Thunderstorm

Charles M. Russell, When Horses Talk War There's
Slim Chance for Truce, X1952.01.08

On the news last evening the weather guy talked about hail/thunderstorms on the horizon and gave the warning to head for shelter at the first rumble. This sent my mind down the rabbit hole remembering riding horses with my best friend on their ranch when we were kids. We were up on the sagebrush hills near what we called their upper pasture when the sky went black and the fury of thunder and lightening clashed, and with that hail started pummeling down on us. Big hail, dangerous hail. We headed the horses down the trail to the “upper” pasture (which actually was a great grassy pasture bordered by the Missouri and cottonwoods) and took shelter under the large cottonwoods. 

The horses were excited, even the usually calm one I rode, and would thrust up their heads and roll their eyes with each boom of thunder. We decided between us to unsaddle the horses and let them go, since the risk of them spooking was greater than the 5 mile walk back to the ranch house. So we did, and when we slipped off their bridles they both turned and raced off. We hunkered down, and shortly my friend’s dad came driving up to find us. He’d started out with the storm, worried about our safety—and indeed gave us a ration for being under trees in a thunderstorm!

I recall (and forgive me if I’m in error), reading, I believe in Teddy Blue Abbott’s We Headed them North, about herding cattle during a thunderstorm, I think the story included a stampede…