And then came a stranger

​April 2
The sun was warm, but the wind was biting cold, and unsettled. Wind or no, the valley they'd visited a few days earlier was calling them. 

Grace didn't remember there being so many trails through the picturesque landscape. The ground changed constantly, from solid footing to soft soil to ravel to solid rock. 

Skye was enjoying Jesse, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. 

"How did this happen?" Skye asked.

"How did what happen?"

"These giant mountains of rock just sort of...scattered about."

"I don't know. I know this is a very geologically active mountain range. But exactly how these arrangements occurred...not a clue."

It was a glorious landscape. And then something moved.

A riderless horse went at a purposeful trot along one of the trails. They girls reined in their horses, listened, waited. Watched.

The horse was traveling with a sense of commitment and direction. Skye started to follow, then stopped, looked at Grace.

"The horse knows where it's going" Grace said. "Let's look for a rider." They tried to follow the horse's tracks, but it did not take long to lose them in the constantly alternating soil. The girls called out. They heard no reply.

"Maybe the rider got injured and they can't respond" Skye said, her usual smile drawn into a thin, straight line.

"Or maybe they aren't here" Grace said. "Let's head back and look for them on the way. If we don't find them...we can call search and rescue. And then go find the horse."

The girls heard the Pavement Queen's low, throaty rumble as they climbed into the Jeep. 

"Looks like we've been beat to the rescue" Grace said.

Grace pulled the Jeep up behind the boss's big red truck.  Slowly.  The rescued rider on the tailgate was roughly the size of a bear.

"It's a good thing!"  Skye said. "That dude is TALL. We'd have to put him on the hood!"

There was some motioning between the horseless cowboy and the boss. She pulled over. The cowboy stepped off the tailgate as Grace pulled up. Skye jumped out of the Jeep.

His face softened as Skye introduced herself.

"What's your name?" Skye asked.

"My friends call me Dude" the cowboy replied. Skye giggled. "That's what I just called you! Are you missing a horse?"

Dude had a pleasant, if weary, smile. "I believe I know where to find my horse, but yes, we got separated. I wanted to do a little exploring in the rocks, and I didn't tie him. He ground ties, but I didn't drop his tie rope. I figured, you know, I'll just be a moment. But then I got to wandering around, and all the rocks started to look a lot alike...and I'm pretty sure my horse decided to go home without me."

Skye started to speak, then stopped. There were only so many houses on the mountain any more and the girls knew most, if not all of them. They knew who owned them. They knew the back stories, the familial dramas, the history. Dude wasn't weaving into the tapestry.

"His name is Trooper" Dude continued. "He's Cleveland Bay and Paint Horse. He's a good horse."

"He's pretty" Skye said. "We saw him while we were out riding. If he's not home waiting for you, we'll help you find him."

"I appreciate that very much."

Dude walked off into the forest, heading the same way his horse had, but using the firebreak instead of a trail.

"Oh my gosh, I wanted to ask him a thousand questions" Skye said to Grace.

"Me too. Actually not a thousand. Mostly just one. Why are you here?"

A few more of the boss's daffodils had emerged, glowing in the early evening light.

April 14
The ranch horses indicated the presence and general location of something on the northern flank of the ranch as they finished their alfalfa breakfast.  So the girls went on foot to see what they could see.  Looking for wild horses never got old.

Silence. Stillness. They watched, waited. Nothing. 

"So the boss is thinking about doing Grand Entry on Friday night" Skye said in a soft voice. Grace nodded.

"She says Saturday morning is going to be a little hectic, and she doesn't have any artists lined up for a Friday night meet and greet."

"So...we will be the entertainment for Friday evening."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess huh? She asked me if I had any artwork to show...but it's all old. Everyone's already seen everything. And the boss isn't sure where she put some of it!"

"She'll find it eventually. She found the missing saddle stand. Just hasn't brought it back yet."

The sun was getting warm. There were no wild horses to be seen. Lizards, birds, blissful silence, but no wildies. 

"Well, the show is still a few weeks away" Skye said. "We've got time to figure something out. Let's head back."

And then they heard a sound.  Like hooves on rock.

"Trooper!" Skye squealed. 

Trooper came trotting up, ears forward, deep, soft nicker emanating from his substantial body.

"Did Timmy fall in a well Trooper?" Grace jested. "Or did you get wind of a fresh load of alfalfa?"

"He's a big boy! And he's sweet" Skye said, then, with a little twist to her smile, "Let's take him home. See how long it takes Dude to find him."

"I don't think we've got much choice about taking him home" Grace observed. "He's probably going to lead us there."

April 18
A light drizzle had permeated everything for days. Clouds clung to the mountain and a chill pervaded everything.

It hadn't taken Dude long to figure out where Trooper had gone. Horses are social creatures, and there were plenty of horses to socialize with at Redbird Ranch. The more pressing question was whether or not trying to keep Trooper anywhere else was going to work.

There were some challenges with the location Dude had chosen to build him stall. Challenges that might not be negotiable.  The ground didn't seem very stable.

The drizzle had ceased, but the cloud cover persisted, sometimes thick, sometimes a glowing thin veil barely hiding the sun.  Grace and Skye went for misty morning ride, Grace on La Barilla, Skye on Ladyhawk.  All was quiet. Just the beauty of damp everything.

