Three days later they are sent into the mountains with three young Mexican cowboys and an old man who cooks for them. They each have a string of three horses to carry equipment. Their job is to hunt and bring back more wild horses. The old man fought in the Mexican Revolution and loves horses. He talks to them in the evening about the souls of horses.
After three weeks of work they have eight mares trapped in a stone ravine made to hold the horses. When they return, John Grady meets with Don Hector, who says he has heard that John Grady understands horses. John Grady's only reply is, "I been aroun em some." Don Hector chats with him about John Grady's age and the age of Rawlins and observes that John Grady is the leader. John Grady says, "We dont have no leaders. We're just buddies." Then they discuss horses over coffee, and Don Hector says that he wants to breed his own special quarterhorses from these wild mustang mares, with a stallion he has purchased, sight unseen, at an auction in Lexington, Kentucky. In their discussion, it is revealed that both Don Hector and John Grady think that the sire and the mare are of equal importance in producing a good horse, whereas many breeders think the sire is most important.
Because of the impression John Grady made upon Don Hector, he is to move from the bunkhouse to his own room in the barn and oversee the breeding of the horses. He discusses this with Rawlins, because he is worried about the breakup of the two buddies. Rawlins tells him it is an opportunity he can't ignore.
John Grady moves into the barn, built in the English style, with a cupola; the only other person living in the barn is a very old man who comes out the first day, looks at John Grady's horse, and says nothing. Later, he sees the old man pulling the cinchstrap on the black Arabian horse of Alejandra, who turns to look at John Grady and says, "Good afternoon." She gets on the horse and rides out of the barn.
