(There was nowhere to go, anyway, but into the wide open spaces.) He kept the gate to her paddock unlocked. He had no control over her. He predicted correctly that she would always return eventually to her feeding bucket.
She looked bizarrely out of place even to the cowhands who saw her every day. Some of the newer ranch hands rubbed their eyes in disbelief, seeing her for the first time. After a few days, her presence made the hands feel different and, even a bit special. She was
their
elephant too.
Amy was content. Water was abundant, the sky was filled with clouds, and her food bin was always full. She was wild and free. Bob did not discipline her Indeed, he asked nothing of her but that she find her way in her new world. He allowed her the freedom to grow up and gain confidence at her own pace.
One morning Amy and Michelle wandered over from the paddock to the cutting pen, where Bob was working the colts. Suddenly Amy’s trunk went up, and she trumpeted loudly. Bob looked over at her, surprised. He thought, Oh, damn, here she comes!
She charged the colts in the pen as though they were the zebras back in Zimbabwe. The colts “just went bonkerswhen they saw her coming. I mean, one jumped plumb over the fence, it wanted out of there so bad. I didn’t know what Amy was going to do. Hell, I didn’t know what the horses would do either. Amy knew that she was scaring them, I swear. She was having a ball. She figured that out real quick. It was as if she was thinking, Hey, these guys are scared to death of me. I’m going to have some fun with it. She ran after them deliberately and trumpeted to frighten them.”
Soon after, realizing that Amy was going to have to get along with the colts sooner or later, Bob put colts in the paddock next to her. When the colts ran around the enclosure, Amy ran around in her paddock trumpeting loudly. “She got so excited she did figure eights,” said Bob, who next tied the colts to Amy’s paddock fence.
At first the young horses bunched up at the sight of Amy. She walked over to them and reached her trunk through the fence. She touched their noses. She tugged at their ropes. Days later she entered their paddock and rubbed up against them. Now they didn’t seem to mind. They treated her with all the indifference they would have shown just another colt.
Bob told Jane, “I guess she’s starting to think of herself as a horse with a trunk. Or maybe the colts are starting to think that they are elephants without a trunk. It’s hard to know. It is becoming a peaceful kingdom out there, anyway, with the lions laying down with the lambs.”
Jane told him, “It seems like the only one she isn’t used to, Bob, is
you.”
He knew that. He had asked himself how he might best approach her. He did not want to frighten her. A misstep or a premature action, he knew, might take away her self-confidence. He had no answers. But Jane was right. It
was
time to make Amy as much a part of the human ranch as she was of the animal.
The more he considered the problem, he came to see that an old football injury might hold the key. A couple of years before, a surgeon had removed bone chips from his knee, which sometimes locked up, “just snapped shut,” and forced him to walk on crutches or ride on horseback when he would normally walk. He asked himself, Why not approach Amy on horseback? Would that fool a smart young elephant like her? He decided to give it a try.
Astride Big Bob, he rode up to Amy in her paddock. He steadied the horse and leaned over in the saddle. He took Amy’s trunk in his hand and soothed her with the sound of his voice. So slowly that he hardly appeared to be moving, he swung his leg over the stallion’s back and lowered one leg to the ground. He was watching Amy, ready at an instant’s notice to climb back on the horse. He kept his hand out to her. He came down out of the saddle with his other foot. Now he was standing slightly apart from Big Bob. He walked across the
She looked bizarrely out of place even to the cowhands who saw her every day. Some of the newer ranch hands rubbed their eyes in disbelief, seeing her for the first time. After a few days, her presence made the hands feel different and, even a bit special. She was
their
elephant too.
Amy was content. Water was abundant, the sky was filled with clouds, and her food bin was always full. She was wild and free. Bob did not discipline her Indeed, he asked nothing of her but that she find her way in her new world. He allowed her the freedom to grow up and gain confidence at her own pace.
One morning Amy and Michelle wandered over from the paddock to the cutting pen, where Bob was working the colts. Suddenly Amy’s trunk went up, and she trumpeted loudly. Bob looked over at her, surprised. He thought, Oh, damn, here she comes!
She charged the colts in the pen as though they were the zebras back in Zimbabwe. The colts “just went bonkerswhen they saw her coming. I mean, one jumped plumb over the fence, it wanted out of there so bad. I didn’t know what Amy was going to do. Hell, I didn’t know what the horses would do either. Amy knew that she was scaring them, I swear. She was having a ball. She figured that out real quick. It was as if she was thinking, Hey, these guys are scared to death of me. I’m going to have some fun with it. She ran after them deliberately and trumpeted to frighten them.”
Soon after, realizing that Amy was going to have to get along with the colts sooner or later, Bob put colts in the paddock next to her. When the colts ran around the enclosure, Amy ran around in her paddock trumpeting loudly. “She got so excited she did figure eights,” said Bob, who next tied the colts to Amy’s paddock fence.
At first the young horses bunched up at the sight of Amy. She walked over to them and reached her trunk through the fence. She touched their noses. She tugged at their ropes. Days later she entered their paddock and rubbed up against them. Now they didn’t seem to mind. They treated her with all the indifference they would have shown just another colt.
Bob told Jane, “I guess she’s starting to think of herself as a horse with a trunk. Or maybe the colts are starting to think that they are elephants without a trunk. It’s hard to know. It is becoming a peaceful kingdom out there, anyway, with the lions laying down with the lambs.”
Jane told him, “It seems like the only one she isn’t used to, Bob, is
you.”
He knew that. He had asked himself how he might best approach her. He did not want to frighten her. A misstep or a premature action, he knew, might take away her self-confidence. He had no answers. But Jane was right. It
was
time to make Amy as much a part of the human ranch as she was of the animal.
The more he considered the problem, he came to see that an old football injury might hold the key. A couple of years before, a surgeon had removed bone chips from his knee, which sometimes locked up, “just snapped shut,” and forced him to walk on crutches or ride on horseback when he would normally walk. He asked himself, Why not approach Amy on horseback? Would that fool a smart young elephant like her? He decided to give it a try.
Astride Big Bob, he rode up to Amy in her paddock. He steadied the horse and leaned over in the saddle. He took Amy’s trunk in his hand and soothed her with the sound of his voice. So slowly that he hardly appeared to be moving, he swung his leg over the stallion’s back and lowered one leg to the ground. He was watching Amy, ready at an instant’s notice to climb back on the horse. He kept his hand out to her. He came down out of the saddle with his other foot. Now he was standing slightly apart from Big Bob. He walked across the
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