A story to introduce the young reader to the beauty of wild mustangs and their threatened world.
This story will introduce the very young reader to mustangs and their threatened world. The book might include a short fact page in the back.
There are many, many books on mustangs. Most appeal to a higher age level. Under picture books, 4-8 on Amazon .com, there are about 4 stories that appear to be fiction picture books on mustangs, for the young reader. "Mustang Moon" will be a very simple story, focused on a young colt. It will provide an accurate portrayal of the mustang habitat, animal behavior, and 'removal'. I welcome suggestions for developing this story!
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Synopsis:
1. Two mustangs swish their tails as they nibble dry grass on the prairie. Stormy and Flight have coats of glistening black and their manes and tails flow like black rivers.
2. This hot night, the mustangs drift over to the gurgling dark river. They drink deep with noisy slurps. Suddenly, they hear a ringing neigh. They lift their dripping muzzles from the cool water.
3. Their father, the stallion, Night Star, faces them across the river. His black coat gleams in the moonlight. His loud neigh rings out like a trumpet blast. His lips draw back and his teeth bare.
4. Night Star charges through the water, scattering spray and stones. Roughly, he bites Stormy on the rump. Viciously, he kicks Flight in the stomach. With teeth and hooves, he forces his sons far away from the river and from his herd of mares and foals. The young mustangs squeal from the pain of Night Star’s teeth and hoofs. Without Night Star to lead them, how will they find water and food?
5. Bucking and snorting, they run off into the night. The two horses gallop blindly into the thorn-covered branches of a mesquite bush. Scratched and bleeding on their dusty flanks, they kick and buck in pain. Stray cattle moo in flight as the two horses rush by.
6. When a stone lodges in Flight’s hoof, he trots. Stormy slows his headlong gallop to keep pace with his friend. Just before dawn, the horses doze near a cactus tree.
7. Like a rattlesnake strike, a rope whirs out of the air and lands around young Flight’s neck. Stormy hears the rope and races away with thundering hooves. He runs until he reaches safety and watches from a hill.
8. Flight bucks and rears, but he cannot escape. The wrangler who has roped him loops the rope around the horn of his saddle. The man kicks his own horse into a steady trot and drags his captive across the prairie.
9. Stormy is scared and puzzled. But he gallops down from the hill and trots near enough to the wrangler to see Flight. Soon, the screams of scared horses and the thud of running hooves fill his ears.
10. Panic floods his body as men on horses circle behind him and force him to move forward. He and Flight are pushed into a herd of sorrel, paint and buckskin horses in a dusty corral.
11. Stormy and Flight gallop wildly around the corral. Sweat runs into their eyes. Nostrils wide, they gulp dusty air.
12. Finally, they stand in a quiet spot near the fence-rails. Smell tells them that the horses in the pen are not from their herd. But the two stand quietly because they have each other.
13. Two riders push Stormy and Flight toward the gate. The gate opens. They are in a rope corral in a green field. Stormy drops his head to graze. Green, juicy blades of grass dribble out of Stormy’s mouth.
14. A soft whistle tickles his ears. Warily, he looks up. A blond haired woman stands by the rope corral with a man beside her. She says, “I’d like to take those two black mustangs. We’ll train them for my children. I only wish that we could take more wild horses. Most of those other mustangs are doomed to die.”
15. The trapped horses left in the corral scream and run. Ears pricked forward, Stormy and Flight watch the horses left in the wood corral pushed into a big truck and driven off down the dusty road.
16. As dusk falls once again, Flight remembers Night Star. He almost tastes the scrubby grass of the prairie. He hears the gentle stomping of the mares. He feels like he is racing with the other yearlings on the dry river bottom. He is lonely without his mustang herd. But at least he and Stormy are together.
17. Above them, a neigh splits the crystal night air. Night Star stands high on a butte as the moon drifts up into the night sky. The two young mustangs see him rear. Then they hear the clatter of Night Star’s hooves echo down from the buttes of the high country range.
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