Double the Trouble (Texas Trouble 3) (14 page)

Dixie
's pretty little face lit up then she nodded enthusiastically
,
then said
seeming
a little unsure, "You gonna show me what to do?"

"You bet...grab that saddle blanket, and a longe line.  You know what that is?" Karlie asked her.

"Nope,"
Dixie
told her with a pop of her lips
on the 'p'
,
then
folded her arms across her chest.

Karlie pointed to a long rope with a metal clip on the end looped on a nail on the wall.  "That's a longe line...grab one of those long whips too," she said and the little girl ran over there and got them, then came to stand beside her, her shoulders a little higher and her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Hefting her saddle off of the rack,
Karlie
put it over her shoulder and grabbed her spurs
and Apache's bridle
, then said, "Okay, let's go get Apache tacked up, then we're going to train him
to be the best cutting
and roping
horse in
Texas
."

She laughed when
Dixie
let out a whoop that rang through the barn.  Yep, she was a helluva lot like her when she was young. 
"Okay you stand back there." Karlie pointed to the rail, then set to brushing Apache, so she could saddle him.  The horse's markings really were beautiful
, he was black and white and had a black face with a white blaze
.  When he was trained, he was going to be flashy in the rodeo arena, if that's where he wound up, and cowboys would pay big bucks for him
.

After she had Apache tacked up, she held out her hand to
Dixie
, "Longe line, please assistant."  The little girl put the rope in her hand and then Karlie told her, "You go out in front and hold that whip level to the ground, don't wiggle it around,
or
it'll scare him.
  We're going to the round pen.
"

Dixie
looked up at her with serious brown eyes and nodded.  Good, Karlie thought, she was serious about what they were doing, what she was teaching her.  That's the frame of mind she needed to be in so she didn't get hurt around the big animal.
  "Okay, sugar, you go into the pen and stand right in the center,
and
lay the whip on the ground."

With a nod, she opened the gate then walked inside and did what Karlie had told her to, then Karlie led Apache inside and latched the gate,
and
unclipped the lead rope
to attach the longe line.  She lifted the stirrups and clipped them to the saddle, so they
bounce against
Apache's
sides
and confuse him
. 

Raising her hands, she shooed the fiery horse and
his eyes widened, then
he reared a little
before he
took off in a circle around the pen. 
Feeding out the line, she walked to the center of the pen where
Dixie
was standing, then told her,
"Now, you stay right there,
and
don't move, okay?"
Picking up the whip
, Karlie held it at waist level a
nd pointed it
at
Apache's hindquarters, following him around the ring to urge him forward.
  His ears flicked back a little, but he didn't pin them to his skull, which meant he was listening to her, waiting for her to tell him what to do.

"See his ears,
Dixie
?" Karlie said and
Dixie
nodded.  "That means he's listening to see what I want him
to do, he's paying attention...horses can't talk, but their body can.  You just have to watch the signs they give you." 

Karlie
pushed the horse around the ring a few more rounds, then said, "Whoa," and he stopped on a dime, his ears perked forward now to listen.  Walking over to him, she patted his neck and praised him, then turned him the other direction then moved back to the middle of the ring and repeated the process.

She dropped the whip and then replaced it with a click of her tongue to move him from a trot to a cantor, then stopped him again with a voice command and he stood patiently waiting for her to give him instructions.  She walked over and praised him again then took off the longe line,
and
went back to the middle.  She looked down at
Dixie
and told her, "Okay your turn assistant.  Get him going with a click, when I say stop him, you say 'whoa' like I did.  Think you can do that?"

Karlie saw her swallow and her eyes widen, but then
Dixie
smiled and nodded.  She took a deep breath then let it out
,
and clicked
to
Apache.  The horse hesitated a moment, but then started walking around the ring, right on the rail.  "Good job,
Dixie
, now bring him up a notch, click again."  She did and Apache moved into a faster walk trot on the rail.  After he'd gone around a few times,  she said, "Now move him to a trot."

Dixie
's click was more confident this time, and she held Apache's eyes when she did it and he responded immediately moving into a trot.  She glanced up at Karlie with a smile then after he went a few rounds, she said in a mock deep voice, "Whoa!" and he stopped waiting for her
next command
.

"Wow, that was awesome..."
the little girl
said in an awe-filled voice.  "What do we do next?"

"You're going to sit on the rail and I'm going to work with him a little now, then we're going to the outdoor arena and putting a calf in with him
to see how he reacts
."

"How long is it going to take to train him?"
Dixie
asked her brown eyes sparkling with interest.

"Eighteen months probably...he's a pretty smart g
uy though, maybe a little less," she told her. Apache really seemed to be a good fit for a cutting horse, but she'd reserve judgment until she saw how he reacted to a calf.  He
hadn't been
around cattle yet...that would tell the tale.
  JoJo was a very alpha horse, and he'd done well because from the time he was started, it was obvious he was going to let the calf know who was boss.

