by Lauren
(IL)
Willow sat at the piano, the rhythmic chords of Fiesta Espania pounding through her brain and coursing through her blood like quicksilver. She stopped at the end of the high speed song and looked out the window. Looking past the lush green early summer grass, her alert brown-green eyes sighted Delilah.
The sun colored mare with her creamy white mane was a pleasing contrast to the green grass and pink clover. Even though Delilah was in her twenties and Willow was 12, Willow was sure Delilah was just as smart, agile, beautiful, and as fast as she had been when Willow's mother, Sarah had rescued, trained, and owner her.
Willow jumped up, slamming her piano book down, She raced upstairs, taking the steps in twos. Willow landed in her room with a great leap, red hair flying. She pulled on her cowboy boots, donned her helmet, and sprinted to the barn. Willow grabbed the bridle and whistled for Delilah. The flashy palomino trotted smartly up to the waiting girl.
Willow bridled Delilah and quickly checked her over. No mud, abnormal bumps or injuries. Clean hooves.
She stuck a hoof pick into her jean pocket and vaulted onto Delilah's back. They trotted off, riding bareback, enjoying the unusually nice late morning.
Willow headed to her grandparent's ranch, which was only three miles away.
As the arid, humid, Wyoming weather started to kick in, Willow was glad she had slapped on some sunscreen. Willow maneuvered Delilah underneath a tall but shady grove of trees. They where riding past the old Shanks farm. Tom Shanks had died three years ago, and a new family was moving in.They had fixed the pasture up quite a bit. Willow wondered if they would have horses. Delilah was the only horse around except the new stable. Willow loved her job at Pine View Stables. Pine View was only eight miles away from Willow's house.
At first, Scarlett Stone, the stable manager and owner, did not want to hire Willow.
"You're to young. "
"It's too dangerous."
"What if you get hurt?"
But soon Willow proved to be just as horse knowledgeable and as trustworthy as any other stable hand, and Ms. Stone hired her. Willow often exchanged her pay for riding lessons or riding time.
Willow entered the dusty, dry lane and tied Delilah to the fence in a shady spot. She ran inside the house and greeted her grandparents.
"Here's your two-days-late birthday present, honey." her grandmother handed her a gift sack. Inside where two tissue-wrapped bundles. One held a leather cord bracelet with a small sterling silver horseshoe bead.
"It's a good-luck charm." Grandma explained.
"Thank-you! I'll wear it always!"
The leather was comfortable against her skin, and the coolness of the bead was soothing.
The next bundle was a little figurine of a girl on a paint horse twirling a lariat.
"And one more present!" her Grandma announced and pulled out a box. Willow opened it and found a black cowboy hat inside.
"Cool-o! Thank-you!"
"Here, you can just leave my presents here."
"Okay, now shcooch along!" Her grandfather picked up the presents and pretended they where his.
Willow laughed.
"Okay, I better get going! Mom will probably swing by later. She can take my stuff home."
"Bye!"
"Thanks!"
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by Lauren
(IL)
Willow dashed outside to Delilah. They set off at a smooth lope on the tree shaded trail.
About five minutes later, Willow could see the stable in the distance. She glanced at her watch. 10:20.
Willow slowed Delilah down and enjoyed the scenery.
Surrounding her were meadows, sprinkled with wildflowers. In the distance blue mountains shone with snowy white peaks, even in early Wyoming summer. It was one of the few places where it actually looked like the Wild West. But, power lines were spotted here and there and the horizon revealed a highway.
Willow sighed wistfully and steered Delilah into the stable yard. She dismounted and turned Delilah out into an empty pasture. Willow walked into the tack room, where a dry-erase board that told all of the stable hands their jobs.
Her list read: Clean Poppy's, Thunder's,and Raspberry's stalls, Feed them, Exercise Thunder, Help bring in new stallion- Golden Treasure Bar at 12:30.
Willow gasped. Golden Treasure Bar! That was Delilah's one and only foal!
"The palomino stallion must be six years old now!" She thought quickly. The distant memory of her riding the stallion when she was only five years old came to her.
Then he had been sold, and Delilah never bred again.
He was coming here to Pine View Stables! Willow cleaned the stalls and feed the animals in a daze. She exercised Thunder, a very spirited and highly strung Anglo-Arab that only Willow and a few others could ride and manage.
