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Liam held out his hands. “Please. Anything.” Then his eyes narrowed as he looked across the pen at the mustang. “Not that it will do anything.” He hadn’t been joking about her being defective.
Calla just laughed and shook her head. “Come on,” she gestured for him to come with her. She walked slowly toward the horse.
“Make sure you always stay on her left side so she can keep an eye on you as you approach.”
Satan’s Mistress was looking in their direction as they made it halfway across the pen. Liam was about to take another step when Calla held out her arm to his chest.
“Now back.”
Liam looked at her in surprise. They weren’t anywhere near the horse.
But when Calla backed up, her front still toward the horse, Liam mirrored her movements. “Just keep taking deep, calming breaths.”
Again, Liam wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or the horse. But he stayed quiet and did as Calla did.
Once they got back to the fence-line, Calla stood there a second before heading back in the horse’s direction. This time they took a step or two past the center of the paddock before backing up again.
“Like boiling a frog,” Calla said. “You gotta go slow. By small degrees or she’ll bolt.”
Liam nodded even though he wasn’t sure about it. Calla didn’t know this horse. The only time he’d gotten close in the past couple days after getting her home, she’d almost taken off his fingers. And she had big damn teeth.
It took another fifteen minutes before they came within five feet of the horse. “See how she’s tensing up? Watch her ears.” Calla said, nodding at the mare. Liam observed her ears flicking back and forth.
“She’s telling us back up, she’s not comfortable. Horses have a herd mentality. They want to be dominated. You just have to show them who’s boss, but at the same time you can’t force it.” She took several steps backward and Liam followed suit. “It’s a dance between you and her to establish your dominance.”
Calla held one hand out as she started approaching the horse again. “You find the line…” They reached the same spot they’d been in a moment before, about five feet away. “Then you take one or two steps over it.” Calla took another step closer. Now that Liam was watching more closely, he saw Satan’s Mistress’s ears twitching and the way she shuffled back and forth at their nearness.
“Then we reward her by taking the pressure off again.” Calla started backwards and again Liam followed.
It was an infuriatingly slow process, but to his shock, fifteen minutes later, Calla was reaching out her hand to the mare’s nose for her to sniff. Calla still didn’t make contact. She just took another step closer and blew lightly at Satan’s Mistress’s nose.
“This is how horses greet each other in the wild. Let her get to know your scent.” Satan’s Mistress shifted uneasily and Calla pulled slowly back. “Then you reward her by stepping away again and leaving her alone for a little while.”
“Like playing hard to get. Are you sure this isn’t dating advice?”
Calla laughed softly, still never taking her eyes off the horse. “Can’t say I know much about that.” Her eyes flicked his direction and Liam wasn’t sure, but he thought her cheeks reddened.
After retreating to the fence again, Calla gestured at him. “You try saying hi to her this time.”
She stayed by the fence while Liam headed toward Satan’s Mistress. He felt his heartbeat thudding in his ears. Ridiculous. It was just a fecking horse.
Worthless.
Useless poxy shite.
“Remember to breathe,” Calla said from behind him. “She’s reading your body language. So make sure you’re giving off calm with every step you take. You might not make it all the way on the first pass. That’s okay. Find her line and take just one step beyond it.”
Liam stopped and watched the horse. She leaned down and took a bite of grass but the way her head was cocked, it felt like she was still watching him.
He took a step forward. When she just kept chewing grass, he took another. Then another. Her head came up and she shifted nervously a few steps.
Liam backed away just like Calla taught him. And to his astonishment, the next time he approached, Satan’s Mistress let him come all the way up to her. Liam had only made it this close a couple times before—both of which had ended with Satan’s Mistress snapping at him with those big teeth of hers.
Liam took a deep breath in and out and held out his hand toward her nose. But unlike in the past, he didn’t keep pushing to try to touch her. He left his hand about a foot away from her. Then, when she didn’t move, he took another step in. Her ears flicked at this.
One step past the line. Okay. Liam took a tiny step closer and then blew at the horse’s nose. Which felt frankly ridiculous.
But instead of snapping, the mare nosed a little closer to him. Like she was curious. A thrill shot through Liam’s body.
