Yellowstone: Love and Cowboys

Back at the ranch

It felt good to be back on the road. Coralee hated to admit it, but she'd missed it. They were traveling without the whole crew and were heading slowly back to Texas. On their way, Travis was hitting the sales and picking up some nice horses. There were little shows here and there and she took advantage of the opportunity to get back into the show ring. She didn't do so well at first, but Travis told her to be patient and soon she and Hickory took their first. She'd been away from reining just long enough to realize how much she missed it.

Everyone met up back at the ranch and got things re-organized. Old bedding and feed were removed from the trucks and composted. The trucks were washed, inside and out and given a coat of wax. The crew that had returned with Matt had had a chance to rest up, the others had gotten their chance while they were staying at the Yellowstone.

Coralee did the last of their laundry, glad that most had been done at the Yellowstone. Saddles and bridles were polished to a soft gleam, in preparation for the upcoming shows.

It was autumn when many towns celebrated their annual fairs. The harvest was in, and this year had been good, and the rodeos and horse shows were a way to celebrate. Farmers with cash in their wallets would watch the shows and maybe have an eye on a horse they saw performing. Maybe it was for a daughter who wanted a new horse for 4-H shows, where Coralee had had her start. Or a son might participate in the rodeo, or maybe someone had a daughter who was a barrel racer. All of these would have their eyes on new horses.

At first, Coralee thought she'd be unable to put aside her worries for Katie and the ranch, but it proved to be easy to keep her mind occupied and she thought about Katie less and less. In the evenings after the show, there would be fair food for dinner if they chose, maybe going on the rides afterward, or someone would have a concert. There might be dancing, Travis was a good dancer and she loved to have him lead her around the floor. Then would come daybreak and they would pack up and head to the next town.

Sometimes Travis would let her go over the catalogs with him, the books were as thick as dictionaries. She'd been raised around horses and had an eye for horseflesh but was surprised at how much she was learning from him. Travis would show her the horses he wanted to buy and patiently explain why. He'd point to a picture of a horse and ask her why he'd be interested, and she was able to point out things like conformation as well as its breeding. She wanted to work with him someday but for right now the horse business was his.

Sometimes she wished they were in the thoroughbred business. Their father had taken her and Katie to the Kentucky Derby once and she had fallen in love with racehorses. There were quarter-horse races, but they weren't the same. Quarter horses were faster on the quarter mile, but after that, a thoroughbred would leave them in the dust. She knew that a lot of jockeys and trainers got their start quarter horse racing, and then when they knew they were good enough they moved up to thoroughbreds.

That night while they were in bed she worked up the courage to ask him the question that had been on her mind.

"Travis, I'd like to see the Kentucky Derby, can we go, please? I don't know how long we'd have to wait for tickets, it might be a year or so, but I want to do this." She looked at him, her blue eyes brimming with sincerity.

She knew Travis was indifferent to thoroughbred racing. Sometimes horses were just horses, but his specialty was quarter horses. He loved to show them, be it reining, roping, or cutting. It would be a sacrifice for him to spare the time to take her, but this was something she wanted, badly.

"You want to go?" he asked, looking at her, trying to tell if she was serious. If that was what she wanted he'd have to fit it into his schedule, he hated to tell her no. But thoroughbred racing? That was a different matter altogether.