Page 3 of Seeing Harper

The horse turned its attention to Clay, then sniffed him a few times.

Clay placed the treat in the center of his palm like he’d seen Harper do rather than hold it out like you would for a dog.

The horse quickly figured out that Clay had treats and gently took it from his palm, crunching the treat happily as he swished his tail.

Clay reached out and scratched the animal’s forehead, then his ears. “He’s beautiful.”

“He really is, and he’s a sweetheart, too.”

“Maybe he’ll like me,” Clay said.

“Oh, you gave him food. You’re his friend for life now.”

Clay laughed, still petting the animal’s forehead and ears.

A shrill whinny sounded on the other side of the barn all the way at the end of the row.

“You okay for a minute?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“I’m going to check on Miss Millie. She’s nervous since she’s new here, or so say her former owners. I kind of get the feeling she may be nervous anyway, but regardless, she likes me. I’m not so sure how she’d like you. She’s not real trusting of males so far.”

“I’ll wait here,” he said.

Harper smiled at him then turned and went straight to the horse she called Miss Millie. “Hi, there, lady,” she said, her voice soothing and calm. “You know I came all the way over here just to see you, don’t you?”

The horse whinnied again, and tossed her head.

“Oh, now, none of that. I know you don’t like being put up but you have to calm down some before we’ll let you go running around without a lead on you. You could jump a fence or something, then where would we be? A lot worse than this, I can tell you.”

A stunningly beautiful horse, a glossy black coat with a long wavy mane and tail, stretched her neck to lean her head close to Harper’s.

“There’s my beautiful girl,” Harper said. “We’re okay. We are.” Harper continued to croon encouragement to the horse as she hugged her and stroked her face and neck. It didn’t take very long at all for the horse to calm under Harper’s experienced hands. She stopped dancing in place, she stopped the shrill whinnies, and just stood there, allowing Harper to love her.

The horse Clay stood beside nudged him, wanting another treat, and Clay chuckled as he obliged and offered the horse one of the treats Harper had given him.

The moment Miss Millie heard Clay’s chuckle, she snapped her head up and pinned him with a suspicious glare. It was almost unnerving to have a horse with such piercing eyes staring into your soul like Miss Millie did.

“Hi, girl,” Clay said softly. “I’m not going to hurt you. Promise.”

Miss Millie continued to stare at him for several seconds before she effectively dismissed him and returned all her attentions to Harper again.

“Want to go get some exercise in the round pen?” Harper asked.

Miss Millie tossed her head a couple of times, then stood still as Harper took a lead off the hook outside Miss Millie’s stall and snapped it onto Miss Millie’s halter. The next thing he knew Harper had opened the door to Miss Millie’s stall and was calmly leading the apparently high-strung horse out of the back door of the barn.

Harper looked back at Clay and smiled at him. “She likes you. She didn’t snort at you, or try to snap her teeth in your direction.”

“I feel kind of proud of that,” Clay said.

“Me, too! If you want to come watch us get a little exercise, the round pen is right out here when you’re ready,” Harper said, as she walked out of the barn with the horse dancing on the lead beside her.

Clay patted the horse beside him, then walked over to the back door of the barn and peeked outside. He didn’t want to come up behind Miss Milly and spook her, so he waited until Harper had her securely in the round pen before he made his way over to it.

He watched as Harper took the lunge whip in hand and tapped the ground behind Miss Millie. Like gears falling into place, Miss Millie started forward in a graceful lope, with Harper keeping pace behind her with equally graceful circles of the lunge whip. It never ever touched the horse, and wasn’t meant to. It was a signal to let Miss Millie know when to start and stop and to adjust pace. When Harper decided it was time to stop, she’d lift it and hold it a few feet in front of Miss Millie as she slowed her pace to a walk to cool down, and ultimately to a stop.

Harper worked with Miss Millie for a good twenty or twenty-five minutes before she called the exercise session to an end.