Saddle Bronc Reject

Wooden chutes creaked, jostled, and slammed as their gates were thrown open time and time again. Crown’s ears flickered, taking in the overwhelming sounds of the crowd’s cheers, the yells of the cowboys, the squeals and calls of broncs both in the arena and in the back pen - calling for friends to locate them. Crown fearfully stood in place, hearing around him the cacophony of sounds and unable to will his feet to move. Unable to see, to navigate the world around him but only by sound and touch - now he couldn’t move due to the sounds and touch wasn’t an option in a hectic environment. 

“Move that blind paint up the chute!” A gruff voice called and Crown balked, trying to back up and bumping into a wooden gate. 

“Ugh, just find me a rope. We’ll drag him in.” Another younger voice called off to his left as his ear flickered in that direction. 

Next thing he knew, a lasso had caught around his neck - guiding him back to where he was previously standing. Instead his hooves dug into the soft dirt - churned up by the horses loaded before him. He dug in hard enough he’d earned another lasso around his neck and more shouting from all directions, “Stubborn son of a bitch won’t load. Tommy git in there and move him forward.” Another voice called as the sound of someone climbing over the fence and hollering behind him made him move and kick behind him fearfully, catching something that groaned as it thudded the ground. Crown was over all of the noise and shouting, he sat down on his rear end and refused to take another step. 

“Boss he won’t get up. We can’t get him loaded and he’s taken Tommy out.” A voice called. 

“Skip the son of a bitch and tell the Silver Stampede that they can’t bring him again.” The gruff voice snapped and a familiar voice called over the other, “What’s the problem?”
“He won’t load. If he can’t load, we aren’t running him. I’m not wasting time and manpower trying to load this stubborn nag.” The gruff voice thundered back. 

“Fine, take the ropes off and I’ll figure out what to do with him after the rodeo’s over.” 

The ropes loosened and Crown moved himself into the closest corner of the pen, rope burns on his neck and tail low - trying to make himself blend into the fence and maybe they would forget about him. 

“Sir! Would you consider selling that blind paint?” A new voice with a thick accent made Crown’s ear swivel. “You actually want that blind paint? I’ll cut you a deal - $3 for the blind paint. He isn’t broke - barely halter broken. It’s why we’ve been bucking him.” The familiar voice explained.
“That’s fine, anything else I need to know?” The new voice asked, the metallic sound of coins being exchanged. 

“That should be it, he’s 3 years old if you care to know that.” 

“How much for a spare halter? I didn’t bring one with me.”

“$3.”

“The halter is as expensive as the horse?” The voice asked, confused. 

“The halter has more use than that horse.” The familiar voice said honestly. 

More coins were exchanged, “Thank you sir.”

“No thank you, you saved me a bullet.” 

Crown’s blood turned cold - where was he doomed to go next and how would he be treated?

A set of footsteps walked away and another set drew closer. “Hey there pretty boy. It’s alright. I ain’t gonna hurt ya.” The accented voice said softly, almost soothingly. Crown remained on edge. 

“You don’t have to buck again. You can come home with me and we’ll make a good cowhorse out of you.” The voice spoke, the scent of pine and leather made Crown ease his nose forward to meet a hand and pull his hand back. 

It was going to take a lot of trust to put this jaded bucker back together but Adam was determined. “Good boy.” He praised. 

Next thing Crown knew a halter had slipped around his head and he had nowhere to go. “Easy there. We’re going to go meet up with the rest and head home.” He spoke, Crown tentatively stepping forward and out of the pen. 

The smell of other horses as he tentatively leaned his head forward, “H-Hello?” 

“Hi.” A calm voice answered, a stomp of a hoof and came another begrudgingly, “Hi.” 

“I’m Shade.” Introduced the first voice cheerfully and the other huffed and answered, “I’m Hafs.” 

“Crown.” He answered softly, ears flickering to listen to each as his pale blue eyes remained unfocused - looking forward but not directly at them. 

Then another voice added in, an accent he was more familiar with than the man that had bought him. “Adam? You bought another horse?” The tone confused as he added, “Is he blind?” 

“Yes mon cher, I couldn’t leave him behind.” He explained softly. “Training him will be different than training a normal horse - but he’s worth it.” He said reassuringly. 

“I don’t understand why. But I trust you mon beau.” The other voice said softly before he heard the other horses start to move and a soft tug on his halter made him fall into step with the two other horses. He could only hope this new home was better than his last and he’d be surrounded with others that loved him instead of finding him a burden. He took pride knowing each step was a step away from his past and a step towards his future.