At precisely 12:20, Willow met Ms. Stone and explained. Scarlett Stone was surprised.
"You may be a good person to be acquainted too, since you know Goldie. You know, he is full grown now and he may be too much for you to handle."
"I know. But I can handle Thunder, right?"
"Yes, so you should be able to handle him. Just remember, be Careful." Ms. Stone's last words changed to a serious tone that imprinted Willow's mind.
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by Lauren
(IL)
A few minutes later, a truck and trailer puled up into the yard. Willow danced around impatiently while the driver got out.
"Boy, he's a wild one!" " Doesn't help that today's windy, though." the driver said. He pulled the ramp down. The trailer door swung open in the wind with a clang.Suddenly the palomino stallion inside screamed, bolted out, reared, then galloped away in Willow's direction.
Summoning all her courage, Willow stepped in front of the runaway stallion and slowly raised her arms like a bird beginning to rise.
"Whooooooaaaaa!" she cried in a deep, calming voice. Golden Treasure Bar halted in front of Willow and looked confused.
Willow seized her chance and grabbed the lead rope. Goldie must have gotten loose during the long journey. She began calming the excited stallion by doing T-touch. Ms. Stone and the driver rushed up with pale faces.
"Are you all right?" Ms. Stone demanded.
"I'm fine!" Replied Willow, exasperated.
Why did Ms.Stone always treat her like a beginner who knew nothing about horses?
"You have quite a way with horses, missy" commented the driver.
Willow blushed and dipped her head.
After Goldie had been put away, stable hands crowded around Willow. Alexis, a sixteen year old stablehand, said " How did you do that?" " You're so brave to step right in front of a runaway horse."
Willow explained.
"I wasn't brave at all." " I was scared to death!"
A voice behind them startled Willow.
"It's not if you were scared or not that matters. It's what you did that counts." Ms. Stone said, smiling proudly at Willow.
On the ride home, Willow pondered over what Ms. Stone said. They where wise words, but praise from the stable owner and manager was rare. Was Ms. Stone finally trusting her?
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by Lauren
(IL)
Willow went home and told her parents.
"Really? Golden Treasure Bar is there?" Her mother, Sarah asked. " I'll have to stop by and see him sometime."
Late that night, Willow was sound asleep. Suddenly, she awoke. Glancing around, Willow threw away her blankets and padded barefoot to the window. Willow looked out, gazing at the mountains that where illuminated in ghostly full moon light. She glimpsed something running on a hill. A herd of wild horses! They disappeared and Willow pinched herself. It hadn't been a dream.
Though it was 12:43, Willow plugged in her laptop. She researched wild horses. Willow found that there where no reported sightings of wild horses anywhere near, so that meant these horses where NOT owned by the government.Willow knew that anyone could take the horses then. Reluctantly but exhausted, she went back to bed.
The next morning, Willow overslept. She awoke with a bright ray of sunshine in her face. Willow leaped up and glanced at her clock. She would be late for work!
"Oh, why didn't you dumb thing go off?" she grumbled to her alarm clock.
Willow flew out to Delilah. Quickly galloping away, Willow groaned in frustration. She had wanted to ride out early and investigate the area where she saw the horses.
Willow and Delilah rushed into the stable yard. She quickly turned out Delilah and ran for Ms. Stone's office.
"I'm sorry I'm late," she explained " My alarm clock didn't go off."
Ms. Stone smiled coolly.
"Just be sure it doesn't happen again. Be off now."
On her way to Goldie's stall Willow sighed. One more grudge against her for Ms. Stone. Willow led Goldie around the stable. She'd let him get used to his new surroundings for a week before she rode him. After that, Willow worked at the stable for two more hours.
Then she rode home, ground-tied Delilah, and ran into the house. Willow snatched her backpack, and stuffed her laptop, its battery, and her camera into it. She left a note on the kitchen table and rode to the hills.
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by Lauren
(IL)
When Willow arrived at the spot where she had seen the wild horses, she took a lunge line out of her saddlebag. Willow clipped it to Delilah's bridle and tied it around a sturdy tree.
She immediately found horse tracks. A whole herd of them! Willow snapped pictures, then mounted Delilah and followed them. The tracks soon came into a trail that had been used frequently.
