December 21, 2025
Grace glanced out across the drive.  The sun would be up soon.  Skye was getting horses ready for Anahit and Lousin.  Dude was saddling Remmie.  It was probably Jessica heading up the campground road, trailer in tow.

The air was still a little cool.  Shadows would soon give way to dawn.

"Did the boss tell you about the coyotes?"  Grace called softly to Dude.

"No ma'am."

"Four of them.  Alongside the house.  Tanner and Sara encountered them."

Coyotes were part and parcel to the landscape.  Packs on the property were...less than ideal.

Jessica ponied her new horse.  Skye had taken notice of him, but she hadn't looked carefully.  He was adorned.  In fact, he'd won second place in a costume contest with his adornments.  They would start flaking off soon, but hopefully not before Skye noticed.

Skye was having a bit of a wardrobe problem.  

"Can you see anything?"  Anahit asked.

"I can!  I just need to tilt my head back"  Skye replied, giggling.

Bryn seemed to have a good idea where he was going, and plenty of gumption to get there.

Anoush was enjoying Angel, tacked up in the Fantasia regalia made for Anamar.  As for the tack, there was a lot of swooshing and jingling and moving parts that were very un-English.  But her horse Angel didn't seem to mind, and Partner kept step...albeit a very different step...with his best friend.

Lousin, normally the more reserved of the sisters, took the lead through the most challenging parts of the terrain on Deer Medicine.  

The sun's warmth was welcome.  They rode north of the ranch, hoping to catch a glimpse of wild horses, or perhaps deer...maybe secretly some other large animal, but then again, maybe not really.  

All too soon it was time to head back.

"We'll call this our solstice ride Skye"  Grace called out as Skye and Anahit passed the rest of the group.  "There's still a few days before Christmas.  Maybe we'll get in another ride."

The boss was late on the draw, but she hoped to get a holiday picture.

Skye and Anahit had already put their horses up, so Skye brought down The Black while Anahit fetched up dogs.

The boss moved around a lot with the camera.  The light was kind of harsh, true.  But Grace and Skye knew what she was doing.  She was getting mostly candid portrait shots.  Maybe of people...or maybe not.

She must have taken a hundred photos.  Finally, she looked at the back of the camera for a few moments. 

"I don't know if they're great" she said at last,  but I don't think I can make you stand here all night while I try to get it perfect." 

It would be what it was.  It would be good enough.  Happy holidays from all of us to all of you.

December 27
Grace stopped short of the fast moving water.  Skye forged ahead.  The last bit of water she needed to cross was just a few feet wide, but deceptively deep.  She stepped across, but the footing was soft.  Into the water she went.  It wasn't freezing cold.  Skye pressed on.  It was worth it, to reach her destination and stand in the midst of the roar and the spray and water magic.

It was too wet to ride, but the landscape was surprisingly intact.  A breeze had picked up, and the warm sunlight was fading.

"Is that water not feeling quite so warm any more?"  

"Oh, I'm okay.  The water isn't that cold, really!  But the breeze."

"We're almost home.  Let's keep moving."

In the day's last light, Dude pondered whether or not the fencing needed to be painted.  What seemed common knowledge was that they saw colors in the blue and yellow spectrum, but less so colors in the red and green spectrum.  Which made no sense.  Wouldn't green be an important color for a horse to see?

The temperature would fall fast tonight.  Dude wanted to stake out his location, see if horses passed through.  Skye insisted he took a blanket.  He'd be needing it soon.  Perhaps he'd watch for an hour past dark.  It was suddenly and unapologetically winter on the mountain.

Grace viewed the arena just as the sun was slipping below the horizon.  The storm had left a debris flow in the place of the soft sand.  And there was more rain in the forecast.  If this was the worst of the damage, they should count themselves lucky.  Tanner had lost his truck to the flash flood on December 24.  He'd been lucky to escape unscathed.

December 31
"Wow...that's bright!" Skye stood, bathed in the brilliance of the mobile light tower.  "Is that from CalTrans?"

"Nope, it's Tanner's."  

The power had gone out five days ago.  It was raining again.  In between the rain there's been high winds.  Large sections of the highway had been destroyed by debris flows...literally washed down the mountain with the flowing land.  The girls couldn't ride.  It was too wet to hike.  And without power, the arena was dark.  Tanner's light was their saving grace.  At least they could turn out horses.

Jesse and Charmer didn't seem to mind the light.

"It's kind of like being at a rodeo"  Skye remarked.  "A night rodeo with the lights way up on poles."

Grace was quiet for a while.  Then, "I haven't been to a rodeo since...I don't even remember when."

"Let's make it a goal.  A whatchamacallit...a resolution.  Let's go to a rodeo."

It would be raining all night and into New Years' Day.  At least that was the forecast. Rain for the Rose Parade. It would be more surprising if it actually rained than it would be if the storm disappeared entirely overnight.

They tried to keep the horses relatively dry, blanketing them for the walk down to the arena, but most of them were already wet anyway.  It wasn't a cold rain, really.  And how quickly things had changed.  They'd gone from concern about another catastrophic winter fire to over fourteen inches of rain in two days, flash floods, prolonged power outages, and now road collapses and more rain.  

Most of the horses gave the light tower a glance, and accepted it.  Ladyhawk seemed an odd candidate to take exception to it.   

"Maybe it looks like a helicopter to her"  Skye mused.  There were three blades of light.  And no other BLM mustangs present to confirm or decline the theory.

The last horse they brought down was the Murgese stallion.  Grace thought she'd gotten the cooler brow strap off of his ears when she took off his halter, but no. 

"Head down.  Head down."  No response.  Grace tickled his shoulder.  Nothing.  Skye giggled.  
"He knows exactly what you want, and he's just not going to give it to you."

Back at home, the drone of the generator, comforting and monotonous in its one long song, gave the girls light.  They studied the model the boss had left on the table.  It was a not so subtle nudge to get them thinking about NaMoPaiMo, National Model Painting Month.

