The Dude...revealed

Visually, we begin June with two images recapping April and May, because these were months full of new experiences, including the arrival of Dude and Trooper.

June 8, 2025
Skye tried to capture the swallowtail butterfly, but it was moving so erratic, and fast. Best she could do before it fluttered off was a sharp semi-open shot from behind.  Butterfly gone, Skye headed on foot to Mustang Rock.

Grace would be along soon. It was warm, too warm for riding, but they had a hunch there were horses hanging out around Mustang Rock. Skye found camera fodder wherever she looked. Grace will love seeing all these lichens, she thought to herself. And then the crunch, crunch, crunch of boots in gravel.

But it wasn't Grace. Skye dropped the camera. Then tried to recover her composure.

"Dude! I thought you were Grace."

Dude laughed. "I am definitely not Grace. How are you Skye? May I call you Skye?"

"Well I think you better!"

"Is your camera okay?"

"I think so..."  Skye sat down with the camera, rotating the lens, examining the body.

"Grace will be along in a minute" Skye said, fiddling with the camera. "Come into the shade."

Dude stood at the edge of the shade. Skye glanced up at him.
"I'm fine right here, thank you" he said. "Your sister...I suspect she would enjoy watching me eat live scorpions."

Skye stayed cool. "Or maybe a rattlesnake..."

Crunch, crunch, crunch. This time it was in fact Grace. Dude leaned into the rock wall, giving her plenty of room to pass. Grace looked at Dude, looked at Skye, released a deep exhale.

"I'm tired of this brace" Grace said.  Then she pointed with her nose toward a fallen tree in the shade of the ravine. "Let's sit."

They sat. There was some silence.
"I suppose you have a lot of questions for me" Dude said.

Skye took a deep breath, then said nothing. Grace paused. "No" she said thoughtfully. "Not a lot. Just two really. Who are you...and what are you doing here?"

Skye grabbed the camera in the nick of time to catch a spying lizard before it made a hasty escape.

"My name is Devante James Caldwell. And I am conducting an independent habitat survey."

You could have heard a bug fart.

After what seemed like an eternity, Skye spoke. "Any relationship to Francis Loop Caldwell?"

"Yes."

More silence.

"Does the boss know?" Grace asked. Dude thought for a moment.

"No."

"Okay" Grace said, taking a deep breath. "Now we have a lot of questions. But this is a conversation that the boss needs to be a part of. "

Dude was again thoughtful. Then he nodded. "Agreed."

The girls headed back to the ranch without looking for wild horses. Dude stayed behind. Lizards seemed to be watching Grace and Skye wherever they went. They made their way back more or less in silence, Skye focusing the camera on anything that bloomed, anything that moved.

On the back side of Mustang Rock, Thistle had found the new stallion which Anahit named Smoke Signals, or perhaps he had found her, although it seemed unlikely he would have fought for her. With the local water dried up and forage scarce, they would be forced to keep moving.

Returning home felt especially good. "Man I'm tired" Grace said. "It seems like just one thing after another lately." Grace struggled with her sling. 

"Here, let me help you"  Skye said.  Together they freed Grace's left arm from its brace.

June 15
Grace rode the big mule jack, Tex, and Skye was on her gelding Mista Spot. It was silent. Even the birds seemed to be sleeping in. Gorgeous blue sky and not yet hot. But the sun. The sun was intense. Skye wished she would have worn her hat.

Katana appeared.

"Shoot" Grace whispered. Skye needed no explanation. Katana was Highlander's mare, and Highlander was all business when it came to his harem. Not the wild stallion you wanted to encounter while riding a gelding and a jack.

Katana vanished back into the brush. No sign of other horses. The munitions bunker lay directly ahead of Grace and Skye. They moved slowly and cautiously closer.

Forms emerged from the darkness. The Dun Mare burst out into the sunlight, foal at her side.

The girls strained to get a look before the mare blocked their view with her body and whisked the little one away. It was over in a moment. The sound of silence returned.

Grace stopped under the shade of a tree as they headed back to the ranch. Skye watched her, quietly. Tex was fine. Mista Spot was fine. Skye was fine. Grace...not so much. They were close to home, riding bareback and bitless. As long as Grace didn't fall off of her ride, they'd make it.

It was still blissfully cool in their room. Grace and Skye stared at each other.

"I think I'm just tired" Grace said. "I might lay low until it cools off again."

Skye nodded. All things considered, not a bad idea.  Skye settled in to the idea of a quiet afternoon.  On the patio and in the dog run, life began to stir in earnest, with young squirrels, fledgling birds and the emergence of every imaginable flying insect.

