Beyond Frontier - 15. BF Chapter 15

To put it on you place the large circle over the nose first, with the single joining piece at the bottom. The steel piece joined to the small circle is called the bit, which you hold in an open hand, and guide it into the horse’s mouth, as you slide the small circle over the horse’s nose. Once you have done that, you slide the top part of the large circle over the horses ears, so it is sitting just behind the ears.

“The halter, bit and reins, the lead and saddle, are also referred together as the tack. The two rings below the buckle on the large circle is where you attach the lead rope, which is this thing I am holding. Got all that so far?” James said to me.

“Yes, I think so,” I said trying to absorb all this new information.

“Good. Now that we have finished with the horse, we have to undo the saddle strap. The buckles are hidden under the flap of the saddle,” James said, and I lifted the flap and saw what he was referring to.

“You only need to loosen the straps on one side of the horse, and it’s always best to do that on the left side. Once the saddle strap is undone, we grab the saddle from under the pommel, and the back of the saddle, and lift it off, and place it directly onto the rail, like you see with the other saddles. Once that is done you take the blanket off and open it up so it can air out.

“Now the fun bit,” James announced as he grabbed two large brushes with big straps on top, and handed one to me, and showed me how to slide the hand in under the strap, and began to brush down the horse. “Keep it to long smooth strokes in a downwards motion. You will see on parts of the horse that the hairs go in different directions, so you have to brush the horse in that direction,” James said.

Half an hour later, after we had finished brushing down the horse, we fed it and the other four horses in the stables, and closed the external doors, before we headed over to the staff quarters, where it was getting close to sunset.

When Roebuck saw me coming she came dashing towards me, and I bent down to pick her up, and rubbed her back and tummy. “It might be a good idea to keep her tied up, as we have fox baits around the station. You don’t want her to start chewing on one of those,” James suggested, as we approached my vehicle, where I retrieved a piece of steak from the fridge and handed it to James.

“See if she will take it if you offer it to her,” I suggested, but no matter how much he tried, Roebuck refused to accept the meat.

“It is amazing. I have only had her for a couple of days, and she is house trained, sticks to me like glue, and now she won’t accept food from strangers,” I said and I rubbed her tummy, and told her that she was a good puppy. I retrieved her food bowl and placed a couple pieces of meat with some biscuits together, and some fresh water, then placed it on the ground, before placing Roebuck on the ground. She went straight to the bowl. While she was eating, I opened up and set up my swag, so it was under the awning, before looking in the box of dried and canned food and the fridge to decide on what to have for dinner.

Over the next three days, I became more comfortable with riding a horse, without Roebuck, and even got up to a canter, which was quite frightening at first. Under James’s guidance, I learnt how to balance properly in the saddle, and get into a rhythm with the horse. He even managed to get 6 cattle into a very large yard, and start me on how to muster cattle. At the end of each day, when he returned from dinner, we sat around a small open fire, just between the building and my vehicle, with Roebuck sleeping in my lap, and I would listen to all the stories of adventures that James had had in his lifetime, as his father and uncle were also cattle stockmen when they were younger.

“Life must get pretty lonely out here for you, when you have finished work,” I said to James, after a period of silence.

“Yes, it does, especially for me, as I am bi, and that is a rare thing among stockmen and jackaroos,” James replied sadly.

“That is one reason why I am on this trip. I caught my boyfriend having it off with another guy, so I just packed up and left, even thou I have lots of responsibilities, which I have left my two best friends to deal with, while I am away,” I replied.

“Yeah, I figured it would be something like that,” James said with a slight smile, before he stood up and wished me a good night, and he headed to his room for some sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to James shaking my swag, and Roebuck growling at him. “Good morning, sleepy heads. Time to get up. We have a busy day ahead of us,” James said.

I noticed that it was still pitch dark. “What time is it and why so damn early?” I responded, as I patted Roebuck, to let her know that it was ok. Then I slipped on my jeans and shirt, followed by my work boots, before climbing out of my warm swag. “Oh man! It gets cold out here,” I said, as I watched Roebuck wander off to do her business before returning to the swag, and going back to sleep. “Wish I could do that,” I muttered, and James just laughed.