"The boss said she'd love to see him done in a realistic color...which is a bit contrary since it's a fantasy piece" Grace explained, "but I think she means a typical Pegasus glowing white."

"Glowing white...I think that sounds way harder than vibrant black."

"Yeah...I don't know if I want to risk it."

"And he's glossy"  Skye responded.

"Right.  So we'd have to rough him up to get primer to stick.  And then what if it doesn't stick anyway and now we've just got a hot mess on our hands."

"Or we get the primer on and everything and then botch the magical white"  Skye replied.

"Hard to believe it's time to start thinking about NaMoPaiMo already" Grace said.  

"Hard to believe it's New Year's Eve!"  

"Yeah...that too!"

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​December 15, 2025
Lousin's balance was impressive.  Skye pushed Granite closer to the wall so she could swing onto his back.  

"I've been working with them for a long time"  Skye reassured the sisters.  Granite stepped close and Lousin slipped smoothly onto his back.

"Just sit relaxed, and don't give them any signals.  Hold their manes...they're both a little animated...they'll be following me and doing what I tell them.  If you get uncomfortable just hop off.  We're in deep sand.  You won't get hurt."

Anahit looked confident on Sand.  Lousin appeared slightly apprehensive on Granite,  but she was hanging tough.  The horses were cooperating.  As if this wasn't their first liberty practice with riders.

The second turn was less coordinated.  Granite went wide.  Lousin leaned, pulled his mane.  He started turning but not enough.  She moved her outer leg forward and her inner leg back, squeezed the outer leg.  He acquiesced.

Back down the arena, side by side, perfection.  Then the girls heard voices.

"It's mom" Anahit said.

Skye saw nothing...save for the girls flying off of their mounts.

"Good boys, good boys..."  Skye was so very pleased with the big geldings.  

Anoush entered the arena moments later on Fuego.  Lousin and Anahit could tell immediately that she was not a hundred per cent relaxed.  He hadn't been ridden in a while and although her reins were loose and she wasn't on his head, you could feel his energy rippling just beneath his impressive constraint.

Grace entered the arena on La Barilla.  They worked their vastly different Spanish horses around each other, moving in circles, passing each other, not exactly as a choreographed dance, but intriguing nonetheless.

Skye returned to the arena with Deer Medicine.  The saddle was much too big for Lousin, but she looked good on her even so.

"Do you like her?"  Skye asked.  "You look good on her."

"She's wonderful."

"The saddle is too big for me too"  Skye said.

"I'll be back with a surprise"  Anoush said, riding out on Fuego, horse and rider now relaxed and supple.  Skye heard the words but didn't really know what to make of them, and got back to discussing saddles and horses with Lousin.  Because, weather and all permitting, they were hoping to go for a Christmas ride, at some point, perhaps before Christmas.

Anoush came back with a surprise all right.  Mateo.  She had walked him down, saddled, mounted him in the arena, and as everyone watched, breathless, she rode him at the walk in a circle.  Reverse direction.  Another circle.

Mateo reared.  It wasn't his signature vertical standing rear but it was sudden and jolting.  Anoush lost her seat for a second, then regained it.

Mateo got his legs underneath him.  The next rear was all that.

Anoush was out of the saddle but in the stirrups, precarious, but still mounted.  She lost her right rein and made a grasp for his mane instead.

A moment later, her boot slipped free of her left stirrup.  The ride was over.

Anoush let go, and stepped off of Mateo rather gracefully.

Then fell more or less softly to the sand.

While everyone was focused on Anoush, Skye acted on a moment of fearless inspiration.  She swing up on Mateo...and he swung into the air.  And he he was big.  And the ground was a long ways down.  But somehow, he seemed ever so slightly more gentle with Skye.  He came down on all fours and held still for a moment.  Skye didn't budge.  A few seconds passed.  She dismounted.

Skye raised up her arms and Mateo reared.  She kept her arms up.  He held himself vertical.  She put her arms down.  Eventually, he came back down to earth.  

"If we can get him to rear on command...maybe we can get him to not rear on command?"  Skye questioned out loud.  "I'm a little concerned about his future.  We don't really need a circus horse."

Grace decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in a more mundane fashion.  Turning out stallions.  Gunner came first.

​Then Dream Boat.

Relampago en la Pampa.

And last of the day's horses, Moose.

The dogs took to the sand next.  It was getting a bit late in the afternoon to take them for a hike, but they seemed happy in the arena.

"Did you hurt anything?"  Grace asked Anoush quietly.

"I bruised my ego a little bit.  It's been quite some time since I've been unseated."

"Skye and your girls are hoping to go for a Christmas ride."

"Great idea.  Count me in." 

Three of the barn cats came to check out the commotion.

It was a happy commotion.  Many smiling dogs.

​#

November 30, 2025
The boss was able to slip away unnoticed.  Just as well.  The last thing she should have been doing was looking at horses.  But she was just looking.  No harm in that, right?  Actually, the first young lady was not a horse at all, but a mule molly.  She was lovely, but a bit shy and retiring,   She didn't seem to have any particular interest in making acquaintances.  Perhaps for the best, the boss thought.

Then the mare.  She was nice.  She would make a versatile mount for someone.  Little need to worry about her immediate future.

The stallion was intriguing.  Supposedly pure Friesian.  The boss wasn't entirely convinced, although he did have a lovely way of going. No need for another stallion, she told herself.  

Dude surveyed the land to the northwest of the ranch.  Using the rock formations as a natural barrier for the capture of the wild horses seemed like a logical, even foolproof plan.  The reality was a bit different, however.  Where the landscape might have been an asset for trapping horses, there would be no way to bring in a stock trailer.  

Where sheer rock monoliths jutted impressively skyward, they drew more hikers than horses.

At last, Dude found what he thought might be a suitable location.  The landscape would lend itself, after a fashion, to a funnel fence.  It would take some skill, but backing in a stock trailer was possible.  The ground actually had some soil, not just loose rock  It was closer to the ranch than he would have liked, but it was also relatively isolated from view, which was desirable.

