For many years the llanero has been characterised for being a beast tamer, they are not afraid to ride an animal that they are not used to, in this way the llanero demonstrates his manhood, not everyone has this ability, for the llanero it is something common to be able to do it.
But beyond what we can see is the man who has a great heart and that forms a bond that prevails for many years, the llanero and his horse, the horse will be half of the man, becoming one and forming an alliance that remains until death separates them, so is the story of many llanero, so is the story of Juan Luis Florencio, and his horse "the rock". The story of these two begins one month of December everything seemed normal, Juan Luis was doing his duties as usual, cleaning the harvest and plowing to continue sowing, after finishing his work he went to the pasture where he found a mare in labor, that animal was lying unable to give birth, Juan in his experience knew that if he did not help her everything would end badly, so he decided to help the animal to give birth, to his surprise it was very big, black in colour and with white spots on its four legs, a beautiful foal, but the surprise was not that, but the death of the mare, it was so hard to give birth to the animal that she was exhausted and ended up suffering.
Juan took that innocent foal and without knowing what had happened he took it home and began to clean it with a cloth, Juan knew that the chances of the foal's life were slim, so he just tried to take care of it and see what happened. All the rest of that day Juan dedicated himself to taking care of the foal, even though he knew he didn't have much of a chance, he looked for freshly milked milk and began to feed it with a teat from one of his youngest sons, little by little the animal was eating, for Juan there was still a chance that the animal could survive so that night was also long for both of them.
The next morning, Juan began to notice that the foal was lying on the ground, scared thinking the worst, he approached the animal and placed the palm of his hand on its back, the foal was burning with fever, Juan quickly realised that he had to do something or he would end up losing the animal, he looked for ice in the fridge, he placed it on the animal and began to rub it for a long time, He searched among the animal medicines and got some antibiotic, somehow he had to stop the infection, he gave a very low dose and began to feed the colt again, he decided not to do any work on the farm and dedicate all that time to the colt, what seemed strange is that Juan was feeling a special feeling for that horse because it was not normal so much dedication for a beast that at any moment could die.
Somehow Juan felt that he had to take care of the animal, even if his chances were slim, "he decided to stay by his side, what they both didn't know is that they have a long way to go together".
After two very hard days the colt began to see improvement, he had a better countenance as they say in the plain and he could get up by himself and move faster, Juan knew that somehow that colt had been as hard as a rock, so he named him "the rock", as the days went by, the colt that seemed to have no future was becoming one of the most splendid animals, in his first three months of life, he was a strong and hard colt, "it seemed" that nothing could tame him, but only seemed.... Juan was there watching very closely the path of that colt felt great pride for having saved him and much more for the great beast he was becoming, the bond between them was special, "The rock" every morning left the paddock where he grazed and went straight to where Juan was, no matter where he was on the ranch he would arrive, something out of the ordinary among animals.
One day Juan had to go out to town for supplies, he took a horse that he used to saddle and then set off for his destination, what he didn't know was that "the rock" was going to follow him all the way. When Juan realized that the colt was following him he decided to stop and try to make the colt return, although it did not have much effect as it did not listen, he had no choice but to go ahead with the colt by his side, when he arrived at the village he caused a sensation, all the people were amazed by that animal, young and majestic, many approached and began to shout, (Juan, sell me that horse), but they received no response from Juan, after buying everything he needed to take to his home, Juan noticed that the colt wanted to help him, it seemed strange behaviour so he approached the animal, and this ended by sinking his two front legs, as in a kind of offering, Juan did not know what to do took the horse by his hair and back and began to speak softly in his ear "get up, get up quietly ..." the animal again got up and began to talk softly in his ear. ..." the animal stood up again and stared at Juan and placed his head so that he could continue to give caresses, that bond was growing every day.
(they both felt that they could not be without each other and somehow Juan was loving this animal like a son).
On the way to the ranch "the rock" was walking next to Juan and the other horse, while they were walking the colt began to run and Juan observed him as if he wanted to show him something, that animal ran and returned, ran and returned, it was like that almost all the way, Juan had not put the saddle, first, because he was very young and second, because any animal that is not accustomed to the saddle is very delicate.