"Doh" Grace muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"The stirrup. It just broke again."

"Do you want me to try to fix it?"

"Nah, we're almost home. We'll be all right."

Grace tried to balance her right stirrup on the top of her foot, but it was awkward. It slipped to the ground just as she was reaching down to grab it.

Back at the ranch, the girls turned out some of Skye's horses, along with Trooper.  Soon they were joined by Dude and Anoush.

Trooper was an easy keeper. He seemed to be enjoying the company of other horses, but he was content to do it from a respectful distance.

"We'll probably just keep him with my horses for now, if that's all right with you" Skye told Dude. "We don't have an empty stall for him."

"That's perfectly fine" Dude responded, shifting his gaze from Trooper to the black mare.

"That's a tall horse you've got there..."

Skye smiled. There was a brief pause as Skye swallowed the story she was about to tell...how they had pulled the old mare out of Petrichor's herd...and then she introduced her beloved old mare a slightly different way. "The Black, we call her. She's an off the track Thoroughbred. A rescue. She's the best."

Anoush coaxed Mista Spot to come for some petting. Precious came to Grace as soon as she saw her. Those two had a thing for each other.

"I need to go pick up my stirrup" Grace said. 

"I'll go with you" Anoush said.

"Oh me too!" Skye said.

"I'll stay here and keep an eye on the horses" Dude responded.

Skye loved the way the rain drops clung to the grasses and plants. How the pine tress seemed to pull the moisture out of the air and make it into water for their roots. How the droplets clung in the most precarious fashion to blades of grass.

"We don't have any idea why he's here" Grace explained to Anoush.

"I wanted to tell him the story of how we rescued The Black form Petrichor's band! How Grace distracted Petrichor and I slipped in and grabbed the mare! It's probably one of my favorite stories of all time!" Skye exclaimed. "But then I didn't want to say anyone about the wild horses because we don't know, you know?"

"We don't even know his name" Grace added.

"Devante."

"What?" said Grace.
"His name is Devante. He introduced himself to me when he arrived. And I understand. It's a bit unsettling having a new neighbor that you don't know anything about."

"Sooner or later we'll figure it out" Grace assured Anoush.

"You didn't care for me too much in the beginning" Anoush said.

"Not true" Skye responded quickly. "You started asking about the wildies and we didn't like that. It wasn't that we didn't like you, it was that...well, like, it's one thing to share pictures of the horses, but it's a whole different thing to show someone where the horses are."

"I understand" Anoush replied.

"We like you just fine" Grace said. "We're selfish. This is our personal universe and we weren't sure we wanted anyone else in it."

"Well, I guess you'll know soon enough if this new neighbor is going to work out, or if you just adopted another horse."

Skye giggled. "We're gonna be a rescue yet!"

"Speaking of horses, did the boss sell the Criollo stallion?"

"Not yet" Grace answered.

"Can we turn him out when we get back?"

"Sure."

Anoush didn't say much, but you could see there were thoughts swirling behind those dark eyes as she watched Fuego move.  He was refined, elegant, and flashy.  Anoush seemed to be drawn to the colorful horses.

April 26
Saturday began with a few moments of rain. And then the rain became snow. Snow, snow and more snow. Wind gusts, cloud cover, heavy flurries like something from a B rate movie about a deadly blizzard.

Trooper's unfinished stall would have offered him only partial shelter from the wind driven snow. 

And then, around 11 AM, the snow stopped. Bits of blue sky became visible. As fast as the storm began, it was over. A few more snow flurries, persistent, cold wind...but the blizzard had come and gone before noon.

April 28
Monday dawned clear and lovely on the mountain. The girls scrambled past the fire station, across the deergrass meadow and into the rocky land beyond. They were out in the open, without cover, when Petrichor's band appeared.

Thorn, the black mare, was appropriately wild and leery. The blue roan mare seemed uncertain about a proper response to the sight of the girls. The bay mare had foals to look after, and kept her distance.

"He's inviting contact" Skye said softly, watching Petrichor. "He's waiting for you."
Grace hesitated.  But Skye was right.  It did indeed appear that Petrichor was anticipating Grace's approach.

The going was rocky and uneven, and Petrichor was moving around a lot. He was a master at holding the higher ground.

Petrichor always decided when the encounter was over. Grace kept thinking it would be any moment, but he lingered. She let out a deep breath, and drew another one in. Petrichor seemed to be drinking in her breath, reading her. Her heart was pounding, irregularly. 

Hooves, ears, tail, lips...moving, moving. And standing still at the same time. He pushed his head against her hand, gently. Another invitation.

It had been a minute since the last time they'd greeted each other, and his signals were slightly confusing. On the uneven ground Grace tried to move more to his side than directly in front of him, but he turned his body to face her head on, over and over. The moments passed. She kept touching his head. Gentle strokes down the bridge of his nose.

The bay mare began to lead the herd away. At last, and slowly, Petrichor withdrew. But he didn't immediately follow his harem. It would take him another long moment to disengage completely. The girls watched in silence as Petrichor finally released his gaze from Grace, and the whole herd moved off. 
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