Paint the Wind

by Pam Muñoz Ryan

  LOPE A three-beat gait, about 8 to 10 miles per hour. The more extended foreleg is called “the lead.” In English disciplines, the lope is called the canter.

  LUNGE OR LUNGEING Training or exercising a horse, usually on a long lead rope, by standing in the center of an imaginary circle and cueing the horse to move around you in different gaits.

  MARE A mature female horse.

  MUSTANG A wild horse.

  MUZZLE The mouth, jaws, and nose of the horse.

  NEIGH Also called a whinny. Usually used by horses to let others know where they are or when calling to a horse from which they’ve been separated.

  NICKER A gentle call often used as a greeting to herd mates and sometimes to humans with whom a horse is familiar.

  O’KEEFFE, GEORGIA (1887—1986) American artist noted for her symbolic depictions of landscapes, flowers, shells, and animal bones.

  OVERO A horse with the overo pattern can have predominantly dark or light hair. Usually, all four legs are dark and any white markings are irregular and spattered-looking. Generally, the head markings are white, such as a bald-faced horse.

  PAINT Paint horses have the confirmation of a quarter horse. It is believed that Paints are descendants of the mounts brought to what is now the American West by the Spanish conquistadors. Revered by the Native Americans for their rigor, calm disposition, and reputed magical powers, they have also been respected by cowboys and ranchers for their diligence and ability to move cattle. Typically, a Paint horse has tobiano or overo markings.

  PALOMINO A white, tan, or golden color horse with ivory mane and tail.

  QUARTER HORSE OR AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE A breed evolved from crossing the bloodlines of Native American horses with horses of the earliest colonists from England. The quarter horse was so named because it could run a quarter of a mile faster than any other breed. It’s considered a sturdy horse with a quiet temperament and is used in many disciplines.

  REINS The leather straps attached to either side of a bit, by which a rider controls, curbs, or guides a horse.

  REMINGTON, FREDERIC (1861—1909) American painter, sculptor, and illustrator who specialized in scenes of the American West and is notably remembered for his work in bronze statuettes.

  REMUDA A group of horses from which a mount is chosen for the day and then possibly changed out on the next ride.

  RIGGING RING A ring, similar to a belt buckle, on the end of the cinch through which the latigo is threaded and locked into place.

  RUSSELL, CHARLES M. (1864—1926) American illustrator and painter of the American West, famous for his realistic scenes of cowboys, Native Americans, landscapes, and galloping horses. Also known for his bronze sculptures.

  SADDLE PADS Soft coverings designed to protect the horse’s back when saddled.

  SADDLEBRED A gaited breed noted for carrying their heads high. Their bodies are usually slender and agile.

  SADDLETREE The frame of a saddle, usually wooden or fiberglass.

  SARGENT, JOHN SINGER (1856—1925) American painter considered the most talented portrait artist of his time. Also known for his landscapes. His work was solicited by several presidents.

  SELTZER, OLAF (1877—1957) American artist whose talent was evident when he was as young as twelve years old. His art depicts the American West: cowboys, the wildlife of the Plains, Native Americans, and often common people, including immigrants.

  SORREL A standard sorrel horse has an orange body with an orange tail and mane. Also called chestnut.

  STALLION A male horse capable of breeding.

  STIRRUPS Supports hanging from the saddle to hold a rider’s feet.

  TACK To put a bridle and saddle on a horse in preparation to ride.

  TOBIANO A horse with the tobiano pattern is usually distinguished by two colors: white and a darker color. Darker spots are distinctly oval or rounded and extend down the chest and neck in a shieldlike pattern. Usually, the legs are white below the hocks and knees. A tobiano horse will often have the dark color on one or both flanks. The tail can be two colors.

  WALK A slow and steady four-beat gait where the horse travels about 3 to 4 miles per hour.

  WILSON, CHARLES BANKS (b. 1918) American artist who began his career as a book illustrator. Noted for his portraits of Native Americans as well as historical scenes of the American Southwest.

  WITHERS The base of a horse’s neck, the highest part of its back.

  WRANGLER A cowboy, or somone on horseback who rounds up livestock.

  WYETH, N. C. (1882—1945) American painter acclaimed for his still lifes, landscapes, and Americana murals and illustrations. He illustrated more than twenty-five books, including editions of The Yearling, Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, Kidnapped, and Treasure Island.

  about wild horses in America can be found at the following advocate and information agencies, and in the suggested books and videos.

  The Bureau of Land Management

  www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov

  The Cloud Foundation

  www.thecloudfoundation.org

  The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center

  www.pryormustangs.org

  Return to Freedom, the American Wild Horse Sanctuary

  www.returntofreedom.org

  Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies

  Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns

  Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry

  Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies by Ginger Kathrens

  Cloud’s Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns by Ginger Kathrens

  Wild Horses I Have Known by Hope Ryden

  America’s Last Wild Horses by Hope Ryden

  Pam Muñoz Ryan was born and raised in California’s San Joaquin (pronounced wah-kceen) Valley, where the summers are hot, often over 100 degrees. The summer before fifth grade, Pam’s family moved across town, and she became the new girl in the neighborhood. She hadn’t made friends yet, and since her family did not have a swimming pool and the local library was air-conditioned, it became her favorite hangout and her refuge. She went through a stage of reading every horse story she could find.

