Phantom Stallion: Horse abuse is really not ok, ok?

Phantom Stallion 4: The Renegade
Terri Farley
HarperCollins 2003

The Synopsis

When an ambitious rodeo contractor comes to town, Sam worries. The woman wants to buy tamed mustangs from local ranchers, including Sam's dad, and doesn't seem to like taking no for an answer.
Then Sam spots the Phantom's herd- without him. She's sure he's been captured by the rodeo, but how will she find him? And even if she does, how can she set him free?

Oh lordy, the Phantom is in trouble again. It seems like everyone and their cat want this horse. But he's Sam's. You got that?

All in all, a fairly accurate summary, so not much else to be said here.

The Summary
The book opens with Rachel Slocum showing everyone what a spoiled little bitch she is by taking her father's horse, Champ, on a ride without telling anyone. Linc asks Sam and Jake to ride out and find her, which they do... on the floor and having a grand old tantrum. Sam gets all Jealous that Jake and Rachel get to share a saddle. Which is sort of cute, actually. I like how Terri touches on Sam's crush on Jake in this series. They have the classic love-hate relationship going on, which warms the cockles of my heart.

Linc Slocum makes mention about a rodeo contractor, Karla Starr, who is going to be buying some stock for her show from him, and she wants him to throw in a pale mustang to sweeten the deal. Oh, dear. What horse could this be, I wonder?

The next day, Rachel decides to try and coax Sam into teaching her to really ride, while not being upfront about the reasons behind this. Something about the "Best in the West" blah blah blah. She drops hints that the drought might be causing financial trouble for Sam's family and it would be in her best interests to cooperate.

Later Sam and her BBF, Jen Kenworthy, are out riding and find the golden fringe from a show jacket in the middle of the flats. Odd, no? Could Rachel and Karla Starr be connected somehow?

The Phantom almost gets hit by the school bus and Sam gets into big shit for saving him and risking her own life. She gets banned from riding the bus for two weeks, which is no biggie, as well as being confined to the ranch after school. Clever Sam cons Rachel into getting her driver to give both herself and Jen a lift as part of the riding lesson deal.

So, it turns out that Miss Perfect wants to win a Rodeo Queen competition so she can show her English brother, Ryan, that she's a real American cowgirl. So she also enlists Sam's help with finding the perfect horse for her. Joy. You can clearly see who our antagonist is in this series, yes?

Ace, Sam's little mustang gelding, has been escaping from his paddock and Sam begs to take him for a gallop. She and Jake go and we are treated to Sam's thirteen-year old mind's inner workings as she observes Jake ride Teddy. But, a storm breaks, releasing them of the drought, but causing the ground to go slippery. Teddy slips and falls and Jake breaks his leg. But he's all manly about the pain, so Sam is even more in awe of his awesomeness.

So, Jake is bedridden and Sam visits him on his birthday and gives him this bridle she bought him and some info she printed out on Native American trackers that she thought he'd be interested in. I have to say at this point that I really do like how their relationship is written. Terri really has a knack for characterization.

Sam's dad, Brynna and Gran go off to some fair to compete and Sam sneaks out to check and see if the Phantom is still with his herd. He is not and Sam ends up caught in a flash flood trying to save some stupid heifers who think drowning is the way to go.

Dallas, the wise and aged foreman, takes Sam to some local rodeos to look for him and then decided that the best event for him would be the wild horse race. But, no such luck.

Eventually, Brynna gets involved, being a BLM staff member, and they find the Phantom at some rodeo with some stock of Linc's and the shady Karla Starr.

He is released back into the wild and all is well.

Just a side note here, it is very clear that there is romance between Wyatt, Sam's dad, and Brynna. And Sam is not all that thrilled about it.

I like this series. There are some awesome lines and description that far surpasses any other horse series in the YA lit section. Plus, I like Sam. She's not little miss perfect all the time and makes some real human mistakes. And not everything is handed to her on a silver platter. Plus, we are constantly shown that she does not know everything there is to know about riding.

So, yeah. Not a bad book in the series, all in all. But it does get better as Terri settles into things and feels less need to explain the setting and characters.

