Chapter 63
Chapter 63: Lassoing
As he spoke, Erise looked Xie Changqing up and down, glancing between him and Lightning: “You know what, Lightning here is good and all, but honestly, Changqing, you’d be better matched with that wild stallion!”
Look at his natural bearing—with Xie Changqing’s skills, wouldn’t he become the foremost veterinarian among all the ranches?
And such a skilled veterinarian came from their ranch!
Indeed, the best veterinarian deserved to be paired with the best horse!
Qiaoba thought it over and agreed without hesitation: “Alright, you can come with us then.”
Someone had to stay at the ranch anyway—Aer and Haierte and the others would have to remain.
This way, Xie Changqing didn’t need to master the lasso pole technique completely: “Then Changqing, you should still focus on practicing with your gun. You can practice the lasso pole after we get back.”
“That won’t do!” Erise waved his hand with a cheerful laugh: “Don’t worry, I’m great at lassoing, and I’m a fast teacher too!”
There were two types of lassoing.
One used a lasso pole—swinging the pole to lasso.
The other used rope lassoing.
Speaking of his specialty, Erise became absolutely eloquent: “With a lasso pole, you need to find a good pole and practice swinging it regularly to develop a feel for it, understand?”
For wild horses like these, especially the untamed difficult ones, you had to gallop at full speed in pursuit, and when the distance was right, swing out the lasso pole to catch the horse’s head, pull tight with force, and drag it to a stop.
Of course, this process was extremely thrilling and difficult.
First, mastering the speed and judging the distance was very challenging.
Not to mention, when swinging the lasso pole, you only had one hand left to control your horse.
And after catching the target, the wild horse’s frantic struggling to break free generated tremendous force.
“Those with worse luck get thrown right off their horses.”
Xie Changqing remembered what Batu had said about that group hunting the wild stallion—one fat man had bled all the way back.
Obviously, he’d most likely been dragged off his horse and possibly even trampled by the herd…
Of course, even if he could be saved on the spot, he wouldn’t survive the journey back.
“So lasso poles are quite risky.”
For safety, rope lassoing was better.
The rope formed a slip knot—you still had to catch the target, but because the rope’s length was controllable, it gave them more operational distance.
The difficulty lay in the rope being soft—when thrown, it had to be round, large, and accurate.
“The key is lots of practice!”
As Xie Changqing listened, he visualized the scene in his mind and felt his blood stirring: “Good, my hand-eye coordination should be decent.”
After checking the sick cattle, Xie Changqing nodded: “These cattle are basically fine now. You can add some crushed grass powder.”
“Excellent!” Erise was overjoyed and handed over two lasso poles: “Here, these are for you.”
Xie Changqing might not need other gifts, especially since he’d already received payment in meat for treating the cattle.
But this, Xie Changqing truly couldn’t refuse.
Erise looked at the sky and said cheerfully: “Come on, while it’s still light, I’ll teach you a few moves!”
Forgetting about dinner, they went straight outside to practice.
First they practiced lassoing fixed stakes while mounted, charging toward them and aiming to catch them.
Erise could easily hit his targets with either lasso poles or ropes.
He could even make the rope whistle through the air, creating a beautiful oval.
Meanwhile, Xie Changqing could initially only make the rope form a straight line—he couldn’t create circular shapes at all.
“You need to rotate your wrist, keep your arm still, understand…”
This lesson continued until dark.
If it hadn’t become too difficult to see, Erise would have wanted to continue.
Xie Changqing was also reluctant to stop, taking the rope home with him: “I’ll practice at night too.”
When he committed to something, this was always his approach.
He wouldn’t rest until he’d achieved perfection!
“Why the rush? It’s not like you have to be the one to catch the wild stallion on this trip.” Qiaoba walked him home, repeatedly advising along the way: “Don’t worry, I’ll tell everyone that you’re coming along to practice, but we’ll handle the wild stallion. Once we’ve tamed it, we’ll give it to you.”
Afraid Xie Changqing wouldn’t listen, Qiaoba spoke earnestly: “Don’t try to be brave for a moment. The wild stallion is wild and difficult to tame—it’s not easy.”
Look how many lasso poles and riders had been defeated by that wild stallion—that should tell you everything.
Even they might not actually manage to catch it this time.
Xie Changqing understood his good intentions and lowered his eyes thoughtfully before nodding: “I know. But…”
He raised his head, looking toward the distance with high spirits: “I want to try!”
Qiaoba froze, looking at Xie Changqing.
In Xie Changqing’s eyes was the most brilliant light of youth.
It was a vibrancy completely different from him, from all of them, from their entire ranch.
The words of caution on his lips were swallowed back down.
On his way back, Qiaoba kept thinking.
Perhaps he’d been wrong all along…
Always thinking about retreating, yielding, putting safety first, but their entire ranch had become lifeless.
It was only after Xie Changqing arrived that they’d started competing for winter pastures and chasing wild stallions, and even Erise had become more spirited…
This was what they’d been lacking—courage… or perhaps vitality?
Qiaoba tossed and turned all night, and when he came over the next day, he brought Xie Changqing two treasured lasso poles from his collection.
He didn’t try to dissuade Xie Changqing anymore, instead patting his shoulder: “Practice hard!”
He’d figured it out—you couldn’t just avoid everything because it was dangerous.
He should trust Xie Changqing, and trust the other herders too.
With so many people together, surely they could protect one Xie Changqing?
If they couldn’t protect him, they might not be able to keep him safe in the future anyway.
It was during this single night that Qiaoba’s entire mindset changed completely.
Xie Changqing sensed something different but didn’t fully understand.
He only noticed that Qiaoba’s attitude toward him had become more accepting.
For the next two days, Erise and Sangtu practically grabbed him for various intensive training exercises.
Xie Changqing gritted his teeth and persevered, sweating through his clothes every day despite the freezing conditions.
This high-intensity training was quite effective.
Especially since Xie Changqing had a decent foundation to begin with—by dark, he’d learned to lasso another galloping horse while mounted.
“Haha, and with a rope lasso too—not bad!” Sangtu laughed heartily, spurring his horse to catch up excitedly and letting out a triumphant whistle: “Changqing! That was beautiful!”
Xie Changqing gripped the rope tightly in his hands, laughing with pure joy: “Haha! I caught it!”
He pulled out another rope, swinging it rapidly, then…
“Whoosh!” He lassoed the galloping Sangtu.
Sangtu was stunned, but Xie Changqing mischievously gave a gentle tug, tightening the rope around him.
“Hahaha!” This made Erise burst into laughter too: “Well done! Changqing, pull him off his horse!”
The three were gradually slowing down to stop when someone rode up from behind: “Erise! Changqing! Good news! Hahaha!”