The next day Juan decided to put a rope on the colt to get him used to the saddle, he got up very early, drank coffee and went out to the paddock where "the rock" was grazing with other animals, at first everything seemed simple, it was easy for Juan to approach the colt but he did not know if he was going to let him put the rope on him. When he was far enough away to tie up the animal, when he felt the rope fall on his back, he started jumping and kicking all over the place, the lesson of the day was plain to see, Juan understood how difficult it was going to be to ride the colt and above all to get used to the saddle, it had only been the rope and the colt had escaped, what would it be for the rest.
Juan had understood that all was not the moment, that colt was very young and it was not going to be easy to be able to tame him, he had to wait for the force of maturity to reach him, although for Juan also the time is running out, the end animal that he had always saddled was old and tired, he had to give him rest, because his days were numbered.
As expected Juan had taken the decision and went to the paddock to look for revenge again, but this time he was prepared, he was carrying a fruit that the colt liked very much, the mango, a highly nutritious fruit with many vitamins, besides being highly nutritious it is also tasty, the colt loved this fruit and Juan carried a letter under the table to place the rope.
When the time came, Juan approached the colt and took out the fruit (mango) the colt quickly approached without any fear and Juan placed his hand on his neck and with his other hand placed the rope, the rock felt the rope but was not inhibited and continued to enjoy the mango, after finishing eating the fruit, he realized that he was already tied and that there was no other choice but Juan was even smarter and took with him many more fruits, so it was until he reached the ranch house and so simple had fallen "the rock".
For several weeks Juan continued to do the same routine, creating a habit in the animal, as the days went by he continued to repeat the same behaviour without the need for the fruit, although everything seemed simple, the most difficult part was still to be done, placing the saddle and mounting the horse. So the work was just beginning, Juan understood something that he had not noticed before, animals do feel and also develop affection, between Juan and that horse there was a kind of union, perhaps for the colt Juan was a kind of "mother" or "father", since he was the one who took care of him since his birth. But beyond that, he was the one who had always been there. So Juan tried something that was going on unconsciously, mutual love. He started to touch the horse's back again and then placed his ear on his chest as if he wanted to listen to something, Juan thought that "the rock" would jump or something like that but no, his response was contrary and passive, for the colt it was normal for Juan to approach him and he didn't see it as a threat. He quickly placed the saddle on the back of the colt and suddenly everything was silent, as if nature was waiting for something to happen, Juan placed his foot in the stirrup and quickly mounted the horse, several scenarios could happen, the most common was that the animal would end up knocking Juan down but this did not happen that way, on the contrary Juan had been accepted by "the rock" and that day again the unexpected had happened.
(unexpected things kept happening in this story, as well as one that not even the most wizard of history would have been able to predict).
One night the paddock, everything seemed the same as any night, the darkness was total, you could not see more than 1 meter away, "the rock" had become a horse, with him had also come the honor of being the leader among the horses of the place and therefore the horse that will be responsible for watering his seed to expand its lineage, "The rock" sensed that something was lurking and had to be alert, his body so perceived his senses were not crazy, he knew that something was watching as if waiting for the right time to attack, Suddenly in seconds he heard an eerie sound, the whole paddock looked like a place of war, all the horses that were in that place began to run in all directions without knowing where they were going contal to run, "the rock" tries to observe what happens and suddenly there he was in front of him, "Death" or at least that's what they called that feline, immense with a putrid smell and with huge teeth and eyes that could paralyze anyone with fear but, for a horse like the rock there was no cowardice, he had defeated death once and he was ready to try his luck again, In the second the feline lunged at the rock and it ended up kicking the horse shaking its two front legs and the feline without being able to do more damage kept its distance waiting for the rock to get distracted, something that was not going to happen so easily, while in the ranch Juan, Juan felt a hunch and went out to the yard to look towards the paddock and heard the sounds of animals and ran out to get the weapon, loaded the gun and went to the tractor towards the paddock, thinking a thousand things and scared Juan feared the worst, that his soul friend was dead or badly wounded or that some of the beasts were wounded or dead, As he gets closer to the place he hears the screams of a horse, there was still in the middle of the fight "the rock" was alive and harder than ever, that feline had barely caused the horse to tire a little so he had no choice but to leave, then Juan arrives and fires shots in the air to finish the attack of the animal, Juan is happy to see his friend completely healthy and feels relieved not to be late, on the other hand, he knows that this was just beginning, a feline had arrived in the area and was not going to rest until it killed one of his animals, so he had to prepare himself better and redouble his guard if he wanted to safeguard the lives of all.
To be continued...
"This story was born from the pen of my mind, I hope you like it".
