This is where Ralph belongs, in the tree alongside the window of Mark’s office. That’s where we first learned about Ralph and his relationship with Mark. Mark has spent this week talking through his conflicting feelings about the wild/feral horses. Some internal conflicts take time to work through, and this has provided Rivera a way to demonstrate her awareness of some of the current problems concerning the horses.

But we have yet to learn what the specific situation is with the “rampaging horses” of Salt Lake City. Are they running roughshod through the Salt Lake Tabernacle? Are they running amok through the countryside, destroying valuable farmland or range in their wake?

This sounds reminiscent of the rampaging elephant subplot of the tiger petting zoo story, except that here, the rampaging horses are the main subject, rather than a subordinate clause. Still, this has to be a transitory event that will likely be over by the time Mark makes his way to Utah.  I’m curious how Rivera will develop this story. 

In the old days before Rivera, there would be some greedy land speculator or Big Rancher behind this plot, exploiting the controversial free-roaming mustangs in order to ruin land and crops of small farmers and ranchers. They would get put in a financial bind and have to sell their land cheaply to recoup their losses.