Small Town Filly (Sandbar Stables Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Free Page B

of the horses, but she knew it would be a while before she remembered them all.
                  There were two pretty chestnut mares, the color of new pennies. "Lady and Ginger," Lance said. "There's always a horse named Lady. And you've got Snowflake, the leopard Appaloosa."
    Snowflake was white and entirely covered with small black spots. "A leopard App," she marveled. "I've read about them, but never seen one before." She ran her hand over his soft coat, and realized that she could actually feel the velvety black spots in the longer white hair.
                  The next three were Pearl, a tall cream-colored mare, along with the bay geldings, Seaweed and Sky. And in the final group were Swifty, a tall bay who had once been a racehorse, and a pair of chestnut geldings almost as big as draft horses. Their names were Tank and Truck. "They're not too pretty, but they're the ones you need for the extra-large guests," Lance said, and Alex laughed.
                  With all of the barn horses trotting, playing and rolling in the sand out in the arena, Alex followed Lance as he walked out of the barn towards the fence line at the far end of the property.
    "There's your next-door neighbor," said Lance.
    "Looks pretty nice," she said, gazing over the fence. She saw a full-service boat dock with a large sign at the front proclaiming it to be the Wood Marina. There were two docks with boats of all sorts, some large enough for charters and others that were just privately owned fishing and pleasure boats. There were even a few sailboats.
                  "This makes for a nice area, doesn't it?" she said to Lance. "They've got the boats and we've got the horses. Charter fishing and beach rides, right next door to each other!"
                  "Well, sure, I guess so," he answered. "But I keep hearing that the guy over there wants to buy this place for himself."
                  "Really? You mean, he wants both the fishing and the riding operations for himself?"
                  "No," said Lance, and she could hear him trying to keep his patience. "He wants to expand his marina. Tear down his own house and move into the one over here with his wife. Then tear down the barn and use the rest of the land for parking. That would leave more of his beach access open and he could put in another dock."
                  "Oh." Alex glanced over at the marina again. Its docks had boats tied up at every slip, and she could see that if the house wasn't there, a third dock could be put in. "Yeah, I guess that would be nice for him." Even though she'd just arrived, she didn't want to think about this beautiful barn being torn down.
                  They walked around the outside of the barn and over to the paddock with the three-sided, concrete-block shed. It sat on the far side of the property, between the beach and the barn.
    "Wow! These four run from extra large to extra small, don't they?" Alex said with a laugh, looking at the horses in the paddock.
                  "I guess they do," said Lance. "The big black mare is Jet. She's probably a Shire, at least mostly, because they're the largest horse breed there is. With her size, she's really more comfortable out here than in a stall in the barn, so that's where I let her stay."
                  "She is just gorgeous," Alex marveled, looking up at the very tall but very beautiful mare. "And she seems very sweet with her little friends."
                  "Oh, sure. The two larger ponies are Thunder and Lightning. I think they'll be good for the older kids. And the little guy, the gray Shetland, is Starfish."
                  "They're all gorgeous," Alex said. "The kids are going to love those black-and-white pintos. I can't believe they're all mine!"
                  "You will when you get the feed bill," Lance said. Then she followed him on a walk