Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

All the Pretty Horses

She and Travis were wandering around the grounds at the dispersal sale, looking at horses, when she spotted the grey roan filly.

"Travis, look, isn't she pretty," she tried to drag him to the filly's stall.

"We're not looking for pretty, Coralee, we're looking for reining horses," Travis sounded exasperated with her but let her lead him over to see what she was talking about.

She was a two-year-old, maybe a little older, but not much. She had a pretty head with the little "fox ears" of a quarter horse. She'd be white in ten years but had nice conformation and would continue to be a good-looking horse.

A groom came and put some mash in her bowl. "Do you know anything about this filly?" Travis asked.

"Oh, you mean Sadie? She's broke but she's temperamental. She'll be great for the rider who can handle her. Her dam's been turning out nice cutting horses, so there's no reason to think she won't be, too."

The horse dipped her muzzle into her water bucket and took a drink, then put her dripping muzzle on the groom's shoulder.

"Very funny, Sadie," he growled, "You think you're cute, don't you." He scratched the horse's ears.

"Come on, Coralee," Travis told her, "I know you like this filly but she's not like what we're looking for. You need a reining horse, not a half-trained filly."

They found what Travis was looking for, a nice-looking brown stallion with a white blaze and stockings. She wanted to get on him and try him out but there was no time, they had to get on the road. The next show was in Tulsa, which was a relatively short drive, four hours if the traffic was light. The show was not until the next day, which meant they could spend the evening relaxing.

They were ready to go, just waiting on Matt who'd ducked into a nearby liquor store. Travis turned to her, saying, "Would you check the horses one last time? I want to make sure they're ready to go.

"Okay," she said, wondering why he was asking, but never mind, she thought. She went into the trailer, making sure horses were tied, and stall mats were secured.

She was almost done when she heard a whinny in the last stall—one more than she thought they'd used. She looked, then looked again.

She was there, tied up, waiting with the others for the trailer to start moving. The little grey roan with the pretty head and ears.

"Travis," she closed the trailer and then ran and jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around his waist. "You bought her for me, you bought her! Oh, thank you thank you thank you."

"My over excited little wife," he told her, "You're welcome, but now I expect you to learn cutting. You can learn a little at a time while we're on the road, but when we get home to Texas, the real work starts. I'm going to bust your ass, but you'll learn cutting and I think you'll be good. You and that filly can learn together."

Although he didn't say anything to her, Travis suspected the filly had been a mistake. It had soon become evident that the reason the filly was half trained was that she resisted being trained. She was a cutting horse, that was obvious, but as to whether or not she was a show horse remained to be seen.

When she decided she was tired of working, she would roll over and all that could be done was to take her back to her stall. On one hand, she was easy to handle, on the other, you didn't know what she would do next. The potential was there, but was a willingness to learn lacking?

She also was protective of Coralee. If Coralee was in the stall grooming her, god help the man who got close. The filly would bare her teeth and pin back her ears if anyone drew too close. She hadn't bitten, yet, but Travis didn't trust her. Coralee believed it was everyone's fault but the filly's and insisted she would come around given time.