But another part of Stevie’s mind stayed surprisingly calm. That part knew that there was only one thing to do. And that part retained control.
“Don’t worry, Elaine,” Stevie said. “We’ll be right there.”
TEN MINUTES LATER, The Saddle Club was back at the stable. Lisa was wearing the infant carrier with Maxi in it, and she stood back and watched as her friends hurried to tack up Starlight and Belle.
“I’m still not sure this is a good idea,” she said worriedly as Stevie rushed by with Belle’s bridle slung over one arm and her saddle balanced over the other. Carole was right behind her with Starlight’s tack. “We could try calling Max at the restaurant. I bet he and Deborah would get back here as quickly as they could.”
Stevie shook her head. “It wouldn’t be quick enough,” she said. She tossed Belle’s saddle over the door of her stall and led the mare out into the aisle. The horse seemed surprised at the late-night outing, but she stood calmly while Stevie bridled her and then tossed her lead line to Lisa to hold while she hoisted the blanket, saddle pad, and saddle onto Belle’s back. “It would take them at least forty-five minutes, even without the holiday traffic and bad weather. Besides, we might not be able to reach them right away if they’re in the middle of the show.”
“But it may not be safe …,” Lisa began helplessly. She glanced down at Maxi. With all the excitement, the baby was wide awake once again. She stared around with wondering eyes as Carole bustled past, carrying a fistful of lead lines.
“I’ll bring these along. Elaine said her tack room is in bad shape, right?” Carole asked Stevie.
Stevie nodded as she cinched Belle’s girth. “It sounds like most of it got crushed under the fallen roof,” she said. “I can carry some of those if you want.” She tucked a few of the lead lines into the pocket of Max’s warmest coat, which she had borrowed from the front closet. It was a little big on her, but she was sure she could still ride in it. And she definitely needed something warm for this job.
“You don’t mind staying with the baby, do you, Lisa?” Carole asked, glancing over her shoulder at her friend.
Lisa shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “I mean, someone has to. And your horses are much more reliable than Prancer would be for something like this. So it’s the logical choice. But I’m still not sure you’re going to be able to get all those horses back through the woods by yourselves. Elaine can’t ride with her broken leg, so it will just be the two of you.”
Hedgerow lay less than two miles from Pine Hollow as the crow flew. By the winding country roads of the area, however, it was much farther. In fact, the only thing lying between the two stables was the thickly wooded parkland that began just behind Max’s house. Stevie and Carole had decided that they could herd Elaine’s horses along the main trail through those woods. The path had two advantages. It was a popular hiking spot, so it was worn smooth enough to offer little danger of injury to the horses’ delicate legs and feet. And for most of its length it was flanked by enough trees and underbrush to discourage even the most skittish horse from running off from the group.
As soon as she had hung up the phone with Elaine, Stevie had pointed out that the wooded trail was the best—perhaps the only—option open to them. The Hedgerow horses couldn’t stay in their old stable that night, for obvious reasons. Their new stable wasn’t anywhere near finished. And the weather was too severe for them to stay outdoors, even for one night. That left Pine Hollow, which had enough empty stalls to house most of the horses. The rest could stay in the indoor ring.
The trouble was getting them there. Elaine couldn’t drive a horse van with her broken leg, and the girls were too young to drive. And even if they could locate an adult with a license on this holiday evening, they would only be able to transport a few horses at a time. It would be better to get them all inside as soon as possible, especially since they were bound to be worked up and sweaty from fear and excitement after the collapse of the roof. The trail was their best hope.
Carole paused and thought about what Lisa had just said. Even after the swamp fever disaster, Hedgerow had almost two dozen horses living in the stable. How would she and Stevie be able to herd them all back to Pine Hollow? Especially if any of them were injured …
“It really would be safer with three people,” Carole agreed slowly. “That way one of us could lead the way, another could bring up the rear, and the third could stay in the middle to reassure the horses and keep an eye on them in case any tried to get away.”