Skye saw the print as she and Grace got out for a short afternoon ride.  Just one single print in what had likely been wet soil.  The partial print of a bear, or the slightly distorted print of a mountain lion...they couldn't be sure.  It was on the ranch property.

"Is there rain in the forecast?"  Skye asked.

"Looks like it, huh?"  Grace replied.  "Honestly I haven't looked at the weather."

Grace rode up on a rock ridge to survey the land to the west.  Nothing stirred, save for a breeze  that grew colder snd stronger as night approached.

The colors of the sunset revealed the nature of the bodies in the sky.  Despite their thickness and their expansive cover, they were not moisture bearing clouds.  The colorful show faded into the night's cool silence.

December 7
The boss saw Rain Man first.  She drew her lens and aimed.  He reared up like a scene from an old western movie.  

The horses were spread out, the sun about to set.  She found Lady Godiva, her foals, the strawberry mare.  They moved in and out of brilliant light and cool shadows.

Then at last, she saw Crazy.  The boss kept thinking any moment she might also see Grace and Skye.  They were usually keen on the presence of the wildies.

A flash of red on a spent yucca stalk caught her attention.  She tried to recall her woodpeckers but she always got them jumbled.  Was it a red-head, a Nuttals', or a hairy? Or something else?  

When she turned her attention back to Crazy, he was closer, moving toward her, moving through the shadows of evening.  She was between Crazy and his mares.  Best to move, she decided.

Reunited with his mares, Crazy and his herd moved away.

Rain Man brought up the rear, offering the boss a few more photo opportunities before becoming one with the landscape.

Golden light and golden flora dominated the last moments of day.

Moving swiftly through the deep shadows, Dude saw horse-shaped flashes of grey, brown and white.  He didn't recognize them.  He'd seen with his own eyes or through the considerable volume of images most of the horses in the region, and few of them had much white or grey.

He followed, but his eyes fell upon only the glory of last light, and ears ears upon silence.  They were gone.

Back at the ranch, the very last bits of sunset lingered briefly in the pines.

The girls had found the Christmas things more or less by accident, and decided to bring the out.

"Good thing we're starting early this year"  Skye said.  "It might take a few days to get this untangled..."

The boss's voice startled both Grace and Skye.

"Wow!  What a surprise!"  the boss exclaimed.  "This is looking great!"

Skye smiled.  Eventually, hopefully, it would look great.

December 13
Four pairs of boots dangled over the rock face.  Skye's seat on the stone was slightly precarious.  She considered backing up a little.  Especially since they were eagerly viewing an empty landscape.  There were no wildies to spook tonight.

"So where are you thinking of setting up your...equine bait trap?"  Skye asked of Dude.  He smiled.  It wasn't a bad description.

"To the west.  But not in the rocks.  And not as far away from your property as I'd like to be.  But.  There's no point trying to catch horses if you go where there aren't any horses."

Skye nodded.  "What are you going to do if you catch Petrichor?  You know, Applejacks?"

Dude was silent for a long moment.  Then, shaking his head, "I don't know."

The evening was lovely.  In another moment or two the sun would sink below the horizon.  It was just a little after four o'clock, but the outdoor portion of the day would be done.

"Are you keeping the collie?"  Grace asked Anoush.

"We are.  I think my daughters would lock me out of the house if I found a home for her.  We named her Lady.  It seems perhaps a bit feminine for her when she's in action, but she is very lady-like at home."

"Do you still have the shepherd?"  Skye asked.

"Yes, the German and the Anatolian.  And the deerhound.  I'm a bit particular in that regard.  They are good dogs and they deserve exceptional owners...and yes, the boss has made it clear she'll be happy to take them off of our hands should the need arise."

Grace laughed softly.  "She certainly will.  Along with your spare cats and horses."

Skye chimed in.  "She'll also take bulls, old Jeeps and model horses, any scale..."

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November 15, 2025
​Big tropical rain drops plummeted from the sky.

"Why do you suppose Dude decided to set up his horse trap elsewhere?"  Skye asked Grace.

"Respect.  Ha.  Or maybe fear of retaliation" Grace said, smiling.

"I have a hunch I know where it is" Skye said.

The storm had stalled out numerous times.  The heaviest local rainfall was supposed to be over before 9 AM, but it lingered into the afternoon.  At one point, the girls thought they might get a chance to ride, but before they could decide who to ride, it was raining again.  Unlike most rains, this one seemed to be going into the ground, as if the hydrophobic soils had collectively agreed to harvest the water.

Rivulets of water began to come together to fill seasonal streams. Skye's hunch about the new location of Dude's horse trap didn't pan out.  Either he hadn't gotten started yet, or they were in the wrong place.

"This rain is going to foil his plan, isn't it?"  Skye mused.   "There's going to be plenty of new green grass now, and there should be more water too."

"It's going to be a much harder sell, that's for sure."

From the dry comfort of home, Grace leaned over the table, studying an email from the boss on the laptop.  

"What's up?"

"This is weird.  So the boss says Petrichor's original name might be...are you ready for this? Applejacks."

"What?"

"Dude was asking the boss what my horse looked like.  Remember, you told him Petrichor was mine."

"Yes I did!"

"So the boss sent him a picture of Petrichor.  And he said he wondered if that was the one Francis called Applejacks."

"What picture did she show him?"  Grace stepped aside so Skye could see.

"Oh that's one of the boss's pictures."

"Apparently Gramma Francis spent a lot of time with the wild horses, especially the ones born on the property.  And there were a couple of foals that were pretty friendly.  And one in particular that would come right up to her.  So, one day the colt was hanging around, and she was looking for something to give him, and she didn't have anything handy, so she offered him Applejacks.  And he loved them.  And it got to be a thing, where he'd come around looking for Applejacks."

"What are Applejacks?"

"It's a cereal.  You've never had Applejacks?"

"Can you Google it?"

"Kind of like Cheerios"  Skye mused.  "Corn, sugar, food color...I guess we'll need to get a box of Applejacks."

The dogs looked expectantly at Grace and Skye.

"It's an even split, four and four...I guess we both feed" Skye said.

