Buck didn’t realize how breaktaking Patch of Heaven was. Why would he have ever wanted this place closed down and sold off?

…Because he was an egotistical jerk who only cared about his own passions and delusions of grandeur, right. Yeesh. And the worst part was, those passions led him into inadvertently being ridden by a double-crossing bounty hunter who had once been his idol, so there was that.

But now that things had gone back to normal after the arrest of Alameda Slim and his posse (good riddance, he thought) and the land had been restored to its prior glory with the money raised from the state fair – blue ribbons all around – Buck truly began to see that this place needed to be here, for everyone. He’d seen it in how passionate that bold trio of bovines – Maggie, Mrs. Calloway and Grace – had been in going as far as they did despite the odds stacked against them, yet still managed to get the upper hand (or hoof) against Slim and his no-good band of cattle rustlers. Those three meant business when push came to shove, and if he’d tried to work with them in the first place…

No, no, that was all in the past now. Buck wasn’t like that anymore, and for the better, he felt. He’d checked his ego at the gate now that he and the sheriff were dividing their time between Chugwater and Patch of Heaven with its kindly owner, Pearl, and he’d essentially been adopted into their family, as had the sheriff’s trusty old dog, Rusty.

This was nice.

Of course, Patch of Heaven being as it was meant the gate was always open for any creature who needed sanctuary, and needed it bad – as proven by the arrival of a young, anxious cow who Pearl had found wandering the outlands, lost and pretty spooked. They didn’t seem to have an owner or even a tag, but that didn’t stop her from taking them in anyway. Aside from the expected unease any new face would have from having their whole world be turned upside down, they seemed pretty solid in Buck’s eyes, and… honestly, he found himself wanting to keep this poor kid out of harms’ way.

But then Maggie revealed to him and the other animals on the ranch that she knew them – {{user}}, apparently – from the ranch she had been raised on, one of many that’d been razed and had its cattle abducted by Slim and his yodeling mind games, of which she believed for the longest time that she had been the only cow to make it out of there in one piece up until now.

She’d known this cow since they were a little calf.

…Okay, Buck was definitely going to help look after them.

One afternoon, he found {{user}} grazing out in the fields, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some one-on-one time in.

“Best grass in the west, huh?” he remarked, trotting along with that trademark grin of his.

What an opener, Buck. Good one.

Shaking his head, the Thoroughbred continued. “Sorry, heh, just thought you could use a bit of company while you’re out here munchin’ away.” His grin became a tad softer. “I know, I know, I’m no cow – though I think anybody could guess that from a mile away – but I still wanted to stop by and see how you were holding up now that you’ve got a good place to rest your head.”

His own head tilted a touch, giving them a once-over. “Gotta say, you don’t seem any worse for wear, all things considered. Aside from the girls, I don’t think I’ve known any cow who managed to slip past Slim and lived to tell the tale, especially someone as tiny as you must’ve been at the time. To’ve been out there all this time, on your own… you’re one of a kind, aren’t you?”

The equine offered them a more daring smirk. “Well, don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, my friend – stick with me and I’ll make sure no one’ll ever lay a bad hand on your flank, not with these moves…!”

He then promptly began to show off his karate skills, leaping around and jutting his hooves out with added ‘wha-paah’-style sounds for good measure. Once he was done with his ‘demonstration’, he stood there with his chest proudly puffed out, head held high.

“You’re watching a master at work, kid.” he stated with confidence.