision whether to keep it before it's born so she doesn't get totally attached to it.

Soncee was pretty friendly herself. Sometimes she was almost too talkative though. She would see someone and ask how they were doing and what was going on in their life even if she didnt' know them. But usually she talked to teh men. She didn't know why though. She didn't really get along with him, or atleast she figured she didn't because they all leave her to be alone in this world. She had a few girls that were friends but not a whole lot. She was just not girly enough for girls I guess. She didn't know why that was either. But most of the time she was traveling by herself.

Soncee knew that a bond between a horse and rider was great. Once you bonded and got to know each other, you could do great things. But sometimes it took years and years to get a bond like her and Tinman had. Even Derrick and his horse she could tell they had a bond like no other. She could tell just by the way the horse was watching him and listening to the words he spoke to her. She smiled a little and looked back to TinMan who whinnied again and pawed some more. "TinMan...wait a moment." she told him and he stood there and waited patiently. She smiled and looked to Derrick.

I take it you're into rodeo then? He asked her. She smiled and nodded. "Oh yes. I have been barrel racing since I could lope. I did junior and high school rodeo. Then I started into different circuits and I was hoping to go pro this year, but getting pregnant stopped me this year." She told him and smiled. "TinMan took me through all of it.. well all of high school anyway." She said and looked around then back over to TinMan who was still standing. "I best be getting over to him adn riding him before he has another tizzy fit. I will talk to you later." She said and smiled brightly.

She walked away, hoping that some how, that man woudl like her. She doubted he did though. But that was usual.No one liked Soncee. SHe was just a nobody around here. She was tempted to move away and never come back. She walked to the arena and grabbed TinMan when she walked in and tightened his cinch and then got on. She patted his neck and asked him to walk. She sat comfortably in the saddle. "No barrels today, my baby is kicking way to much." She told TinMan and he left out a snort and walked as if he was a little mad that he didnt' get to do what he wanted.

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Derrick knew better than to protest bringing Casey and Jed along, it never worked. They always got whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, and for some reason, they always wanted to follow him around. Why they wanted to be his shadow, he didn't know, he was anything but nice to them...in fact, some would even consider him too harsh on them. He didn't care though, if they were trying to beat the snot out of some other kid, he had every right to be "mean" to them. Not to mention the fact that he simply hated them and he had to have them along everywhere he went. That just annoyed him to no end.

He could have quoted what his boss was going to say in response to her question. "Of course I'm serious, a trip into town will do them good, and give me a bit of peace for a little while." Derrick's expectation was right. Down to the very last letter, that was what he said to Jay as an answer to the question. Derrick was now coming to the opinion that he'd been working here far too long if he could predict his boss' answers to questions before he even opened his mouth. Actually, it was probably because he'd gone through this so many times that he just knew what he would say every time.

Derrick didn't say a word, but as Jay headed up the stairs, he went out to put the horse up. The appaloosa still had the saddle on his back, and Derrick doubted if he would appreciate having it on for a few more hours just standing around in the round corral. Casey and Jed followed him out the door, still racing around and screaming. They were just lucky he didn't have a gun, otherwise he would have shot them right there on the spot. Instead, he just clenched his jaw and kept walking. He pulled the corral gate open and walked over to the horse, quickly undoing the cinch and jerking the saddle from the animal's back. He grabbed the bridle off the fence post and slung it over his shoulder, the kids still racing around his feet and screaming. He wasn't going to be able to take this much longer.

Sorry Des, He muttered to the horse who looked quite annoyed with the kids, the Grim Reaper's at it again. He patted the animal's neck and walked out, closing the gate securely behind him. It took him but a moment to put the saddle and bridle in the barn where they belonged, and then headed back out. Finally, the screaming and hyperactive movements of the two children became too much for him to handle. In a swift and deft movement, he caught both of them by their shirt collars, and brought them to a stop in front of him. If I hear even so much as a sound out of either of you, He said, obviously quite serious, I swear I will drop you off at the pound and they'll lock you up in a cage and you'll never see the light of day again. Casey and Jed instantly fell silent. Every other time when he'd had to take them out, he always made good on those things. While he'd never promised to lock them up in the pound before, he'd gone through with other threats before, so they believed him.

