A Wild Ride: The Adventures of Misty & Moxie Wyoming (Girl Detective & Her Horse Mystery Story Ages 6-8 & 9-12)
Page 11
She rotated one dial. It clicked, and the gadget turned on. It made a low crackling noise, startling both Moxie and Misty. “Wonder why Dizzy is sending me a walkie-talkie?”
She turned the other dial and the crackling got louder.
Moxie stared at the button on the side of the green, plastic case. “Should I press it, Misty?”
Misty pounded twice with her right hoof.
Moxie clicked the walkie-talkie and spoke into it, reading the password from the Post-it. “Howling Red Wolf.”
She and Misty listened as it clicked back. A girl’s voice came through the hissing static.
“Moxie Wyoming, we have an emergency. Can you help?”
The Real-Life Misty & Moxie Wyoming
Nobody ever quite knew how old the real-life Misty was, but for about ten years, it was thought this small, homely, swaybacked horse was pretty close to thirty. And until she retired, the adorable Misty ruled as queen of the herd at the Darwin Guest Ranch in the Gros Ventre Mountains of western Wyoming.
Watching Misty lead the herd as it thundered into the ranch at full gallop each morning was a great way to start the day for anyone at the Darwin. After breakfast, the wrangler would saddle the horses and prep the guests for the day’s activities. The little mare would do her best to push up front to lead the trail rides as queen of the Darwin visitors, too.
You always knew which horse was in and which was out by how close they stood to Misty in the corral. Over the years, the most prominent was Hector the Ejector, a huge draught-horse-mix who was Misty’s protector until the end of his life—and he always stood glued to her.
One summer, Misty really did return to the Darwin Ranch from winter pasture with her son, Bandit, who became another favorite among the Darwin guests.
In 2007, it was time for Misty to retire, and she moved to a family ranch in southeastern Wyoming. When she got there, it took all of five minutes for her to bond with her new mistress, the delightful, spunky real-life, Moxie Wyoming!
So, Misty happily spent the next three years with Moxie Wyoming, riding all around her family’s ranch, which at times included rounding up cows.
When they weren’t out on the range, Misty hung out close to Moxie’s house, munching grass and peeking in the windows for a glimpse of her beloved mistress. This was Misty’s routine for the rest of her life.
When I first received the photographs of the pink-clad Moxie sitting on Misty, it planted the seed for this book. The pictures portrayed the friendship between a little girl and an ancient horse and made me ponder the make-believe possibilities of their partnership.
What would happen if those pink cowgirl boots that Moxie wore in the photograph were magical? Couldn’t a slight kick transform Misty into her younger self, now able to fly the two of them to all sorts of adventures? I imagined them, the way Dizzy Humphrey does in the story, as the ultimate can-do duo!
The real Misty gave the real Moxie Wyoming and everyone who met her many years of happiness. Now she will give readers the same joy through her enchanted story.
Niki Danforth, January 2015
Mustangs
People all across America regard Mustangs as a symbol of freedom and beauty.
Mustangs come from Spanish stock brought to the Americas by the Conquistadors starting in the sixteenth century. Some of these sturdy little horses escaped into the wild, where they came to be called Mustangs, originating from the Spanish word mesteño, meaning horse without an owner. Mustangs found a great environment in the American West, and eventually there were more than two million wild horses roaming the plains.
Then ranchers settled these same areas and considered the Mustangs a nuisance. They believed the horses competed with their cattle for the grasses, and so the numbers of horses rapidly declined. A very well-known lady named Velma Johnston, better known as Wild Horse Annie, fought to save the Mustangs with the help of thousands of children writing to Congress. Finally, in 1971 she got Congress to pass The Free Roaming Wild Horse and Burro Act, giving protection to these tough horses. The management for the horses was given to the Bureau of Land Management, a federal government agency.
