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Katy whirled around, ready to scream. Instead of the hulking giant she had for some reason expected to see, she saw a medium sized man standing there looking at her. He had black hair trimmed in a crew cut and a large nose that looked as if it had been broken and healed crookedly. He had large, weathered hands that proved a lot of hard work. She relaxed somewhat, then, every wary, asked, 'Who are you?'

'I think that's what I should be asking you, young lady,' the man replied. 'But to oblige you, I'm Mike Trent. Now may I ask who you are and what you are doing around my horses?'

Katy grinned, letting her guard down. 'I'm Katy Evans. And as to what I was doing, I was walking around and saw your horse trailer, so I just had to see the horses. I love horses, and I ride them as much as I can. I was training a bay Arabian mare back in New York, which is where I just left. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to ride for about a week. You see, I'm moving to Idaho, and we had a lot to do, so I didn't have time to go to the barn.'' Katy became acutely aware that she was babbling, but the man in front of her didn't seem to mind. In fact, he almost seemed to be interested, much to Katy's surprise.

Mike Trent raised his eyebrows. 'Idaho, is it? That's exactly where I'm taking these horses. I've got a deadline to meet in a couple of days. Where are you moving?'

Without waiting for an answer, he continued. 'I'm taking a couple of these five horses to Spruce Ridge, another one to Boise, and the last one to Sun Valley.'

Katy's eyes lit up. 'Hey, neat. We're going to Spruce Ridge. Maybe someday I'll see one of your horses there.' She paused, kicking at the uneven pavement like a little child and clasping her hands behind her back as she stared at her feet. 'Um, will you, I mean, would you please take your horses out so I can see them?' Katy was afraid he would refuse but knew that it couldn't hurt to ask. Besides, she really wanted to see them. She was having a horse deprivation problem and figured the sight and touch of the animals would revive her.

Mike pondered this, then agreed and let down the door of the trailer. 'I was planning to take them out to walk and let them get a little fresh air and grass, anyway,' was his excuse.

First he led out a light bay mare with a stripe running down her face. The horse carried her tail proudly; she was obviously a Thoroughbred, defined by her high withers and strong shoulders. 'This lady is Jehosephat,' he introduced. 'She's from off the racetrack. She made a bad showing and made herself lame. It took quite a while to heal, and the veterinarian says that she can't be raced anymore, because it would put too much strain on her leg. She can do a good bit of mild jumping, though, and her leg evidently hasn't hurt her from it.'

Katy let out the breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding and reached forward to pat the mare. 'She's pretty.' Cocking her head sideways at an intriguing thought, Katy inquired, 'How come you know all this when all you're doing is trailering these horses?'

'Well, I'm a very sociable person, and I like to know a bit about the horses I'm shipping. That's how I know. I've heard some pretty interesting cases, too.'

Katy nodded and peered into the depths of the trailer, anticipating the arrival of the next occupant. Mike noticed her eagerness and obliged her by heading into the trailer for the next horse.

Next Mike led out a mare called Jewel. She was a skewbald pinto with a mark on her side that looked somewhat like the state of Texas. 'Why is she called Jewel if she has a mark like Texas?' Katy asked.

'Look on her other side,' Mike replied casually. 'And by the way, her full name is Texas Jewel. Fits her like a glove, huh?'

Katy walked around to the other side of Jewel and was astonished to see a perfect replica of a jewel, just like a cut diamond viewed from the side. 'What's her story?' she asked, sure that the eye-catching mare had an interesting life.

'Her mother died at birth, so she was raised on a bottle. She's a little spoiled. She's about ten right now, and the owner is sending her to her sister, who lives in Oregon. She's being trained to be a western pleasure horse, but she shows more interest in jumping everything in sight. I hope her next owner has fences about ten feet tall, because just about anything lower won't hold her!'

Katy laughed. She stroked the mare on the neck. Since she had been around horses for so long, she automatically reached into her pocket for carrots. No carrots were there, but there was a handful of sugar cubes. Katy pulled them out and held them under the mare's nose. Jewel lipped it up and began licking her hand for the last traces of the sweet crystals.

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