Stevie shrugged. “We’ll just have to make do,” she said. “Even if it means making two or three separate trips. We can’t leave Maxi here by herself. Maybe Lisa can try my house again in a few minutes.” The girls had tried to reach Stevie’s parents, hoping they could step in as baby-sitters. But the line had been busy, and Stevie had guessed that Chad and his friends were making some prank phone calls of their own.
“Anyway, I guess Prancer really would be pretty useless out there,” Lisa admitted. Thanks to Lisa’s hard work with her, the mare had become much better about staying calm and obeying her rider. But in an emergency situation, Lisa wasn’t sure she could control her adequately. The mare was still too green.
Carole shrugged. “I wish that were our only problem,” she said. “If it were, you could just ride a different horse.” She nodded toward the baby. “That’s the real problem. We have a responsibility here and nobody to help us out.”
“It’s too bad Maxi’s not a few years older,” Stevie said with a weak grin. “Otherwise she’d be able to ride along and help us out. In fact, she’d probably be leading the way in typical Regnery style.”
Carole grimaced. “Oh, right,” she said sarcastically. “I’m sure Deborah would love that …”
Her voice trailed off. She was staring at Maxi. Or, more specifically, at the carrier that Maxi was snuggled into. What if …?
“I have an idea,” she said. “It may be a little crazy, but it just might work.”
“How ARE YOU doing back there, Lisa?” Stevie asked, twisting around on Belle’s back to talk to her friend, who was riding behind her.
“So far, so good,” Lisa said. “You were right about Topside. He’s really alert!”
“Good,” Carole called from behind Lisa. “I was a little worried, since you’ve never really ridden him before. But his training could come in handy on the way back.”
The three girls were trotting briskly down the wooded trail on their way to Hedgerow Farms. Lisa was riding Topside, one of Max’s school horses. Like Prancer, Topside was a Thoroughbred. Unlike Prancer, however, he had been trained for the show ring, not the racetrack. In fact, he had once belonged to one of the top competitive riders in the country. Stevie had ridden Topside regularly before buying Belle, and although the tall bay gelding definitely had a mind of his own, he was also one of the most responsive and intelligent horses she had ever known. That was why she and Carole had chosen him for Lisa tonight. They would need smart and obedient horses to keep the frightened Hedgerow herd in line. Lisa had been a little nervous about riding the spirited gelding. But after a few minutes on his back, she had started to relax, delighted with his responsiveness. He wasn’t the easiest horse she had ever ridden, but her riding had improved a lot lately. She could handle him.
Carole signaled for Starlight to lengthen his stride a bit more as the others pulled farther in front of her. Then she looked down. Maxi looked back up at her, her eyes wider and brighter than ever.
“Hey, you guys,” Carole called to her friends. “I think Maxi likes riding!” As soon as Carole had mentioned her idea to bring Maxi with them in the infant carrier, Lisa had remembered something. Deborah had told her that Max kept threatening to take the baby for a ride in the carrier, and that had been all the encouragement The Saddle Club had needed. They would bring the baby with them!
Since Carole was the best rider of the three, she had volunteered to be the one to carry Maxi. And so far, the experiment had gone very well. Sh
e had been worried about jostling Maxi while mounting, so Stevie had held the carrier until Carole was safely in the saddle. Then it had been a simple matter to take the carrier and fasten it on while Lisa held Starlight’s head to keep him still.
Of course, that hadn’t stopped all three girls from pausing for longer than usual at the lucky horseshoe. The battered shoe nailed to the wall by the door was Pine Hollow’s lucky charm. No one who had touched it before setting off on a ride had ever been seriously hurt. The girls hoped its luck would help them tonight. Carole even stretched Maxi’s little arm to brush the horseshoe with the baby’s fingertips.
“You’re never too young for good luck,” she had told Maxi.
