For a true story about heroism and hope, read Molly the Pony. This little gray mare survived Hurricane Katrina only to be abandoned and later attacked by a pit bull. Infection set into the wound and her front leg was amputated below the knee. Molly is a living gift to us all -- and a reminder that we must never give up hope.
See the YouTube video: Molly the Pony, 10 years later
A new project has required planting tons of flower seeds, and a poem about sunflowers in this collection caught my eye. Does anybody out there know about Elliott C. Lincoln? I bought this 1920 book ages ago at a flea market along Interstate 80. Lincoln's idea of homesteading is very "western", complete with old paint horses, which he mentions later in the book in lower case, not as a capitalized breed. A certain regret surrounding the side effects of progress rises to the surface in "Rhymes of A Homesteader", as later in the book, the automobile and barbed wire scar Lincoln's world. Publishers didn't spend a lot of money on cover design back in those days. Here is the first poem in this rare treasure:
The Sunflower Road
THERE'S a land of opal mountains, singing creeks,
and springing fountains,
A land of magic distances in hazy, lazy light,
Where the pastel greens, and yellows, amber
browns, and purple shadows,
Make a glory of the daytime, and it's dusty blue
at night.
When the summer sun is burning, there a friendly
road is turning.
Twisting, bending, rising, falling -- just a trail
among the hills;
But 'tis bordered by the graces of a million golden
faces,
And the laughter of the sunflowers frees the heart
of all its ills.
Now the winter snows are driven through the
land; the trail is hidden.
Desolate, the white hills glitter under skies of
turquoise blue.
But in June comes summer weather, and again
we'll ride together
On that friendly, glowing, happy road, just wide
enough for two.
You might also enjoy:
32 truths about homesteading
Working too hard at farming to succeed
'They came slowly out of the forest ...' - Bambi meets bulldozer
Had any "cow-tastrophes" lately? RIP, Bud McCaulley
My book, Winning Bet, hits Berlin!
Like Flat Stanley, my book, Winning Bet, fits anywhere and loves to travel. This clean read for 'tweens and teens - featuring real horse characters - hitched a ride to Berlin!
Fortune cookies have a strange effect on horsewoman Rosalyn Mallory, and if she doesn't get help, it could be a deadly Christmas. Get Karin Livingston’s quick-read Kindle release, Fortune Cookie: A Christmas Tale, at Amazon! (U.S. $2.99)
I used to love those old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, with at least a picture in every chapter, a caption, and a chapter title. With e-books, we can afford to “print” that concept, in this case, applied to Fortune Cookie. I serialized the story here last year. I hope the tale makes you smile, and that you guess the secret behind the hobo. Owners of iPads can get Fortune Cookie, too. Just Google the Kindle app for your iPad and download to get access to all Kindle titles. Merry Christmas!
(Earn points and free badges at our sister site, Mane-U. We are mobile-friendly and love horse trivia.)
Will 15-year-old Emma Duncan lose her horse Bonnie to the slaughterhouse? Emma and the mysterious Enrique must prove to everyone that Bonnie is not a loser, but a winner.
Winning Bet: 'What a great story'
For teachers, 4-H leaders and clubs that want to use Winning Bet (ISBN: 0-615-32165-8; $12.95; paperback) as part of their classroom curriculum or 4-H project work, we've developed a free quiz for the novel.
To pass the quiz, you must score 80-percent or better. Successful quiz-takers can click the "finish" button to get a printable achievement certificate for their records. Just click on the Winning Bet photo at left to start the quiz. Good luck!
Would you rather use Accelerated Reader? You can help put Winning Bet on the Accelerated Reader list. If enough of you request it, Renaissance Learning will write an AR test for Winning Bet that any AR school can use, and anybody -- not just librarians -- can request! Just go to http://www.renlearn.com/ar/customercare/titlesuggestions.asp to make the request.
Information you’ll need:
Title: Winning Bet
ISBN: 0-615-32165-8
Publisher: Ingram
Interest Level: Middle Grades Plus
Year Published: 2009
You might also enjoy Grooming for success: How good are you?
(Karin Livingston was a career 4-H horse leader. Winning Bet is available at Amazon, on the Kindle e-reader, Barnes & Noble online, IndieBound.org stores, and to librarians and retailers through the Ingram Book Group.)
About this time of year, several of the horses become more interested in nipping off the low-hanging willow leaves. You can learn more about willow and its benefit to horses if you read Herbs for Horses by Jenny Morgan and Carole Vincer, or A Modern Horse Herbal by Hillary Page Self. Our horse Bonnie, a survivor of laminitis, and real-life horse star of the novel, Winning Bet, loves willow! Here fresh windfall branches have been stripped of leaves and fine stems. The harvest is placed on a clean sheet, which is tied up at the corners for drying.
Read also: Bonnie's favorite horseshoer
We may never know when the first horse and human ever looked into each other’s eyes with a mutual respect and fascination, yet horses have been part of the human heart since time immemorial.
via pagelambert.com
Love horses? Love writing? This could be the adventure for you!
We have a new young client, and I ran into her and her father walking down one of our lanes to see their new horse the other day. These are exciting days when people begin their journey with
Like this? Try our favorite stories
Readers: If enough of you request it, Renaissance Learning can write an Accelerated Reader test for Winning Bet that any "AR" school can use, and anybody -- not just librarians -- can request! (Accelerated Reader is the #1 reading practice software used by schools across the nation.) Just go to http://www.renlearn.com/ar/customercare/titlesuggestions.asp to make the request. Information you’ll need:
Title: Winning Bet
ISBN: 0-615-32165-8
Publisher: Ingram
Interest Level: Middle Grades Plus
Year Published: 2009
Winning Bet is also available on the Kindle. Happy Reading!