“I have tea and toast ready in the kitchen. You may want to stock up her food and water, as we will be out most of the day, unless you want to carry her in a saddle bag,” James said as he headed back inside, to have some breakfast.

Once I had given Roebuck a meat and biscuit mix, plus filled up the water, I headed towards the staff kitchen, where James was eating breakfast. I saw the wall clock read 4.58am. “Why so early?” I asked as I began to sip my tea, to warm up.

“We have some water points that we need to check on, to make sure the cattle are getting enough water,” James explained to me. He handed to me, what I presumed was a leather saddle bag. I looked at it carefully, before opening one side, and looking inside.

“They hold quite a lot of space. We will have one each. I will carry the two Thermos flasks of hot drinks, a first aid kit, sat phone and the lunches. You can carry the water bag, plus the morning and afternoon snacks, and if you want Roebuck can ride inside a bag. If not, you can carry the first aid kit,” James said to me. Once we had eaten I grabbed a plastic bag that I had in my vehicle, and placed some biscuits in them, and I grabbed two 500 ml water bottles from my car fridge, and placed them in the saddle bag, along with the water bag and snacks.

Grabbing one of my shirts, I placed it in the bottom of the other side bag, and lifted Roebuck up and placed her in the bag. She started to wine a little bit, then stuck her head out and saw me, and settled down. Grabbing my hat, I put it on, and was about to follow James, when I stopped and went to my suitcase and pulled out a cotton scarf, that had an aboriginal design on it, which I bought in Halls Creek, because I liked the design.

Going to a tap, I soaked the scarf, then folded it in half diagonally, and wrapped it around Roebuck, and tied off the pointed ends at the back of her neck, for which I received my first face lick from Roebuck.

“Well, it looks like she is ready to go,” James said from a little ahead of us, as he stopped when I hadn’t started following him.

Fifteen minutes later, I had my horse saddled up, and the saddle bags were secured to the pommel, so they don’t slide off, and we quickly mounted up. Roebuck stuck her head out and gave a little yap sound. I gave the horse a squeeze with my knees, and she started to walk, then I realised that it was getting daylight, and we could see reasonably well in front of us. Twenty minutes later, with full sunlight James started into a trot, and my horse followed, with Roebuck sticking her head out and looking around, which made us both laugh.

When we reached out first water point, about an hour later, I discovered that the water point consisted of a bore hole with a windmill directly above, that pumped the water into a nearby tank and drinking trough. Once I had safely climbed down, without falling on my back or bum, I retrieved Roebuck and gently placed her into the water trough. She began to dog paddle up and down the trough, which was funny to watch.

Once she had enough, she tried to climb out. I grabbed her, so she wouldn’t fall hard on the ground, and placed he on the ground. The horse walked forward to take a drink, which made Roebuck growl at my horse. In response, my horse put her nose up close to Roebuck and snorted, which made Roebuck jump back then take a few steps forward and bark at the horse, before taking a few steps back again.

The horse lost interest in the game, and stepped forward to take another drink, and Roebuck walked under my horse just when it decided to take a pee, which absolutely soaked Roebuck, who rushed behind me, growling at the horse. By now James and I were both laughing loudly at what had just happened, and I stopped so as to bend down and pick up the poor soaked pup, and give her a bath, to get all the horse urine off her.

Once I was done, James pulled the plug out, so as to drain the water, to allow fresh water to fill up the trough, while I used the shirt in the saddle bag to dry off Roebuck as much as I could, before putting the shirt and pup back into the bag. Then we set off again for the next water point. When we arrived at the third water point, James announced that it was time to have some lunch, so, we tied the horses to a shady tree, and took off their saddles and blankets, to allow them to cool down.

Collecting some dead fire wood, we started a small fire in a cleared area, so as to boil the billy, as the Thermos flasks were nearly empty. I pulled out the twin bowl and put some biscuits into one and poured some water into the other, and watched Roebuck eat and drink. As James and I sat down to eat our lunch, the sat phone rang. James pulled it out of the bag and answered it. “James speaking,” he said and he listened to what the caller had to say.