Now she glanced down at the baby again. Despite all The Saddle Club’s jokes, Carole had been afraid that Maxi wouldn’t like riding. Starlight’s gaits felt very smooth and easy to Carole, but she knew that a tiny baby might have a different opinion.
Maxi, however, didn’t seem to mind the jostling and bouncing one bit. If anything, she appeared to be enjoying herself.
“I guess that Superbaby thing was no fluke,” Carole called ahead to Stevie, remembering the swooping and swaying game Stevie had invented earlier. “Maxi likes action and excitement.”
“Of course she does,” Stevie called back, sounding a bit smug. “I could have told you that. She’s a natural horsewoman, after all.”
Carole laughed. She took both of Starlight’s reins in one hand so that she could tug the baby’s hat a little lower over her forehead and ears. Fortunately, the wind really had died down for the moment, and the air, while still cold, was no longer as biting as it had been earlier that evening. Still, the girls hadn’t taken any chances. Maxi was bundled up as tight as ever.
“Snug as a bug in a rug,” Carole murmured, remembering the phrase her father sometimes used when he tucked her in at night.
The three girls covered the miles to Hedgerow as quickly as possible. Finally the woods started to thin out and lights twinkled at them through the trees.
“There’s Hedgerow,” Stevie said, urging Belle into a canter. “Let’s go.”
The others followed. Carole checked on Maxi, who was fine. Then she glanced forward to check on Lisa. She looked as comfortable on Topside as if she’d been riding him for years. Carole looked farther ahead at the buildings that were just becoming visible as the three horses left the tree line behind and cantered side by side across a small pasture.
What she saw made her gasp in horror. She had seen the big, old-fashioned stable at Hedgerow many times. But she had never seen it looking like this.
The main length of the building stretched across the flat ground just ahead of them. The left side of the stable looked much the same as always. But the right side, which, as Carole knew from previous visits, held the main stable entrance as well as the tack room, a small indoor exercise ring, and a few big box stalls, looked as though a giant had wandered by and stomped on it. A large section of the roof had ripped free and caved into the stable in huge, jagged chunks. Several pieces stuck up at odd angles, while others had disappeared entirely into the building’s interior.
“I hope there were no horses in the stalls on that end,” Carole said, staring at the destruction.
The others just nodded grimly and kept riding.
When they got closer, Carole spotted Elaine. The woman was hobbling awkwardly out of the smaller back entrance on the far left side of the stable. She had one crutch tucked under her arm, and her other hand was clutching a lead line. A small bay horse was on the other end of the line, dancing nervously and rolling its eyes until the whites showed.
“Hold this,” Stevie said. In one smooth motion, she leaped out of Belle’s saddle and tossed the reins to Lisa, who caught them expertly.
Stevie rushed forward to help Elaine. Soon she had taken the bay horse’s lead and was coaxing it toward a small paddock that lay between the back entrance of the stable building and the long, low-slung house where Elaine lived. Carole could see that there were already more than half a dozen horses milling around in the paddock.
“It looks like you’ve been busy,” Carole called as Elaine approached The Saddle Club’s horses, leaning heavily on her single crutch. When Elaine got closer, Carole noticed that the woman’s forehead was beaded with sweat.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Elaine gasped. “I’ve been doing the best I can to get them out, but I feel like I’m going to collapse. I’ve called the police for help, but they’re not sure when they can get here. I guess this is a busy night for them.”
Carole was already unhooking the straps of Maxi’s carrier. “Go inside and rest,” she ordered Elaine. “And take this baby with you. She shouldn’t stay out here in the cold.”
Elaine looked startled, but she reached out to take Maxi as Carole carefully handed down the carrier. “Who is this?” she asked.
“It’s Max’s daughter, Maxi,” Stevie said as she rejoined them. “I told you we were baby-sitting, remember?”
Elaine smiled for a split second as she glanced down at Maxi, who stared back up at her curiously. Then the woman looked over at what remained of her stable, and her face grew grim once again.