These mostly small, rugged creatures run in what is called family bands and have a very strict and loving social structure. The stallion is the protector of the band, and always takes the position in the herd between the family and any potential danger. The family also has a lead mare who is trusted to guide the family away from danger and to a safe place. All the members of the family band watch over and love their offspring, or the babies.
Young males are kicked out of the family at around age two, and usually join a few other young males. This group is referred to as a bachelor band. They will roam together, acting like a bunch of teenage boys, until they become strong enough to steal a female mare or two and start their own band. The young females will usually leave the family when they are between two and three years old, and either join a different band or go with a young bachelor.
Mustangs are considered a flight or fight animal. This means they will always try to run away from danger, and will only fight if they are cornered. Mustangs are wild, but when not threatened, they can become very curious about people. They share many traits with human beings, such as creating a family structure that includes a love of family. And like people, they also have the ability to socialize and establish friendships with other horses.
Today in the United States, there are less than fifty-thousand Mustangs still running wild in the entire country. Because of the years I have spent helping them and witnessing what is happening as their numbers dwindle, I find the biggest problem is mismanagement of these horses that are, by law, supposed to be protected.
I worry that the time will come when the only place that you might get to see wild mustangs will be at a sanctuary or refuge. Still, there is something magical about the experience of watching them, even at a refuge. There are fine sanctuaries, such as Return To Freedom in California, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota, and Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center in Wyoming, and their links are listed below.
Most of all, people really love seeing these horses free and happy with their bands. These animals have been our important partners as we’ve settled this country. We are losing a priceless heritage.
This article was written by Sandi Claypool, founder of Monero Mustangs. You can visit her website at
http://www.moneromustangs.org/
Here are some Mustang websites to visit.
Return To Freedom:
http://www.returntofreedom.org/
Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary:
http://www.wildmustangs.com/
Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center:
www.pryormustangs.org
The Grizzly Bear
To many, the grizzly bear is the true symbol of the wilderness. A top predator that generally avoids people and requires vast expanses of the wildest country in the world, a grizzly is an impressive and awesome creature by anyone’s standards. This is a mammal that commands true respect, since an adult male bear may weigh as much as 800 pounds and females much less.
Most of what a grizzly bear does is driven by its constant search for food. He or she will cover considerable distances for a favorite food, as much as twenty to thirty miles at times. The bear is omnivorous, meaning it will eat both plants and animals. Although a notorious predator, a grizzly is primarily a vegetarian, with as much as ninety percent of its diet based on plants.
In early springtime, after emerging from their dens, grizzlies will follow their excellent sense of smell to locate the carcasses of big game animals such as moose, elk, and deer that have died during the winter. As plants begin to green up, they will graze on grasses and other plants at lower elevations in valleys. As spring turns to summer, these bears will generally follow the rising snow line and the greening vegetation to the higher elevations.
During the summer, grizzly bears forage, or feed, on grasses and roots in high alpine meadows and
catch small mammals occasionally, such as ground squirrels. As summer turns to fall, a number of bears can be found rolling over rocks on high-elevation slopes of rock debris to feed on army cutworm moths. The nuts found in whitebark pine cones are another important fall food. Squirrels hide the cones on the forest floor, and grizzly bears raid these stored foods when they find them. Also, many bears will take advantage of a variety of berries, such as chokecherry, serviceberry, currant and hawthorn, as they ripen at the lower elevations in late summer and fall.
Although grizzly bears are not true hibernators (like amphibians that do not wake up for months), they do spend most of the winter sleeping in a den. Bears typically dig their own dens and head in for the winter in early November. During denning, their heart rate drops, breathing slows, and body temperature goes down. All of their bodily functions slow to reduce demands on the stored food supply in their bodies. Over winter, they may lose twenty to thirty percent of their body weight. After sleeping for several months, their muscles are still nearly as strong as when they went into their dens. Humans would lose nearly all their muscle strength in that period of inactivity.
