Chapter Four and Some More Horses

Howdy, everybody! 

I am excited to say voting starts December 30th and I announced the winner of the contests January 2 or 3! 

We have great pictures!! I have 4 contestants for the Real Horse Contest, and 7 contestants for the Model Horse Contest. Yay! 

I am still open for more photos, because the deadline is December 30th for entering your picture. 

Thank you the eleven who have entered!! 

There are five prizes the winner can choose from; I will post pictures of the prizes on December 30. 

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Chapter Four of A Christmas Blizzard 

Kate groaned numbly and sat up, her eyes flying open. Her world spun and she slumped back down into a slouch. She moaned again.

Kate again tried to sit up. There was no rushing in her ears this time, so she stood. Her belly turned over and she gagged, staggering against the willow tree trunk for support.

Prince lifted his head from the stream, sparkling water droplets dripping from his whiskery, teacup muzzle. He whinnied softly and trotted over, nuzzling his owner. Kate narrowed her eyes and then threw her arms around his neck. “Wha - what happened?”she stammered.

Prince’s eyelids drooped and his ears relaxed. At the sudden crack of a branch snapping and the flutter of birds taking flight, he jarred his head up, nostrils wide.

Everything came back in a flash. Kate glared at him. “This is your fault, you know.” She watched as her colt shifted nervously. “What’s gotten into you? Did the blizzard sweep your common sense away?” She pointed at the red cardinal perched on the overhanging barren branch. “That sound was him, Prince.”

The bay colt shook his head, reins flapping.

Kate turned in a slow circle, taking in her surroundings. How long she had been knocked silent, she did not know. What she did know was that she had no idea where they were. Wind whistled through the treetops and the river tinkled over the rocks. The few birds singing soon muted themselves as another howl gushed from the east. Dark clouds billowed up, and another scream of the wind shook the willow tree. It moaned.

Kate moaned back as a blast of cold, wintery air hit her cheeks. Another slammed into her on the other side. She was thrown back and forth, loose curls flying around her face, scarf tangling. “Prince!” she shouted. “Help!” The way the storm had suddenly hit was so fast and Kate now was bewildered.

Does this mean another storm? Kate wondered. And I’m in it? She had seen no shelter and the snow was numbing her feet. She soon felt the horsey breath of Prince on her neck. Nearly blinded by the now wild snowflakes driving needles into her cheeks and eyes, Kate spun around and mounted  her horse. How sudden the sky had darkened! The storm had come back so quickly; the calm before the storm!

Prince pressed into the wind at Kate’s command. She pointed him the direction they had came, slowly. Kate hoped that her colt wouldn’t freak out this time because of the wind. If she was wrenched loose of her colt in this kind of weather, she’d die for sure.

“Prince, you’re my only hope!” Kate shouted over the rising groan of the wind. “I can’t see in this mess.”

Prince seemed to understand and bent his neck against the beating waves of energy. He plowed on. Kate saw branches and other debris fly past them. She saw forests past and soon she heard the river again. She could see a little, but it was mostly silhouettes.

Then she saw the dark mass of pine trees. Was that a forest? She kicked Prince, who started to trot, wobbly because of the wind and spooking because of the debris. Eventually they got to the forest, Kate now realizing that they had broken out of it when Prince had his headlong plunge into this mess.

Now they were going back into it. Was Prince finding his way home?

As they stepped into the shelter of trees, the wind stopped a little, the snowflakes weren’t as bad. It was darker, though, with all the dark clouds covering the sun, plus the trees.

Then Kate started to shiver. This is bad, she thought. First I get so cold, and then . . . Dread filled her. Hypothermia! Her racking shakes and clattering teeth befuddled her senses. She tried to pull her clothing closer around her, but the howling wind seemed to be able to whip right through them.

Kate shook harder - this time not just because of cold, but also because of fear and anger at herself. Why had she been so stupid and ran off like she did? She imagined her mother and father, sick with worry as the wind howled outside their warm, cheery library with the fire and . . .

“Stop it!” Mentally scolding herself, Kate drew Prince deeper into the woods. Now the wind was even worse, so were the blinding snowflakes. The trees around her creaked and swayed violently.

A crack louder than Kate had ever heard wrenched the scream from deep inside. Prince raced forward as a skinny pine tree fell right behind them. Kate held on for dear life as Prince ran forwards and sideways as the wind drove him closer and closer to a rocky outcropping at the edge of the forest. At least now Kate knew where they were; and she could get them back home, if only Prince would quit spooking!

