Prey – Page 4 – THE LEGEND OF THE GREAT HORSE trilogy

How to Hunt a Horse

Sneaking around is the rule for horse-hunters… and it ain’t easy. As anyone who has spent time with horses knows, our silent partner is quite alert to potential lions in the flower-pots. The horse’s creed is “he who quickly runs away, lives to run another day,” and he instinctively knows his survival depends upon a good headstart.

Mostly, you don’t. Horses are prey in the wild, but few predators dare confrontation with a healthy equine. You could call horses “extreme” prey.

The opening historical scene of Eclipsed by Shadow is set in prehistoric times, highlighting the earliest relationship between man and horse: hunter and hunted.

It was not our most enjoyable association, casting humans in the shabby role of trickster … and leaving the horses not too happy either.

The horse has few natural predators

Lions and wolf packs are the only major predators with horse on the menu, and they mostly avoid contact. As a horse’s kick can crush an adult lion’s skull — something we could call a ‘game-changer’ — the horse’s enemies remain on the lookout for immature, elderly or sick equines.

If hooves are the danger in horse-hunting, getting close to the animal is the difficulty. A horse may not have the sprinting take-off of a gazelle, but with a short headstart no predator on earth can catch him.

The horse’s anatomy is a balance between power and swiftness: his heavy body is balanced on thin, well-leveraged limbs that take a few strides to reach full speed but allow him to gallop for miles. The horse simply outclasses all predators at any real distance.

So sneaking around is the rule for horse-hunters … and it ain’t easy. As anyone who has spent time with horses knows, our silent partner is quite alert to potential lions in the flower-pots. The horse instinctively knows his survival depends upon a good headstart.
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Copyright © 2010 John Allen Royce, Jr.

#28- Where am I?

Meagan climbed to her feet and looked around in astonishment. She stood on a ledge overlooking wide, empty fields. – Eclipsed by Shadow (excerpt)

In the silence came a familiar rumbling. The ground was beginning to vibrate.

Meagan climbed to her feet and looked around in astonishment. She stood on a ledge overlooking wide, empty fields. A canyon corridor opened here, onto the ledge.

Where am I?

She started to call again to the children above, but the vibration suddenly broke free into rushing sound. Rounding the angle of the canyon wall, a galloping herd of horses swept towards her in panicked fright, thundering echoes off the canyon walls.

Meagan darted to the cracked rock wall and clawed up the side as the sound of horses exploded behind her. Whinnies echoed through the corridor. The first horses to see the cliff’s edge skidded before being pushed into the abyss by the horses behind.

In seconds, the train of sliding horses passed, leaving the last animals milling in confusion. Hanging against the canyon wall, Meagan stared disbelieving into the empty dust.

Excerpted from Eclipsed by Shadow, the award-winning 1st volume of “The Legend of the Great Horse” trilogy. (Hrdbk pg. 88)

Book II: The Golden Spark will be published Fall 2010.

Read the 1st Chapter online!

Cave Art vs. Franz Marc paintings

A Facebook Album selection of artwork … cave paintings estimated from 15 to 32,000 years old, contrasted with work from the early 20th Century impressionist Franz Marc…

#27- The Adventure Begins…

An empty landscape spread before her, basking in late afternoon sun. This is strange, Meagan thought, swallowing. Solid rock walls rose on either side of her, marbled with green moss and snaking black fissures. Nothing manmade was in sight. – “Eclipsed by Shadow” (excerpt)

MEAGAN OPENED HER eyes. Thin wisps of clouds brushed the bluest sky she had ever seen. Her first thought was that she had woken from a dream. Groggy, she watched the clouds drift.

That dream was the most realistic of all, she thought absently. She noticed shapes above her and focused. A line of shadowed children stared down, silent as pigeons on a ledge. She closed her eyes again. Great, my riding friends. Every time I fall off I have an audience … wait—where is Promise?

Her head cleared with sudden memory. What if the dream—she sat up quickly and stared at her surroundings. She was still in her nightgown, perched on a rocky cliff over an expanse of prairie grassland. An empty landscape spread before her, basking in late afternoon sun. This is strange, Meagan thought, swallowing. Solid rock walls rose on either side of her, marbled with green moss and snaking black fissures. Nothing manmade was in sight.

In the silence came a familiar rumbling. The ground was beginning to vibrate.