The airport again. Ivy wanted to lean against the side of the truck, but the thing was covered in a thick layer of road grime. Kivi would probably tsk at her. She tended to keep her rig in show condition, but then again hers was prettier. Ivy’s transportation was slightly battered and a tiny bit mismatched. It was deliberate, though.
Kivi stepped off the flight in slightly rumpled grey linen pants and a cherry red silk blouse. Long blonde hair was loose around her face and fell to mid back. Usually she had it up in a pony tail and she was mildly surprised at how long it actually was when she pulled it out of the hot rollers. She was pretty sure she had a flat spot in the back of her head but then so did everyone coming off the plane. Because she was ever conscious of her wardrobe when she went out east.
She sighed deeply as she waited for the garment bag and duffle. She might have a nice wardrobe but she’d be damned if she needed nice luggage. After grabbing her bags she stepped out the wide sliding doors to look for Ivy. Her blessed truck was not hard to spot. It needed a bath in a way that no horse she owned ever would. She mused a moment at how opposite they were, and yet totally the same.
“Ivy!” Kivi called with duffle on her shoulder and garment bag over the other. Her voice came out a little squeal, as it always did. And then she was jogging towards her. “Get me the hell outta this crowd!”
“Hell, yeah!” Ivy gave Kivi an awkward hug after jogging to her, trying to change direction to bring the woman back to the truck.She even opened the door for her before going around to the other side. If that grey linen touched the grimy car, it’d be all over for those pants. Then she ran around, hopped in, and did the slowest peel out ever. They both hated crowds.
Kivi eyed the seat before hopping in, as if expecting the dirt rag was on the seat and she was glad she didn’t plop her ass on it.
“Really Ivy,” Kivi snorted, “This truck needs a bath and a trash bag.” she was teasing like she always did. “It’s really good to be away from the ranch for a minute. Michael and Evie were planning movie marathons and an overnight up into the hills. She’s needed a man around for a while. I’m surprised how much he’s stepped up.”
“I’m so glad that he’s being good. He took the spiny words I threw at him really well.” She tilted her head. “He seemed… humbled when I saw him. He took too much for granted when we were younger.”
It was nearly two hours to home, and they managed to chatter through the whole trip, even without the bottle(s) of wine. Ivy took the corner a bit hard at the driveway, happy to not be pulling a trailer. The driveway wound through the woods, not paved but well-cared for. The trees were draped in new green, the forsythia wasn’t done yet, and the redbuds were in full bloom. It was really colorful.
They passed a little, rather shabby, tiny house on wheels. It was clad in cedar, and blended in with the surrounding forest.
“Gorgeous. The east coast is so green. Wait, what in the world is that?” She was looking at the tiny house.
Ivy grinned. “That’s my house. I don’t really need that much space, ’cause I spend all my time at the barn anyway.” She shrugged. “No husband, no kids, no house necessary.”
“And where do your besties sleep?” Kivi wondered what the situation was “I don’t do floors anymore!”
“Well, I do have a queen size bed in that thing, and a spare apartment over the barn, so my bestie sleeps wherever she likes. I’ll show you the apartment. I’ll probably end up sleeping up there if you do. Drunken wanderings through the woods after dark would probably end up with me eaten by a panther. There’s a lot of wildlife here.”
“The apartment it is.” Kivi chuckled “Closer to the chores at any rate. I’m actually really excited to see the new horses. Warmbloods are huge and seem even more so after my stocky kids.”
“Yup, my horses definitely look a LOT different than yours. Not so huge, though. I dislike the 17.2 monsters that seem so popular these days.” Ivy turned toward her window to smile a secret smile.
The arena was large, but blended into the surroundings well, so it didn’t seem to loom. A long wing with Dutch doors attached on one side, clearly stables, and a large box attached on the other side. No metal, just wood and stone. Clearly an architect had been involved.
As they entered, the smell of horses and hay rolled over them. “My office is over there, and bathrooms, and we have a viewing room farther on. They had come in the “official” entrance, and it seemed like a cross between a barn and a nice hotel lobby. The stairs ran along one side, but they weren’t too steep.
“We’re right up here,” Ivy said, opening a door to a furnished apartment. Bland, but functional. “When I get a barn manager, they’ll be up here. But right now I slog through it all myself, so nobody’s here.” She pulled the first bottle of wine out of the fridge. “Nobody here but us chickens,” she quipped, chuckling.
“This chicken needs a glass of wine. Please don’t make me cluck for it” Kivi said, jet lag settling in. “What time do the horses come in?”
“Tomorrow around ten. We can lounge around until then.”
******
It was almost ten, and a few people that Kivi didn’t know were milling around restlessly, lead ropes in hand. “Let me introduce you to my staff. People, this is Kivi. She’s been my best friend since forever.” She brought forward a young man with dark hair, fair skin, and clear blue eyes. “This is Micah. He’s been riding my horses out of Chicago and doing a fine job.” He started to say something to Kivi, but Ivy caught his eye, and he settled on, “Pleased to meetcha, ma’am,” with a friendly smile.
“This is Rina and her husband Joe.” Rina was pretty and curvaceous with a big white smile. Her husband was short and thin, with a matching white smile and a short, well-shaped Afro. They fit together like a set of salt-and-pepper shakers. “They can turn a hand to almost anything.”
“Except riding,” Rina said.
“Don’t be too sure about that,” Ivy teased. “I might get you both on a horse yet!”
The five of them were spreading extra bags of bedding when they heard the truck. They hurriedly gathered up armloads of bedding bags and threw them into an unbedded stall. An ecstatic Ivy ran out to greet the new arrivals.
