About an hour after the discussion, Mati entered the corral, halter in hand.
Rini closed the gate behind her.
“TERA!” she said, looking straight at the donkey just a few yards away.
“We are NOT playing games any more, and I AM going to put this halter on you, and you ARE going to let Rini saddle you, or we will LEAVE you here for the WOLVES!”
Tera lowered her head. This human girl had somehow learned that do-or-die tone of voice that Tera had heard many times before, always when she was about to be saddled or harnessed by as many strong hands and strong ropes as it took. And there was something else . . . the last sound the girl made . . . Tera remembered that sound being made by the humans long ago when sharp yellow teeth ended her mother’s life.
Mati was trembling slightly, but wore a stern expression as she hobbled toward the donkey. Tera didn’t budge as Mati leaned on her crutch and scratched the animal’s shaggy neck. She spoke more softly, but no less firmly.
“You and me are going to be a team, and I will not put up with silly games when we need to get things done. This is a halter. I’m sure you’ve had one on before. It goes over your nose like this, then over your ears, then I hook it and it’s all done. You may not love it, but it’s a lot better than having a knee that doesn’t work, believe me, and a lot better than being eaten by wolves.”
There was that human sound again, the one that would always make Tera shudder inside . . . and remember her mother.
Rini, looking through the fence, smiled at Mati’s new-found confidence, born of necessity.
“Now we’re going to walk over here so Rini can put a saddle on you,” Mati said, moving around to Tera’s left side. “Rini, Tera and I have come to an understanding, and she’s ready for a saddle. I’ll hold her while you put it on.”
Tera didn’t move for the saddle blanket, but when Rini approached with the saddle, she started to swivel around Mati.
“You STOP right there, you pesky donkey, or I will take the halter off and walk away and NOT LOOK BACK!”
Tera froze, sensing the seriousness in Mati’s voice.
Luckily for Rini’s slender arms, it was a light saddle made for a pony.
After folding the stirrups on top, he was able to swing it up to the donkey’s back.
“Good girl!” Mati said. “See how easy that was? Now Rini is going to cinch it, and you and me are going for a ride.”
Rini secured the chest and belly straps, then checked to make sure the saddle wouldn’t slide off. He got the lead rope from the fence and handed it to Mati.
“All I’m going to use is a rope hooked to both sides of your halter, so we’re really going to have to work together. There, that was easy. Now I’m going to climb onto your back, and you are going to stand RIGHT here.”
Mati put her left foot in the stirrup, grabbed the front of the saddle, and pulled with all her might. All her might wasn’t quite enough, so Rini gave her a shove.
She landed in the saddle, but in the process her right foot caught behind the stirrup, forcing her knee to bend, and she cried out in pain.
Mati’s cry spooked the donkey, who bolted forward, knocking Rini off balance.
Tera came to a stop when she reached the far side of the corral. Mati had somehow managed to hold on, but tears of pain filled her eyes. Using all her concentration, Mati finally straightened her right knee in front of the stirrup.
The pain quickly passed.
Then Mati looked around while blinking tears out of her eyes. Rini was sitting on the ground watching her. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. You?”
“I have to remember to keep my leg straight. It all happened so fast, I forgot!”
“I could feel it when you cried out.”
Rini got up and walked over to the mount and rider. He spoke firmly to the animal while leading her this way and that, turning sharply right and left, stopping, even backing up. Mati focused on keeping her knee happy.
“Okay, Rini, Tera and I have to do this by ourselves now.”
Rini left the corral and stuck his head back through the rails to watch.
Ilika and others watched from comfortable patches of grass as Mati developed a shared language with the donkey, a combination of firm words, tugs on the reins, and nudges with her one booted foot.
Whenever the communication did not go well, which was often during the first few hours, they heard, “NO, Tera, STOP!” Then Mati would try a slightly different combination of words and actions until she could finally say, “Good girl, Tera!”
The afternoon was waning toward evening, and some of the students were starting to prepare dinner, when Mati finally told Rini she was ready for the next step.
He opened the corral gate wide.
With a smile on her face, Mati guided her donkey to within a few yards of her teacher. “Tera, I would like you to meet Ilika, my teacher, and Sata and Toli, my friends.”
They all gave Mati compliments and Tera kind words.
Mati then directed Tera to the fire circle. “Tera, these are my friends Kibi, Buna, and Boro.”
Again they had kind words for mount and rider.
Finally, Mati guided the donkey down the trail toward the stream.
“Why don’t we all pull a bunch of fresh grass for Tera so she knows we like her when she gets back?” Boro proposed.
Almost everyone nodded and hopped up to join in the effort. Toli rolled his eyes, but with everyone else involved, he didn’t dare refuse. They quickly had a respectable pile of grass in the corral, and went back to preparing
dinner.
When a quarter hour had passed and Mati had not returned, some of them started to look worried.
When the pair had been gone half an hour, Rini and Sata both began squirming. “Can we go look for her?” Sata asked.
Ilika thought about it. “You can look, but no yelling. And please stay together.”
She and Rini agreed and headed down the trail at a fast walk.
Soon the sun left the clearing for the day, so Ilika drafted Toli to help him bring in boots and blankets.
After another quarter hour, with three of his students and the donkey well overdue, Ilika was the one looking anxious.
“Yes, you can go look for them,” Kibi said with a smirk. “But no yelling!”
Ilika grinned back at her, and he and Boro headed down the trail. When they came to the stream, they could see both donkey tracks and boot prints in the mud on both sides. They continued across. The trail faded as it climbed the open, grassy hillside north of the stream.
When they came to the top of the first hill, they found Rini and Sata sitting in the grass looking across at the next hill.
Silhouetted against the glowing evening sky, donkey and rider walked or trotted back and forth, stopping on command, and turning with precision. In the stillness of the evening air they could faintly hear Mati’s words of direction and praise every time Tera did what she wanted, which was now most of the time.
Ilika and Boro sat down.
“How can Mati take a friend on walks now?” Sata wondered out loud with a hint of sadness.
Ilika smiled slightly. “Tera will have to be that friend now.”
Deep Learning Notes
As anyone who works with animals knows, the emotional content of our voices is critical. Donkeys and horses have more than their share of fear, and so are quite sensitive to tone of voice. Mati had to walk a fine line, creating a working relationship with Tera, without causing Tera to fear her.
The riding commands (voice, reins, boots) Mati and Tera developed usually take much longer. They can also be developed very quickly if the mount has previous training and/or a natural bond exists between rider and mount.