The Black Beauty (Wattys 2015)

The Black Beauty--Part One

“Come on Katy!  We are going for a run!”  Jacob, my fourteen year old brother shouts in to my room.

“Geeze, I would’ve heard you from a mile away Jacob!  Good grief.”  I say back, trying to get him to leave.

“Well hurry up slow poke, mom and dad are waiting!” He yells over his shoulder as he runs towards the living room.

     I sigh, and shake my head.  He is a handful.  I get up off my bed and change into some yoga pants and a tank top. Tip number one when shifting into a horse, wear loose clothing for an easy shift.

     I close my bedroom door, and head towards the living room where mom, dad, and an antsy Jacob are waiting.  Once they see me, we all file out into the front yard where we each hide behind a bush and shift.  We hide only because it really isn’t polite to stare while others shift.

     The familiar feeling of my bones rearranging into my horse form never gets old for me.  When I no longer feel the bones popping and moving, I open my eyes and stand up from my lying down position.  My eye sight has changed; I have more blind spots as a horse than I do as a human.  I cannot see what is under my head, even though I know it is the ground, and I cannot see behind me.  I can hear a lot better than I could in human form, so that is an advantage.  I walk out from behind my bush, and walk over to wear mom is.

Her horse form is a Chestnut color, with a flaxen mane and tail.  She stands roughly around 15.2 hands, or 62 inches from the ground behind her front shoulder, up to her withers.

Dad comes out next, and his horse is huge!  He is a Clydesdale, of a black or dark brown color with a dirty brown tail.  He stands about 17.2 hands, or 70 inches from the ground behind his front shoulder to his withers.

My brother comes out last, and he is a little flea-bitten gray pony.  He hasn’t fully grown yet, so he stands around 14.1 hands or 57 inches from the ground behind his front shoulder up to his withers.

Dad signals for us to start off at a brisk pace, not to slow but not too fast.  We head through our back yard, and to the wooded area we have behind our place.  Dad leads, then mom, me and Jacob follow.

The feeling of the wind in my mane makes my inner horse want to come out.  She loves the feeling of the wind whipping through her mane, and the sound of her hooves pounding on the ground.

“Katy, Jacob, stop and listen!!” My parents said through our mind link.

     We both stopped, and we could hear the faint popping sound of helicopter blades.  By now we had run all the way into the wide open plain, with other herds. They too stopped grazing and listened to the air.  When realization hit me, it hit me like a ton of bricks. 

     Today was the day of the annual Wild Mustang Round Up.

“Mom, dad, we need to leave!” I shouted as the helicopter got closer and closer. 

     By now all the other herds were running away, towards the traps.  Dad and mom stayed where they were, until the helicopter got closer to us.  We all stood, ears pricked forward, and watched the helicopter slowly but surely come more into view.  It was black, and it glistened in the sunlight.  The grass started to sway back and forth, the wind from the blades causing them to move as such.

“Kids, be prepared to run. In three…two…one…run now!!” Dad shouted.

     We all took off like bats out of hell, running towards the traps.  Neither mom nor dad knew about them, but I did.

“Dad, we are running towards the traps!” I told him as we galloped through the tall grass.

“Keep running.  No more talking child!” He yelled back as he picked up the pace.