The Ranch Hand
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The youngest hand at the ranch was assigned the job of doing ground work each morning with the new horses. The ranch had bought four, all unbroken or 'green broke' mustangs. His task was to attach a lunge line and lead them in circles before the experienced trainers arrived.
One morning, a mustang broke free. It ran for the almost-closed gate. As it passed by him, he grabbed the lunge line to stop it. However, the horse pulled him off his feet, dragged him through the gate, and bounced him along the road past one of the arriving trainers.
"Cactuses coming up," observed the trainer.
"He's dragging me!" protested the young man.
"Let go or suffer!" the trainer called.
The inexperienced hand was not a fool. He had worn heavy leather chaps and a jacket. He thought he could get to his feet. He was still holding onto that idea and onto the rope when the mustang dragged him through the first cactus.
He took sharp, thick spines to his left hand and to his ear. He lost the rope. The mustang ran free. After the trainer stopped to make sure the ranch hand hadn't taken any spines to his eye, he trotted off after the mustang. In a few minutes, he coaxed it back to the corral. Then he took his young friend to the nearest doctor to have the needles removed. Some had broken under the skin.
"Sorry about this," said the ranch hand as the doctor dug into his skin to remove the fragments.
"Just remember the lesson," said the trainer.
The ranch hand couldn't forget. Later in the year, though, he lusted after the beautiful women and the trappings of wealth the older men had achieved. Soon enough, he thought he found them both in an slightly older woman, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. She had money and she liked him. She only kept company with him for a few months, however. She left him for an even younger man at another ranch. After she made her decision, he tried to meet with her. She refused. When he ran into her at a farm show, he thought he'd gotten lucky. This seemed to be another chance to persuade his woman to come back.
The horse trainer passed by while he was making his case. The young farm woman, dressed in designer clothes and leaning against the door of her new truck, seemed unimpressed. The trainer stepped in to pull the younger man aside.
"Remember the horse that escaped?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, that was rough." He shook his head at his past foolishness. He tried to nod in acknowledgement of the lesson but, after a moment, his gaze fell on the beautiful woman and her expensive truck. The trainer followed his eyes.
He said, "Let go or suffer."
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copyright 2025 by Eric Gallagher
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