The White Stallion

Sheer Determination

The white stallion used its quiet strength and got back up. The white stallion got back up without the help of anything or anyone. What is this story about? The white stallion got back up from where? Well, let’s start this story over again in a different way. Now let’s see. First of all, in all stories there are always three main parts. Number one, or should it be written, part one of the story is the setting. The setting is Houston, Texas. Let’s keep the topic, The Quiet Strength of the White Stallion, the subtopic Sheer Determination and the lead in sentence, the white stallion used quiet strength and  got back up. Maybe put the subtopic in italics for added attention or emphasis on the main topic. For your information the other two parts of a story is the main characters and the plot. The main character is who the story if about and the plot is what the story is about. These story parts should be readily available to you as you read.

The setting of The Quiet Strength of the  White Stallion, Sheer Determination, is Houston, Texas at an animal shelter. A white off-colored stallion has been brought into the animal shelter for treatment. What happened? By the looks of the white stallion, the poor thing epitomizes the phrase cruelty to animals and looked in need of  muscular strength and strength  training equipment. The color of the white stallion is almost silver because the owner neglected supplying strength training routines and  nutrients that would provide for a glossier, shinier, perfectly white coat. However, the eyes of the animal are alert with life. As with most abused animals, feelings of anguish are felt by the caregiver at the animal shelter upon seeing the neglected white stallion's condition. The rib cage of the sad looking animal with the alert eyes visibly shows the skeleton underneath. The horse’s coat is thinly draped and seems washed out. There are vertebrae clearly showing along the long back that seemingly had not been draped with a saddle for some time.

If you were in a science class and the science teacher asked you if the white stallion was a mammal or some other form of species, your immediate answer would be “mammal.” Mammals are species that have vertebrae and the vertebrae which normally does not show, clearly aligned the back bone down to the patch of fat in front of the butt on the white stallion.

One would wonder with nature’s natural supply of green grass as an available snack, where did the uncaring owners store the white stallion? The off coat  showed that the  white stallion was obviously stored and not allowed to graze the grass for a taste of nature’s natural givings. The white stallion must have been kept in some sort of barn or small enclosure without bales of hay in which to eat. The hip and pelvic bones were also visibly prevalent on the huge very slim white stallion. The white stallion looked like a big stuffed animal, the ones you see at toy  but with all of the stuffing pulled with just the frame showing and a slithery of off white covering.

On close observation, the caregiver notices that the white stallion left back leg was slightly damaged. There was no limp, just the caregiver’s sighting of the flaw and quickly fixing it with a bandage. The white stallion, now at the animal shelter, whose caregivers aptly named Silverado, walked into his place of rehabilitation without incident but with a certain quiet strength. The broadcast on the television set showed the people at the animal shelter talking about the dilapidated condition of the white stallion, Silverado. Why doesn’t the caregivers at the animal shelter get on with their job of preventing cruelty and rescuing the animal by having the animal treated immediately instead of doing all that talk about the animal’s condition. As if reading the viewer’s minds through the TV cathode ray tube, Silverado in its ailing state, put its head down and snacked on a natural patch of green grass at the shelter.

The first night at the animal shelter was eventful for Silverado. The hurt left leg needed support the following day. A veterinarian who looked like he had seen a lot of these white stallions needing muscular strength  would have been oblivious in making a decision to put any Silverado out of its misery. The vet was probably in his early fifties with hair cut short to appear as though he was hiding his balding head. He was small featured and ingeniously sought help from another vet who erected a bungee cord to hold the ankle and the hoof of the animal together. Once built the bungee cord looked part of strength training equipment. The many adventures of the bungee cord continues. But that is another story. The strength training equipment did the job because  Silverado walked more confidently with the bungee-corded leg and ankle brace.

Silverado climb to quiet strength had not yet been reached.  The vet discovered a blockage in its nostrils that had to be pumped out through a long tube. Talk about disgusting. The yellow corded phlegm rolled through the tube and into the bucket out of the blocked area of the Silverado's body. Pump. Pump, Pump went the bald headed vet as he pumped the phlegm out of the its  nostril, as if pumping water from a well instead of an animal. The vet  was the professional, so he did what he had to do to clear the blockage. Viewers must have turned their heads away from the television set during this part of Silverado’s ordeal. The vet inserted that rubber tube into the nostril like the filling  station attendants insert that long tube of piping to fill up the tanks embedded on service station's pavement. But this time, the vet was painstakingly draining through the Silverado's nostrils and just as insensitive as the filling station workers..

