August Story Contest

Breyer Horses - Winter
By microphone & Black Mist     age 12

      Puzzle, an Arabian gelding, was in serious trouble. He had broken into Melissa’s food room. “Poor Fudge, he needs his health mash.” Melissa said to herself. When she found out that Puzzle was the horse responsible, she immediately caught him and put him in one of the small stalls. Spirit watched all this with amusement gleaming in his gorgeous brown eyes. He was the stallion of the herd, but Puzzle never responded to Spirit’s warning or punishments. Spirit was a buckskin mustang who had been captured with a chestnut paint mare named Rain. Spirit had only one surviving foal in the herd. The others had either died or had been sold. Lightning was prancing around with the other foals. Lightning was a buckskin paint mustang. She loved to frolic with the other foals, and to race them. Caramel was called over by her mother. Twilight trotted up to Spirit. “I really miss Twister. He was so pretty, and nice to us.” “Yes, but he was old and I’m young. We couldn’t have two stallions here. Remember what happened when Rosemary tried to take over? He was vicious!” Twilight sighed. Her bluish-grey coat shimmered as she breathed. Her bright white blaze reflected the sunlight of the early morning, making Spirit squint. Twilight went back down the small hill towards her filly, Shadow. Dark Fire snorted behind Spirit, making him jump. “Ah! What? Dark Fire, I told you not to do that!” Dark Fire was smiling, trying to hold back her beautiful horse laugh. Finally she couldn’t any longer when Spirit made a funny face. “I couldn’t help it!” She whinnied. “You were so preoccupied and busy you didn’t hear me! It was so funny!” Spirit laughed too. Dark Fire was one of Spirit’s favorite mares because of two reasons; she produced good foals and she was funny.

          Starfire, a grey horse with black legs, mane and tail (I call it a grey bay) was being led to his stall that he shared with Knight Clouds (Cow), a black and white pinto show pony. Peace of Cake, her sister, was a dun show pony. Snowblaze Snowflake Blizzard, a Warmblood gelding, shared her stall. They were the special show horses. Snowflake, Snowblaze’s son, got a stall when it was cold, but mostly stayed outside. After the horses were fed, Melissa checked the water troughs. “I don’t know how many horses I have anymore, but I think it’s over 40. Hmm, well, at least I’m rich!” Flicka was wandering towards the stream. She stopped to stare at the golden fish. Her ears pricked. Suddenly one darted forward in the stream. Flicka reared and galloped away.

          “Two year olds are so fussy!” Melissa thought as she trudged back through the snow towards the nice warm stables. “Brrr,” she thought. “I’d better put Snowflake in.” Snowflake had the same idea. He was waiting at the entrance to the barn. “Twig!” Melissa called. A light brown Appaloosa mare came cantering towards the barn. “Come on you two. Snowflake, in here with your dad, Twig, in here with the other two.” Twig’s full name was Christmas Tree, but Twig was easier to say. “That good-for-nothing stable hand should have been here by now!” Melissa mumbled as she went to fetch a pitchfork and wheelbarrow. She opened a stall. It was empty and dirty because Melissa had found it like that earlier that day. She mucked out that stall and started working on the two. “Finally! Okay, the sisters can share a stall.” She led Twig to a separate stall and put her winter blanket on. Snowflake got a stall next to Snowblaze’s.

          She moved Peace of Cake to Cow’s stall and moved Starfire to a different one. As Melissa was heading to the heated kitchen room, the stable hand Fred came in. Melissa didn’t hear him and entered the kitchen room for some cookies and milk. She took of her coat and sank into a cozy armchair. Fred came in shivering in his thin sweatshirt. “What took you so long?” Melissa rounded on him. “And why didn’t you muck out the three stalls that I had to do this morning?” “Firstly, I was late because I forgot my jacket, went home and couldn’t find it and started out again. I didn’t do the stalls because my mother called and said I needed to be home in fifteen minutes.” “You could’ve told me!” “You were on the other side of the pasture! It takes five minutes to get down there, and plus, my home is twenty minutes away!” “You could’ve written a note! Do anything like that without telling me and I’ll fire you! Go do your chores.” Melissa dunked her cookie into her milk and took a bite. Fred got up and saw his jacket, which he put on.

           Dark Fire, the pretty dark chestnut pinto mustang, needed to be ridden. Fred tacked her up and led her out with Eagle’s Flight on a lead line. “Today we are going to run.” Fred said. “Not without me!” Melissa came running out of the stable, putting on her coat. She tacked up Eagle and they got into position. When Spirit neighed they shot off like bullets, weaving among the trees on Melissa’s property. Dark Fire raced across the line of The Great Pine. He threw his fist into the air and yelled with triumph! He turned, and saw nothing. Eagle wasn’t there. “I wouldn’t be able to miss that blue-roan coat anywhere!” Fred turned and studied the countryside closely, looking for blue. He saw a dark green lump. It looked like Melissa’s coat. “Melissa?” Fred whispered. A moan came from the lump and it moved. “Melissa!” Fred jumped off Dark Fire and ran to Melissa. “She’s cold!” Fred reached into his jean pocket and pulled out his cell-phone. “Yes hello, my name is Fred Robertson. There’s been an accident on the property of Melissa Wilkins, 872 Pine Road. Please send an ambulance out, we’re in the forest, near the big maple.” Fred hung up and soon heard sirens wailing in the distance. He took off his coat and put it on Melissa. He breathed warm air onto her face. Dark Fire stood patiently. Suddenly her sister came walking towards her. “Hello Eagle,” Dark Fire sighed. “I guess this isn’t a good day.”

           The horses waited days for Melissa to return. Days turned to weeks. Fred came everyday and did all the chores. “Sorry buddies,” He told the show horses, “No shows this winter.” Spirit was increasingly worried about his mares and foals. “Fred isn’t feeding them what he should!” He told himself. But he couldn’t talk to Fred.

          Finally Fred’s car pulled up and he got out, but instead of heading toward the barn, rushed to the other side of the car. He opened the door. Melissa came out holding a leash. A large black dog with long hair leapt out of the car. “Lila, steady girl,” Melissa whispered. Fred grabbed something from the car. Crutches – Melissa took them and handed Lila’s leash to Fred. They entered the house instead of the barn.

           “Have you been feeding the mares two pounds extra hay?” Melissa asked Fred. “No, I didn’t know they needed more.” “Oh no! Quick! Feed them all six pounds right now! Make sure they have enough milk for their foals!” Melissa cried. Fred hurried out the door.

          Eagle was so depressed and sad. Her head hung limply and her ears fell against her neck whenever anyone except Spirit or her sister came near. When Fred’s car pulled up, she barely noticed, but watched dully. When Melissa got out she ran to the fence and whinnied. “It’s okay Eagle, it’s not your fault.” Melissa whispered.  Winter dragged on and on. Chocolate Fleck wished the winter would stop. The snow buried all surviving grass. “I hope spring comes soon,” she thought. Chocolate Lightning shot past sending snow flying into her face. “At least my filly’s happy.” Fleck thought out loud.

          And within a week, the days started getting warmer. In late February, the first flowers bloomed! ________

Thank you for reading. I have over 40 Breyer Horses and all that I’ve mentioned are my horses. I also have two humans, Melissa, and Fred (though I call him Steve or Steven, sometimes David) I have more horses that I have not mentioned. For example, I didn’t mention Raspberry Truffle or Cappuccino. Sunflower, a Lusitano mare, wasn’t mentioned either. I have more horses that I will introduce in Breyer Horses – Spring – if you like this one. Thank you once more. microphone and Black Mist