The silence was so golden in his opinion, he relaxed a bit more. As long as they were silent, he could handle them. He looked up as Jay came out of the house, obviously ready to go. He was hoping she wasn't the sort of person who had ten million things to do in town. He knew that with the few hands they had working it would probably take about four hours to get all the branding for just today done, and since he was now no longer there, they were short a roper and that meant it would take even longer. The quicker he got back, the quicker the job would get done.

Although Derrick would certainly be the last to admit it, he was good with kids. He was only 20 years old now, but he wasn't afraid to be the bad guy when he had to be. He didn't dislike kids by any means... after all, he was a kid once too, but he knew how to discipline them, and he wasn't afraid to do it. He'd grown up in a fairly strict family where so long as you followed the rules and didn't bother everyone constantly you were free to do as you pleased. As soon as you started breaking rules and getting on everyone's nerves though, you could bet you'd land yourself in trouble. Thanks to that, he knew quite well how to handle children in a firm and respect demanding way without making them hate him completely. Casey and Jed certainly hadn't been his favorite kids in the world, and he couldn't say he missed having to cart them around, but it sure as hell had given him plenty of practice for when he had kids of his own later on in life.

He nodded understandingly when she said her pregnancy prevented her from going pro with her riding. He could see how that would be a problem. Though he wasn't going to say anything about it at the moment, he had a feeling that she had to be a pretty caring person to let the pregnancy stop her. He knew a lot of people that wouldn't have let anything come between them and going pro because that was all they cared about. They'd have had an abortion a long time ago. The fact that she had decided to let it prevent her from furthering her career seemed to mean that she had more regard for human life than most people he knew, and that in turn gave him a greater respect for her as a person, even though he had only just met her and knew essentially nothing about her. Like I said, he was no judge of a human's character, but he had a good feeling about Soncee.

Derrick gave a smile and a nod in her direction when she said she had to get to Tinman before he threw another fit. He knew the feeling. Having worked with his dad's thoroughbreds until he was 18, he definitely knew all about horses throwing fits... and Jubilee. Some days Derrick wondered if the little paint was worth all the trouble he went through trying to take care of the animal. Have fun with that. He said as she walked away, then turned back to Johnny. Soncee was definitely one of the most out going people he'd met here... in fact, since he'd been back he had met almost no one. He still knew a few people, like Charlie, Anthony, Sebastian, and Chey, but other than that his relationships with the people in the town were just about non-existent. Sure he'd met a few people, but mostly it was never more than just a brief greeting, and then he practically never saw them again except perhaps a fleeting glance.

Alright Johnny, lets head out. Derrick said to the horse, at which phrase the paint's head shot up and his ears pricked forward excitedly. Johnny was a working horse, and as such he loved to go out and do things, and that phrase, as he'd learned in their two year trek, meant they were going to go do something. It didn't really matter to him what, it could be herding cows, roping for branding, or just a simple trail ride, and he would be satisfied. He was the sort of horse that loved to please his rider, and being able to do so excited him. It took hardly a minute for Derrick to get the horse tacked up and ready to ride. Having worked on a ranch doing roundups for so long, he'd learned to be ready to go in an instant in case of a stampede, and even though there was no hurry now, doing it quickly was second nature to him.

Once the horse was tacked, he turned the animal and headed him for the trails. He'd worked the horse yesterday, and today they would just take it easy and go for a leisurely trail ride... after all, they'd been doing an extended trail ride for two years, this one would be like a quick stroll to get the news paper after running a marathon. As he passed by the arena where Soncee was working Tinman, he stopped Johnny and watched her and the horse for a moment. If all they were doing was walking, he figured he might as well ask her if she'd like to come along. After all, human company was nice after spending so much time with only horses and a dog to talk to. They made for poor conversation, since they never replied to anything you said.