Related: Phantom Stallion, Mustang Moon

Mustang Moon
Phantom Stallion #2
by Terri Farley

I read this some time ago, so admittedly I don't remember a whole lot. However, I know a diaper is involved, so I'm sure the rest will start revealing itself to me as I go. So, let's head out.

(Just to note: I don't give a crap about these covers, so I'm not going to bother posting them in a position of prominence. Nor am I going to talk about them. Unless, of course, something seriously crazy has to be pointed out.)

When 13–year–old Samantha returns home to her family's cattle ranch in Nevada, she's worried. She moved away two years ago to recover from a bad fall off her beloved mustang, Blackie, and she's still not sure she can get back in the saddle. Her new colt doesn't seem to like her, and the other ranchers treat her like the boss's spoiled daughter, and Blackie has been missing since that fateful day.

But that's just the beginning. When Sam suddenly finds the fate of a mysterious mustang who may or may not be the missing Blackie resting in her hands, she has to learn to be a real cowgirl, ready or not. The classic theme of a girl and her horse is set against a backdrop of mustangs, tumbleweeds, and a West that's still Wild.

I don't really know what this blurb has to do with the book. It's more of a series description than anything else. And it sure as hell isn't helping me remember much about the plot. I will continue anyway, just because it must be done.

Plot:

After the whole issue of Linc Slocum trying to capture Blackie/Zanzibar/The Phantom, the horse pretty much disappears. Being obsessed, Sam is worried about the horse because he doesn't visit her anymore. Or something to that effect. Plus she's been told that she can't roam around at night anymore because that usually tends to get her knocked in the head. Usually by the Phantom, only it's totally accidental and Sam feels the burden of unfairness placed upon her bony, thirteen-year-old shoulders. Poor her.

So, one night as she's all disobeying and such, she sees another stallion trying to beat the crap out of their fence line, freaking out all the horses. This is a big, dark stallion with a gargantuan head, which she immediately names Hammerhead. He goes away, so we can then focus on the fact that suddenly all the other horses don't seem to like Ace anymore. So they make a big to do over this and stick him in a paddock with Sweetheart, who I guess likes everyone and is therefore the social outcast of the group. Then the Hammerhead steals Sweetheart...or maybe he steals Linc's horse first...well, whatever. He steals both of them and that's all that really matters.

Linc Slocum has recently purchased a new racing Appaloosa that Hammerhead takes a liking too. Once he steals her, Linc freaks out and races to catch Sam at her bus stop so he can demand that she call The Phantom down so he can kick that horse's butt. Seriously, do people really think when they make characters do these sort of wacky things that they're actually acceptable and likely to happen in real life? Who can just magically whistle and expect a wild stallion to appear in front of you with a mad person and a bus load of middle school kids staring at you? Everyone knows you can only do that in secret glades with fresh streams running through mountain snow, and only then when you have a generous amount of pixie dust on your person. Also, you have to be in Middle Earth. I mean, we all know that.

Anyway, Linc is about ready to throw a hissy fit in the middle of the road, only to realize that everyone is staring at him, so he decides to go road rage somewhere else. Convinced that The Phantom is the one behind all this horse stealing, he makes up tons of wanted posters and distributes them around town. So The Phantom has a price on his head and is in danger again, only whats her name from the BLM is in DC and I guess there's literally no one else around that can take care of this insanity other than Sam. Which she does by taking a picture of Hammerhead and thus claims the reward. Hammerhead also turns out to be an escaped endurance horse (who, I guess has the sharpest instincts ever, or is unfortunately extremely stupid) and the mares are all returned. Only Linc's Appaloosa is pregnant and he's pretty pissed about this. She's been sullied! What a little slut.

Oh, yeah, and The Phantom and Hammerhead get into a fight and The Phantom wins, but Sam has to doctor him by sticking a diaper to his leg and he's fine. It was really a very slow book.