“We are at Bore 24, boss. We have checked bores 22 and 23, and they are fine,” I heard James say, and he listened again. “Yes, boss. I said we. I have Anton here with me, and his pup, and, yes, that is his vehicle beside the quarters. He has been on the station a few days, and I have been teaching him how to ride a horse,” I heard James say. “Yes, boss, we have stopped for lunch, and were planning to check bores 25 and 26 before heading back to the homestead,” James continued. “Ok boss, see you when we get back,” James said and he ended the call, and put the sat phone back into the saddle bag. He continued eating lunch, while I made some tea, with the boiled water.

“The boss came back a couple days early. He came back with just one new jackaroo. He said if you learn quickly, he will employ you as well,” James announced to me.

“I will think about it, mate, but I’m not really in need of money at the moment,” I replied.

“Well, just think about it, as we have some mustering starting in a couple of days’ time, and an extra hand would be useful, and I have just started to get to know you and Roey,” James said to me. By the time we arrived back at the homestead, I was sore and tired. As we dismounted I saw whom I presumed to be the station boss approaching us. I smiled.

“Hey, boss, this is Anton Hamilton,” James said to the man, and I held out my hand. His firm handshake was quite painful, as I tried to keep a straight face.

“Nice to meet you. I am Hamish Sanderson. James mentioned that you had a pup with you,” the boss replied, and on cue, Roebuck stuck her head out of the saddle bag, causing all of us to laugh. “Well that was a great introduction,” Mr Sanderson said, as I pulled Roebuck out of the bag, and cuddled her, which resulted in a lick on the face in return.

“As I said to James, I am in no need of employment at the moment, but I would like to stay on a little longer, to learn a bit more about station life, if that is permitted,” I said to the boss.

“I see. Can you stay for two weeks? What do you usually do for work?” the boss replied.

“Well, sir, I am self-employed. I am a zoologist and research scientist, so station life is totally new to me,” I replied.

“Well, I will leave you under the instruction of my only loyal station hand, James. The new station hand is around somewhere. His name is Michael Overton. I will see you later at dinner,” the boss said and he headed back to the main homestead. Leaving Roebuck at my campsite, James and I unsaddled the horses, brushed them down, and fed them, before heading back to the quarters, where we found the new station hand in the lounge, talking to old Jim.

“Hey, Michael, I am James, and this is Anton. We have been out doing a water check all day,” James said as he approached the new station hand, and shook his hand. He looked to be about the same age as James and I. I shook his hand. He gave a very light handshake, and I glanced at James for a moment.

“I will catch you later at dinner,” I announced, as I headed outside and around to my vehicle, where Roebuck was waiting for me, wagging her tail as soon as she saw me.

I picked her up and cuddled her, and took the scarf off her, before placing her on the swag where she curled up and went to sleep. Walking to the side of the vehicle and opening my suitcase, I pulled out a change of clothes, and I headed to one of the staff bathrooms for a shower. When I returned to the vehicle, Roebuck woke up, so I gave her some more water, biscuits and the last of the steak chunks, before putting my dirty clothes into the large plastic bag, and stowing it away.

Roebuck went to a nearby tree and went to the toilet, before returning to the swag, and going back to sleep. “You ready to head off for dinner?” James whispered to me, as he smiled at the sleeping pup.

“Yes, I’m starving,” I replied quietly, and we headed over to the homestead, with Joe and Michael a little way ahead of us. They walked around the side of the building and through a side door, which lead straight into a dining room where Joe and Michael sat on one side, the boss and a lady I presumed to be his wife at each end, leaving James and I to sit on the other side of the table.

“Good evening, Mrs Sanderson. This is Anton Hamilton. He joined us a couple of days ago,” James said to the lady with a smile.

“Good evening, James, and nice to meet you, Anton,” she replied. “Nice to meet you too, Ma’am,” I replied. A young lady entered the room with three plates, placing them in front of Mr and Mrs Sanderson and Joe, before disappearing to the kitchen and returning with three more plates.

“Sarah, this is Michael Overton, our new Jackaroo, and Anton Hamilton, who is a temporary staff member. Boys, this is Sarah Nichols our cook and the children’s governess,” Mr Sanderson said with a smile.