Green grass and golden hours

January 10, 2026

"Well" Grace asked, "what do you think?"

"Promise not to tell the boss?"

"Don't worry. Apparently she picked these up for almost nothing."

"I wish they were a little bigger. My legs are all scrunched up under me and the...these things..."

"Handle bars. I think."

"They're too low. I think these would be really cool if they were bigger."

"I agree."

The wind grew colder as the day faded.

"Do you want to take them in the water?" Skye asked.

"Maybe tomorrow. I can barely feel my hands as it is."

Then they saw something. Movement. A flickering shadow up in the rocks.

The mare saw them also, but her options were predicated by the terrain.

The day's last light revealed her, but only for a moment.

Grace and Skye strained to follow the shadow. It vanished as the sun slipped below the western horizon.

"There!" Skye exclaimed. A fleeting glimpse. Black mane and tail, body not unlike the rocks themselves.

Down into the ravine and out of sight, the sound of her footfalls covered by the dull roar of the wind.

Back at home, the girls wrapped themselves in blankets, eager to stave off the chill.

"A new horse! I'm so excited! And I'm so cold. Why am I so cold?" Skye pulled her blanket tight around her body.

"Why didn't you have your hoodie on when we were out in the wind?"

"I...there was so much to think about. And then once we saw that horse I wasn't cold. Not until we got back, really."

"It's been pretty warm this winter. Even all that rain wasn't very cold. Maybe we're just out of practice. Or maybe this wind is actually pretty cold. Seems to me like it was pretty doggone cold."

January 16
The boss stopped to take a quick picture at the campground entrance. Looked up in time to see Coyote darting across the road a few yards ahead of her.

The afternoon light was glorious. The air warm.

She saw movement as she neared the ranch...Rain Man. She parked, slipped from the truck with her camera, made her way to the meadow.

The ground was still saturated here. Her knees and feet were soon immersed in the spongy soil. She hunkered down behind a pile of plant material, heaped aside by the flow of the water. It made a perfect hide...except for the dampness.

She tried to recall the horses from Crazy's band. Were they all present? They were relaxed, stretched out across the landscape, hugging the deep green grasses of the streamed.

The little red filly seemed to be aware of her presence, or a presence.

The light was quickly fading.

At last, she saw Crazy, Lady Godiva, and the colt they called Chip. Unless she was forgetting a mare, this would be his whole harem, plus Rain Man, his subordinate, albeit quite a bit larger than Crazy.

These were the best of times for the wild ones. Bountiful food and water, warm temperatures, and no snow. It would be hard to imagine a better life.

January 17
The wind had been blowing for most of the year.  The girls had enough of it.  Wind or no, they were going to look for Crazy and his band, where the boss had seen the horses Friday evening, close to the ranch, on the opposite side of the road.

"Didn't the boss teach you one of her songs?"  Grace called back to Skye.

"Yeah..."

"Sing it.  See if you can appease this wind."

"But it's not a song for the wind.  It's a gathering song.  Like if you went out to gather cedar, or berries or like that..."

"Maybe the wind will like it and be nice to us..."

Skye sang the song.  The wind eased, as if it was listening perhaps.  But only for a moment.  Then, with renewed vigor, it continued to blow, and blow.

"Should I keep singing?"

Grace decided she was out of her territory on every level with regard to the matter of singing songs. 

"Let's cross the creek up here where it's shallow" Grace replied.

Windy Boy was built for speed, but Skye and Jesse were quickly becoming a team.  Skye chose a slightly different path across the creek.  Jesse didn't hesitate. They emerged on the other side in front of Grace and Windy Boy.  

The ground was firmer, but the wind did not relent.  The horses keyed in to something, ears flicking forward, Jesse raising his head as high as he could to get a glimpse of what was ahead.

Their attention was drawn back to the water. As they began their descent toward the creek again, Grace saw something.

She didn't recognize the truck, the driver, the substantial dog, or the horse trailer.  It was an old trailer, probably more suited for hauling belongings than horses by modern standards, and it was heading back into the residential zone.  It appeared to be empty.  Grace was intrigued.  The boss had seen a junk hauler leaving the campground on Friday evening...was someone moving out?  Moving in?  Getting ready to sell?  To rent?  

Windy Boy slipped, falling on his right side at a hand gallop, scrambling to his feet and recovering his stride, Grace still in the saddle although she wasn't really sure how.  It happened so fast.

WIndy Boy was fine.  Grace reined him in, slowing the pace.

There they were.  The new mare, and Lumpy and her filly Socks.  

Lumpy looked particularly fit.

And then, a moment later, the Tyrant King appeared.  Storm, in all of his endless, demanding fury.  The girls watched, ready to retreat if it appeared he was going to charge them. For a tense moment it looked as if he might.  But his harem...what was left of it...had gone in the opposite direction. As if he knew they might just keep running to get away from him, he decided to follow his mares.

As quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, leaving only the ripples of the wind on the water.

Above the creek, west of the ranch property, the light glowed golden.  It was too windy for a hat, and far too windy to lay his horse trap.  Dude surveyed the landscape in the day's last light.  He saw its beauty.  It's magic.  It's harsh and impartial reality.  It's hard, unforgiving surface.  This place.  It could build your soul, or take it from you.

Dude embraced the moment, evening light falling on Hespero Yucca Whipplei.  In the shadows of dusk, a western bluebird perched on another yucca.  In the advancing shadows, nestled in the rocks, Dudleya (chalk live forever) began to emerge.

Night unfolded as the girls put up their saddles in the tack room.

"Oh come on"  Skye grumbled.  The saddle pad slipped every time Skye tried to square up the saddle on the stand.

Then she turned her attention to the floor.  "I guess we shouldn't put this off any longer.  What a mess."

"Well, at least there's no mouse poop to clean up"  Grace replied.  

"Grace, what's that green stuff on your arm?  And your pants?"

Grace laughed.  "I hadn't even noticed.  It's algae."

"Dang!  You scraped up algae!"

"I don't even think I touched the creek bed.  I was watching that trailer go by and then bam!  We're down, we're up, we're wet, we're still running!  But my clothes are still damp, and I want to get dry."

"I bet!"

"Let's get this done first though."

For as messy as it was, it only took a few minutes to consolidate the sponges, brushes, ointments, wipes and whatnot, hang the halters and leads and push a few odds and ends into corners.  

"Good?"  Skye asked.

"Way good. Let's call it day.  A good day.  We got to ride, we saw wild horses, I got an algae bath and no bruises...it's been a good day."
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