Karlie sat
Dixie
up on the top rail to watch, then she worked with Apache, keeping his gaze and moving from side to side making him react to her motions, seeing how he moved, gauging his athleticism.  That was another thing that was important, if he was sluggish, or slow on the turns, he'd never make it as a cutter.

By the time she finished in the round pen, she was hot and sweaty, and Apache was lathered, but it was good he was hot, his muscles would work better.  He
still
had a lot of 'go' left in him.  She clipped on the lead then picked up the bridle and helped
Dixie
down then they walked to the outdoor arena.

"Okay, we're going to turn him loose in here, and we're going get a calf.  Did you drive your golf cart to the barn?"

"Yeah, it's over on the side,"
Dixie
told her and pointed.  "I'll drive you back to the field."

Karlie groaned, but shook her head, "Great, let me get a halter for the calf, then we'll just pony him back with the cart.  It was hot outside, the sun was beating down on her head now, even through her straw hat. 
She walked into the barn
and got a halter, then walked back outside and found
Dixie waiting for her in the pink, bedazzled golf cart
she called her own
. 
The little girl had made her ride
the most girly, feminine golf car
t
Karlie had
ever seen.  If
Karlie would have had
one like it when she was little, she'd probably have gotten i
nto twice the trouble she had.
 

"Nice ride..." Karlie
told her with a wink, then
slid into the passenger seat.

"You like it?  I fixed it up myself,"
Dixie
told her with a grin.  "Daddy looks funny riding in it, but I love it."

Karlie threw her head back and laughed as the vision of masculine Tommy Tucker in this 'Barbie Mobile' flashed through her mind.  "Does he drive it often?"

"Nah, only when the other ones are at the barn...I think i
t embarrasses him...I think I do too sometimes," she said and her smile faded.

"I don't think so, darlin'...your daddy loves you and brags about you all the time."
 

Dixie
looked at her suspiciously and asked, "He does?"  There was a ray of hope in her little voice that made Karlie's heart pinch. 
The little girl
really didn't know how much Tommy
T
ucker loved her...how lucky she was to have him.

"Yep...he wouldn't quit talking about you when I first got here...couldn't wait to introduce you to me.  He told me you had a new pony, and were a great rider."

Smiling now,
Dixie
told her proudly, "Daddy's teaching me, and I'm doing pretty good.  My pony is a quarter-welsh pony, his name is Buster."

That was a good medium sized pony for her, so she could grow into it, Karlie thought approvingly.  "I can't wait to meet him.  You'll have to show me when we get done training Apache for today."

"You'll like him...he's nice," she said then bounced in the seat when they hit a pothole, then another.  Karlie was surprised she didn't bounce right out of the seat, it was all she could do to hold onto the ribboned bar and keep herself inside.
  "Oh, I like your dog...he's nice too,"
Dixie
told her.  "He licks my face and makes me laugh."

"Sounds like Sarge likes you too!" Karlie told her then closed her eyes as they went through a small ditch without slowing down.

"Yeah, daddy says he'll get me a dog if I'm good..." she told Karlie then looked over at her with a grin, "don't think I'll get a dog soon."

Karlie threw he head back and laughed, almost doubling over with hit.  "You are so damned much like me when I was a kid it's scary," she said before she thought better of it.

"Really?  Were you bad too?  I try to be good, but I just do things without thinking sometimes and daddy gets mad at me."

"Yes,
really
,
honey...it'll get better, your daddy doesn't expect you to be perfect. Maybe if you tried just a little harder to think about things, before jumping into them it would help.
"
  She'd heard that advice from her sister on numerous occasions growing up, but it hadn't stuck...she had a feeling it wasn't going to here either, but she said the words anyway.

"I don't have any friends out here, so I get lonely sometimes...I'm glad you're here Karlie.  Will you be my friend?" she asked and looked over at her hopefully.

"Yes indeed, I don't have many friends either, sugar.  I'd
be glad if you were my friend," she told her right when
Dixie
pulled the cart up to the gate and got out.

"Can I help catch the calf?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure, you can...just watch out for the mama...they can get mean sometimes when you mess with their calves.
  I grabbed a prod when I was in the barn, so you run and I'll zap her if she tries to get you.
"

"Okey doke..." she said and unhitched the latch on the gate.  "I'll pretend I'm a cutting horse.
 
I saw them at a rodeo daddy took me to in
Dallas
.  It was pretty awesome.  I want to learn to rope like that one day.
..m
aybe I can teach Buster."

That was a though
t...
maybe Karlie could teach
Dixie
how to rope.
  Uncle Jerry had taught
her
and Katie about the same age as
Dixie
was now.  Learning that skill had helped two little frightened and sad little girls
, who felt worthless after their parents abandoned them on Jerry's doorstep,
learn to be confident
young women
.  Maybe it co
uld help this little girl too.
"Did your daddy tell you I was a team roper in the rodeo, before I came here?"