THE BEST OF THE TALES OF THE BEARTOOTH AND OTHER BOOKS

        K.O. arrived at the ranch early the next morning – I was to learn that K.O. would always be early for every scheduled event – and after coffee in the dining room, we went out to the corral where King was having breakfast.  I never tied him to a stall when I fed him like we did the other horses, because sudden movements near his head would always frighten him on account of his previous brutal treatment and cause him to rear his head up and snap his halter rope.

          When King saw me coming, he nickered and moved forward to greet me.  But he stopped when he saw K.O. coming in behind me with his shoeing tools.  Then he started backing up and rearing when he realized what was in store for him.

K.O. paid no attention to him but just began arranging his tools and horseshoes around a low stand with a metal plate welded on top for the horse to rest his foot on occasionally while being shod.  Horseshoeing is a back breaker and the stand took some of the strain out of the task.

            When K.O. had finished laying out his tools, he turned his attention to King who was rearing his head up and down and snorting through flared nostrils about twenty feet away.

            “Soo-oo-ee-ee, King.  Soo-oo-ee-ee, King.  Soo-oo-ee-ee, King,” crooned K.O. who was now edging toward the nervous horse.  “Hoo-eee, King.  Hoo-eee, King, Hoo-Boy, Hoo-Boy, Hoo-Boy.”

            King settled down somewhat, but still eyed this stranger warily.  Then K.O. stopped moving forward and started making a groaning noise that sounded to me like “Ahh, Ahh, Ahh; Oh, Oh, Oh; My, My, My; Ahh, Ahh, Ahh King; Oh, Oh, Oh King; My, My, My King.”

            Then a moan, “Oooh, Oooh, Oooh King.  And finally a long, low wail, “Oooo, Oooo, Oooo King; Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhh King; Myyy, Myyy, Myyy King.”

            At this point a strange thing happened.  King stopped his nervous pacing and throwing his head up and down and stopped to watch and listen to this strange man who was making these strange sounds.

            “Oooh, Oooh, Oooh, King.  Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhh King.  Myyy, Myyy, Myyy King, the moaning continued.  Still, however, K.O. made no move to advance toward the horse.

            After a few minutes of this moaning and groaning, King’s head began to sag and his body relaxed.  Only then did K.O. start to move toward the horse, still continuing his soothing noises.  When he reached King, his hand went out slowly to grasp the halter rope.  I expected a violent rearing from the horse who never allowed anyone but Carolynn and me to get that close.  But King never moved and his head continued to sag and his body remained limp.

            When K.O. had the halter rope in his hand, he turned around and started moving toward his shoeing equipment.  His groaning trailed off and was replaced with a gentle croon.  “Here King, Come on Boy, Here King, Come on Boy.”  And to my amazement, King started following K.O. right up to where he had laid out his horseshoeing tools.