A female grizzly bear, called a sow, will usually have between one and three cubs while in the den in late January or early February. When born, cubs are roughly a foot long and weigh about one pound. They are born helpless, nearly hairless, and with closed eyes. The cubs will nurse on their mother’s milk while in the den and well after they emerge from the den, typically in April.
Most young grizzlies will spend another two full years with their mother, learning how to forage and avoid hazards (usually associated with people or adult male grizzlies), before heading out on their own. Grizzlies are known to live a long time, and some survive as long as thirty years.
While grizzly bears generally choose to avoid people, they are powerful—even dangerous—animals, especially when surprised or when they feel they must protect something, such as their cubs or a food source. Therefore, if we encounter a bear while out hiking, it is always important to give the animal a lot of space so it does not feel threatened.
It is also important that we always take good care of our food and garbage, or anything else a bear may want to eat. For those living in bear country, garbage should always be stored in a bear resistant garbage can in a secure building before pick-up. While camping, food should be made unavailable by storing it in a vehicle while away or hanging it in a tree at least ten feet above the ground and four feet away from the tree trunk. A bear that begins to associate food with people soon becomes very dangerous.
Fortunately, most encounters with bears work out just fine. The bear simply goes about its business and we get a nice wildlife viewing experience. Peaceful coexistence between humans and bears depends on our respect and responsibility.
No other wild animal in North America captures our imagination the way the grizzly bear does. Some people see bears as cute and cuddly. Others see them as fierce and terrifying. The truth is they are simply wild animals doing their best to survive just like all creatures in nature.
They need vast areas of undisturbed wilderness, which means there will likely never be a large number of grizzly bears on the landscape. With an ever-increasing number of humans in our world, providing the space grizzlies need will continue to be a challenge. The future of the grizzly bear is squarely in our hands.
This article was written by Mark Gocke, who is a Public Information Specialist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. He has lived in the heart of grizzly country for nearly twenty years, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Acknowledgements
A Wild Ride: The Adventures of Misty & Moxie Wyoming would still be just an idea without the kindness and support of numerous people. My gratitude to the following for their help:
the extraordinary Sigel family—Harmony, Ed, Moxie and Gus—without them, there would be no novel;
G. Miki Hayden, a most thorough and patient editor, and Mercy Pilkington, who critiqued and edited the novel and goes the distance for her writers;
wonderful friends who served as an informal focus group along the way, including Loring Woodman, who owned the Darwin Ranch for forty years where Misty spent most of her life; water colorist Karen Bruett, who served as a visual sounding board for the novel; horse expert Annah Otis; and Jane Ely, Cindy Grogan, and Helen Zax, the best brainstorming partners a writer could hope for;
a very special book club of young readers in Bernardsville, New Jersey, who provided valuable input early on: Catie Sharp, Charlotte Depew, Cassidy Meeks, and Natalie Fischer, and their moms, who not only coordinated their daughters’ book club, but gave story input, too: Lynn Sharp, Georgiana Depew, Maureen Meeks, Denise Fischer;
and finally, Dan, who encourages my writing and storytelling and believes in me.
Niki Danforth, January 2015
Author
Niki Danforth rode the real-life Misty for many years at the Darwin Ranch in Wyoming. When it was time for this marvelous mare to retire, Danforth moved her to another ranch where Misty met Moxie Wyoming. The friendship between the girl and the little horse inspired the author to write this story.
www.NikiDanforth.com
nikidanforth5@gmail.com
A Note from the Author
Thank you very much for taking the time to read A Wild Ride: The Adventures of Misty & Moxie Wyoming. As a writer, I love receiving feedback on my characters and stories. Also, I’ve lost track of the number of times that my novel has been reread to catch any mistakes. Should you spot a typo or wish to share other thoughts about Moxie Wyoming and her world, please email me at nikidanforth5@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.
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Table of Contents
Horse Talk
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Real-Life Misty & Moxie Wyoming
Mustangs
The Grizzly Bear
Acknowledgements
Author