The crew were ready to unload almost before the truck stopped. A muffled kick sounded from inside. Joe smiled. “Somebody wants out.”
One of the truckers emerged, leading the first horse down the ramp. A head appeared – long face, convex nose, thin and elegant neck. It wasn’t the warmblood horse Kivi expected. It was an Akhal Teke. She shone in the sun, the red of a new-minted penny. Ivy sighed and said, “This is RUH shen (Röwşen) and her name means Radiant. She’s five and just starting her eventing career.” Ivy shook her head in disbelief. “She jumps like she’s on springs.”
Kivi realized they were Tekes and just stared with tears welling in her eyes. She never in a million years thought she’d see one up close. Since she first heard of them, they’d been a guilty pleasure. She’d get lost on YouTube watching them. Very few people knew how much she loved them.
After a minute it registered that Ivy, who had always scoffed at Kivi’s metallic loves, was unloading them
“Well that’s a surprise, ” she mumbled, still totally focused on Röwşen.
“Yeah, it was a surprise to me, too. I was asked to attend the Turkmenistan Racing Horse Festival, and I figured why not? I sure wasn’t planning on this.”
The second disembarked, a fine-boned palomino with a blaze and high white socks. “This girl is GOO nesh (Güneş) and her name means Sunlight in Turkmen. She’s a young showjumper. I’m getting pretty good at bringing those along. And she seems really sweet.” Ivy looked a little bemused, like she still wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at.
The next horse moving from the truck to the barn was a slightly sun-faded black who looked around with curiosity. She had a star and the longest legs Kivi had ever seen on an adult horse, “MOOT loo’s (Mutlu) name means joyful. So far she’s lived up to it.” Rina stepped up to take the mare into the barn, and the horse followed gladly.
I’ve spread the word that I’m looking for two more people for Clearview. I guess Tekes do lots of things well, so I’m planning to have three jumpers, three eventers, and three dressage horses. I’ve found a few dressage Tekes in Russia, but I’ll need help with them. And at least one other rider for the eventers.” She laughs, “The urge to do it all is strong, but I’m not that young and stupid anymore!”
A buckskin with a pale taupe metallic coat rushed down the ramp, almost leaving his handler behind. But he stopped as soon as he reached the ground to look around and survey the barn and arena like he owned the place. Joe took him, and the youngster grabbed his hat off his head and began to flap it around. Joe tried to get his hat back for a moment, then just gave up and led him into the barn. The high squeal of a stallion came from a far paddock, but the buckskin was too busy trying to eat Joe’s hair to respond.
“That’s Guh ZEH lick (Gözellik) meaning Beauty, but his name probably should be Joker. And yeah, he’s a stallion. I know I said no balls in my barn, but they’re an endangered breed.” Ivy looked at Kivi with the eyes of a newly-born fanatic. “I’m going to breed them.”
Both of Kivi’s brows shot up at Ivy’s statement.
“No, really, hear me out.” Ivy’s words reminded Kivi of Noodle’s pitch from last month. “There are less than 7,000 of them world-wide. There are a lot of careful breeders out there trying to bring them back. I want to be one of them. I’ve already gotten some advice from some experts in Turkmenistan and Russia. I’m going to do this right.”
The last horse coming off the truck couldn’t have been the kicker, because she was walking quietly with her head down. She was a stunning perlino with blue eyes, and she hardly looked real. “This is AH guh(l) (Aýgül), and she was the first horse I saw at the stud farm. When I saw her I lost my mind. I’ve already sold all of the warmbloods. How could they compete for my attention?”She shook her head. “Everything is different now.”
She eyed the mare critically. “I hope she’s okay. She looks exhausted.”
And there is another. The trailer-kicker makes an appearance, swishing his long black flag of a tail. He cavorts and snorts until he notices the surrounding barn and new green grass and realizes that he has finally arrived somewhere. All the other horses had worn woven wool bands around their necks or throats, but this one was different. His was made of copper and brass studs on black leather, set with carnelians and turquoise. His matching halter was of unusual design, and sported the same decorations. But the bling still couldn’t compete with the horse. The black points ran into sooty patterns over the golden buckskin of his coat, fading to dapples on his barrel. Walking toward Kivi and Ivy, the darker color seemed to shift over him, like clouds across a sunny field. Instead of handing him off to one of her staff, Ivy took the lead, and led the horse to face Kivi.
“My second night in Turkmenistan, I rode this horse across the desert, chased by a full orange moon. It was… magic. Like riding a shadow across the sand.” She grinned at Kivi. “His name is MEH ke may (Mäkäm). It means tough. And he is that. I felt like I could have ridden all night without him faltering. He was bred for endurance, and the only reason they sold him to me was because he had an accident and had to be gelded.” She extended the lead rope to her best friend. “And he’s yours.”
Kivi stared at the rope, and tears welled in her eyes so profusely she had to blink them away so she could actually see the horse in front of her. He was magnificent and Kivi found herself completely without words. She quietly took the lead and walked up to the horse.
“Hooo son” she croned softly, so soft that the gelding had to look at her to see what the sound was. “Hello stunner” She said a little bit louder and sort of chuckled “you are the most magnificent gelding i’ve ever laid eyes on.” She sniffed back the tears of joy and looked at her friend. Overwhelmed would have been a drastic understatement, and her face mirrored that semi stunned expression of joy.
“Thank you,” she said, so seriously and genuinely that Ivy was moved. Tears welled up in her eyes as well.
“You are so totally and completely welcome. If not for this trip to find you a spectacular horse, I never would have discovered this breed.” She ran a hand softly along Mäkäm’s neck. “Let’s get this guy inside and see if these odd horses will settle enough to drink some water and get some rest.”