"So, you can do that? At night?" she asks, openly skeptical. "I really don't know...her father got the horse, at some kind of auction from the government. Typical, he paid $25 dollars for the horse and then said 'all I have to do' is pay for the boarding and training.' It costs so much just for the boarding, and my daughter...I can't just get rid of it."

Beach Lake Stables was an ok place. Not just looking for the money from doing the riding lessons and all themself, open to a referral now and then, especially when there wasn't much money in the work.

He stands still while she talks, and a bit after. She squirms a little, uncomfortable. When she settles, he tells her, "Ma'am, I can do it, and I will charge you seventy-five, total not by the hour or the session. You pay me when it's done. If you don't agree when I say it's done, or don't like how it's going, you don't pay." he says patiently.

"Really? That's...that's really too good a deal. Why would you do that?" she asks, half and half between skeptical and outright curious.

"Cause I got rules, and I am picky. This mustang got at auction, born in the holding area from feral horses and never had any kind of training, that's not the real challenge here. The rider, your daughter, she's got to learn what to do. That is what will take the real work. My rules are, you bring her on the nights I say, and you stay too, the whole time, watching, not saying anything or interfering, but not ever leaving her alone neither. You do that one time, walk off and leave her alone with me, or not show up when I say, and the deal's off, I walk away, and you owe me nothing." he says.

"What? That's...I don't know...but, I guess. You don't want me to pay you anything ahead of time?" she asks, starting to believe a little.

"I will work with the horse a while first. You bring your daughter on the nights I say, and you stay too, the whole time, watching, not saying anything or interfering, but not ever leaving her alone neither." he repeats with slow but determined cadence. "Is that agreeable to you?" he asks.

"...Yes, that's...okay." she agrees.

She leaves.

He talks gently with the young mustang. So that it gets used to him and his voice in the dark. And in the way it understands, asking if he is the boss and protector and provider of it or if it can push him around like it has others. Gradually, that night, they come to an understanding. He is able to enter the stall, gently. He touches the horse. He stands with it. When it is comfortable and understanding what they are to each other, he feeds, enough to satisfy as much as animals can, and not enough to hurt it at all. He licks the wound. He slides down into the dirt, and sleeps.