Related: The Phantom Stallion, The Wild One

Monique sort of challenged me to read the entirety of the Phantom Stallion Series a while back, and I started to and will admit that I'm struggling mainly because I'm trying to read about four books at a time (in general, two of which don't even involve horses so look at me branching out!) and that is difficult, not to mention entirely unreasonable and probably a little obsessive of me. Anyway, here's the first book in Terri Farley's series:

To be blunt, the cover doesn't do a lot for me. The horse isn't a beauty, and I can't help staring at its nose because it's just so...like a cartoon? I can't pinpoint it exactly.

This horse is wild at heart

It's been two years since Blackie, the horse Sam raised from a foal, threw her in a near-fatal accident. She's been separated from her family, her ranch and the wild mustangs she loves. Now she's home again, but her beloved Blackie has been missing since the day Sam was injured.

Then, on the night she returns, a mustang comes to Sam. Is it Blackie, grown up and gone wild? Is it the legendary stallion known as the Phantom? Or could it be both?

Plots:
1. Phantom:

So this wild horse has three names, although it never gets confusing. He's "the Phantom" to mostly everyone as a wild legend, Blackie to the people at River Bend, and Zanzibar to Sam. Having more than one name would then mean he's extra special, sort of like how The Black was also Shetan, and so forth. Phantom/Blackie/Zanzibar is extra extra special, seeing how he has three names.

The story behind this guy is he was Sam's horse previously before an accident caused his escape from River Bend, where I assume he was born. Two years later he's a four-year-old stallion and apparently fantastic enough to have foals and a herd of his own already. Then comes Linc Slocum, who, despite being annoyed by wild horses in general, wants Phantom/Blackie/Zanzibar. There's a lot of general grumbling about this as he tries several different routes toward snatching the horse, none of which work. Phantom/Blackie/Zanzibar ends the book free to rear and play to his wild delight, thanks to Sam.

2. Jake & Sam:

Sam is thirteen and spunky. Jake is sixteen and part Shoshone. Slap another ten years on these kids and we would have a completely different story. Even Sam's grandmother thinks something's up, so apparently she too can see the romance covers featuring heaving bosoms and windblown hair in the future for them. Thankfully we will never see this.

Oddities:

• You know, I'm pretty puzzled over why Sam is wearing a black t-shirt, black jeans and black sneakers too and I live in a "poor man's San Francisco." So, yeah, I'm pretty confused. Unless she's wearing heels and a dress I'm at a loss as to how her outfit is the height of city fashion just because it's black.

• I am so utterly befuddled whenever Wyatt is mentioned simply as "Dad." Not "her dad" or "her father," just "Dad" as if I'm expected to be right there in Sam's head and should know him as my own father also. Sort of like how everyone refers to God. I've never seen this before. It kind of annoys me.

• Astonishing! Ace actually doesn't come rushing over to Sam because he's, like, amazing and special and loves her for no reason. Clearly I've been reading the Thoroughbred Series too much.

• It isn't at first apparent why Sam, Wyatt, and Jake go to the Willow Springs BLM place other than to criticize it and be nasty toward one of the BLM employees. After they leave we discover they were only there in the first place to show it to Sam, so why they couldn't have said that before is anyone's guess.

• I'm pretty sure I've never seen a Quarter Horse with a head like an Arabian, nor have I seen a mustang with the features of an Arabian.

• I was going along just fine with this fall/escaped horse turned feral before the backstory is revealed on the ride. The horse is two, Sam is ten or eleven, and she's riding it bareback off the ranch property with a torn up nightgown serving as the bridle. Yeah, nothing could have gone wrong there at all.

Overall, this book had a Flicka feel to it. I must say, I'm used to the general craziness and sugarcoated goop of the Thoroughbred Series, and despite some randomly placed comparisons to unicorns, princesses, moonlight and silver dust this has been a good change. Sam isn't annoying, despite how many wrong turns she takes, and the lines everyone has are snappy and realistic and sound like people are actually conversing with each other. However, I am a little thrown by the insistence of pitting an adult against a thirteen-year-old girl. This doesn't even work well in the Thoroughbred Series, but here it works even less given how Linc Slocum is so annoying and stereotypical in general. I mean, if I can't lust after him like I can Brad Townsend there is seriously nothing there to entertain me.

(Edited and reposted from Lost Canyon, a now deleted blog.)