The Visitors

Cholla is very friendly and loves attention, which our animals don't lack! When he was ten days old, dad and and I were out by the corral admiring our mare and new colt, as we often did. Content to watch the two interact and Cholla explore his new world. I could watch them for hours. Lady was like most mothers, gentle, loving and protective. Cholla continued to display his joy for jumping and his growing curiosity.

Pistol, my five year old gelding, was not happy at Cholla's arrival. It was easy to see that, even if my dad hadn't told me the shocking story of Pistol and Lady on their hind legs boxing with their front, after Lady's quick intervention when Pistol escaped from his tether and ran toward Cholla. Dad somehow broke up the fight, which left mother and son with only minor scratches.

On this calm, sunny spring evening, the horses were safely in their own corrals. Lady and Pistol suddenly froze and stood erect; both turned their heads following some sound only large-eared horses could detect. I waited and watched. Seconds later two large sorrel horses came galloping from the south. They were bare of any usual horse paraphernalia and unaccompanied. I recognized the pair, owned by my neighbor Don, who lived a couple of miles from me. He drove by on a regular basis, with those horses trailered, on his way to my other neighbor's ranch where they rode and roped several times a week. Often, as they drove by, Pistol would run the fence-line behind the trailer and exchange neighs with the passersby.

Upon the visitor's arrival, Pistol rushed to the back corner of his corral to greet the pair. After the three spent a few seconds in a huddled conversation with nostrils flared and sniffing, the visiting pair went directly to the back of the corral where Lady and baby Cholla were. Lady resumed eating her dinner after she ran a circle in her corral, which included a brief stop to admonish the baby-admiring visitors. Lady's body language conveyed her protective-mother message, stronger than if she could speak. The two visitors were standing so close to each other I doubt you get get your hand between the two. They stood perfectly still and seemed to be waiting and admiring, with their eyes fixed on Cholla.

Cholla knew he was center-stage and responded accordingly. The two members of his audience didn't have to wait long to see the show. Cholla, as if on cue, ran circles in his pen and then showed off his much practiced jumping ability. Jumping over the small feed dish and brush in the corral. He continued on for ten to fifteen minutes. After which the two visitors, having accomplished their mission, suddenly turned and trotted away, going in the same direction they came.

Cholla's Birth

"We have a little one!" my dad shouted excitedly through my bedroom door. It was three a.m. and we had been expecting our mare, Lady, to give birth for a couple of weeks now. I jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed.  I wanted to run out the door to the corral to closely examine the object I've been anticipating for a long twelve months. But I knew I had to take a slow and calm approach.

When I got to the corral I saw baby was already licked dry and walking around. I slowly walked towards mom and baby, not sure how either would react. They both remained relaxed and seemed unbothered by me. I touched under baby's belly, as it was too dark to see with my dim flashlight. "It's a colt", I called to my dad who was standing several feet away. Although that was more of a gut feeling, as the only thing I felt under his belly was the stub of an umbilical cord. It was late March 2005 and cold by desert-dweller standards.

  Later that morning, in the light of dawn, I was surprised to see Cholla, a name I decided on months before, running and jumping over small brush in his pen. He couldn't have been more than a few hours old. I know that because my dad had told me he checked on Lady around midnight, and there was no baby then. Jumping Cholla turned out to be the perfect name, or was he a Jumping Cholla because of his name? He had great coordination for a newborn. My only knowledge of such, up until this time, was from watching movies of wobbling fledglings who looked so vulnerable and weak. Cholla showed no resemblance to his "movie star" cousins.

I decided to keep my distance that morning. Watching him with such apparent vigor for his new world was a great joy to my dad and I.  I had heard from experienced horsemen that a horse's name is a predictor for their personality. As I watched Cholla run circles in his pen and jump like an old pro, I realized one of many mysteries of life, those horsemen were right!