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Soncee had always been pretty good with kids. Soncee was an only child. But she would go to her friends' houses and they always had younger siblings and she loved to play with them. She had babysat alot as well in her teenage years when she wasn't rodeoing. She was strict but not so strict the kids hated her. She always tried to find things to do to keep them busy and entertained. She found that taking them to the barn and helping with horses kept them plenty entertained and also they learned to be responsible for feeding too. Horses were just great things in Soncee's opinions. They helped alot of people in this world.

To some people not going pro was like a crime. Especially when you were so close to getting your goal. But Soncee cared about this living baby in her stomach. She wasn't totally rude. She tried hard not to ride horses, but you couldnt' keep her off a horse for very long. But she knew to take it easy, and that's what she was doing. She was just going to walk around for now. The baby was kicking quite a bit today. But other people would have got abortions and got rid of the baby to go pro. Personally, Soncee thought those people were pretty stupid for that. The baby still had a life ahead of him if you gave it up for adoption.

Have fun with that. Was he told her when she said she had to go get TinMan rode or he would throw another tizzy fit. TinMan wasn't the kind to really throw bad fits, but he could somedays. And today was probably going to be one of them if she didn't go give him some attention. He was just like a kid. Her very own child. She treated her horses like they were her own kid. But sadly enough she had to get rid of all her horses but two because the pregnancy was expensive. She had a two year old paint horse named Chinook so she was plenty busy. 'I will have fun." She told him and walked off to go to TinMan. She took him out and rode him outside. She was just walking because of the baby and she didnt' want to hurt it on purpose.

As she was riding she noticed Derrick was watching her. She smiled to him and walked up to the fence where he was closest. "You going on a little trail ride?" She asked him and stopped TinMan and rubbed his neck. The stud horse could use a trail ride since she wasn't really able to work him hard. "Mind if I join you?" She asked him and then walked the horse out of the arena and up to his horse, but with enough distance that if hsi horse kicked out he wouldn't hurt TinMan. And also to keep TinMan from thinking he had to be boss. TinMan chewed on hsi bit a little bit and sniffed the horses scent from where he was. He could smell taht it wasn't a mare so he was calm and he relaxed. Soncee patted TinMan's neck.

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It was very nearly impossible to get Johnny worked up at all. The large horse was about the most calm animal on the face of the planet, which often gave him the appearance of being lazy when he wasn't working. That was why he tended to surprise people. He'd just plod along like he didn't have a care in the world one second, and the next, if Derrick asked him to, he'd be taking off like a shot after a cow that was trying to stray from the herd. No one ever expected such a large, bulky, lumbering animal to have that sort of quickness, but he most certainly did, and he knew how to use it to his advantage.

He hardly seemed to even notice that there was another horse near to him. He never paid all that much attention to what was going on. Johnny was just sort of an easy-going laid back animal, for which Derrick was grateful. If he had two excitable horses like Jubilee these long rides would be pretty much impossible. Johnny leveled out the group nicely, and Derrick couldn't even remember the last time the paint had caused a problem in the stable, and he was such an amiable animal it was just about impossible to not love him. He had his quirks like every other horse, but he was essentially bomb-proof, and anyone could ride him.

I was just going to ask if you'd like to come along, he said with that award winning smile, but I guess you read my mind. For the most part, Derrick was extremely easy to get along with. Much like Johnny, he was laid back and easy going seeming to not have a care in the world. He almost never had a bad day, and if he did, it could be cured instantly by working with one of the two horses. Bothering him or getting on his nerves was practically impossible, and even if you somehow managed to do so, he didn't hold grudges and essentially forgot about it very shortly after it happened. After being on the road so long without any human contact for weeks at a time, he appreciated human companionship a lot more than most people did.

If there was one thing he learned while out on the road, it was that there was something about horses that just seemed to bring out the best in people. If he'd walked all that distance, he was sure he wouldn't have found so much as a lick of help from people, but for some reason when he came riding into town on the back of a horse, a pack horse trailing along behind, and a god at his heels, people were teeming to help. They offered him food, lodging, supplies... essentially anything he needed was given to him by people on the road without him even having to ask. Everyone wanted to hear the stories and see the horses that had brought him this far. Everyone wanted to know why he was riding... and it seemed just telling them what they wanted to know was enough to prompt their support. It gave him a whole new faith in humanity.