  Although Pam knew from a young age that some day she wanted a book-related job, she didn’t know that she wanted to be a writer. After college, she worked as a bilingual Head Start teacher in Escondido, California. It wasn’t until after she was married with four young children that she went back to school to get her master’s degree in education and a professor suggested she consider a career in writing. Suddenly, writing was all she could think about.

  More than thirty books later, Pam Muñoz Ryan is the award-winning author of the novels Riding Freedom, Esperanza Rising, and Becoming Naomi Leon, as well as numerous picture books, including Mice and Beans, illustrated by Joe Cepeda; When Marian Sang and Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride, both illustrated by Brian Selznick; and Nacho and Lolita, illustrated by Claudia Rueda. Pam lives in North San Diego County near the Pacific Ocean with her family.

  For more information about Pam Muñoz Ryan, visit her online at www.pammunozryan.com.

  Q: What were you like when you were a child?

  A: I was the one who was in charge. At home I was the oldest of three sisters, and next door to us there lived another three girls, all younger than me, too. Whenever we played together, I decided what we did. I was the director of the play, the conductor of the train, or the heroine who saved the day. I was also the oldest of the twenty-three cousins on my mother’s side of the family. When we had get-togethers at my grandmother’s house, I was the self-appointed leader again. I would say, “Let’s pretend this is a circus or a school or a jungle.” I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already creating stories with a cast of characters. Now, I’m still in charge, but I’m in charge of the characters in my stories.

  Q: Did you ride or spend time around horses when you were growing up?

  A: Only vicariously. As a young girl, I was obsessive about books and I remember reading Marguerite Henry’s King of the Wind, Misty
of Chincoteague, and Justin Morgan Had a Horse. Many of my friends collected Breyer horses, which I loved but couldn’t afford. One of my friends owned a horse, and I can still remember going out to the corral behind her house to pet it. The horse world fascinated me. But it was so far removed from my everyday (and beyond my family’s financial means), that it never occurred to me to ask for riding lessons.

  Q: What classic horse stories did you read (or reread) as you prepared to write Paint the Wind?

  A: I reread dozens of children’s and adult classic horse stories, and contemporary ones as well. I made a list of over thirty titles, and to my surprise, discovered that most featured a boy and a horse: The Red Pony, King of the Wind, The Black Stallion, My Friend Flicka, Seabiscuit, the Billy and Blaze series, and many others. That fueled my desire to put a girl protagonist in a unique and character-strengthening situation. I also noticed that many horse stories ended with an inevitable race or competition and that the value of the horse was often depicted through its ability to win something for the owner. I wanted more than that. I wanted reciprocity — for the human to “win” something for the horse, too.

  Q: How did you become interested in wild horses?

  A: I began researching horses in general, reading nonfiction books about the historical and mythical significance of the species to humans. Many world cultures revered the horse and measured a man’s worth by how many horses he owned. Then I read America’s Last Wild Horses by Hope Ryden and became fascinated with the social dynamics in wild herds and harem bands. I learned about the stallion’s role as protector, the mare’s role as leader, and the alliances made among “sister mares.” I came to appreciate the equine sense of community. Now I understand why people advocate for the protection of wild horses.

  Q: What affected your decision to learn how to ride, especially now, as an adult?

  A: I kept asking myself, “How can I write a book about this character and this horse and not know how to ride?” Besides, here was my chance to live what I thought was a lost dream! I’d been on a horse before, but only a few times. In each of those instances, I sat placidly on a mount that followed a line of horses, nose-to-tail. I needed a different, more hands-on experience. So I approached a trainer, Dana Rullo, in Olivenhain, California, and told her what I needed to accomplish in order to research and write this book. I admitted to her that I’d never had one lesson in my life but that I wanted to learn everything the correct way — no shortcuts. And I asked her to be strict with me. She agreed to train me. She was demanding and thorough and exactly the type of teacher I needed. I took hundreds of private riding lessons from her, sometimes riding three days a week to prepare for the two research rides I’d arranged. I still laugh at all the mistakes I made and how many times Dana said the words, “do-over.” Like my character, Maya, I had to learn that good horsemanship is as much about feeling as it is about thinking.

  Q: Paint the Wind is a departure from your other novels — it’s still your signature storytelling, but the epic Western landscape is new terrain for you. What kind of research did you do to get to know your setting?

  A: I needed to go where my story would be set, or somewhere similar, to see the wild horses in their habitat. So I signed up for two research rides. During the first one (in May 2006, in the eastern Sierra Mountains), the weather turned wet and cold, but our group rode anyway, one day for six hours in freezing rain. I will never forget the moment we finally encountered a harem band: That first sighting was aweinspiring. The horses’ spirits were self-righteous and noble. And I realized how very seldom I have ever seen a large mammal in the wild, living free within its own defined society. That experience also gave me profound respect for the horses’ abilities to withstand the elements and the restraints of man.

