Ultimate Cowboy Read Online Free PDF

asked.
    “Not yet,” Brody said. “We just brought him in.”
    “He looks like he’s in jail,” Huddy said with a smirk.
    “He probably feels that way,” Brody said. “He hasn’t been brokenyet.”
    “You took him out of the wild?” Royce asked.
    Brody shrugged. “Not exactly. But his previous owner wasn’t very nice to him.”
    Seth stiffened. “What’d he do to him?”
    “He beat him,” Brody said, then gestured toward a couple of scars on the horse’s hindquarters. “A friend of mine found him at a rodeo and called me, and we decided to bring him here and see what we could dowith him.”
    Huddy gave him a sour look as if he knew what Brody was trying to do and wasn’t buying it. But Brody had learned a lot about kids over the past few years, so he continued.
    “There are some other horses on the ranch that are safer and tame, ones you’re going to ride while you’re here,” Brody explained. “So this guy is off-limits for now, got it?”
    “I bet I could ride him,”Huddy said.
    Brody clenched his jaw. “But you won’t unless you have my permission,” he said firmly. “In fact the first thing you need to learn is a healthy respect for the animals on the ranch. They weigh a lot more than you or I do, and they’re powerful creatures. Be good to them and they’ll be good to you. But abuse them like the previous owner did and the animal will learn not to trustyou.”
    Royce seemed to be absorbing every word he said, and Seth looked pensive but respectful. Huddy was going to be a problem, but hopefully time would mellow him. A few weeks on the ranch might just turn him into a man.
    Andrew motioned toward the pen. “It takes time to break a horse,” he said. “But listen, guys, Mr. Bloodworth is the best.”
    Brody forced a tight smile. “Actuallymy buddy Johnny Long is the best, but he taught me a lot.”
    “You know Johnny Long?” Royce asked.
    “The rodeo star?” Seth said.
    Brody nodded. “Yeah. He’s promised to help us with this guy.”
    “You mean we’ll get to meet him?” Huddy asked, losing the belligerence.
    Brody held back a smile. Johnny’s name always impressed the kids. “You sure will. But Johnny will expect you tolearn the basics.”
    “He’s not scared of anything,” Seth said with big eyes.
    “Actually, that’s not true.” Brody lowered his voice so as not to make Seth feel as if he was chastising him. “It’s okay to be afraid of something bigger and stronger than you are. The key is not to let that fear rule you, and not to allow the animal to know. When an animal senses fear, he’ll use it against youjust like people do.”
    Seth looked down at his shoes for a moment as if he was thinking about what he’d said. A minute later he squared his shoulders. “So don’t show you’re afraid.”
    “Yes. But that doesn’t mean being stupid or jumping into the ring with a big bull or a horse that isn’t tame. It means learning how to use your head and handle the animal. To do that, you have to treat themwith respect.”
    Huddy looked sullen again as if he wanted to challenge everything Brody said. But Brody stepped inside the pen, and the horse rose on two legs kicking at him, and the boy’s eyes flickered with fear.
    “It’s okay, Lightning,” Brody said gently. He kept his distance, talking softly, as he circled the pen. “The first thing we need to do is to win his trust. And that takes timeand patience.”
    He spent the next half hour talking to the animal and the boys, then led the group into the barn and introduced them to the horses they would learn to ride.
    By the time they left the barn and headed to the dining hall, Royce and Seth were chatting excitedly. Huddy had grown quiet, but the tentative way he’d reached out to pat one of the horses indicated he was at leastwinning his interest in the ranch.
    But as Brody watched the boys join the other campers, he looked out at the sea of kids and wondered what Will would think of this place.
    For