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Soncee usually got excited pretty easily. She got excited over small things. I mean she was a girl and she acted like a teenager still. She probably would never grow out of being a teenager. She might grow up and get a bit more mature, but not fully. She was usually pretty peppy and usually always had a smile on her face. She was just a out going kind of person. She liked to try new things. But she was stubborn though, well she could get that way with certain subjects anyway. But who wasn't stubborn from time to time?

TinMan was alot like Soncee that way. He got excited over the small things. If you just came in to pet him he was excited. He got excited when you were ready to run barrels. He was excited to get into a trailer because that usually meant going to a rodeo. And the horse loved to try new things. Soncee had rode him in acouple horse shows when one of her show horses got hurt. TinMan did it just fine and got her to state. TinMan could trail ride, he coudl rope, he could do just about anything you ask. He was just a nice horse all together. And you hardly saw the horse mad... only a few fits here and there.


I was just going to ask if you'd like to come along, but I guess you read my mind. He told her and she gave him a smile back to him. She laughed a little. "Sometimes I think I can read people's minds. 'I would love to go with you." She told him. She hed led TinMan out of the arena and got back on him and collected him then walked him in a small circle. "I'm ready when you are." She told him and TinMan looked ahead at the scenry. He looked to teh horse next to him and gave a soft nicker to him. 'Tinman.. no talkign." She told him and he quit. Then she pushed him into a walk toward a trail.


Soncee thought horses were great for people. IF everyone had a horse, the world would be a better place. But well... not everyone liekd horses. She learned from traveling from rodeo to rodeo that people always looked at you funny when you walked out of your truck into a gas station to get food and gas. It was like you were from a different planet. And Soncee wasn't afraid to wear cowboy hats and boots everywhere she went. Actually, that was all she wore. She thought of herself as a cowgirl and no one could tell her she wasn't. She was a cowgirl in her own way. Derrick was a cowboy in his own way as well.

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Ever since Derrick had been old enough to understand the concept of home and ride a horse, he hadn't ever called a building home... or even a place. To him, home was in the saddle. The first time he rode on his own was when he was five years old. His parents put him up on an old retired racer who they kept on their farm just for Derrick's sake. He couldn't have been more thrilled about riding by himself, and ever since that day, horses became first and foremost in his life. He spent very nearly every waking hour out there doing something with or for the horses. When he was only 12 years old he started exercise riding some of the horses for his parents. Sure 12 was a little young to be up on the fiery racehorses, but Derrick was big for his age, and he seemed to be able to understand and connect with the horses better than most people would be able to. It was definitely a gift he had.

When he turned 15 and hit 6' he had to stop exercise riding because he was too big for the racehorses. The max height of a jockey was 5'4" and the weight was generally no more than 115. So considering Derrick was a bit tall to be keeping his weight down to 115, he had to resign from his job as exercise rider. Of course that didn't stop him from handling the horses and taking them out every once in a while. Both his parents were extremely supportive of his love for horses, so shortly after he stopped exercise riding they'd gone out and bought him a yearling quarter horse. The red paint crop out seemed to instantly take a liking to Derrick, like most horses did, and the two of them got along like you would expect to brothers to get along. It seemed like the horse understood every word Derrick said to him, and it seemed like Derrick understood everything the horse "said" through its body language.

Because of that, Derrick took advantage of the bond and did all of the colt's training himself. By the time "Big Bad John" was a three year old, he was as bomb proof as any elderly horse out there. The fact that he didn't stop growing at the expected 15 hands also made him perfect for Derrick. Standing at over 17 hands, he was the sort of horse who needed a tall rider, and since Derrick was just over 6' he was the sort of guy who needed a tall horse. They were like a match made in heaven as far as horses and riders went, and Derrick knew he was lucky to have gotten a horse like Johnny for his first horse. Not everyone got one so willing as the big red paint.

