Great Horse Stories – short story challenge

Bucephalas is very headstrong and Katherine had a hard job controlling him, which is why “I am the Great Horse” runs to 500 pages. But he is not the only horse in the book! Inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), the Muse thinks it’s only fair to give the other horses in Bucephalas’ herd a chance to tell their own stories. He is therefore launching his very own MuWRiMo (Muse Writing Month) for those of you who don't have the time to write a whole novel.

Your challenge is to choose a horse from the list below and send in a story or poem and/or artwork inspired by that horse’s character. For example, you could write about their life as a foal… imagine what it would be like to ride them yourself… bring your favourite horse into the modern world… or retell one of Alexander’s battles straight from the horse’s mouth... it’s up to you! The Muse will add authors’ names to the list below as horses are chosen and post the stories between now and 21st December (which is National Short Story Day in the UK), so keep checking this post to see which ones are still free. Katherine will write the first one to start you off.

Meet the herd…

AURA – grey mare, Bucephalas’ favourite. Rider: Demetrius.
Katherine Roberts
PETASIOS – chestnut stallion, rider: Hephaestion.
Katherine Roberts
HARPINNA – red speckled mare, rider: Ptolemy.

BOREALIS – brown stallion, rider: Leonnatus.

APOLLO – palomino stallion, rather vain, rider: Perdiccas.

PSYLLA – dark bay mare, rider: Hector (died at River Granicus).

XANTHUS – golden stallion, Bucephalas’ rival, riders: Craterus, Alexander.
Alzrith
HADES – dark bay stallion, rider: Iolaus.

ZEPHYR – dun mare, rider: Philotas, General Parmenio’s son.

ARION – grey stallion, reserve for injured horses.

ELECTRA – black filly, Psylla’s foal by Bucephalas, rider: Demetrius.

HOPLITE – black speckled colt, Harpinna’s foal by Bucephalas.

INDUS – black colt, Aura’s foal by Bucephalas, born in India.

ZOROASTER – white gelding, sacred Persian horse of the sun.
Catdownunder (see comments!)
CASPIA – chestnut filly, who lies down when she smells elephants. Rider: Prince Ochus.

If you want to try getting into your chosen horse’s head, here is the Horse-Human dictionary Bucephalas used in his book:

HORSE - HUMAN
Dominating – Liberating (according to Alexander!)
Dominating (other horse’s) dung – Showing them you're boss
Girl-filly – Girl
Herd – Gang / army / cavalry troop
Make a foal - Strictly censored!
Man-colt - Boy
Mutual grooming - You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours
Squeal - Threat / yell
Squealing match - Argument / yelling match

Send your poems, stories (maximum 1500 words) or artwork to the Unicorn.
Please send text as a Word .doc file and artwork as a .jpg file.
There is no age limit or payment, and you keep copyright.

Most of all, have fun… the Muse looks forward to sharing your creativity on this blog!