"Ginger Cat is looking at you" Grace replied.

"Yeah but Vinnie is looking at you...it's still a tie."

November 23
"The boss and I were up until 2 AM making these!"  Skye told Grace, tub of cereal cookies in her arms.  "We finally found something to make the honey stop running.  Psyllium powder!  But you have to wait, like an hour at least, for it to thicken up..."

Skye set down the tub of Applejacks blobs and started off to choose some volunteers for her experiment.

"Do you have something easier to carry those in?"  Grace said, with a hint of urgency.

"Sure!"  Skye returned momentarily with a basket.

"Perfect."  Grace swept the cookies into the basket and started out.  "Come on."

Skye was typically in the lead on these excursions, but not today.  Grace was moving with purpose.  Over the rocky terrain to the westerly boundary of the property, and then beyond it.

They saw Thorn first.  Or perhaps she saw them first.  

Thorn changed direction several times, then headed southwest and out of sight.  The girls followed, directly at first, then Grace changed course, hugging the rocks and the sheltered spaces like a predator.  

They could hear the horses in front of them.

Petrichor pawed softly, almost playfully at the shallow rivulet of water.

Green was already emerging in the wake of rain, a mix of grasses and invasive plants, all edible at this tender young stage.  The bay mare and both foals were in the shallow water.  Moonlight Sonata and her colt moved along the drier side of the draw.

Thorn, taking the high road back to the herd, appeared above them in the rocks.

Grace looked into the basket.  Most of the cookies were gone. Just three cookies left.  They would never find the others in a terrain dotted with splashes of yellow and green...but she only needed one.

Skye got Grace's attention.  Pointed with her nose to the opening below them.

Grace made her way out into the open, sandy ground.  And waited.  

The horses would eventually emerge. If the girls had gone undetected, the horses would come out of the draw mares first.  If their presence had been detected, if Thorn conveyed them to the rest of the herd or if their scent gave them away,  Petrichor would come first.

Moments passed.  Petrichor burst into view, trotted like a truly wild stallion on a mission straight toward Grace.

It was always a little...exhilarating...unnerving...

Petrichor sniffed at the cereal cookie for just a moment before embracing it with his lips, then snatching the whole of it into his mouth and devouring it.  Afterwards he raised his head and curled back his lips, like a horse seeking a scent.  And then he turned back to Grace, looking expectantly for another Applejacks cookie.

And that was the universal problem with giving animals treats.  They rather quickly move from expectation to frustration with there are no more treats. 

"Git"  Grace said in a stern voice.

The bay mare began to move off with the herd.  Petrichor rejoined his band.  Once the horses were away, Skye rejoined Grace in the sand wash, and they began a much slower journey back to the ranch.

"Welp"  Skye said, "that was exciting, and you gave new meaning to 'tossing your cookies', but we still haven't proved anything scientifically."

"What do you mean by scientifically?"
"I mean what if ALL horse like Applejacks?  If all horses like Applejacks, then Petrichor may or may not be the stallion Dude suspects he is.  But.  We could always rename his colt, just for fun.  I think that's the one the boss named Tempest.  We could name him Baby Applejacks instead."

"Or Applejacks, Baby..."

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November 9, 2025
"Skye" Anoush began, "do you ever wish you lived somewhere a little more hospitable?"

"Like a place with dirt instead of rocks, and green grass and flat ground and water?  Yeah, I dream about it sometimes!  But then I love this place too.  This place is...wild."

The wind was fixing to tear Dude's hat from his head again. 

"Is that why you don't ride when it's windy?"  Dude asked.

"Is what why?"

"The landscape."

"Yes, that's a lot of it.  Some of our horses are perfectly fine in the wind, but if things get sideways, if they spook or you spook and you fall or they fall or you both fall, you're probably going to get hurt."

Dude pressed on across the steep terrain, navigating a narrow, near vertical crevice.  There were no wild horses to see.  Dude was looking, instead, for a place to set up a feeding trap...a funnel-shaped temporary enclosure that would hopefully allow him to draw in the wild horses, close the funnel behind them, and move them forward, to the small end of the funnel, which would terminate into a stock trailer.                               

Skye and Anoush, substantially shorter in the leg, shuffled down a bit more slowly.

"This is good"  Dude said.  "We don't have to go any further."

Skye could envision the funnel trap.  It could work.  But there were so many risks.  So much possible mayhem.  And what if he caught some of their favorite horses?  What if he caught Petrichor?

"So let's say this works and you trap some horses.  Then what Dude?"  Skye implored.

"We take them back to the reserve.  And then we take stock of what we've got.  There's another wild horse sanctuary not too far away.  They have four thousand acres.  If we come up with a head count that's not sustainable, they will take on some of our horses."

"Will they take stallions?" 

"They will"  Dude said, and then paused.  There was an awkward piece of silence.

"It's okay" Skye said, "I know how baby horses are made.  Will the stallions get to stay stallions?"

"No."

Skye brought Cookie and Mischief down to the indoor arena to let them stretch their legs.  They were eager to do so.

"Geeze ladies!  Don't run me over!"

"You know" Skye said aloud, more or less to Dude, "the whole thing...the way we manage wild horses, and all these private sanctuaries saving wild horses from auctions and holding facilities and adopters...the whole thing, it's not right.  The whole management program is wrong.  First the genetic isolation of managing herds and then the whole thing of sanctuaries that are basically retirement homes for mares and geldings..."

"I agree with you"  Dude responded.  "But the private sanctuaries are really the only safety net for the horses that don't get adopted, or don't work out for people."

Anoush brought Dani Girl and Luna down.

"I'm not saying sanctuaries are bad, it's just the whole thing is skewed"  Skye continued. "You know, there's talk about how restoring animals to the landscape, like buffalo, help the environment recover, help plant diversity, reduce fire risk...why can't we think about horses like that?  Horses were here up until what, ten or eleven thousand years ago?  And we humans might have wiped them out in the first place."

Skye brought down Angel and his Paso Fino sidekick.