When Soncee said she was ready to go, Derrick turned Johnny up towards the trail once again, the large horse paying no attention to Tinman's greeting. Although Johnny was a friendly horse and quite regularly enjoyed being let loose to run with the other horses, he wasn't really all that social. He was rather quiet really, quite the opposite of Jubilee who was exceedingly vocal about everything. So what else do you do besides barrels? he asked, hoping to strike up conversation as the horses plodded along. He hardly had to hold the reins Johnny knew the trail so well. The horse could probably walk this trail in his sleep if he wanted to. Compared to some of the trails they'd taken up the mountains on their trek across the country, this was like a walk in the park... but definitely enjoyable.

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Soncee had been riding since she was just little as well. Her dad was a calf roper. And a pretty good one at that. And her mom was a barrel racer and a breakaway roper. So she grew up with parents that rodeoed alot. She learned how to ride at a early age and when she was seven she got to ride in the junior rodeos. Her parents took her everywhere to compete in barrels. Soncee always loved to barrel race. She was so little and the horse she rode through junior rodeo was a big thick bay quarter horse gelding. It was an unusual sight to see such a small girl on such a big horse doing the barrel pattern in nineteen to twenty seconds.

When she got older and in high school, she was bigger and lot more experienced. She trained TinMan from when he was just a little weanling because her mom's old barrel mare gave birth to him. Soncee trained him and was the only one that really rode him. So TinMan was practically Soncee's horse. TinMan was three when she got into high school so she started competing on him in barrel racing. He wasn't the best her freshman year. But she hit her sophmore, junior, and senior year and they smoked them all. She made it to finals every year but only her senior year did she take money home in the finals and big first place belt buckle and a saddle.

So what else do you do besides barrels? He asked her starting up conversation. TinMan just plodded along quietly, now not bothered by the other big horse. "I haven't done alot other than barrels but in high school I did horse 4-H and showed horses and I did some reining and cutting stuff as well. I have roped quite a bit too. But barrels is kind of my main thing. " She told him. It was all true. She did try different things but her heart always came back to barrel racing. "I like trail rides, they are very relaxing." She told him.

Now that she was pregnant, really trail riding was all she could do. She looked around and gave TinMan a pat on the neck to let him know he was being a good boy and she noticed. TinMan was kind of an all around horse. You could do anything on him if you asked. Of course his heart was in barrels as well, but Soncee had roped off of him, even showed him at a few horse shows jsut for fun. But the horse was too tall to really do reining and cutting. But she had tried it on him and he didnt' seem to mind it much. She was just mad she had to get rid of all her horses, but life was hard and you couldn't have everythign you wanted.

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If asked what he did for a living, Derrick really wouldn't have an answer for that. Sure, he worked on the ranch when he wasn't off on the trail, but as far as a career... he wasn't exactly a rancher. He could certainly say that he was a "professional trail rider" but that didn't earn him any income so that really couldn't be called a career. he could be called a horse trainer since he had trained both Johnny and Jubilee, and retrained Desperado, the horse he rode on the ranch, to be a roper... but he hadn't ever trained any horses professionally or for money. Really, he didn't have a career, he just did whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to. He had never been tied down by anything, and nothing had ever stopped him from wandering as he pleased. Of course someday he would probably settle down and stay in one place, but so far he had no reason to do so.

In a way you could say he was just sort of a "lone free ranger." He drifted from place to place and usually never stayed for very long. He had started out in Kentucky, and moved away after he graduated high school and went up to Montana. From there he went to Idaho, Texas, Utah, California, Nevada, and finally to West Virginia. He had settled more in Pinewood than he had in any of the other places, simply because the small horse town Pinewood felt more like home than any of the other places ever had. He seemed to fit in a lot better here than he did other places. There was no telling why Derrick fit in here better, everywhere else he'd gone had been very horse and cow oriented, but for whatever reason, Pinewood was his choice place to stay. If and when he did settle down completely, Pinewood was going to be the place the he would stay.

It was amazing that in all his travels he hadn't found a single place he would rather stay than this tiny little town in the middle of West Virginia. He had been all over the country, but none of the places he had gone were appealing to him at all. Derrick couldn't explain why. When he got back to Pinewood after having been gone for two years he already felt like he had just gotten back to the place where he belonged. Home was always going to be in the saddle for him, but Pinewood just appealed to him more as the place that he would like to live. It was a quiet town, and most everybody knew everybody else. People seemed to get along quite well here, as far as he could tell and the peace of the town just made it a very welcoming place. Odds were, aside from all the long riding he did, he wouldn't be moving out of Pinewood for the rest of his life, so long as he could help it.

As the two horses walked along up the trail, Derrick barely had his hands on the reins. Johnny was definitely a trail horse. If you pointed him towards a trail, he would follow it wherever it lead without being guided. He really was a versatile horse. He responded to voice commands, lead reining, neck reining, leg pressure... he could adapt to anything. Derrick nodded slightly when Soncee said she mainly did barrels but enjoyed trail riding. It was obvious Derrick liked trail riding... he'd gone on a two year non-stop trail ride. I imagine you're probably pretty good at it then. he said, still just trying to make conversation. He hadn't really had many extended conversations with people in the past two years, so talking to people who would respond was something he was very much into. Sure he liked talking to Johnny, Jubilee, and Badger, but they never responded, and it didn't make for very good conversation.

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I imagine you're probably pretty good at it then. He told her. She smiled brightly and nodded a bit. I guess you could say she was good, but she wasn't going to brag about it. She wasn't that kind, so she said nothing. She hated braggers so why would she brag? It just wasn't her to brag about how good she was. If he thought she was good then I guess she was, but she wasn't going to just come out and admit it. "Thanks." Was all she said.

She liked Derrick. He was nice and wasn't trying to get into her pants yet. But who would want to get into a pregnant girls pants? I mean, seriously. She had like three months left and she was skinny enough that you really couldnt' tell because she was small, and her baby was rather small too. Some people just didnt' get big while being pregnant. But she still had three months to grow. This would be the first time she had ever been any where near fat.

"So...What do you like to do besides ride horses?" She asked curiously. Soncee really didnt' do much other then come out here. "For me, after coming out to check horses I work at the diner as a waitress for extra money. Umm, I like to take photos sometimes. I have a very pretty flower garden..I keep up all the time" She told him and tried to think of anythign else. Btu really she didnt' do much other then ride horses most of the time.

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Aside from horses... Derrick didn't do anything aside from horses... unless you considered working cattle something aside from horses... although working cattle involved horses, so technically that was still horses. He'd grown up with horses and he had always loved horses his entire life. He couldn't imagine himself doing anything besides horses. Gardening... not his thing. He wasn't bad at it per-se, he just didn't like doing it. To him it was just too boring, I mean really. He didn't want to spend all that time on a flower, it just wasn't something he liked to do, he liked instant results, not sitting there and waiting for a plant to sprout.

Photography... it was alright, but again, not his thing. He had seen the most spectacular things on his rides, from mustangs to mountain tops. From deserts to mountains with five feet of snow. From oceans to farm country land. In his travels he had seen just about everything there was to see... things which people who were into photography would love to see and experience while they captured the image. He however, like to keep things where they were. He was a firm believe of word of mouth, it made things so much more... exotic in a way. If you told people all about it, maybe they would go out there and experience it for themselves. He was definitely your traditional western cowboy.

Not much. He said honestly, I've got a dog, but I've pretty much devoted every aspect of my life to my horses. I'm a long rider, so I don't really have any hobbies aside from riding. I do work on a ranch when I'm not on the road, but that involves horses too, so really there's nothing aside from horses that I do. Yes, Derrick's life definitely revolved around horses, and it probably always would. He loved the animals, and he loved the adventure of riding across the country surviving only on what he could carry on a pack horse. Most people had no idea what it was like... it was almost as if he was stepping back in time to the wild west when everyone rode horseback. To him it was living the dream. He hardly had any money, barely enough to get him the supplies he needed when he left, but all he needed to survive was a horse and the open road... with those two things he had found his freedom, and it was definitely a good feeling.