Relatively fresh horse dung dotted the grass and Willow took more and more pictures. After about a mile of traveling on the trail, the trail suddenly opened out into a grassy valley with a stream running through it. Grazing near the stream was a herd of wild horses!
Willow took more pictures and excitedly pulled an expandable spyglass from her pocket. The spyglass was even more powerful than binoculars and was just the tool she needed. Willow opened up her laptop and made a file about wild horses. She busily typed this:
Misty Valley Horse Herd
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11 horses in the herd
bay stallion (leader)- Barbarry
blue roan mare (lead mare)- Sitka
2 yr. old dun filly (Sitka's)- Cookie
coal black mare-Raven
Grullo colt (Raven's)- Flint
brown mare- Chocolate
young sorrel mare (in foal)- Windblown
flame colored mare (in foal)- Flame
young black stallion- Santa Fe
moon-gray young stallion- Moonshadow
young chestnut filly- Jewel
Willow watched the horses for a long time, then was forced to go back because of the time. She didn't tell anyone about the horses. Since the government did not own these horses, it meant that anyone could take them. Bad people, too.
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by Lauren
(IL)
A week later, Willow had seen signs of horses, but no horses.
At Pine View Stables, Willow was riding Goldie. When the lesson horses and their riders came back from their trail ride, Willow noticed that the horses where sweaty and very agitated.
"What did you do to these horses?" she asked.
"You mean what did they do to us?" Brent, one of the riders asked.
"That was one of the strangest rides I've ever been on. Go-stop-walk two feet-stop. On and on."
Willow left the riders for a few minutes to get water for Goldie. His stall was a mess, and his water was completely empty.
"Did they forget you?" she asked. Willow cleaned his stall and got the palomino stallion his water. Goldie placed his whole nose under the water to drink. He blew bubbles.
Willow laughed. "You goofball! I bet you did that on purpose!"
Then she noticed bumps on his jaw. They where clear and tender. Frowning, Willow dismissed it and decided to ask Ms. Stone when she came back. Ms. Stone was visiting family three hours away.
When Willow got back to the riders, the horses in the cross-tries where very distressed. Claiborne kicked out and Glade rolled his eyes.
Suddenly, Bubble, an old mare, started to fall.
"Get out of the way, Mia!" Willow shouted.
"Go get Alyissa and Jared!" She yelled.
"Jack, come help me hold Bubble's head! She'll choke!"
After muck struggle Jack was able to undo the cross ties and Bubble sank to the floor.
"Is she.....?" he asked.
Willow felt the old mare's pulse. It was racing.
"Bubble's seizing!" Willow yelled as Jared and Alyissa burst through the doors.
Suddenly, Claiborne shrieked in distress. The gelding kicked and bit at his stomach.
"It looks like colic!" Willow shouted, "Jared, walk him!"
Rosanna, another stable hand, rushes in.
"Starfire is having heart problems!" she cried, referring to Ms. Stone's prize black stallion.
Willow whipped out her cell phone and dialed the vet.
"Dr. Murphy, you've gotta get out here to Pine View. We have a major situation going on out here. Bubble's seizing, Starfire has heart problems, and we have a few cases that look like colic."
"Willow, I'm at Crestbone Hill working with a calving emergency. I'm not available for three more hours. I'll send Colton out." Dr. Murphy said, referring to his apprentice.
"Not that he'll be of too much help, but who knows. I've gotta go." Dr. Murphy hung up.
"I don't know what this is." Willow explained to Alyissa. "It could be some kind of viral infection, something in the water, or a plant in the pasture."
"I just hope we can figure it out in time."
"You don't mean........?" the seventeen-year old asked Willow.
"Yes. These horses could be dying." Willow said grimly.
All the horse problems sank in. Bubble's seizure, Starfire's heart problem, and the weird acting horses. Then it hit Willow like cold, sharp ice to her heart.
"I think Goldie's in trouble too!"
Willow and Alyissa found Goldie writhing in pain in his stall. His golden coat was covered with sweat, straw, and manure. The stall Willow had cleaned just half an hour ago was filthy. The manure smelled awful, not like regular manure.
"Goldie!" Willow screamed. Goldie stopped thrashing.
"Alyissa, walk him. It looks like severe colic. I have to go."
Willow ran back to the riders. Claiborne kept urinating, and Starfire's fever was climbing ever higher.
Colton arrived. Willow told him everything that had been going on.