"The other thing is genetic diversity"  Skye paused for a moment.  "You know, not just with wild horses but we need to think like this with buffalo too.  We manage populations without allowing or encouraging or facilitating genetic diversity and the result isn't good.  We need to be making sure that isolated populations don't become inbred.  We need to be actively mixing it up.  Why don't we do that?"

Blondie was the final horse to come down.  Dude tried to answer Skye's sweeping questions truthfully, but without any more negativity than the truth already owned.

"Bringing back the buffalo...the predator species, moving toward seeing whole ecosystems management across human boundaries...it's all good, and at the same time very difficult because the interests of most people in those ecosystems are in conflict with natural restoration.  They are livestock ranchers and farmers.  Wild species are viewed as competition for food or as a threat to their animals.  And wild horses in particular suffer because they are broadly considered an introduced species, as you know, but more importantly, we don't need them any more.  We don't eat them, they have no monetary value, and fewer and fewer people own horses.  They are a luxury item." 
11.9.25

"Wild horses are a relic of our past. Symbols of freedom, they are called."  Dude paused for a moment.  "Symbols of freedom. We'll have that discussion some other time.  You are fundamentally right Skye.  The way we manage the land is out of balance.  And trying to get it right again...whatever that means...that's going to be a complicated mission."
11.9.25

The horses moved up the arena together.  They watched for a moment in silence, taking in the indescribable essence of equus.  The power, the energy, the spirt, the willingness to give their lives into the hands of humans.  To know of these things was to hold a treasure.  It was soul-wealth.  
11.9.25

"I want to figure it out"  Skye said.  "I know it's complicated, but there has to be solutions.  There has to be."
11.9.25

It was barely 5 PM.  The day's last light was caught in the trees for a moment.  A warm wind rustled the land.  
11.9.25

November 1, 2025
Dude brought the truck and trailer to a halt in the drive.  The moon hung large in the afternoon sky.  The mountain was alive with the scurry of chipmunks and squirrels and, likely, just out of sight, the things that hunted them.  

Inside the trailer, Mista Spot and Precious waited patiently to be unloaded.

"I may have gotten their blankets mixed" Dude said to Skye apologetically.

"Oh my gosh, don't even worry about that. Did Gramma Francis get to go riding?"

"She did. She was very grateful for the opportunity. And your horses were perfect. She rode them both, and they took excellent care of her."

"She asked for another favor though." Grace and Skye listened.

"She asked if you had pictures, or maybe a list of the horses you've seen."

"Funny" Skye said. "We've talked about that so many times. Making a list or an album of pictures. We have pictures of almost all of them. The boss has a lot of pictures. There's only a couple we don't have pictures of."

"She would sure appreciate any help you could offer."

"You should help us find the ones we haven't photographed yet" Skye suggested. "Maybe this weekend?"

"I'm short a horse" Dude said. "Trooper is back at Gramma's."

"But your rig is in the back of the truck."

"It is."

"What if we had a horse for you?"

"Who are you thinking of?" Grace asked.

"Remmie."

Grace was silent for a moment. Then "Nice choice. That could work."

The saddle fit. Grace smiled as she watched Dude. He noticed, cast her a sideways, questioning glance.

"I'm sorry" Grace said. "Skye likes to ride Remmie bareback, and when Skye is on her, you can just see the top of her head between Remmie's ears."

They seemed comfortable with each other.

November 2
They were riding before dawn. At first, their horses' hooves against the rocky soil were the only sounds.

The boss had taken the Jeep, stashing it in the rock outcropping and carrying her gear to what she hoped would be the right location.

Grace studied the trail just ahead of her. It seemed steeper than she recalled, as if perhaps some large rocks had been dislodged. She hesitated. It wouldn't be difficult for Deer Medicine and Ladyhawk to turn around. But Remmie and Dude...that was a different matter. They continued forward.

The sun made its appearance on the horizon.  The colors were fresh and glorious.  The birds began to stir. The boss swung her big lens from one moving target or burst of color to another.

The screams of the horses redirected her focus. Scritch and Storm. And this was looking a bit like war.

The morning's peaceful silence was shattered.

Dude was laying eyes o the two bays for the first time. "Is that your stallion, Grace?"

"Oh no. That one can be yours."

The horses cavorted. The boss watched, took pictures, and in her periphery view, saw movement all around. Sun drenched the landscape. Everyone was awake now.

Scritch's colt darted out from its shelter in the rocks.

"Looks like he's still not accepting her foal" Skye noted.

Scritch held the stallion back, giving her foal time to make a break for open ground. Not that it would be a lasting solution...but it would be good enough for now.

Storm caught sight of the boss, and then Grace, Skye and Dude on their horses. Conflicted, he lost his focus on the mare and foal and they slipped away. The boss was safe in her location. Storm turned momentarily toward the mounted trio; then changed his course, and moved away from them, more or less in the direction that Scritch and her foal had chosen.

The ride back to the ranch was fairly quiet.

"Well, we already know those horses, so we didn't see anything new today" Skye remarked.

"Thank you for the effort just the same" Dude replied.

A more pastoral scene awaited them upon their return. The foals Revv and Cloud Medicine had found good company in one another while their dams were on the trail of wild horses.
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​

October 12, 2025
The wind was blowing. The girls milled about inside, slow to come up with a plan of action.

"Where did this unicorn come from?" Skye asked.

"Anahit and Lousin" Grace answered. "It came with that truck and trailer set, and the pink unicorn, but they thought this white one was too nice to be a toy."

Skye decided to bring The Black down to the indoor arena, where she could roll in the deep, soft sand.  But this morning, the old mare was very slow.  Bringing her down to the arena was difficult.  She seemed reluctant to move.  There wasn't much to say.  She was so old.  

"Is she okay?"  the boss asked.  

"I think so..."  Skye answered, then noticed the blue covering over a portion of the arena wall.

"What's this?"

"Oh it's my...fake sky" the boss replied, a bit self-conscious.

"Where in the world did you get that?"

