Gunner (5 page)

“We should be there around 2 a.m.,” she told him.

“Great! I didn’t want to sleep tonight anyway,” Mike answered sarcastically.

“Aw, you’d have been up anyway. This will just give you something to do,” Heather teased. “See you in a couple of hours.”

The stable was quiet when they arrived. Mike was waiting, and when Heather unloaded Gunner, Mike groaned loudly. “Heather, what on earth happened to him?” he asked, shocked by the muddy, unkempt bush pony in front of him.

Heather grinned sheepishly. “He got to be a horse for a few days,” she answered. “And now we get to turn him back into a champ before morning!”

And so began the 2004 World Paint Show – starting with a trip to the wash rack at three o’clock in the morning.

A few days rest had made the world of difference, and Gunner seemed livelier than ever. Almost too lively. In the wash rack, he grabbed at the hose as they soaked and scrubbed and rinsed him, sending water spraying everywhere and ensuring that they were all soaked before that bath was done. He refused to stand still as they tried to straighten his mane and nipped as they polished his hooves. Heather and Mike were cursing him before they finally had him back in show condition, but they were also pleased. If Gunner was being bad, it meant he was feeling good. And he was definitely feeling good now!

He continued to pull pranks throughout the week, nearly driving them insane with his antics. In the practice ring, just before a hunter class they were entered in, Heather turned him toward a low jump that he had seen a dozen times before and asked him to take it. Just as they approached the jump, he came to a sliding halt, sending her flying over his head and pile-driving her into the rails. Mike was there at once, checking to see if she was all right. Luckily, nothing was hurt except her pride, and when Heather turned to her mount, it was just as it had been so long ago in the ranch yard when they had first met. His head was turned so that he faced her with his one blue eye, challenging but cautious, and she stared back at him, her own dark eyes flashing with anger. They squared off that way for several long minutes before Gunner lowered his head and came forward a step, lips twitching and ears relaxed to the sides in surrender.

Mike helped brush Heather off and remount, then he led them to the ring, where the class was about to enter. As always, Gunner put aside all play when he stepped inside, and they came out of the class with top scores.

At the end of the week, they were once again awarded the All Round title in their category, the prize that Heather had been longing for so much. Now they could head home for a well-deserved break.

Gunner enjoyed the remainder of that summer and autumn in more relaxed fashion, although, with another show season coming up in just six months, he was not left to become grass-fat and sunburned. Heather continued to work with him several times a week, as much to keep him sharp and fit as to teach him new skills now. Occasionally, she and E.W. would take him to a small, local show, or a roping show and try him out there (and endure the constant teasing about having her baby in with the “real” horses), or ride him for pleasure, but mostly, he was a show horse and enjoyed a pampered life.

Wesley started school that autumn and spent most afternoons at his grandmother Maria’s house in Picayune, waiting for his mom to pick him up on her way home from her nursing job in New Orleans before they made the drive to their ranch in Laurel. During those weeks with his grandma, Wes became one of Gunner’s favorite people. The boy shared donuts with him and Buttermilk, played with them over the fence, and just seemed to always be around, chattering and providing a little excitement and stimulation in their otherwise quiet days.

At Wes’s side, at almost all times, was a little Schnauzer called Tramp, who Wes and E.W. had brought home from a roping show that summer. Heather had been furious at yet another stray being brought home and had, at first, insisted that they get rid of him. But the dog was still there a few days later, and as she watched her son play and fall in love with the little creature, she resigned herself to the fact that it was staying. The dog had worked its way into their lives and into Heather’s heart, and now it was with them wherever they went. Like Gunner, this was not a working ranch dog, kennelled and tough and scrappy. This was a family member and enjoyed a much more pampered existence.

To look out the window of Maria’s house and see the dog Tramp, Wes, and Gunner playing together that autumn was a perfectly normal, everyday sight, but one that stirred the heart every time.

Gunner would wait each day for Wes to arrive, eager for the donuts and other treats the boy always had. He would nicker as soon as he saw him and become rowdy if Wes didn’t come to him right away. Likewise, if Heather was away for more than a day, Gunner would start getting into trouble, as though complaining about her lack of attention. When she returned to the farm after a few days’ absence, it was often to listen to the irritated rantings of her mother, complaining about “that horse.”

“He reached over the fence and ate the passenger side mirror right off my truck!” “He’s squashed another chicken! At this rate, I’ll have no hens left before he heads back to Texas.” One of Gunner’s favorite things to do was to squash chickens to death. If one wandered into his stall or paddock, he would line it up, lower his great mass, and roll on it. Then he’d just lay there, maybe until he could no longer feel it struggling, before he’d get back to his feet and go about his business, leaving behind the smothered, flattened carcass of the poor hen (and once a cat).

He still enjoyed the occasional escape, and if he was feeling particularly sassy, he could still nip or annoy his human friends in a hundred little ways. This was always worse when he was missing Heather and Wes. When they were around, he never seemed quite so bad.

