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“You have to know that animals sense your fear, but a little respect is a good thing. As you mentioned, horses are a lot bigger than we are. I’ve trained all the horses on the ranch and I’ve never raised a hand or a whip to any of them. I find they respond better to a gentle touch and my voice.”
Cynthia already knew firsthand about Patrick’s gentle touch. She blinked away the memory and turned back to Daisy. “I can do that.”
“Good,” he said, then smiled. “For the next ten days the two of you are going to spend a lot of time together. You’ll be Daisy’s sole caretaker. You’ll not only be riding her, you’ll feed her, groom her and clean her stall.” His blue eyes locked with hers. “If you can’t handle that, now is the time to let me know.”
Cynthia knew he was giving her a chance to quit. Not to say she hadn’t thought a lot about it during the night. She could walk away, go back to Hollywood and find another movie. No! She wanted this one. She wanted the role in Cheyenne.
“Show me what to do.”
“First, you and Daisy need to get familiar with each other. She has to get used to your voice, your commands. You two need to become friends.”
Cynthia followed Patrick to a room at the end of the barn. Inside, the scent of leather and polish was overwhelming but pleasant. She glanced around at the dozens of saddles atop sawhorses, and walls lined with bridles and halters.
“Later on you’ll come in here to get Daisy’s tack, so you’re going to have to know where to put everything back where it belongs.” He took a leather halter from a hook, then went to one of the saddles with beautiful hand tooling. “When the time comes, this will be the saddle you’ll use. And you have to be strong enough to get it on Daisy.”
She nodded, then followed Patrick back to Daisy’s stall. He opened the gate and went inside. He ran his hand over the horse, speaking softly as he examined her, then slipped the harness on. “Watch how I’m doing this because tomorrow I’m going to expect you to be able to handle it.”
“What if I can’t?” she asked.
He stopped what he was doing and studied her a moment. “If I didn’t think you could do this, I never would’ve considered taking you on.”
“You’re doing just fine,” Patrick said as he watched Cyndi lead Daisy around the corral. He could see her uneasiness, but she was toughing it out and doing everything he’d asked of her. The old mare was a trouper, too. She could put up with nearly anything as long as she got some attention.
“Talk to her,” Patrick coaxed. “Daisy will respond to your voice.”
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