"I made it" the boss replied. "When we first got here I didn't have a place to get pictures of the horses. So I painted this on some scrap foamcore, and then I'd tack it up to the side of the house...the house was about falling apart and it needed paint, everything looked like that, so I made this fake sky and I'd stand the horses well enough in front of it that it was out of focus in the background."

The Black walked slowly past the boss's make-believe sky. She took a picture, looked at the results, smiled, showed Skye.

"Oh! It works!"

"I'm not crazy about it. I want to be outside. I want to build another arena with a beautiful natural background. But for today we'll try this."

The mountain was unusually quiet for a Sunday. Except for the birds and small mammals, and particularly the squirrels. They were acting downright odd. Picking up pinecones, then rocks; running around in circles, putting their tails over their heads as if that made them invisible, drumming on wood with their front paws. The girls hadn't seen anything quite like it before.

Eventually the wind resided. The girls took note, and mounted up.

"Are you gonna spend the next six months in pajamas?" Grace asked. ""We're supposed to have a La Nina winter. Warm and relatively dry."

"No, but I just wanted to go for a ride, I didn't want to fuss with changing. I'm actually kind of warm already."

The girls rode through the lower portion of Mustang Rock. Aside from the occasional lizard, nothing stirred.

"Are we spoiled?" Skye asked.

"What?"

"Are we spoiled?"

Grace paused for a moment. "Yes." And then "Maybe spoiled isn't exactly the right word. We are...blessed. Fortunate. Insanely lucky. We're getting to live a life that most people only dream about."

"But it's a lot of work too!"

"And dirt. A lot of dirt. You need to be okay with breathing and wearing a lot of dirt. So we're not exactly spoiled because we have to do the work. No one is saddling our horses for us or mucking stalls or..."

"Cleaning the tack room..." Skye interjected.

"Right. But still. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"Me neither" Skye agreed.

Back at the ranch, the boss was outside in the little arena. It wasn't a great place for photographing horses, but at the moment it was all they had.

"She must have a thousand pictures of that horse" Skye whispered.

"Let her be" Grace whispered back. "She's outside, in the sun, working out some of that angst. She needs this. Besides, if that was your mare you'd have a thousand pictures of her too."

Skye thought about it for a moment.  Grace was most likely right.

October 20
It was morning, the sun was well over the ridge, and their domestic horses had been quite clear about the location of the wildies.  The girls didn't have time to get to their usual observation ridge. They were in the shadow of the pines, but Skye was highly visible. And it wasn't long before she had been noticed.  

"Well this is kind of different" Grace whispered.  

The horses had been moving more or less in unison until Wind In Her Hair stopped at the sight of Skye's shape on the rocks before them.

There were the first three horses, whom the girls knew little about; Wind In Her Hair, Smoke Signals and Ochre. Then Crazy's band along with Rain Man, still riding shotgun. Then Highlander's band of three.

There was some shifting around in the open space. A new order emerged. Lady Godiva took the lead, and the rest of her family band followed.

The Dun Mare and Piper fell in behind Lady Godiva. 

Katana fell in behind The Dun Mare. Highlander followed close on her heels.

Grace and Skye scrambled to a new position, where they could watch the horses file through the narrow rock passage.

For a moment Lady Godiva could not see her foals, and she stopped. Mares, stallions and foals found themselves confined against each other within the rock crevice.

Grace and Skye were silent, breathless. Mares could be fierce enough. There were five stallions squeezed into that mix.

Lady Godiva continued forward again, her foals in front of her now.

"Why do you suppose they come together like this sometimes?" Skye asked.

"I think it's just the herd instinct" Grace replied. "They are all doing their little separate things but they are close enough to see or hear each other. And one band of horses starts moving. And so they all start moving. Because you don't want to be the one that didn't move and got eaten by a mountain lion or a bear. Or whatever. Or maybe one of them says hey, let's run! And they all go okay! Let's run! I'm not really sure but I'm guessing it's probably simple like that."

Skye counted them. Five stallions. Five mares. Four foals.

"Fourteen horses" she said softly. "Petrichor's band is missing. And the Unhappy Campers. Shoot. There's probably...twenty five horses?"

Grace tried to count horses that were not there in her head while watching the horses that were there go by. It was difficult. But Skye was probably pretty close.

October 26
Afternoon shadows fell long and soft on the rugged terrain.  Grace and Skye were pretty sure they'd be catching a glimpse of wild horses any moment.  The girls scoured the landscape for movement, listened intently for sounds. A lizard ran up a Coulter pine. In the distance, a motorcycle plied the highway. Somewhere in the campgrounds to the south, laughter. But overall, it was still, and predominately silent.

"I'm thinking if there were wildies here, we missed 'em" Skye said.

"You know what i'm thinking?"

"What?"

"I'm thinking where's my horse?"

It was a beautiful afternoon. The wind had calmed to the softest breeze and the air temperature was comfortable. Indeed, it would have been an exceptional day for riding.

The girls took their time heading back to the ranch. The day was almost over. It was too late to worry about getting anything done, and too beautiful to hurry.

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September 27, 2025

"I'm not sure what I'm witnessing"  Grace said as they approached the arena.  Skye hesitated for a moment.

"I'm just going to say it...that's not a horse..."

You've been hanging out with my daughters too much"  Anoush replied.  "He's a Scottish Deerhound.  We're getting some nice pictures of him.  He's in a foster home right now and his foster people are pretty fond of him, but they haven't asked to adopt him yet."

Anoush traded out the deerhound for another wheaten colored dog, but the similarities ended there.  

"Oh my goodness who is this?" Skye squealed.  "Look at this face!  I think I'm in love.  Is this a...shepherd and St. Bernard cross?"

"Anatolian Shepherd"  Anoush answered.  

"Oh!  Well I don't think the boss ever met a shepherd she didn't fall in love with, so maybe we can foster this one."

"Skye, or Grace and Skye, maybe"  the boss interjected, "can you bring down some calves?  Maybe three?"  

"Sure"  Skye responded.  What she wasn't entirely sure about was how they would actually separate out three calves from the more or less feral larger group, with the intention of taking them to another location.

