Pretty in Pink

November 6, 2022

Grace worked on her resin mustang stallion in the tack room, where there was plenty of room and good light.  Puddle Jumper had turned a corner.
"I've got to fix two spots on his hooves" she said as Skye examined her work.  Finally, she was starting to like him.

Across the room, a big, bright box lay waiting.  It had Christmas design on the lid, but no tags, no ribbons...just the box.

"What's this?" Skye couldn't wait for an answer.
"Can I open it?"
            
"Sure, go ahead. It's from the boss."

Thank goodness they didn't have to wait until Christmas, Skye thought. The box opened easily, to an overwhelming mass of pink.

"Oooooooohhh...somebody got a blanket set with leg wraps!"
Grace moved in for a closer look.

"Who are they for?"
"La Barilla" Grace replied. "Why hot pink, I'm not really sure, but the color combination is gorgeous."

"Wow that's pretty."

Grace pulled the blanket from the box.  It kept coming and coming out of the box, one fold of fabric after another.
"It's huge" Grace said. "It's way too big for La Barilla. But it's awful nice."

"The boss is awful good to us" Skye mused. Do you think she sort of feels like we're family? She doesn't have any kids, does she?"

Grace started to say no. She thought the boss was just...well, generously eccentric. After all, the boss owned the horses...the ranch...so the blanket was a "gift" of sorts, yes, but...that wasn't the answer Skye was looking for. Skye was always trying to pull together a sense of family. Grace thought for a moment.

"I don't know" Grace answered.
"I mean, maybe. She is pretty good to us."

November 7
Monday morning dawned gloomy and damp. A light mist found its way to the ground and the morning came slow. 
"Remember when Elecktra came to visit?" Skye said. "That was fun. You think she could come out again some time?"

Grace remembered. It was a lot of fun having Elecktra stay with them. 
"I'll see if Anne will let her come out and visit for a while."

The girls opted to use the indoor arena to see how La Barilla liked his new digs. La Barilla stood still while Grace wrapped the shipping boots on his front legs. 

"I think I should have gone the other way" Grace said, "attaching them on the outside. But I don't want to take them off and start over."  

Walking with shipping boots on was another matter. His already highly animated movements because even moreso with these foreign objects wrapped about his legs.

After a few minutes he settled down a little bit, but Grace decided two boots were enough for one morning. As for the blanket, it was, predictably, much too big for him.

Grace and Skye were so focused on La Barilla that they didn't see the boss.

"He does look sharp in those colors" she said. "Too bad the blanket doesn't fit him. He's really not very big, is he?"
"Not really" Grace said. "He's got huge presence though."

"I know who that blanket would fit" Skye said innocently.
Grace thought about it for a moment.
"The black mare?" 
"Yup!"
"Go ahead and try it on her" the boss said. 

The girls walked La Barilla back to his stall, light mist swirling on a gentle, not-too-cold breeze.

The black mare looked pretty in pink. And the blanket fit her giant frame perfectly. She followed Skye, no lead line needed.
​
"Well," said the boss, "looks like that blanket found a home."

And Skye gathered, though she didn't have the nerve to ask, that if the pretty pink blanket found a home on the black mare, that old black mare had probably found a home here.

And finally, in the afternoon, the tail end of the storm made its way up the mountain, and the gentle mist turned into a gentle rain.