We rode hard towards the ranch. Wade rode on my left, as we exited the trail that led into the opening. We continued until we came to the horse stable.

Wade came to a skidding halt at the entrance where Stuart waited and took the reins of his horse. I slowly stopped my horse and Wade rushed over and helped me down. He looked into my eyes briefly and smiled and bent down and kissed my lips lightly.

Stuart came and relieved me of my horse’s reins and began leading them towards their lofts. I ran into the loft behind Wade, and we rushed over to the laboring mare’s stall.

John was bent over her, wetting her down with a wet sponge. He looked up as Wade opened the stall door.

“Oh, thank god, the colt is breached and I can’t get in there to try to turn it”, he said wiping the top of his brow with the back of his forearm.

Wade quickly pulled of his T-shirt and squatted at the end of the horse. I stood there wide-eyed as he pushes both of his hands into the horse’s rear. He couldn’t get far enough in there, so he had to take out one of his hands. He was all the way up to almost his elbow, in her hole. I was shocked and amazed.

“Damn, I can’t get a good hold of it. I feel it, but I can’t get my other hand deep enough so I can use both hands to get it to turn.” He started to look around as he tried to think what else he could do. He looked at me and I seen something in his eyes, that I couldn’t quite understand. “Raven, come in here,” he said as he pulled his and out of the horse, and stood. He motioned me to come to him.

The one of the other ranch hands opened the stall door, and motioned me to go threw it. I walk hesitantly into the stall, and walked over to Wade, my brows furrow at wondering what he had in mind. I’ve never even seen this happened before. How in the hell could I help with this situation?

He took my hand and guided me close to him. He stood behind me and faced me towards the horse. “I need your help! My hands are too big, and I can get a hold of the colt with one hand enough to turn it. I know this is all knew to you, but I need you to reach deep into her and grab the colt with both of your hands. I need you to grab on either side of the colt and turn it. It’s going to be hard and you have to push with all of your might. Please, I need you to try for me. Can you try?”

I looked up into his eyes with clear apprehension in my eyes. But I heard the urgency in his voice, and I now seen it in his eyes. I pushed aside my fear and my dread and nodded to him, as I began to speak with a shaky voice, “I will try my best, but I am worried that I can’t get him turned. I am not that strong and my hands are a lot smaller then yours, but I will try.”

He smiled softly at me and gently said, “ You can do this. You have more strength then you think you have. What ever happens, the only thing that matters is that you tried your best. I will stand over the horse’s stomach and feel against her belly and try to guide you and instruct you what to do, as soon as you let me know you have a hold of the colt. You’ll do fine,” he assured me.

I just squatted and nodded at him. What in the hell was I about to do? I said I didn’t mind getting dirty, but I never intended to be doing this. 

“OK Raven, with both hands together, reach in and push your way to where the colt is. Then grab a hold of what ever you can feel.”

I took a deep breath as a put my hands together as if I was praying. I aimed the tips of my fingers towards the gapping hole and started to push into it. It was very warm and it had a wet gooey texture. My eyes looked up into Wades, looking for reassurance. He smiled deeply at me and winked as he said, “You are doing great, Raven.” He nodded his head for me to continue.

I continued to push further inside of the horse. I was buried up past my elbows now. As I pushed, I felt my hands run into a sticky hard mass. I quickly jerked my head up with my eyes wide and looked at Wade. 

“That’s it, you’re there, now grab a hold of the colt. Try to place each of your hands on either side of it as best as you can.” Wade was feeling what I was doing through the mare’s belly.
I did what he said and told Wade that I had a hold of it the best that I could. He smiled again giving me the much needed confidence. “OK, now I want you to pull with your left hand as you push with your right hand. Keep moving your hands and doing this until you think you have the head between your hands. If the momma don’t start pushing almost immediately, then I will reach in to see if the colt is where it needs to be and we will go from there. I need you to use all of your might, because this is a very difficult thing to do.”

I started pushing and pulling with everything I had. I was pulling so hard that my feet started to slide on the hay. I felt the veins in my ear’s start popping as I pulled. My face turned red from the strain and for the fact I stopped breathing each time I pulled and pushed.

I felt the colt start to turn. That gave me a new vigor to continued and pulled harder. I was pulling so hard that if my hand slipped, I would go flying to the back of the stall. I tightened my grip and heaved with all of my might. I don’t know where the strength came from, but I was doing it. I was moving that colt around while it was still in its mother’s womb.

Wade was feeling the colt turn. He wasn’t sure if Raven could do this or not. He just knew he had to have her try, and she was doing it. He started edging her on with his words of encouragement. 

“That’s it, baby. You’re doing it, keep going …push…pull…push…pull.” He repeated over and over, as the other men stood there watching they started chiming in with the encouragement. 

I was bound and determined to do this. I was not going to give up like some girls probably would’ve. No, Wade needed me to do this. He needed this to work. I heard the blood pumping in my ears; it was at the same beat as my heart beat.

The blood was coursing through my ears so loud that I could barely hear the guys cheering me on. I heard Wades’ words encouraging me as he bent over towards my ear. “That’s it baby, you are almost there. Keep pulling, you can do it.”

I felt the nose of the colt in my hand. I pulled one more time as it centered between my hand. All of a sudden the mare pushed, and I felt the colt push towards me. “It’s coming,” I said excitingly.

I didn’t have time to pull my hands out before the mare pushed again, sending the colt half way out of her large hole. My eye’s was as wide and round as half-dollars as I continued to hold on to the colt, giving it support. My mouth opened in utter amazement from what was happening right in front of me. What I was apart of. 

The momma horse pushed one more time, sending the colt shooting out of her hole. The colt came out in such a rush, that it knocked me down, as the colt landed in my lap.

Wade was squatted down in front of me in a flash. He began tearing open the sack that was around the colts face. I just sat there with the colt still on my lap, watching as Wade’s skillful hands worked. Wade started massaging the colt’s body to get the circulation flowing, after he used a big sucking instrument to get the fluid out of its mouth. After rubbing the colt for about five minutes, the colt started moving its head and then his legs and tail. It opened its eyes, and looked up at me. He lifted his head, and Wade smiled widely. 

He looked at me, and pulled my chin up to look at him, “You did it my little vixen. You just helped give birth to the newest edition. You helped save this little guys life.” He said to me with so much feeling in his voice.

I smiled like a little girl. I just did something that was totally amazing. I was totally proud of this huge accomplishment. Wade continued, “He’s yours Raven.”

“What?” I said not sure if I heard him correctly.

Wade bent down and kissed the tip of my nose and said, “He is yours. You saved him, he is grateful that you were here. We all are grateful that you were here. Not only would that pony not be here right now, but we would have lost the momma as well. So, the colt is yours. You name it, you get to say what happens to him, if we sell him or breed him. Anything that is made off of him is yours. He is your colt.”