"I'll go with you" Grace said.  Skye heaved a sigh of relief.  Surely the two of them could come up with a plan.

Anoush brought out a German Shepherd next.  

"You'll let me know if this one doesn't work out in his new home or something doesn't go to plan, right?"  the boss said as she took picture after picture.

"Of course."

The final canine was a bit smaller than the first three.  Silver grey and white, long coated, with two-toned eyes.

"This one"  Anoush said.  "I am very tempted to keep this one.  I don't know that she's had any formal training, and I don't know what the proper commands are even if she has."

Grace and Skye delivered three calves into the arena.  Once separated from the larger herd, they were much easier to work with than the girls expected.  

Everyone had seen television programs with border collies racing at top speed to control their domestic charges.  This girl had a different approach.  She was lightning quick to stop a breakaway, but then, she was mostly still.  A solid presence anchoring the moment and the creatures in it.

"I thought border collies were black and white" Skye mused.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       "Is she an Aussie mix?"

"She's a merle" Anoush answered.  "Now whether she's a slate merle or a blue merle I'm not sure, but purebred border collies can come in a surprising number of colors."

Before the sun slipped below the horizon, the boss brought out the new stallion.  

"He's so gorgeous, and so hard to photograph" the boss lamented.  There wasn't much daylight left, and getting him to stand in the fleeting patches of sunlight, affected by clouds, by shadows of the pines, was at best difficult.  At one point he prepared to roll, and of course, that would make for a sub-par show photo.  The boss took pictures until the sun slipped below the horizon.

The evening was glorious.  The girls went out with the truck to catch the sunset from the highway, but it looked as if it had been swallowed by a bank of clouds. They stopped instead to look east toward Mount Waterman.

Here too, clouds quickly covered the sky-scape.

"Wanna head up the road and see what's left of the sunset before we head back?"   Grace asked.

"Sure."

They arrived just in time.  It was a fleeting, burning, beautiful site, with clouds pouring in across the mountain tops, tinged with the pink hues of last light.

Skye lingered outside well after sunset.  The clues continued to catch light from a sun long departed.  The night was so glorious.  It was hard to go back inside.

A great horned owl swept past Skye, lit in a tree, then flew down into a bush; then back into the air, disappearing into the darkening landscape.  It was the time of the night animals.  A whole different cast would rule the forest now.

September 28

"Does the light always change this fast?"  Skye asked.  "Not that long ago if we were out before 4 PM we'd be in full sunshine."

"There are some days where we lose more or less daylight than others.  The rate of change isn't exactly consistent, if I understand it correctly.  Like let's say most days we are losing seven minutes of daylight each day, then there is a span of several days when we lose 12 minutes of daylight per day.  I'm swagging the numbers but I suspect I'm not too far off."

Something moved on the mountain behind them.  Distant, camouflaged by its surroundings, but definitely in motion.  A red tailed hawk plied the distant south facing mountain behind the ranch.The girls watched quietly.

"Well, what do you think of this location for the campout?"  Skye said.

Grace answered with a question.  "When you say everyone, who all are you thinking of inviting?"

"Definitely Anoush, Anahit and Lousin.  Maybe the girls Anoush cares for?  And if they come, Crystal and Heather maybe?  Because those girls are high energy!"

"And they're always barefoot too, so this might not be a great place for them.  It's awful rocky.  What about the pony girl?"

"Oh yeah!  Chance! And...Jessica!  That'd be awesome.  Maybe we can talk the boss into coming too."

"What about Dude?"

"I think...this should be a girl's night"  Skye said hesitantly.  "Do you think that's mean?"

"No.  I think it's okay if you want to have a girl's sleepover.  I also think it's okay if you change your mind and invite him."

The tell-tale alarm of ground squirrels gave away the presence of a predator.  The calls came from the south, then the west.  The girls were pretty sure all they'd have to do is wait.

They were right.

Coyote appeared rather close, skirting around the back of the ranch, coming upon them unexpectedly.  Pausing, making a quick assessment, trotting away on the diagonal.

"Now that's some camouflage"  Grace said quietly.

And then down the road Coyote went.  

The girls moved on to another location, closer to the ranch, less rocky, but perhaps more suitable for potentially camping with small and usually barefoot children.

"The ground isn't exactly soft here"  Skye said, "but at least it's actually dirt and not rocks."

"It's not completely level either"  Grace added, "but we can make some little level spots for tents."

There was activity all around them.  Birds made no secret of their foraging forays.

"This location is almost too close to the ranch"  Skye remarked.  "I mean, we can see the patio lights from the main house.  We're probably close enough to have internet reception too."

"True.  But it's not like we're back country mountaineers packing our provisions in on a mule team.   Our mule is probably going to be the truck."  Skye smiled.  Grace was right.

"I'm so excited"  Skye said.  

"Well, remember a few things"  Grace cautioned.  "High wind or rain cancels.  Not everyone you invite may be able to come.  And the boss has back to back events this coming weekend, and I don't know if she told you what happened earlier today."

"No!  What?"

"She was cleaning a horse's hooves and on the fourth hoof her back went out."

"Like...what do you mean 'went out?' Can she walk?"

"She can walk.  She can sit, lay down, get back up.  She can bend over.  But she can't lift anything.  The horse wasn't even putting any weight on her.  It was holding it's own weight.  Hopefully she'll be all right.  But how do you have horses if you can't clean their feet, you know?"

"She'll be all right" Skye said after a moment's pause.  "She'll be all right.  She doesn't have any choice.  She's just gotta be all right."

"Let's hold that thought"  Grace affirmed.

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October 4, 2025
Grace tried to stay seated, but found herself wanting to push the big stallion forward and down with her body.  If she could.  Standing int eh stirrups made little difference for Mateo, however.  He was balanced, and he was powerful enough hold that balance without much trouble.

My saddle looks really good on him!"

"Thanks Skye!  It's not working out for me quite the way I'd hoped!"

Mateo had an impressive ability to hold a rear at the peak of its motion.  Even with a rider, apparently.

"Do you think someone trained him to do that?"  Skye asked.