The horse nimbly dodged the sharp rocks, but now Kate had a bigger problem. A few, in fact: she was uncontrollably cold; she was riding a skittish, blinded colt; and the wind was driving her and her precious horse straight for the rocky drop-off that led down to Wallowa Lake.

“You gotta stop!” Kate shouted at her horse, pulling on the reins. “There’s nothing chasing us! Please.” Now she was crying. “Please, please, Prince, you’ve got to stop! There’s a cliff!”

Prince’s stride slowed.

“Good boy, stop, please stop,” Kate sobbed. Her face was flaming and raw, and she felt so achy and dangerously cold. Misery filled her. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to lay down . . .

You’ve got to get yourself under control! Kate commanded herself, realizing she was nearing the last stages of hypothermia. Her gloves and coat held no warmth; the buttons done loose hours ago. And Prince was still racing towards their doom.

“Whoa, Prince, please!” The sobs racked her body nearly as hard as the wind. Her ears were throbbing with the constant drone of the wind, and her eyes were now fully blinded by snowflakes.

“So help me, Prince!” Kate screamed, now furious. She started to become rough with him.

Suddenly she stopped kicking and shouting and slapping her colt. Her heart sank. Prince, an animal, couldn’t understand her. He was just doing what his senses told him; he wanted to be out of the storm as bad as she did.

Kate couldn’t really stop Prince in this situation; and he wouldn’t listen. If she didn’t stop him, they’d both die. But, was it really Kate’s job to handle this situation all by herself? Was it really her job to try to stop Prince when everything was so bad already? Was it right to hurt her colt when he was just trying to escape the storm as well?

No, Kate wasn’t by herself and it wasn’t her job to handle it by herself. And it wasn’t right to hurt Prince.

“God,” the girl’s chapped lips formed, “I need Your help. This is dangerous; we’re stuck in a blizzard, headed for a cliff.”

Prince suddenly stopped moving, but Kate kept praying.

“I just realized I haven’t thought of You barely any of this time, and it is Your Son’s birthday! I’ve needed You all this time, and now I need You the most, on Christmas Eve. Please, Lord, help us. Keep us safe. Turn Prince away from the cliff, stop his plunge, and give me strength. Don’t let us die.”

Prince started to walk, after turning, away from the cliff.

“Thank You, oh, thank You, God,” Kate breathed. She was so tired, so weak. Her legs were killing her from gripping the saddle, her face flamed, and her body was battered and sore. And she couldn’t describe how cold she was.

God had stopped Prince and had turned him away from the cliff. But they were still out in the wild, in the middle of the storm, and again Kate was lost.

She needed help - and fast.

Push HERE to read Chapter Five

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The Horse of the Day is the Quarter Horse!!

Probably the most popular breed in America, the Quarter Horse is said to "turn on a dime and toss you back nine cents change," and that means while galloping breakneck. They are very beautiful horses and have excellent cow sense. It is a natural show jumper, oddly, and is used for racing and dressage as well. On ranches, the Quarter Horse is definitely the main cow horse of the area.

Quarter Horses can come in most any color, more uncommon are broken colors. Some people say QH can't be pinto, others say they can. Quarter Horses are usually 15 to 15.3 hands high, but they can be smaller than fifteen hands.

Quarter Horses are typically the fastest horses, faster than Thoroughbreds, but only over short distances. QH can outrun Thoroughbreds in quarter mile races and such easily.

The Horse Color of the Day is Pinto!

Pinto is a gorgeous, splotchy, spotted color of big white and another color markings. I once heard that whichever color is over the withers on a pinto horse that is the base color.

Not sure if that's true or not. Anybody know?

You see, Paints can always be pinto, but pintos can't always be Paints. "Pinto" is kind of more of a color term. Pinto can be piebald (black and white), skewbald (any other color and white), or any pattern: tobiano, tovero, overo, or splashed white. "Paint" is more of a breed. American Paint Horses are always pinto, but "pintos" can be a Quarter Horse or some other breed that can be "pinto."

Pinto comes in various shades and patterns. Tobiano is the most well known. For Horse Crazy Girl's Only does a very good job describing the pinto patterns.

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Hope y'all enjoyed this post!! See y'all tomorrow!!

~IZZY WEST