They did make it through that winter, squashed chickens and all, and soon they were preparing for another show season to begin. Heather was working harder with him now, getting him ready for the first big stock show in Texas, where they would meet Mike Stable and start another round. Heather was sure that 2005 would be as good as, or better than, the previous year. Gunner was at his best – rested, spirited, and eager to work again. He was responsive under saddle, and talented in so many ways. Heather intended to continue their winning streak of 2004.

Heather’s first concern was always for the health and welfare of her horse, but she pushed hard, prepared thoroughly, and poured whatever money she needed to into the game. She had high expectations, all of which paid off as they made their way through that show season, cleaning up again and again. Heather, with Wesley and Tramp and Mike by her side at all times, was proud of her horse and delighted to have a partner who could take her this far and be this much fun. At times, it
seemed as though nothing on earth could get in their way. They were on the top and flying.

They completed that show season as a force to be reckoned with and already looked forward to the next season. Gunner had worked very hard all spring and summer, had dominated the competition in all of the shows they entered, and headed home in August, ready for some peace and quiet. Little did they know that he was soon to face the biggest challenge he’d ever come up against. Within weeks of coming home, he was in a competition for his life.

A
ugust 23, 2005 – Heather and Gunner were attending a small show in Louisiana when Heather heard on the news that Tropical Depression 12 had formed over the Bahamas. She had registered the information, but paid little attention. Tropical depressions sometimes form into tropical storms or even hurricanes, but at that point, Heather had classes to get through and hot, humid weather to contend with.

August 24 – The tropical depression began to gain
strength and was upgraded to a tropical storm and named Katrina.

Heather and Gunner completed the show in top form by the end of this day and were preparing for the trip home. Heather kept an ear on the news, but still not too anxiously. Hurricanes are part of the landscape in Louisiana. They are taken seriously, but people don’t tend to panic over them. Until danger is imminent, it’s business as usual.

Tropical Storm Katrina moved steadily toward Florida throughout the day, picking up strength as it went. It was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane just hours before it hit Florida.

August 25 – Katrina weakened back to a tropical storm as it traveled over land, but regained hurricane status within an hour of entering the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This was the third major hurricane in the region that season, but this one would be different.

Heather and Gunner headed for home.

August 26 – Meteorologists predicted that Katrina would head toward the Florida Panhandle, but unusually warm waters and a strong weather system was making the storm’s path difficult to predict. Gulf Coast
residents became uneasy when Katrina did not turn, as predicted, and started heading their way, gaining power as she came.

At the ranch in Laurel, and on the farm in Picayune, the first preparations were beginning to be made … just in case. Both locations were inland enough to be relatively safe, but people had been through enough hurricanes to know how much damage the high winds and heavy rains could cause, even far in from the coast.

August 27 – Katrina intensified to a Category 3 hurricane and was now bearing down on the Gulf Coast states. A hurricane watch was started for South East Louisiana, including New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. The storm was temporarily slowed by a disturbance, but the disturbance doubled the size of the system, making Katrina a very different kind of hurricane – the “big one.” The watch was upgraded to a warning, and as the storm, now twice as large, began to regain power and move toward the Louisiana coast, people became very nervous. The president declared a federal state of emergency in the region and prepared to send in troops to assist if the devastation was as great as forecasters were starting to fear.

Heather and E.W. decided that Gunner would be
safer at the Laurel ranch than in the stable at Picayune. Laurel is farther inland, and horses, given enough space and natural cover, can usually make it through severe weather better outside than indoors. In a hurricane, they have been known to huddle or even lie down as a group to withstand the winds. Gunner, Buttermilk, and the other horses from Maria’s stable were trailered to the ranch that afternoon and turned out in a large pasture with a wide creek in the middle and plenty of sheltered areas.

Heather had to report to the hospital in New Orleans. Touro Hospital was under high alert and every available body was needed to prepare for the onslaught of victims they knew would come with a storm as massive and powerful as this one.

At the ranch, E.W. and Wes worked hard to tie down, secure, cover, and otherwise protect everything they could.

August 28 – Katrina was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane at two in the morning. Five hours later, it was a Category 5 hurricane and was packing sustained winds of incredible strength. The storm was a monster now, and by 9:30 a.m. the government, now facing one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the
Gulf Coast, decided to issue the first-ever mandatory evacuation orders for large areas of South East Louisiana and coastal Mississippi and Alabama. Forty-one counties and sixty-one cities were ordered to evacuate, including the city of New Orleans, which was in grave peril. No one knew if the city’s levees would hold under the rapidly approaching conditions … and if they didn’t, the entire city could soon be under water.

Over a million people began moving inland, with only hours between them and the fierce storm. At 4:30 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a special hurricane warning:
In the likely event of a Category 4 or 5 hit, most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks, perhaps longer…. At least one-half of well-constructed homes will have roof and wall failure. All gabled roofs will fail, leaving those homes severely damaged or destroyed
…
. Power outages will last for weeks
…
. Water shortages will make human suffering incredible by modern standards
.