"I'm thinking this is how he trains people"  Grace responded.  "He's not angry, he's not worked up, he's not actually trying to hurt me...but I was hoping to keep my seat in the saddle and I just couldn't do it. He gets so vertical..."

"Well it looked pretty cool anyway."

"You wanna ride him Skye?"

"Kind of?"

"I'm kidding.  I think the boss would hurt me if I let you get on him."

Mateo reared again.  He was a big horse.  Beautiful in every aspect.  The boss had fallen in love with him, so he was probably going to stay.  Grace wasn't sure he'd ever be much more than a pasture ornament.

Skye peered outside as the sun was setting.  The wind was on its way out, taking its time, reminding her with little blusters  who was in charge.  If the wind stayed down, the campout for tomorrow night was on.  

October 5
"You know Skye, it's like noon. We could wait until it's a little cooler to get the tent set up."

Skye raked and raked the soil.  It was uneven, but it did give in to the rake, and there were few rocks.  Grace was probably right.  The mid-day sun was rather warm.

5 pm proved much more agreeable. And it had given Skye some time to come up with a plan to make the tent extra comfortable. It called for pulling the rug out of their room and using it as tent flooring.

"It's perfect" Skye said proudly. "It comes up along the side walls just enough that you won't roll off of it."

And then in a few moments. everyone arrived.  Anoush, her daughters Anahit and Lousin, her helpers Crystal, Heather and Jessica, and the young girls. The oyoung ones rushed up to Grace, showering her in a spontaneous burst of love.

And then, the girls got right on to the play things.  

Anahit, Lousin and Skye were int he back of the big red truck, the Pavement Queen, making plans.  Anoush approached them.

"The boss tells me she can't find her second tent?" Anoush said, part statement, part question.

"I've never seen a second tent" Skye responded. "But we're working on a solution, and we're thinking it's going to involve this truck. And besides, have you been inside that tent? It's huge!"

Heather found the buffalo robe inside the tent, and carefully lay down. It had an energy about it. And a comforting feel.

Jessica, dressed in her festive red plaid pajamas, took notice as she walked by.  "You giving up already?" Jessica teased.

Along the south facing slope of Yucca Peak, a red tailed hawk circled, flew along the side of the mountain. Then suddenly it plunged into the brush. A woodpecker made haste to escape. After a moment of thrashing, the hawk emerged from the brush with empty talons.

Perhaps it was a young bird, still learning its hunting technique, presently in the smash and grab stage. Or perhaps this was simply the way of the wild. Most hunts end in failure. The bird wasted no time getting back on the hunt.

Crystal also found the tent to her liking.  The cool blue was rather mesmerizing.

Lousin, Skye and Anahit ventured into the day's last light to look for wild horses. It was a beautiful evening, and though they saw no wildies, it was worth the effort just to be bathed in golden light.

Grace and Anoush took a walk to the outskirts of the camp as shadows swallowed the day's light.

"My girls were asking about a camp fire."

"Oh, sorry. No fires of any kind allowed in the forest right now" Grace answered.

"Doubtless that's a good rule at the moment."

Back in the camp, the older girls were gathering up the younger girls.
"Let's have story time!" Jessica said.

"Spooky halloween stories! Just kidding" Crystal said, smiling.

Anahit and Lousin's sleeping arrangements had been made.  Using the mattress, blankets and pillows from Grace's bed, the Paement Queen became a bit of an open air bedroom.  

"You think this'll work?" Skye asked.

"Oh yes" Lousin replied. 

"I'm gonna go photograph the moonrise with the boss" Skye said to her friends. "I'll be back in a little bit."

In the deepening shadows of evening, horses stood unseen on the outskirts of the camp.  Smoke Signals was fascinated by the sounds, the smells. He inched ever closer. His mare was not remotely curious, and held back.

The moon had already crested the mountain as Skye and the boss emerged from the tree line in the Jeep. That wasn't what the boss was looking for.

She turned to Skye and smiled. "Hang on Slye."

Down the road toward Meadow Campground they went, pushing ever closer to the mountain, until the moon was no longer visible. There they waited for their second chance, for another moon rise.  The moon did not disappoint.

The boss was merciless on the shutter button. She must've taken fifty pictures.  Every few moments another one.  Capturing the moon's ascent into the velvety blue sky, until it had cleared the chamise, the mountain mahogany, the yucca, the pines.  

"And there she is" the boss said softly, "released into the night sky."

The western sky glowed in an orange-red hue.

Skye and the boss chatted for a while and enjoyed the night. When they returned to camp, all was quiet.

"Do you think there's going to be any room left for you and Grace?" the boss asked.

"We're going to glamp" Skye said, smiling.

"What?"

"We're going to camp at our house. We've got one mattress left and it's just big enough."

October 6
Grace and Skye walked up to the campground quietly, pre-dawn.  No one stirred.  Anahit and Lousin had abandoned their custom bed.  Either they were out adventuring, or they were inside the tent.

"I think I can see Jessica" Skye whispered. "She looks awake."

"Let's not wake up everyone else" Grace whispered in response.

A low and slow helicopter cut through the morning air, flying directly overhead.
"They're probably all awake now!" Skye said.

Grace and Skye moved past the camp and up into the rocks beyond.  The sun was getting ready to crest the mountain.  The going was a little steep, but they had done it many times.  Skye lead the way.  Even after all those times, Grace's boots still really weren't made for walking.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I got it."

They crested the rock face. Sunlight poured across the land.  They saw horses straight away.

Highlander's band, Katana in the lead.

They were the colors of sand and sandstone, of granite, of light and shadow. They were the colors of their landscape, one with it, unbroken.

The girls watched, savoring every fleeting moment. Highlander's harem had no particular curiosity about the two-leggeds' camp. They would continue east, back into the chamise, and soon out of sight.

Back at camp, the boss was trying to orchestrate a group picture. Grae and Skye slipped in. But there were two cameras set up. No one was quite sure where to look.

"Here!" the boss said. "This camera! Look at this one!"

Click. Click click click click...
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