A cantankerous elderly lady is failing to care for her two
fine Appaloosa horses. She may be going senile. So Ali and
Cara think, anyhow. They sneak into the barn one night and
find the horses are thirsty and starved. Reporting the
matter to Nevada animal control, the girls hope not to get
into trouble.
WIND DANCER is one of the Appaloosas. Ali McCormick
doesn't want a horse after losing her beloved pony. Her
older brother Danny came back from Iraq without a foot and
is refusing to adapt and get on with life. Their parents
are kind and concerned, but busy. Ali researches on the
Internet and finds that Danny probably has PTSD, a
distressing disorder from his combat experience which makes
him so moody and grumpy. When Ali's parents and the Animal
Control veterinarian park the cleaned-up Appaloosas in
Ali's corral, as a temporary home, the girl is told she'll
need to restore them to health very carefully. A special
feeding programme is needed and with lower immunity, they
might get ill. She doesn't know if she can handle the
task. She's only thirteen, and this seems like a lot of
responsibility. The black one can't even eat his alfalfa
hay.
Naming the white mare Misty and the black gelding Wind
Dancer cheers up Ali and her friend Cara, and they start
the painstaking work of refeeding the starved gentle
horses. Danny even gets on the act, not that he'll admit
it. But nobody told Danny about the careful programme to
follow, and he doesn't know that too much food can make the
horses sick. He's only trying to help, but Ali realises
that the family has to communicate better if the horses -
and Danny - are to be restored.
I really liked this book, which is different from the usual
horse-riding adventure tale. The two neglected Appys are
very well portrayed and the reader wants to start feeding
them herself. Ali is a convincing heroine, reluctant to get
into trouble with her parents but determined to do what is
right, even if she doesn't want another horse. Horse-crazy
young adults will love this book and all they can learn
from it, while difficult family relationship issues are
carefully addressed. The author Chris Platt was one of the
first female jockeys in Oregon and she has written several
other YA horse books besides WIND DANCER.
Ali's parents force her to help care for an Appaloosa
suffering from severe neglect and malnutrition. At first
she's reluctant, having already lost her beloved pony in a
traumatic accident, but working with Wind Dancer does
distract her from life at home, where everyone is walking on
eggshells trying to deal with her brother, recently returned
from Iraq with a missing leg and PTSD.
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