The best partnerships are those that rebuild the shifting sands of fear with solid stones of trust.
There are hidden truths hidden inside of horse deals. Uno came to us that way.
“What can you tell me about that one there? That palomino”, Trudy asked, all innocence and hope – just the tone of voice you don’t want to use on a horse trader.
“Name’s Uno. Came outta Missouri. Ain’t he a flashy thing? Probably shoulda named him flash.”
The guy was beginning to smell blood in the water. I made a mental note that of all the horses in the corral, he was the only one who had been tied up.
“Boy, I like the looks of him”, Trudy said to me, loud enough so the guy could hear. That was another thing you don’t say around these horse traders.
Before I could say much more the deal was done and Uno was riding in our trailer.
It soon became obvious why he had been tied up when we had bought him; he was a booger to catch. Like many so-called partnerships, I guessed that he had been part of a master-slave type of relationship where he hadn’t had much say in what he did or how he did it. He bucked a couple of us off over the years and stayed about as far away from people as he could get. Our deal was simple but effective – I ignored him and he ignored me back.
One day I got a call from one of the local nursing homes. A hopeful voice asked me if I knew anybody with an older gentle horse who could maybe come into town and give a ride to one of their clients, a birthday girl who would soon be having her last double-digit-birthday. She talked about old and gentle. I thought of saying no. Then I thought of Uno.
“You know, I’ve got the market cornered on old and gentle”, I replied.
What I didn’t tell her was that we were down to two horses; old was one horse and gentle was the another.
Uno spent the next week facing up to the unpleasant human that I was while I spent the time looking for his good side to invite my hands to touch him, something they hadn’t done much of for the past fourteen years. After a week or so I figured we were as ready as we were gonna be so we had a little talk.
“OK”, I grumbled in the low voice I used just for him when I held his head in my arms, “this is not a day for you to screw around. This is the day you can trust somebody who might not trust you. This is the day we do the dance.”
We left for town, found the nursing home, and circled around until we found a small grassy area out back. I had no sooner got him out of the trailer than a gaggle of excitement came running over to us, going on about how the birthday girl was all set for us. They were clearly ready. Uno was clearly not. I asked for a few quiet minutes so we could sort of settle into the scenery before we flipped the switch and they all flew quietly back to their perch on the porch while Uno and I had another chat.
“OK, I know”, I rambled as he flicked his ears. “There’s plenty to make a big deal about, especially for an old man who’s never even been to town. Let’s just try our best not to make this another episode of you trying to outrun your past.”
He thought about what I had said as we walked over to the side of the townhouse where I held him with one hand and helped direct the wave of help with the other. The assistants got busy with a folding step ladder and, before we knew it, the birthday girl was on board, all little girl excitement running quietly inside a ninety-nine-year-old frame. The nurses watched her and I watched Uno.
What I figured would be a two-minute dog and pony show turned out to be something much more: two old warriors taking care of each other as they picked their way back along the empty fields of age into a time where colts and little girls lasted forever.
When we got back to home base the crew brought the folding chair and I sidestepped Uno over to where I thought we had the least chance of losing our cargo. When all went according to plan and she was standing once again on terra firma she turned and looked at me with the morning sparkling in her blue eyes, eyes that had just seen a faraway time come close enough for her to touch.
“Thank you”, she said, “And thank you Uno.”
When she put her old wrinkled hand on Uno’s neck he softened, half way closing his eyes, and working his lips.
It wasn’t hard to see that they had formed a partnership that enabled short futures to be overshadowed by long pasts.
