"Oh no. That one can be yours."

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.
​                                                                                                 #
​