Comanche!

Sometimes, when we're riding in Fort Ord and especially when night is coming on, I'll tell the kids the story of Comanche. The real story- not that pap printed on the little fakeout memorial at his (not her) grave...
And this is the real story: Once upon a time there was a wild stallion named Comanche. The arrival of settlers in the west caused Comanche to move further and further west, as they encroached on his range. Comanche did not want to become anyone's beast of burden, for he was fierce and independent. Eventually his westward migration ended here on the edge of the Pacific (for obvious reasons), and he grew fiercer and independenter in keeping his range free from Eurotrash who would want to pave over his grassland and harness him to the plow. (The worst of both worlds? paved over farming? consider my audience....it sounds good)
Anyone foolhardy enough to venture into his maritime chaparral was subject to his wrath, which usually resulted in him running them down 'neath his sharp hooves. This was a problem for the Pirates who frequented the area and needed access to bury their ill-gotten booty. The Pirates began hiding their chests under cover of darkness, but Comanche found them and was terrible and dreadful in his anger. So they took to using children, still at night to avoid the sheriff as well, to bury their treasure for them. These children had been kidnapped and forced into servitude. The children had to use torches, since flashlights had not been invented, and one night, they set some oak leaves alight while digging beneath the canopy. Ft. Ord was burned to the ground, and Comanche was killed in the blaze. Legend has it that he haunts the place still, looking for the children responsible for burning his home...
This is a great story, because the grave is Right There. It's incontrovertible proof that Comanche was there, and is a ghost now. And all the hoofprints (from the large number of horse folks riding) around Ft. Ord are the ghostly tracks he leaves. There are many latrine holes left behind, which are now "proof" of the holes dug by Pirates/slave-children because they're exactly treasure chest sized. And the area has been burned many times to look for unexploded ordinance, so there's ample evidence of catastrophic fires...

The kids want to know if Comanche would blame them for burning down his home, even though they had nothing to do with it, and it wouldn't be fair.

I tell them, "Probably."




So while searching for images of "dangerous stallions" this came up. Freaky results on that one.