“I’ve got to get off this leg for a few minutes,” she said. “But I’ll be back out to help as soon as I can. I’ll rig up something inside that will make do as a playpen. Okay?”
Carole nodded. She couldn’t imagine that Elaine would recover anytime soon. But she didn’t say so. “Sounds good,” she said.
“I’ve been bringing out the horses closest to the door first,” Elaine told them as she hooked the straps of the infant carrier around her shoulders and then grasped her crutch tightly again. “There’s a lot of debris farther in, and with this leg I haven’t been able to get back there. So I don’t know if …” Her voice trailed off, and her face twisted with pain. This time, the girls were pretty sure her broken leg had nothing to do with it. She was afraid for her horses, afraid that some of them might have been injured in the accident—or worse.
“We’ll do everything we can,” Lisa assured her quickly. They couldn’t promise any more than that.
“Okay,” Elaine said. “But keep your riding hard hats on, just in case. And be careful. If the wind starts up again, come right out. I don’t want you to take any chances.”
The girls were already busy tying their horses’ lead lines to a nearby fence post. Then Carole handed Lisa a few of the extra lead lines she had brought, and the girls raced toward the stable.
Miraculously, the electric lights hadn’t gone out in the collapse. As they entered through the back door, they saw that the stable aisle was brightly lit.
It was also noisy. Terrified whinnies and neighs came from every side. Several horses had their heads stuck out over their half doors as far as they could reach. Carole could only assume that the others were huddled in the backs of their stalls. At the far end of the aisle, she saw where the collapse had taken place. Dust was still floating, obscuring her view, but she could see the jagged edge of a large piece of roof. She shuddered, thinking how close it had come to the farthest stall in the row.
“Uh-oh,” Stevie said, pointing to a stall about halfway down the aisle.
The others looked and immediately recognized the problem. A large gray horse had managed to get one of its forelegs hooked over the top of the half door.
Carole was already running down the aisle. “He must have been rearing in the stall,” she shouted. “Quick—we’ve got to calm him down before he breaks that leg.”
The horse was terrified. He neighed repeatedly as the girls approached.
Carole forced herself to slow down as she neared the stall. She began talking soothingly to the animal, hardly noticing what she was saying.
The horse pricked his ears toward her, seeming to listen. He stopped thrashing about almost immediately.
“It’s okay, boy,” Stevie said, adding her own soothing voice to Carole’s. “We’re here to help.”
“I know this horse,” Carole said quietly, keeping her voice as soft and gentle as before. “Judy had to give him some shots last summer, and I helped. We may be okay. He’s actually very calm, and he loves people.”
Her words were soon proved correct. As soon as the girls touched him, the gray horse seemed to understand that they were there to help. Unhooking his leg was tricky, but the horse was cooperative, and the girls managed it.
“I’ll take him out,” Lisa said. There was a halter hanging beside the stall door. Lisa slipped it on the gray and hooked a lead line to it. The horse followed her without protest.
“That’s one down,” Stevie said. “Let’s hope the others are all that appreciative.”
They weren’t. Some of the panicky horses did their best to kick or bite the girls who were trying to rescue them. Others backed into the farthest corners of their stalls and tried to elude them. But most seemed eager to escape from their suddenly terrifying stable and followed gladly as the girls led them, one by one, to the small paddock outside.
As she released a relatively calm Appaloosa mare into the now crowded paddock, Carole paused to scan the growing herd. So far they had been lucky. A few of the horses had cuts or bruises from throwing themselves around in their stalls. But none of the horses the girls had released so far seemed to have sustained any more serious injuries.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Carole muttered, crossing her fingers as she ran back to the stable to rejoin her friends.
She found that Stevie had just hooked a lead line to a plump gray pony. Despite his rather sleepy appearance, the little horse let out a quick buck and kick as Stevie tugged on the line.
“I’m glad Elaine hasn’t replaced her stallion yet,” Stevie said, taking a firmer grip on the line. “Otherwise we might have some real problems.”
Holiday Horse Page 8