{"id":8125,"date":"2012-07-09T13:26:35","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T17:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thegreathorse.com\/?p=8125"},"modified":"2017-06-02T17:08:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T21:08:19","slug":"book3-excerpt-1-something-about-a-horse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/2012\/07\/book3-excerpt-1-something-about-a-horse\/","title":{"rendered":"“Nice teeth … for a parrot.”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/p>\n

The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy is an adventure through history. The Golden Spark (Book #2) won the 2011 Written Arts Awards<\/em> for best Science Fiction\/Fantasy.<\/p>\n

The year is 1861 in this excerpt, the location is Texas (USA) … Meagan is trying to keep the Great Horse from being sold away.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something … even when you ain’t a thing!”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\u2014Will Rogers (1879-1935)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\"Red
\n\u201cCan\u2019t take less\u2019n thirty-five<\/span> dollars. He\u2019s a real work horse and I\u2019ll take what he\u2019s worth.\u201d It was Dan Beardon … he was talking quickly to two men as they exited together out the front door.<\/p>\n

Concerned, Meagan decided to begin with cleaning the spittoon by the front window. She walked to it and casually rubbed a spot in the foggy saloon glass to see out. The dark sorrel horse, Blue, and the buckskin, Red, were standing tethered to the establishment\u2019s hitching post. Dan and his two prospects were walking around Red, patting his backside. He was selling the Great Horse!<\/em><\/p>\n

Dan seemed to recognize Meagan as she walked outside to join them, but he deliberately looked away and kept talking. She crossed her arms and listened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty-five dollars, you say?\u201d asked one of the buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYup. And I\u2019ll throw in the halter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan made herself think quickly. She had <\/em>to stay near Red … an idea was forming: \u201cExcuse me, sir, is this the horse you ponied me into town on?\u201d<\/p>\n

The buyers glanced at her as Dan scowled. \u201cYes, I think I\u2019d remember that <\/em>tale of woe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can\u2019t be … how did you get rid of his spavins?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIgnore her,\u201d Dan advised. \u201cThe poor girl is touched.\u201d He made a tapping gesture on his temple for illustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy, it is <\/em>the same horse,\u201d Meagan peered closer, sounding impressed. \u201cTell me, is he over that wheeze? Oh, that\u2019s right, you said it was just heaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two buyers looked at each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis horse never had spavins nor heaves,\u201d Dan hissed. \u201cNow get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meagan stepped up to the buckskin\u2019s head, patting him gently. \u201cNice teeth,\u201d she said innocently, opening the buckskin\u2019s lips, \u201cfor a parrot.\u201d Smiling, she sidled up to a potential buyer and pointed at the horse\u2019s rear portion. \u201cYou look like a horseman, so tell me … would you say the horse is sickle-hocked, or just cat-hammed? It\u2019s hard to tell, isn\u2019t it, on account of the goose rump?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan simmered, turning crimson. \u201cLady, I\u2019ll tell you this just once\u2014if you don\u2019t get back inside, I\u2019m contacting the establishment. This is pure harassment of the clientele.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you come back here,\u201d Meagan led the two prospects to stand a distance behind the horse, \u201cyou can see a rare thing. A horse pigeon-toed in front and cow-hocked behind!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it! I\u2019m getting Geez!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter, Beardon?\u201d asked one of the buyers. \u201cCan\u2019t answer the young lady\u2019s questions?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s no lady, if you catch my meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh?\u201d Now Meagan reddened too. \u201cAt least I\u2019m not trying to pawn off a slab-sided, ewe-necked wasp-belly with no wind and asking thirty-five good dollars for it.\u201d Meagan smiled at Dan\u2019s murderous expression as the two ex-buyers mumbled something and went back inside.<\/p>\n

Dan went to Red and tossed his lead rope over the buckskin\u2019s neck. \u201cAll right, that one\u2019s going to cost you. See I felt sorry and didn\u2019t press charges before, but I had witnesses. I think I\u2019m going to poke into the sheriff\u2019s station and see what\u2019s what…\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n__________<\/p>\n

Quick Links:<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n

\u00bb See All Excerpts<\/strong><\/a> from The Legend of the Great Horse<\/strong> trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Read the 1st Chapter online<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Check out Reviews<\/strong> <\/a> for the trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u00bb See the Media Kit<\/strong><\/a> for more information about the trilogy.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Red “There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something … even when you ain’t a thing!”<\/em>– Will Rogers (1879-1935)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[323,59],"tags":[118,311,376,165,400,270,327,396],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15161,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions\/15161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegreathorse.com\/book-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}