June 21
Dude had his horse Trooper on a long line, in the arena, working him in circles at the trot.

The boss watched quietly. Trooper didn't seem the type to need much schooling, and he'd already seen a day's ride. Maybe it was something else.

"Is your pony okay?" she finally asked.

"I thought I felt him step a little short a few times" Dude replied. "On his right front. But I'm not seeing it now."

"Try going the other way, to the right, and gradually shorten the circle" the boss suggested.

On the second circle they saw it. Slight. But some kind of discomfort. Not every stride.

"The girls tell me you are related to Francis Loop Caldwell."

"Yes ma'am. I am her grand son."

The boss struggled to flesh out what was most important. There were a lot of questions. Dude wasn't much of a talker.

"Is your grandmother still with is?"
She watched his body language. He took a deep breath before answering. She listened to his tone. It took on some weight.

"Yes she is." The boss waited for more words. There weren't any. So she continued to make conversation."

"I found a story about Francis. And her father. So much of her story is really about her father. It talked about her starting a wild horse sanctuary, and it talked about her mother breeding Great Danes. The Danes are how I found her name. They are chipped. I found them on the highway, along with three pups. We found homes for the pups. I tried and tried to call the number the big dogs were chipped with, but no one ever answered."

Dude was silent for a moment. Where to begin.

"Francis has two wishes. To see her sanctuary continue on in perpetuity, and to stay at home to the end of her days. She didn't have what she needed to make those things happen. So when things started getting hard for her, she kept quiet. Couple years back she had a fall, broke her hip. That's when her world started coming unraveled."

The boss stayed quiet.

"Francis was crushed when she learned about the dogs. She was told they went to a foster home."

"No. They were dumped on the highway. You may want to take issue with whoever did that."

Grace and Skye brought Topaz and her filly down the the arena. Grace found it easier to listen to the conversation with her face turned the other way.

"Is Francis home now?"

"No. But she sure wants to go back home. Her mind is sharp. Not as sharp as it was, but she's present. She knows who she is. She knows who she was."

"Is she going to get to go home?"

"Her kids don't want her to. They're afraid she'll get hurt again. And she'd need support. Help with meals, help with everything."

"And better help than what she's had" the boss interjected.

"Apparently so. She would love to see her dogs again."

"You should make that happen." The boss's tone was stronger than a mere suggestion.

"Yes ma'am. I would very much like to do that."

"What about the sanctuary?"

"It's complicated" Dude responded. "The land she owns is in a trust. Then there's leased land from the Forest Service that adjoins her land. Her goal was for the sanctuary to live on, but we think she was pretty much the one doing all the work and making all the decisions. We suspect she didn't have real strong staff. And you can't do this alone. So when the going got hard, it appears her staff didn't come forward into leadership roles."

"Does she have any support from her family?"

"Well that depends on what you call support. She has two sons. They have different ideas about how the sanctuary could continue to exist. So that part of her wish could probably happen, not the way she envisioned it, but the sanctuary could carry on."

"Is she going to get to come home?"

"That's going to be a little more difficult."

By the time Grace and Skye returned to the arena with La Barilla, the conversation between Dude and the boss had concluded.  La Barilla was lively, but compliant. Dude noticed the reins.

"Is that a double mecate?"

"Yup" Grace answered. "Skye's design. Before I got on him I wanted to do ground driving with him. And I wanted to see if that was possible using the bosal. Which it is."

"He's never been bitted" Skye added.

"I'm impressed" Dude said after watching Grace and La Barilla for a spell. "I think Gramma Francis would be proud to know you."

Grace wasn't sure how to respond. But she could talk about her horse. "He's got a strong preference for bending to the left. And he doesn't tie well. Other than that...he's pretty amazing. Great head on his shoulders. Very willing to learn."

Evening shadows consumed the land. The twinkling lights on the Redbird Ranch signed flicked on just as darkness told hold. The longest day of the year drew to a close.

Home again, the girls sat next to each other on race's bed.  The boss sent Grace an email. She read it aloud to Skye.

"I know your world is a little upside down right now. Try not to let it consume you. While you were gone I had a good talk with Dude. Maybe it's not my place, but I don't really care. He's going to take the Danes to see Francis. Just Tosh and Contessa. Then he'll bring them back here. And then we're going to have some more conversation. In the meantime, you two get on with your lives. Face the sun and feel the wind. Name the wild horses and count the new foals. Live every moment. "

June 22
The dogs made a cacophony of sound at dawn. Skye followed their gaze out to the base of Yucca Peak. Got the camera, took a dozen pictures. Life had a way of carrying on, and here was the proof. A small herd of deer, making this land their home, against the odds. Maybe the boss was right. They'd just get on with it. Live every moment.

