Tam and the Stallion

It just happened.

Eleven-year-old Tamara settled into the soft grass belly-down, and closed her eyes. It was a sultry summer afternoon in Oklahoma, and chores were done for the day. It was time to dream. She was at that awkward age, the very edge of the river all young ladies must cross, into womanhood. She didn’t know what she wanted, but she surely wanted something. Her body ached, but not from the work she’d done.

Suddenly awakened by the fast clip-clopping of horse’s hooves, she raised her head and looked, fully expecting to see a horse-drawn buggy on the narrow paved road that passed her family’s farm. The sight of a large, lone, black Arabian stallion, tail high and mane flowing with no halter, saddle or attendant, opened her eyes wider than they had ever been.

Tam had been completely relaxed into the grass, and now she struggled to get to her feet quickly. A lone horse! A beautiful horse! A stake-and-rider fence lay between her and the road, and she ran and jumped it, clearing it easily. The big stallion put on the brakes, and simply looked at this thin creature that had just approached. He knew love when he felt it, he knew innate gentleness, and his big heart missed a beat. He lowered his head and allowed her to pet him, nibbling at her shirt collar.

This place had to be home. He was home.

“Who are you, boy?” Tamara stroked the horse, and hugged his massive neck. “Where did you come from?”

It may have been a while, maybe it was only a minute, but she climbed atop the fence and motioned him over to her. He came. Up she went, and Tamara was bareback on the biggest, most powerful animal she’d ever seen, or imagined. He knew instinctively what Tam wanted, and he gave her a ride.

That was the scene her father came upon when he came in from the fields, about thirty minutes later.

Tam’s father kept an old quarter horse, and she knew how to ride. That didn’t explain any of what he saw. His young daughter, barefoot and bareback on a big, muscular Arabian stallion, trotting up the road and back, making circles in the adjacent pasture, and running with her hands wrapped in his mane, what the hell was all of this?

“Tam, what the hell are you doing?”

At the sight of the approaching farmer, the horse reacted badly, rearing up and roaring in a manner that left him know, not to approach.

“Whoa, where did you get this horse?”

“He followed me home. Can I keep him?” Tamara laughed. “He just came trotting up. I don’t think he likes you.”

“Well he sure belongs somewhere. Likes me, doesn’t like me, doesn’t matter.”

Just then, an International pickup came roaring up the road. The driver spotted the horse, pulled over and got out. The big animal shied away, remembering the girl was still on his back. She needed to get down so he could get away, that much was imperative. He shook, and nearly knocked her off.

The driver shouted, pointing.“You need to get off that horse, right now! He’s a killer!”

Tam was more than alarmed. “You stay back! Who are you?”

“I’m that animal’s owner!”

“Well he’s no killer, that’s for sure!” As one, she and the horse wheeled about and took off, galloping across the pasture. As he ran, the horse thought, “Nobody owns me. I’m home.”

Tam’s father approached the pickup driver, folded his arms, tipped his chin up and said, “Start talkin’.”

“That animal,” the driver intoned, “was bred for racing. But he’s mean! Nobody can ride him! We can’t keep him in a stall! We can’t breed him! He’s not worth shit! And he left my son half-dead, trampled in the paddock before he leaped the damn fence and took off! And that was yesterday. I was startin’ to think I’d never find him! And, that girl is actually on him! Your turn!”

“Hey buddy, I don’t know anything about it. I just came in from the fields and I’m ready for a break. I find this killer of yours under my daughter, and she seems fine on him.”

“Well, we’re gonna have to retrieve him. Sorry for the trouble. With any luck I can find some other sucker to buy him, but more’n likely, he’s horse meat.” The driver lifted his hat and rubbed his forehead. “Wanna buy him?”

“Mister I’m a farmer, not a horse breeder. That animal’s no good to me. Looks like he could eat his weight in hay an’ oats in less’n a week, and I couldn’t afford to feed ‘im, if you gave him to me.”

“Well let me get my crew together, and we’ll come for him.” With that, the driver got back into his pickup and wheeled it around, heading back the other way.

An hour passed, and Tam was back at the farmhouse. The stallion stood in the adjacent pasture and nibbled at the grass while she was getting an earful.

“I don’t care what he says! That horse is the most beautiful, most compliant, most lovable horse in the whole world!” Then, “Who is that guy?”

“I don’t know him, Tam. He didn’t stick around long enough for me to ask him his name. But the horse is his, not yours.”

“Well, he sucks!”

“I’ll not have language like that, comin’ from you.”

“Elliot.” Tamara’s mother stood on the edge of the porch.

“Well, I won’t.”

“If Tam says he sucks, then he definitely does.”

“Awright, alright, I’m back out to the field. Some break this was.”

Just then, the International pickup roared into the driveway pulling a horse trailer, and four men climbed out. Tam ran inside, and the stallion took off across the pasture. Tam came running out around the house, and stood firm in a shooting stance, her .22 magnum rifle on her shoulder.

“You-all get the hell out of here, right now!”

“Damn.” The horse’s owner tipped his ten-gallon hat back and he grinned. “Been a long damn time since anybody pointed a gun at me.”

The rifle cracked and his hat went flying. The man never flinched. “I believe you mean it, don’t you?”

“Next one,” Tam replied, “Right between your fuckin’ eyes.”

“Tamara!” Her mother shouted. “You get back inside!”

“Nnno!”

“Look, we’ll go, if you’ll just lower that rifle, and hear me out.”

“I’ll lower the rifle when you’re gone, and I won’t hear you out! How ‘bout that?”

“Well then little lady, do what you gotta do.” He turned to the farmer. “I’ve had time to think, and I’ve had an idea. This crew is in case you still say no. Because this is your place.”

Her father looked over at his daughter. “Tam, lower the rifle. Right now.” Then to the horse’s owner, “Start talkin’.”

“If you’ll let me board this horse here, I’ll pay you. Once a month on average, I’ll show up with a filly, and you can let him breed her. I’ll even bring the portable paddock to set up for the purpose.”

“Why would you want to breed a horse that’s mean?”

“It’s not his fault. He was beaten-on as a colt, and then, he grew up. Then, I bought him, thinkin’ he’d straighten up. Look at him out there. For any practical purpose, he’s wild.” He picked up his hat, checked the bullet hole and put it back on. “We know he’s fast, we’ve seen him run. We just won’t ever know if he coulda won races. Doesn’t matter now.”

He picked a check from his shirt pocket and walked it over to Elliot. “Made out to cash, because I don’t even know your name. No contract. Gentlemen’s agreement. First month.”

Elliot’s eyes widened. “I believe we can do that.”

The rest of the story is all happy. Tam had found all she would ever need, but there was to be more. At twenty-three, she was running Elliot’s farm as a boarding stable. Then she met someone who loved horses every bit as much as she did.

Champion Silvestri was the official name of her horse, which she would eventually own. But “own” or not, because nobody owned him, Champ was at last, home.

And sometimes, he was just “Sylvester.”

Champ just happened to be the fastest horse alive.

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