The woman’s lips pursed. “When she wasn’t doing what they wanted, the owners tried force.”
The set of Ramsey’s jaw hardened to stone. “Idiots.”
“They are that. You’ll get her where she needs to go.” The woman turned back to me. “Since Ramsey here isn’t one for polite introductions, I’ll have to start. I’m Loren, but everyone calls me Lor.”
“Boden Cavanaugh.”
Her eyes twinkled in the early morning light. “Oh, I know who you are, cutie. What brings you to Wolf Gap?”
“I’m prepping a movie and am here doing research.”
“He’s making a movie on one of the prison wild horse programs,” Ramsey said.
Lor’s eyes snapped to me, wariness there now. “Are you?”
“I’m here because it’s important for me to get it right.” And not just to make the movie successful. The script was fictional, but its bones were rooted in reality. A program where inmates near the end of their sentences were eligible to work with wild horses to prepare them for their future homes. I’d visited a couple of different programs to get a feel for how they worked, but I needed a closer look. To understand from someone who’d been through it.
Lor turned to Ramsey. “And you agreed to this?”
His mouth thinned. “Gaines roped me into it.”
A smile spread across Lor’s face, and she turned to me. “Of course, he did. How is that big lug?”
“He’s good. Great. Got a little girl who just turned two and an amazing wife. How do you know him?” I asked.
“I started one of the first prison programs.”
My jaw went slack. “I’d love to pick your brain.”
Her expression hardened again. “We’ll see.”
The horse in the trailer gave another swift kick, rattling the wall.
“If you two are done with your tea party, I’d like to help her out of that tin can,” Ramsey gritted out.
Lor moved towards the trailer. “Let’s set her free. I couldn’t get close enough to harness her. Could only get her loaded up using a training flag, so she’s gonna come straight out.”
Ramsey gave another of those slight chin lifts to acknowledge that he’d heard Lor. She moved to one side of the trailer and unbolted the latch. Ramsey grabbed the door and pulled it open until it was flush with the pen wall.
The mare exploded out of the trailer, bucking and kicking out her hind legs. As soon as she was free, Ramsey closed the door, and Lor latched it. He then closed the opening to the pen, checking to make sure it was secure. “Move the trailer. I don’t want her thinking she’s going back in there.”
Lor nodded and climbed behind the wheel. When the engine turned over, the horse gave another series of bucks. Ramsey simply watched her, not reacting at all. Once the truck and trailer were out of sight, he ducked between the fence rails and moved into the round pen, only a rope in hand.
The horse gave a good kick and began racing along the fence line, showing her displeasure at having someone in her space. I bit back the urge to ask him if this was really a good idea.
Ramsey gave her a minute and then began walking in circles, raising and lowering his looped rope. The horse would charge in bursts, throwing in a buck here and there, but Ramsey never reacted. Nerves of steel. One of those hooves could cave in a man’s skull.
I watched from a couple of feet away as something in the mare slowly quieted. Her bursts of speed weren’t quite as intense, and the bucks stopped altogether.
Ramsey slowed then, too. He faced the mare. She studied him, taking his measure.
“She’s wondering if he’ll hurt her the way her other owners did. But he’s already proven that he won’t.”
I hadn’t even heard Lor come up alongside me. I glanced at her and then focused back on the horse and man. “It’s pretty incredible.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet. Ramsey’s a walking miracle.” Her eyes narrowed on me. “If you try to use what he’s been through as fodder for your movie, I’ll come for you. And it won’t be pleasant.”
I watchedas the mare sidled up to Ramsey. She pressed her muzzle into his arm.