  On the second ride (in August 2006, in southwestern Wyoming, near the Red Desert), we rode for eight days. I slept in a tepee, was caught on horseback in a swarm of “mean bees,” bathed in the Sweetwater River, and spent long days in the saddle. In that part of the country, there is much more sky above than there is earth below, and for me, there was something unsettling and settling about the wide open spaces. I wanted to convey that feeling to the reader.

  Q: How did your heroine, Maya, develop?

  A: After researching the wild horses and going on wilderness rides to see them up close, I began to wonder about a young girl who lived a repressed life: one of confinement and loneliness, with no sense of community, which is the opposite of the wild horse world. Then I imagined what it would be like to thrust Maya into a remote and wild setting similar to that of the wild horses. I questioned how she might grow and change under those circumstances. I wanted Maya to discover a sense of community not only with her new family, but with the horse world, and with the land.

  Q: Were there any special challenges in writing Artemisia’s chapters from the point of view of an animal?

  A: The biggest challenge was to avoid giving the horses anthropomorphic characteristics. The book would have been much easier to write if I could have given them human emotions! But that wouldn’t have been true to the animal world. A horse’s sensibility is different from a human’s and I wanted to portray it correctly. I tried very hard to depict appropriate equine responses, but I still left a little room for some creative license.

  Q: The scene in which Maya first learns to lope is exhilarating to read. Did you have a similar experience?

  A: I’ll never forget the time I loped a long distance in Wyoming. We had been out all day for another long ride. Before we headed back to camp, we arrived at a vast grassy plain. We divided into two groups, those who wanted to hold back and those who wanted to move out. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. I moved forward in the saddle. I didn’t have to cue my horse because as soon as one horse started, mine immediately picked up the gait. The remuda horses were amazingly adept at loping over the sagebrush and avoiding holes. We loped faster and faster. It was as if the horses were racing each other in a great arching leaps. I have never ridden so fast or so far in my life. It was frightening and thrilling and invigorating, and … well … I can’t wait to do it again someday. I can’t wait to once more paint the wind.

  Pam Muñoz Ryan’s favorite inspirational quotes have to do with conquering fears of change and of the unknown, and working hard to overcome obstacles. You might want to display some of these quotes above your desk at home or in your locker at school, as a reminder that putting yourself in new and challenging situations can sometimes feel frightening, but will often have exhilarating results.

  “Leap, and the net will appear.”

  — John Burroughs

  “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

  — Gary Player

  “Every great and commanding movement … is the triumph of some enthusiasm.”

  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

  “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 3oo games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

  — Michael Jordan

  “You cannot solve a problem from the same level of thinking that created it.”

  — Albert Einstein

  “If nothing in your life is a challenge, then you are setting your goals too low and your dreams too small.”

  — Pam Muñoz Ryan

  Most trips into the wilderness are much less dramatic — and less dangerous! — than Maya’s. But whenever you go hiking or exploring, you should be prepared. Before you leave, always tell someone exactly where you’re going and what time you are planning to come back. And always bring the right equipment. Survival specialists recommend stocking your day pack with a few small, lightweight items that might come in handy in a survival situation. Before your trip, talk to an adult and make sure you know how to use everything in your kit safely. You can customize your kit to suit your environment and your level of knowledge, but here is a basic list:r />
  proper clothing, including a long-sleeved shirt, an extra pair of socks, and a hat (because most of your body heat escapes through your head)

  a water bottle and water purification tablets

  sunglasses and sunblock

  a compass

  high-energy food, like protein bars, nuts, and dried fruit

  a knife (only if you have practiced with an adult and know how to use one safely)

  a small mirror or something shiny for signaling passing planes, and a whistle to call for help

  extra-large plastic trash bags for building a temporary shelter or for making rain ponchos

  a wilderness first-aid kit, including Band-Aids, moleskin for blisters, and antibiotic cream

  wooden stick matches in a waterproof container (only if you’ve talked to an adult, learned how to start and contain a campfire, and know how to thoroughly put it out when you’re done)

  a metal cup for boiling water or cooking over a fire

  a bandanna, which you can use as a sling or a dressing for a wound, or make into a basket by tying knots at the corners

  a cell phone, if you have one, with a properly charged battery (be aware that cell phone service is not always available, especially in remote areas)

  If you do find yourself in a survival situation, keep in mind that the most important thing to do is stay calm. Sit down, breathe deeply, rest, think, treat any injuries as best you can, and try to make smart decisions. Panicking will only make a bad situation worse.

  When Payton gives Maya her toy horses, he delivers them in a leather drawstring bag. He says that Moose taught him how to cut the leather, punch the holes, and thread the cord. You can make a drawstring bag, too, by following these simple steps. Leather is often expensive to buy and can sometimes be difficult to cut, but you might be able to recycle an old piece of soft leather from a used piece of clothing. Felt is much cheaper and easier to work with. You can also use vinyl, or any sturdy fabric that does not fray too much at the edges when cut. You will need: