At the time we might say Monte was fighting two wars at once. Getting the two-toed coyote. And getting that ball hobble off his new Palomino horse.

Monte could just drive his truck up to check his traps but knew he would have to take a horse with him when he checked his traps so he could try to corner the Palomino or run him into a corral somewhere.

Monte remembered the hobby rancher had told him the Palomino was kind of broke so maybe he could just corner him in a fence corner and get a halter on him at least. And if not there were a couple corrals Monte could run the Palomino into. But either way Monte was not contemplating much trouble. All he had to do was get a halter on his Palomino first.

But Monte also knew he could no longer hide his duel mission from the owner of the P-Bench. He would definitely have to take a horse with him. And Monte actually did have a horse trailer to pull behind is pickup but he would have to borrow a P-Bench horse.

Monte told the owner about the Palomino and the ball hobble he had been running with for more than a year. He said he would buy his own gas to go up and down the creek to try to run him in if he could borrow a horse. And even showed him the bill of sale he had so the owner would know everything was on the up and up.

But the good and kind hearted P-Bench owner was just sitting there shaking his head in stunned disbelief. He felt just like Monte did. How could anyone do that to a horse? This was now a humanitarian mission and he would be happy to accommodate the mission and buy the gas. Which Monte kind of figured he would. But it was both a good thing and a huge relief to finally confess about the Palomino.

But Monte wasn’t as smart as he thought he was about the fight it would take to run the Palomino in and get a halter on him and the hobble off. Because the first thing Monte found out was that Palomino would not be run anywhere.

And not that he couldn’t run. Monte was amazed at how fast that Palomino could run with the hobble and chain on him. But running away was all the Palomino would do. He simply would not be driven anywhere. He knew that Monte was trying to corner him or get him in a corral. The Palomino had experienced too much cruelty at the hands of humans and consequently would not go through an open gate and ran away from it instead.

Monte’s plan was to move the Palomino off the Sheath allotment to smaller pastures down the creek. But that was turning out to be impossible. All the Palomino did was run away. And run over Monte and his horse if he had to. There was no bending him which is a horse and rider getting in front of another horse to make him turn around.

Monte was at a loss but finally as a last resort just left the gate to the Sheath allotment open one evening after he and his horse were exhausted. That is something that is never supposed to be done. If a gate is open when you get to it you leave it open. But you damn sure always close a gate it you have to open it to get through to keep livestock from accidentally getting out.

But Monte thought he would take that chance and if some of the Sheath cows got out he thought that would give the hobby ranchers something to do and they could pretend being cowboys driving their cows back on their land. And it worked both ways. When Monte got back up there both the Palomino and some of the Sheath cattle had gone through the open gate into the Aleen ranch.

The Palomino started running away from Monte as soon as he saw him. But fortunately down the creek instead of back through the Sheath gate. But only a few head of the Sheath cattle had escaped through the open gate so Monte relented and at least gathered and drove them back on the Sheath and closed the gate.

The Palomino more like trotted instead or ran away from Monte when he road by him again after gathering the cows. Which Monte thought might be kind of a good sign. Maybe he was getting used to him.

And then something dawned on Monte. Almost every time Monte saw him the Palomino was pointed south down the creek. Which meant that was the way he wanted to go. So Monte just left the next gate open instead of trying to drive him. That meant he would have to be right back up there bright and early the next morning because the two old brothers who owned the Two-B damned sure would not be as understanding or forgiving about Monte leaving their gate open. But Monte knew they didn’t have any cows in that pasture yet. And if he got up there early enough they might not notice the open gate.

And the next gate led to what Monte really wanted. There was this one tiny spot of land the Two-B did not own and the county road ran right through it. The Two-B owned the land on both sides of the little piece of land and of course had gates on both ends where the county road went through. But Monte knew there were no cattle above the north gate and figured it would be safe to leave it open overnight.

And sure enough when Monte got back up there the Palomino had gone through the gate. But he seemed to sense how small that next piece of land was and feared a trap. So as soon as the Palomino saw Monte coming he ran right back through the open gate and looked like he would just keep running north if Monte tried to follow him.

Monte thought this would take more drastic action. So he decided to leave a little hay and oats closer to the south gate. And then just hide out near the north gate all night long if he had to so if the Palomino went for the hay and grain he could hurry up and close the gate before he could run through it again.

It worked like a charm if you can call hiding out all night on the mountain with nothing but a blanket charming. But finally, just when there was the slightest hint of gray in the east the Palomino walked through and headed straight for the hay and grain.

Monte ran out of his hiding place and got the gate closed and the Palomino went into a panic knowing he was trapped. He was acting so wild Monte feared he would try to jump a fence or just run through one cutting himself to pieces.

Monte decided not to push the Palomino one bit further and didn’t even try to get in the tiny spot of land with him. Instead he coolly and calmly walked all the way around the outside of the fence pretending not to pay the Palomino any mind and didn’t even look at him for fear they would make eye contact.

Monte thought he would just let the Palomino calm down and maybe get used to being confined. And he knew he was on to something else. The Palomino damn sure knew what hay and grain was and liked it.

So Monte went back to his truck before he left that afternoon for little more hay and oats to put out for him. Monte thought that might help him make friends with the horse. And he might settle down and let Monte get close to him.

More Stories You May Like

More from Steve Holmquist