The Horse Man

The Horse Dance

Kiera did not, after all, have to make a chocolate pie. When she went to Hyn's place after dinner, he simply informed her that he would go to the horse show with her. Not to show any of his dear ones, mind, but simply to watch others. Kiera was ecstatic.
"Maybe Mom and Dad will come, and we can have a big day!" She squealed.
Hyn didn't answer, but Kiera was used to his odd behavior.

✳✴❇✳✴❇✳✴❇

Hyn had decided that he wanted to see the horse show for two reasons. One, his memory of his friends from Eire had made him wonder if the gift of mounted dancing had survived and spread, and two, the threat in his mind had not subsided. He remembered the time long ago when he had given to a young Absarokee boy a stallion from the strain of Bucephalis. As unlike their scruffy little war ponies as a Pekingese pup from the tall war hounds of the Tuatha da Dannan. Perhaps, with the wisdom and care typical of the Absarokee for their valued beasts, they had used him to improve their war ponies, and perhaps he should see and recognize the children of Shadow Chaser.
After this long time, the children of Shadow Chaser would hardly be much to excite the curiosity of thieves, but it would not stop worrying him. He wanted to see for himself what sort of horses the horse proud rode these days. And perhaps... Hyn shut his eyes and brought to mind the wild games and races with the friendly Absarokee tribe.
He had lived in this land many hundreds of years before he introduced himself to the native people who lived on the flat lands below his mountain. He sometimes saw them, and they left offerings of gifts and food for him in times of hardship. Their generosity to an utter stranger when they had little enough of their own baffled Hyn. After some time, Hyn took to leaving them gifts of food in their times of famine, and after many generations of them had come and gone, Hyn noticed that they too had horses. Scrubby little ponies, but horses nonetheless, and they treated them well. One day Hyn rode into their camp on his most talented stallion, and performing a levade, proceeded to introduce himself. It was the beginning of a happy time. The Absarokee were industrious, fastidious people whose care of their horses pleased Hyn. For several years, Hyn rode with them, teaching them to dance and extra tricks to make their war and buffalo ponies more dextrous and responsive. After a while he tired of them and returned to his mountain to stay, but not before one of his young stud colts had taken a liking to one of their best horsemen, and Hyn left the colt, who was named Shadow Chaser, with Horse Dancer.
He wondered briefly to himself if Horse Dancer and Shadow Chaser both had sired offspring, and what they were like. He half hoped, half hoped he would not see them in the city named Havre.