June 23
The girls hugged the rock face, staying in the shade, moving as quietly as they could.  They decided to embrace the boss's advice, and get on with life. The air was cool but the sun had a piercing warmth. There would be a few more minutes of shade before they would indeed face the sun.  Highlander's band was just below them.

"So this is foal number two" Skye whispered, and I think we should calll him or her...Piper."

Grace nodded. "I like that."

Katana, whom the boss had named, was a good nanny mare, watching the foal's every move.

The small band headed up into the rocks, Highlander casting a warning glance toward the girls, dancing on his substantial hooves, a proud father again.

This foal seemed robust, if a bit small. It had, after all, been a dry winter and a sparse spring.

June 29
A steady stream of search and rescue vehicles and two Blackhawk helicopters filled the morning with mechanical sounds. They pushed to find a lost hiker, missing for seven days from a trail not very far away. Her disappearance was sudden. She wasn't hiking alone. One moment she was with a group of friends, and the next, she had vanished.

Grace and Skye watched the helicopters rotate from Chilao Station.

"Three points...isn't that near where a mountain lion took a couple of dogs a few years back?"

"It is" Grace answered. "But we've seen mountain lions here too. They have big territories. The boss says one came to the house looking for her dogs just a few weeks after the ones up the road got eaten."

"We saw that one in broad daylight, the one Petrichor went after. Remember that? It was...right over there somewhere! That was one of the first close encounters we had with Petrichor."

"I remember it well"  Grace responded.

It was a beautiful day to ride, but the girls felt heavy-hearted.  whenever this kind of tragedy struck, the beauty of the land always felt a bit...impartial.  Life went on, no matter what drama was unfolding...or had unfolded.

Eventually the girls made their way back to the ranch.  Dude was riding Winchester Cathedral in the outdoor arena.  Grace and Skye weren't sure what they were witnessing, or if they were welcome. Anoush motioned them to stay without a moment's pause in her dialogue.

"So Francis is of clear mind, and she is certain there is no medical or durable power of attorney in place giving her sons the authority to make decisions for her?"

"Correct" Dude answered. "She was very resolute after being reunited with Tosh and Contessa. She wants to come home. The problem is that she knows she will need assistance, and that needs to be arranged before she can come home. That's where she isn't getting any support. Her sons are in Nebraska and Idaho. They prefer that Francis stays in an assisted living facility, and to that end they aren't going to help her find what she needs to go back home."

"Well, there is no legal impediment then. Francis can return home as soon as you secure the assistance she's going to need."

Dude didn't respond.

"That is to say that while I appreciate your efforts with regard to her horses, which are obviously most precious to her, the greater issue is that your grandmother is basically being kept in a controlled environment against her will, and this is the over-arching issue that needs to be addressed. The horses are free at the moment. Your grandmother is not."

"I have no idea how to find the resources she needs."

"It won't be that difficult" Anoush responded without hesitating. "She lives in horse country, and though it's changing fast, there are still horse people and ranchers, and there are still families who make their living as ranch hands. You'll have to make relations with the locals. You won't be contacting agencies. You'll be dealing with individuals. Families. It may take a little bit, but you can do it. You need to quit riding around chasing ghost horses and make your grandma's home ready for her return. And for right now, put up your horse, and meet us in the big arena."

An afternoon wind picked up, keeping the intense heat at bay, but Anoush and the boss decided to move to the indoor arena just the same. There they welcomed the arrival of a flashy Appaloosa sport horse filly, three years old with the look of eagles.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" Anoush said with adoration. "Her name is Cruella Can't Catch Me. Cece for short. She was sold as green-broke, but she's barely that."

Grace walked all around her. She was pure athlete, all legs and lungs, and stunning.

Lousin and Anahit watched from the west end of the arena, sipping sodas and eating gingerbread cookies.

"I think mom's in love" Lousin said softly.

"She's super pretty" Anahit acknowledged.

"Think she'll figure out how to keep her?" Lousin wondered.

Anahit smiled. "She might..."

Cece was given temporary accommodations. There was one more item of business for the afternoon.

"If we could clear the arena, please" the boss said, then disappeared out into the brightness of daylight.

The final item of business took to the arena. He was tall. He was baroque. He was black.  There was silence.  A Murgese stallion.  A breed entirely unknown to any of the girls...or Dude...until he stepped into the arena.

At last Skye spoke. "Will his majesty be the latest addition to the rare stallions collection?"

The boss hesitated. "Perhaps."

                                                                                                 #
​