The vet’s job finished, Silverado retired for the night. Circumstances were not over to get Silverado to quiet strength. Some time during the night, the strength training equipment what ever you would want to call it, came off of Silverado;s already thin, sickly and malnourished body, crumbled to the floor of the barn-like building that had been its sanctuary. The vet at the animal shelter surrounded the Silverado's whole body in iron bars hanging from the ceiling encasement for bodily support. This particular contraption was set in place to keep the horse standing and to build muscular strength.  The fall from the night caused the horse’s silvery off-colored coat to be scraped almost to the bones. The horse had grappled with the strength equipment  and added to its frail and fragile condition. The huge iron harness worked fine and the vet gave the animal 48 hours or 2 days to recuperate.

The vets seem to always give the animals at the animal shelter 48 hours or 2 days to improve from health problems. Unknowledgeable of the sentences given to improve, Silverado amazingly improved on its muscular strength, its weight and nutritional intake. The White Stallion had conquered the vet’s time restraint of recuperation unknowingly. After all, Silverado is just a horse.

However, there was a final test that Silverado had to take and pass testing for muscular strength. The Silverado had to get down on the ground and get back up without any help from the caregiver at the animal shelter or the veterinarian. That eventful day came as the two watched Silverado gallop painfully and slowly around the white fenced grassy enclosure at the animal shelter. Down he went on the small enclosed field, landing on his hips with the slowly healing hurt left ankle beneath its body.

A human being having been sustained with strength training equipment and strength training routines would not have been so tolerable. The vet and caregiver watched as the Silverado struggled to build on its muscular strength and to  get back up. Who knows what would happen if the  white stallion just laid there waiting for help? Would further strength training routines be required? Would the white stallion benefit from all the strength training routines and the strength training equipment?  It was still thin, frail and fragile. Would the seemingly unfeeling vet throw in the towel and make that ultimate decision? What would happen if the animal did not with quiet strength get back up without help from the two humans who had strengthed it back to health?

Back to the story. Down went Silverado, falling right on the hurt left leg and still craggy body landing on the grassy domain. With the two front hoofs firmly planted, the horse wiggled from right to left trying desperately to use its frail front body to lift the upper pad-deficient rump off of the grassy domain. Even though the horse had been mal-nourished by its previous owners, the rump of the horse was still fairly large in comparison to the legs. Horses have the stately walking gate and pace of a high fashion super model. The precision of each leg and joint movement proves that though the white stallion's legs may be bony and knobby, there were strength and muscle prevalent.

Quiet strength  is what could not be seen or fathomed because after all, this story is again about a horse.  This story is not about a human being who can inspire himself or ask for strength and determination from a higher power. This story is about the physical strength and endurance of a white stallion who by strength of nature had survived abusive owners until help came from the animal shelter and the vet..

This story is about a white stallion that though stately born (How many white stallions are there around nowadays?) was abused and mistreated in a world full of green grass in which to feed if not manufactured hay. This story has enormous human quality and human interest with courageous implications. But looks folks; let’s not forget that the prose here is about a white stallion , though domesticated.

Back to the story. Silverado slung the left hip to the right frantically trying to get back up. The legs buckled and Silverado put all of its strength on the front hoofs and desperately with all bones and muscles of his upper rib cage, though some of the vertebrae were still showing, tried to get back up without the help of the caregiver, the veterinarian, or the huge iron harness. The face of the caregiver looked like the cheerleader that Silverado desperately needed at that time as she looked at him struggle with eyes full of tears. She knew that she could not help Silverado because of the vet’s instruction. Silverado’s hip was rising up from the left to center in conjunction with the two bony front legs.

There, Silverado, did it. Silverado, the white stallion lifted himself and got back up with quiet strength and  determination. Let’s add Silverado,  lifted itself up by its two front hoofs. No pun intended. The caregiver and the TV viewers were inundated with glee and happiness. Silverado gets to live and to eventually get to be adopted by a loving family. Who would not want a healthy well-adjusted rare white stallion?

Silverado picked himself up and got back up with quiet strength and sheer determination. The caregiver hoped the white stallion could do it with all of the life she saw in those alert eyes as it was suffering. The caregiver hoped Silverado could get back up from the grassy domain without a sound or a neigh and did not disappoint the caring caregiver.

Quiet strength and sheer determination lifted Silverado and inspired viewers. That is the distinct difference between Silverado and humans. Human beings can be inspired. Silverado’s dependence on sheer determination, physical strength and quiet strength made the comeback that inspired millions of TV viewers.