"The stomach pain looks like colic, but it's too much. They all have diarrhea. Everything's coming out too easily to be colic. The horses are dehydrated, but everything they drink comes out the other end. It's gotta be intestinal. We need to get IV's started on everyone."
Colton agreed. They where doing Goldie's IV when Willow gasped.
"Oh no! Oh no!" she moaned.
"Cantharidin! It's blister beetles! They've been poisoned by blister beetles!" Willow shouted.
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by Lauren
(IL)
Willow opened Goldie's mouth and peered down his throat. Blisters.
"What are blister beetles?" Colton asked.
Willow was shocked. She knew more than the vet's apprentice!
"Blister beetles are little black bugs that feed on alfalfa. They have a chemical in their body called Cantharidin - it is not nice stuff. It burns body tissue, which explains everything. It only takes a few beetles to kill a horse, so these horses haven't eaten much. It's a good thing these are the only horses to have eaten the new hay."
Willow left Colton and pulled on some work gloves. She sifted through a flake of hay.
"Here's a few!" Willow cried and held up a little black bug.
"It looks like one. Put it in a bag and we'll do a lab test on it." Colton directed.
As soon as Willow got back, a loud thump from Starfire's stall brought Willow and Colton running. The stallion was stretched out in his stall, his eyes dull. Sick with dread, Willow looked for his pulse. Starfire, the mighty black stallion, is dead.
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by Lauren
(IL)
Choking back tears, Willow stiffly stood up. "We must tend to the others." Willow pulled out her cell phone to call Ms. Stone.
Three hours away, in a cabin in the rockies, Ms. Stone was chatting with her relatives. Her cell phone rang and she excused herself.
"Hello?" It was Willow, the young stable hand.
"We have a real situation going on here. It's blister beetles. Horses are seizing and acting colicky." " Dr. Murphy isn't available for three more hours, but Colton is here. I hate to tell you this but Starfire.... Starfire's dead."
Willow was crying, and Ms. Stone was too.
Scarlett Stone hung up, explained to her sympathetic relatives, and left.
Willow had been working her usual three hour shift, but she insisted on staying longer. Willow called her parents, and they agreed that Willow should stay until 6:00.
Dr. Murphy arrived, and he agreed that it was blister beetle poisoning. The main barn looked normal, but the foaling barn looked like an emergency room.
Claiborne and Bubble were breathing through horse oxygen masks. Glade was lying in his stall breathing heavily. Thunder and Goldie where hooked up to heart monitors. The other stable hands asked Willow what the cure for cantharidin was.
"There isn't one. The best thing we can do is to keep up the fluids and electrolytes." Willow explained.
"We need to get rid of every speck of that hay. Take it far away and burn it. Wear work gloves, because the beetles will blister your skin too."
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by Lauren
(IL)
Three hours later, all the hay was gone, and the stalls where cleaned. Willow opened her cell phone and called Fresh Meadow Farms.
"Hello, I'd like to report blister beetles in the order number 55530."
Ms. Stone arrived. They all cried over Starfire's death. She helped care for the sick horses. Their stalls needed cleaning at least every 30 minutes, and there was constant monitoring of every horse.
At around 6:00, the horses finally started looking better. They where hungry and whinnying. Willow left, but she promised to come back first thing in the morning. Before she left, Willow asked Dr. Murphy how long it would take for the horses to recuperate.
"After a few weeks of rest, they should be as good as new!" She joyfully exclaimed to her parents.
As for Starfire, Ms. Stone and Willow buried him under a majestic old oak tree in a field. Willow painted a wood marker for his grave.
"Here lies Starfire, king of Pine View Stables." She painted a black star under these words.
Far away in Horse Heaven, a coal-black stallion named Starfire ran about like a young colt. One late evening, Willow visited Starfire's grave. She brought some flowers.
"You know, Starfire, for a while it seemed that life couldn't go on without you. But I learned something."
"I learned that even through sadness and death, life always goes on. Life goes on."
Willow looked about her. The mountains where shining their full radiance, and the moon-lighted oak stood tall and proud like a king. Willow raised her head and looked at an especially bright star. It winked, and she smiled.
THE END!
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I dedicate this story to my grandfather, Richard Philip Rose (3/26/10)
-L.C.
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To find out about the wild horses, read Wild Horse Willow, a soon-to-be sequel to Willow's Delilah.
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