Night Rides
The story of a horseback ride in the night that led to unexpected encounters
There was a chill to the night. Not just in the weather, but in the unsettling feeling of being alone in a land full of unknown nocturnal spectators. Coyotes howled and yipped in the distance, the sound of hoof beats made a continuous rhythm that matched my heartbeat, almost emphasizing it. I felt the heat of the horse’s warmed muscles through his shedding winter coat under my legs, like the warmth of the early spring day faded. Stars brightened the sky, but in the darkened woods it made no difference. There was a ranch house in the distance behind some trees, a beacon of light in an otherwise sea of darkness. The horse snorted out of excitement as he picked up his pace as we got closer to home. I was sure he also felt the same eeriness I felt. As we came around the corner of the dirt road we were following, he stopped suddenly.
There was something up ahead. I could feel the tension coming through his body and into my legs before the stop actually came. When you ride a horse with no barrier between, you become one entity, feeling each others’ every movement as if it were your own. I anticipated the sudden freeze of his posture and focus of attention which was typical when something caught his attention. Against the natural instincts of horses, he is not frightened easily. In fact, he is the bravest horse I have ever known, willing to cross any obstacle, as long as he knew I had his back. I raised him this way. Ears pricked forward and a quivering breath, I knew he was nervous about what was ahead.
As I adjusted myself to peek around his flexed neck, I saw something massive in the black of the night in the middle of the road. Round golden eyes stared intensely back at me with ruffled feathers surrounding them. I had seen eagles around this neck of the woods, but never this close, or at night. What was I seeing? As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized it was the largest barn owl I had ever seen. He started hopping away, down the dirt path instead of flying away. My mind raced in confusion. Why was he here in the road? Why wasn’t he flying away? Why was he so big? My first thought was that he was injured, but the massive owl fanned his wings at us in confidence with clearly no injury and again attempt to get off the ground. He appeared to be in top condition but still accomplished little more than a large hop.
As my eyes continued to adjust, I noticed he had unusually feathery feet. I looked closer, the feathers near his feet were a bright golden color, not like the blended brown or white of this owl in front of me. These were not feathers on his feet. His massive talons were on the neck of another bird! Not just any bird, but on the neck of a very large lifeless chicken from the neighboring ranch! No wonder this owl appeared to be the size of an eagle. It was two birds in one. The owl had clearly already claimed the life of its prey, but he did not know how to get it into the tree above. Our approach disrupted the process of him figuring out what to do with it. I realized he fanned his wings to deter us from his prize. His wing display might as well have been saying ‘try me!’
Although this intrigued my trusty horse, I realized his tension had not faded. He stared beyond the owl into the tall grass behind him and his chicken. As my eyes continued adjusting, I realized we were not the only ones that noticed the owl and the meal he had won. I could see golden eyes staring back at the owl through the tall grass, but these ones were not round like the owl’s. These had the distinctive shape of feline eyes. Chills went up my spine, and I could tell my horse knew I finally saw what he saw. I immediately recognized the cougar we had seen lurking several weeks earlier.
I always kept rocks in my pocket on rides. Some pretty, some useful. Never more useful than at this moment. I flung the first at the brush, followed by another and a holler as I waved my arms from my horse making us look like some half horse half human centaur creature. I saw the flash of tan coat and flick of a long tail tipped in black as the cougar turned around and went back into the brush from where she appeared. Apparently, she felt like the chicken might not be worth dealing with this level of crazy.
The owl looked at me stunned. I felt a level of respect form between us in our brief meeting. I respected his overzealous attempt at dinner and not giving up that prize despite the many interruptions and intruders. I think the owl realized that I wasn’t there to bother him and respected my attempts to help him defend his meal, and possibly his life. He stared at me as if to give a silent thank you. I nodded my head at him as I felt the tension ease out of my horse and his muscles relax as he gave another snort. I could tell the mountain lion was no longer near, so with a cluck and a nudge we continued on our way and let the owl continue on his quest. In a night that felt almost otherworldly, even supernatural, I was given a brief glimpse into some of the most natural and primitive parts of our own world.
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