The next morning, Elizabeth met Jorge at the main barn, and walked with him through the other buildings, looking at the horses. Afterwards, between the two if them, they picked their top three favorites. One—Floro—was their favorite, but had a hard head and looked as though he might be difficult. With regular riding, though, and an experienced rider, Jorge thought he might do fine. There was another—Capitan—that was striking in his looks, and had outstanding bloodlines, but hadn’t yet been matched with a mare. His offspring, therefore, were an unknown.
He was gentle, however, and might match well as both a breeding stallion and a riding horse.
Pilar walked up to them, then, and asked if they’d made a decision. “Dulce is my favorite,” she said promptly. “A bay with black hooves and a white star on his face.”
Elizabeth frowned. They hadn’t seen that one, to her knowledge. “Is he in one of the barns?” she asked. “I thought we’d seen everyone, but that one doesn’t sound familiar.”
“No, he’s in the Vargas private barn,” Pilar told them with a smile. “Martin Vargas showed him to me last night. While…” She dropped her head and blushed. “While you were dancing with Mr. Sanchez, Mama.”
Elizabeth nearly laughed, but didn’t want to discuss the other man with her daughter right now. “Would you like to show us this wonderful horse, Pilar?” she asked.
Pilar jumped up, eager to change the subject. “Yes! He is over here.” And she led them quickly to a barn on the other side of the main house.
Jorge and Elizabeth walked down the middle of the very large barn, glancing into the stalls on both sides. The hay was fresh, and the oats fragrant. The horses were all quiet and content. Pilar walked all the way down to the end of the barn, where she met Pedro, one of the grooms.
“Pedro, this is my mom, Elizabeth, and Jorge, my racing trainer and one of our senior hands at the ranch.”
Pedro lifted his hand in greeting.
“Pedro, my daughter says there is a horse here by the name of Dulce that she really likes. Can you show us to him?” Elizabeth asked hesitantly. Were these horses part of the potential prize pick? Why hadn’t Victor told them so?
“Si, Señora. He is right here.” Pedro directed them to a stall on his left, and they both stepped up to the barn door and peered over. Inside, they saw a young, newborn colt with his mother. The colt was only a couple of days old.
Elizabeth and Jorge turned to look at each other, unsure what they were supposed to be seeing. They looked back at Pilar, who was standing on a step stool, looking over the side into the stall and grinning like neither of them had ever seen. They decided to go along with Pilar … for the moment.
Jorge started. “What a good looking colt.” He then turned his attention to the mother. “Mama, you have a magnifico baby.” He touched her head lightly to scratch her, and she leaned into him, enjoying the attention.
Elizabeth watched, thoroughly confused. Had Pilar perhaps meant the father of this colt? Surely she couldn’t tell anything from a baby so young. Surely this wouldn’t be her choice.
“This is Bonita,” Pedro said. “She has given our ranch many fine, strong colts and fillies, and been matched with many of our finest stallions. She is very gentle, and even allows the children to ride her and plays with them in their games. Her babies are always among our best.”
Jorge looked at the mare, and whispered, “She is strong and healthy, Senora. I would have loved to have taken her as my personal horse, to be honest.”
Elizabeth nodded, then asked who the sire was. That was the horse she was more interested in, she thought.
“The sire is Floro, the big black stallion.”
Elizabeth didn’t bother to listen to the rest of his description. Floro was the very horse that she and Jorge had been considering and she already knew everything about him. In fact, she thought … this cold could take Floro’s line right onto Rancho Arroyo. Without the difficulty that the older stallion was going to represent.
Just then, Victor Vargas walked in behind the group. “How is the little hijo?” he asked.
Elizabeth turned immediately toward him. “Is your father really willing to let Pilar have this little baby as her prize? He is outstanding, and Pedro was telling us about the sire and dam.”
Victor pursed his lips together in reluctance. “If this is the wish of my father, then I will agree to it. We were all looking forward to this little guy growing up here, but it is my father’s decision, not mine. We can always breed these two horses again. She has proven to be a great mama, and Floro stamps his offspring with his personality and strength. Your daughter has excellent taste. We would be proud to have this colt go to another ranch and continue the bloodlines for another family.”
Elizabeth paused, however, thinking. “Well he can’t travel yet—far too young. Can we arrange to have him brought to the ranch when he’s ready?”
Victor raised a finger into the air. “Señora, that has already been solved. It appears that Augustino has volunteered to take any horse to your ranch when you are ready.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes towards her daughter. Pilar caught her mother’s look and blushed, then lowered her head and pretended to be studying the colt. Elizabeth wasn’t fooled, however, and had to stifle a laugh. She supposed it couldn’t be helped; Pilar’s large, dark eyes and abundant spirit were going to attract attention at some point. At least this young man had a secondary use.
“As a gift to you, and since he will take a while until he is ready to work or race, we would like to offer you another horse as an added bonus,” Victor said quickly. “A horse by the name of Capitan, who is ready to work and ride now, but has not been proven as a stud. He is ready to go home with you tomorrow! We saw you had an interest in him, and we feel he would fit right into your ranch and your needs.”
Jorge and Elizabeth stood with their mouths open at that, unable to believe how generous the Vargas family was. Elizabeth could hardly believe her ears—the son of one of the studs they’d wanted, and the other stud as well! Already, she was matching them up with her mares, and improving her blood lines in her mind.
“Mr. Vargas,” Elizabeth finally said, “your family is being very generous. We are very grateful, and we promise to take very good care of your gifts.” Suddenly she smiled. “You may have first choice of any colts or fillies that come from these two horses.”
“Gracias, Señora. Gracias! I wish our two ranches to be linked forever for the benefit of Mexico! May I offer you any assistance in packing and loading your wagons for the long journey home tomorrow?”
She grinned and accepted, as that would mean less work for her own people, who would be on the road for many days to arrive home.
The day was spent packing and stocking the wagons for the long trip home, and making sure that the new horse, Capitan, was ready for the long walk back. Pilar stayed with her new colt in the barn until late into the night.
After the wagons were packed and ready, the group retired to the main house for a final meal with the Vargas family and all their new friends. Elizabeth noticed that Pilar still hadn’t come in from the barn, and took a plate of food out after she’d finished eating.
“Gracias, Mama. I am very hungry. But I wanted to stay with him for as long as possible.” Elizabeth laughed at that; she wouldn’t have expected anything else from her daughter. “Does he have a new name, or do you want to keep ‘Dulce’?”
“I haven’t decided. I want it to be a great name.”
“Well, this little guy is going to be a great horse. He has a lot of great horses behind him in his bloodlines. We will make the Vargas Ranch very proud, won’t we?”
“Oh yes. Yes we will.” Pilar bent down to give the colt a big hug around his neck, and then started on the plate of food.
Elizabeth gazed at her fondly, but thought that it was also time to get down to business. At this rate, Pilar would be mooning over the baby all night, and end up falling asleep on the ride home in the morning. “Pilar, remember to have Prince ready to go in the morning. We will be leaving very early.”
“I will, Mama. As soon as I finish this food, I will go to his stall and stay with him for the night and make sure he is ready.”
“Esta bien, Chica. I will see you early in the morning. Buenas noches.”
“Buenas noches, Mama.”
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