Excerpt from Chapter 15 of Stormy The Barrel Horse

     Hidden in the heavy brush, Stormy rested and let his breath return to normal.  He had exerted tremendous effort racing up the mountain in the heavy timber.  He rested until his pounding heart slowed.  No one followed.  He had escaped from Shorty.  He heard the sound of water gurgling over rocks deeper in the woods.  He moved in that direction and came to another small clearing with a clear stream of running water.  There was green grass in the meadow.  Hungry, he began feeding on the first real food he had seen in days.

     Stormy stayed hidden near the small meadow for a few weeks.  He felt safe in the heavy cover.  Occasionally, deer or elk came through his sanctuary, but he knew they posed no threat to his safety.  He moved away from the meadow when he grazed off all the grass it had to offer.  Cautiously he began exploring the mountain range.  It was a remote area and feed was plentiful.  He recovered from his ordeal with Shorty and Chester but did not forget the terror they caused.  Stormy stayed far from the roads low on the mountain and avoided all civilization.  He did not want to risk an encounter with the two cruel men who took him from his mother and caused so much pain. 

    Stormy began to feel at home in this new place.  The elk and deer that grazed the high parks and meadows soon became accustomed to the young colt.  They tolerated him when he wandered into an area where they were feeding.  Loneliness was his constant companion and he began roaming great distances looking for his lost band.  Fear kept him high in the mountains.  He wouldn't risk going into the valleys below.  Shorty left an imprint of fear on the young horse and that fear kept him hidden in the high country. 

     His first winter in that remote range of mountains in northern Wyoming was relatively mild.  The snows were light and all of the animals living on those high slopes fared well.  Forage was not easy, but could be found.  Stormy prospered and grew.  When the heavy snows of spring fell on the mountains, Stormy followed the herds of elk and learned their ways of survival.  He pawed deep into the snow and uncovered feed hidden all winter.  The elk kept moving and foraging and Stormy followed them.  He learned to pick his way on the high ridges and look for feed on the windward side of the mountains, where the wind had blown the ground clear of snow.

     The young stallion worked hard to survive that winter.  He was constantly on the move.  He ranged across the high country looking for familiar ground.  Stormy found nothing he recognized and gradually, memories of the Bent Bar ranch and its familiar surroundings began to fade.  He avoided any contact with humans.  His experience with Shorty and Chester robbed him of any trust of people.  He desperately wanted the company of other horses.  Occasionally he would see horsemen and sometimes even pack strings of many horses along the lower slopes.  The horses he saw always had people with them.  He would move into the deeper thickets and hide until they moved out of his range.  He was not ready to chance being captured again.