✳✴❇✳✴❇✳✴❇✳✴❇✳✴❇

Mr. O'Neill had cheerily offered to drive Hyn and Kiera to the Havre Horsemanship Event, and Mrs. O'Neill had declared her wish to see the event as well, so Hyn found himself crowded into the O'Neill's Ford F-250 with the three of them. He would have preferred to ride Silvara there, for with her speed and stamina, it would have been only a day's trip. But that could have raised too many questions.
The crowded cab made Hyn nervous and anxious, and he was so relieved when the ride was over that he shook himself like a shedding horse when they finally disembarked.
The air smelled of sawdust, horses and leather. Hyn liked that scent. Once, perhaps three or four hundred years ago, he had gone to Austria to visit the Hofreitschule in Wien. There had been this same scent, this same air of anticipation.
"Kommen sie mit Mir, Kiera. Sehst du wo das Pferden jetzt gehen?" He said, eagerly, tugging Kiera's hand and motioning to the practice arena.
("Come with me, Kiera. Do you see where the horses are going now?")
Kiera looked at him blankly before he realized he had spoken in Deutsch. "Let's watch them warm up." He explained. "Then we may tell the good from the mediocre, and the mediocre from the poor. You may tell me what you think."
Kiera wondered briefly what sort of babble Hyn had been talking when Dad whispered to her, "That was German, Honey. Lots of serious dressage riders go to Germany to learn from the masters there."
Kiera's awe of Hyn stepped up a notch.
Hyn guided the family to a point on the arena fence where they could observe the riders best, and scanned the area as if looking for something specific. Different riders were warming up their mounts, some performing show movements, others just limbering up their horses' joints. Hyn's flitting gaze stopped at one gelding who was already sweaty and foaming, his neck hyper extended, his back dropped, and his rider heavy on the reins.
"Right there, Kiera, tell me what that idiot is doing wrong." He flipped his hand contemptuously toward the rider.
Kiera looked at the rider for a moment. She was a small woman on a big, heavy gelding.
"I don't think that horse can see where he's going with his nose in so far." She said, thoughtfully.
"And what does that mean?" Asked Hyn.
"He, um, can't plan where to put his feet. And his back hurts? Um, um, he isn't happy?"
"Yes. Bad horsemanship. Disgusting. Your ride better than that dunce already, even if you haven't learned anything but the basic steps. Now pick out a rider who rides well."
Kiera looked at the crowd of riders. There were a few who were obviously using rollkur as their method, and a few using classical methods. There were different disciplines, but one rider stood out to her. A boy in a cowboy hat was riding a beautiful little mare around the arena, focused on her ears and just in front of them.
"That boy!" She chose, pointing.
"He is smart, yes. But he is letting his mare tell him what to do. She is an experienced professional, and he is new. He is very smart to let her make him look good, and developing well to not interfere with her. A smart rider pays attention to his horse, like this boy does. But he is still more passenger than partner. He does not yet have the knowledge to help her exceed herself. Still, he knows this, unlike this stupid boy coming along the fence here on that splotchy gelding, and he won't spoil what she can do by pretending that he does have that knowledge. Watch this stupid boy. He will loose the pace of his canter with his heavy ham hands, and then he will flop like an ill fastened pack."
Sure enough, the boy coming up along the fence forgot to give leg in the corner, and his mount slowed. And sure enough, he lost his rhythm for a moment, slopping in the saddle for a few strides.
"Pick out a good rider, Kiera," Hyn reminded her.
Kiera scanned the crowd again. Coming along at a slow trot was a teenage girl on a wide eyed young filly. They did not stand out, nor did they do anything fancy. They just held a slow, even trot. Kiera watched carefully. As they went around the corner, another rider came very close to them from the opposite direction. The filly's ears went up anxiously, but the girl slackened the reins ever so slightly and encouraged her forward movement with her seat.
"She is good, isn't she?" Kiera asked Hyn.
"Better than you probably guess." Hyn replied. "That filly has probably never been to such a noisy and crowded place before, but you did not even notice them at first. That takes much patience, and a good knowledge of one's mount. Now choose for me an over mounted rider."
This went on for about five more minutes before the first class was announced, and they made their way to the show arena.
✳✴❇
Hyn watched in utter boredom as rider after rider was praised for mediocre riding, and second rate horsemanship was hailed as incredible skill.
He watched the horses disinterestedly, they were most of them as like to his dear ones as water to a good soup.
He began to be sorry he had come. Kiera was watching avidly, obviously anxious to improve her skills so that she could compete with these people.
He was dozing lightly when the man at the podium spoke up in an excited manner.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, we will be offered a treat! A look into our local Montana legends! The representative of the Crow tribe will now show us the Horse God Dance, a display of horsemanship which the Crow tribe claims to have been taught by a god who lived amongst them hundreds of years ago. Daniel Pony Boy will be riding Earthbound Flight, a horse which is claimed to have descended from a horse given them by the Horse God."
Hyn choked on his own spit. "Stupid, stupid, ungrateful, careless people!" he hissed under his breath. "Time and time again did I tell them, do not ever, but never show the pale people the best of their horses!"
He gripped the seat in front of him as the doors opened and a boy in native dress rode out on a tall, well built horse. Perhaps it was nothing like what Hyn had in his herd at home, but it was subtly superior to any of the horses shown today. Little surprise there. The Absarokee had always had a careful hand with their horses, and a great skill at stealing any other tribe's horses which they thought could improve their own herds.
Daniel Pony Boy rode the stallion into the center of the arena and together they rose up in a proud Mezair. Then coming down, they sprang into action, demonstrating lead changes and even a ballotade as they raced around the arena doing buffalo hunting. The war pony demonstration included a capriole, and Daniel sliding fully underneath Flight's belly to come up on the other side, aided by a twisting movement that Hyn taught all his riding mounts, which gave the rider a little push while he was climbing back onto his mount's back. Hyn nervously tapped his knee. This was bad, very bad. If they had simply stuck to classical dancing as taught by the Tuatha da Dannan, the Pale People would dismiss it as a hoax, but this blend of Absarokee riding, Mounted Dancing, and Hyn's own lessons had a uniqueness that was clearly original.
The boy and the horse finished their show with Flight standing on his hind legs, his forelegs curved elegantly, and walking in a brief circle in this position before gently coming back to earth and exiting the ring with a floating passage.
Hyn got up and hastened back to the gate marked "Contestants Only". Ignoring the sign, he called out sharply in the Absarokee tongue which he remembered; "Daniel Pony Boy! Rein in your mount and speak to me!"
Daniel Pony Boy halted with a jerk, and Earthbound Flight flicked back his ears in surprise at this abrupt handling.
"Hey... Um, I don't speak the Old Language too good. Uh, are you a Tribal Elder?"
Hyn stalked up, greeting the young stallion who politely greeted him back, before addressing the human.
"Boy, what do you do, showing the Pale People the Mounted Dance? Weren't you warned about that? How is it that you still have the progeny of Shadow Chaser in the possession of your tribe? Know you not that the world is full of thieves and jealous people who do not hesitate to destroy those who are more skilled than they? And why do you say it was a god who taught you to dance, idiot?"
Daniel Pony Boy stared at Hyn for a moment.
"How do you know the secret name of the founding stud? And how do you know that we were told to hide the Dance from the Whites?"
"You stupid, stupid boy!" Hyn hissed. "I came down from my mountain to give you ascendancy over your neighbors, to feed you in times of famine, to teach you how to ride well, and even left one of my own dear ones with your people. All I asked in return was that you did not allow the Pale People to know of me or of my horses. I should never have trusted you! Even this simplest of requests you are unable to respect?"
Daniel Pony Boy gaped, his mouth open. "Who are you?" He whispered hoarsely.
"I am the Horse Man. Who else would I be? Now what do you suggest I do to protect the rest of my favorites from the greedy hands of the scum that rule this country?"
"B-But... You're not real!" Daniel protested. "The elders many years ago said that there were no such thing as the Old Gods. The Jesuit Missionaries taught us that they're all lies! You aren't the Horse God because there isn't any such thing!" His hands were shaking, and his mount tossed his head nervously.
"I never said I was a god, Stupid! In fact, I told your people that there's only One God, the One who gave us our life and our horses. I told you over and over, and you promised to keep my secret. Now look! How long have you been doing this?!"
Daniel Pony Boy stared at Hyn. "You're messing with me, aren't you? We've done the traditional Horse Dance in public for maybe a couple years, but we used to do shows of different things at the rendezvous back in the day. Now what are you trying to do? Prank me?"
Hyn bared his teeth. "What I am trying to do is to protect my own dear ones from greedy hands! How did you keep your own good horses from the grasping hands of the Pale People? That is what I wish to know."
Daniel Pony Boy frowned at his hands for a moment, and then finally spoke. "Y'know, I think maybe you should talk to one of the Elders. Want to come back here with me and meet my dad?"

Thanks so much for reading this! If you enjoyed it, please share it, vote, and comment about what you liked or what you think could be improved.

Author's Note
I grew up in an area where the natives mostly lived in hovels, surrounded by filth and toasted on drugs and alcohol. Then I moved to Montana. The native tribes there are truly to be admired. They are resilient and industrious, the reservations are a pleasure to the eye with their farms and ranches so well kept! They treat their land well, and they don't let money influence them to destroy it.
So I thought I'd put you MT natives in here because you're amazing. Oh, one last thing. I don't call you natives to be an annoying PC person. It's because I get mixed up with Indians from India and Indians from America.