Changing Leads
Page 20
Sort of like a minivacation, she thought as she grabbed a soft brush out of her grooming kit and set to work on Starlight’s face. He needs a change of scenery. Something that will be fun and interesting for him, to refresh him and get him back in the mood for work.
Starlight snorted and jerked his head slightly as she moved the brush a little too close to his eye. “Oops. Sorry, boy,” she said automatically, patting him and switching to the other side of his face. But she wasn’t really seeing Starlight standing there in front of her. She was picturing Samson, trying to figure out the best course of action for that day’s session.
I haven’t done that much cross-country or trail work with him, she thought. That’s probably a mistake. He needs to have varied enough experience to prepare him for any strange-looking jump a course designer can come up with in the show ring.
Carole nodded thoughtfully as she slowly brushed Starlight’s cheek. In show jumping, course designers used a variety of methods to test the horses that would be attempting their course. Besides varying the distances between obstacles and adding other challenges such as combinations or water elements, the designer could also create unusual-looking, odd-shaped jumps to test the horse’s concentration and obedience to its rider. Samson would have to be ready for all that when he returned to the show ring, and viewing plenty of unusual, unexpected, even frightening items in the real world—fallen logs, natural streams, man-made gates and walls—was one way Carole could help prepare him.
Carole stood on tiptoes so that she could see over Starlight’s head and down the aisle to the main door. It looked just as sunny and pleasant outside as it had been an hour before when she’d been out with Starlight. That’s what we’ll do today, she decided, feeling pleased. A nice leisurely trail ride will be a break in routine for both of us. And if we take the mountain trail, I can even get in some of that hill work I was planning.
She smiled at that thought. The mountain trail, which snaked through the woods and climbed a series of steep hills to a high, rocky spot with a fantastic view of the surrounding woodland, was one of her favorites out of the many trails near Pine Hollow. Exploring it with Samson would be an absolutely wonderful way to spend a gorgeous sunny afternoon. In fact, she couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do.
“Okay, Starlight,” she said, giving her horse’s face one last quick swipe with the brush. “I think we’re just about done here.”
She tossed the brush back into the grooming bucket and glanced around the stall. She had mucked out a few minutes before and there was a fresh flake of hay in his hayrack, so all she had to do was refresh the water bucket hanging in the corner and she would be free to go tack up Samson for their ride.
She slung the grooming kit over one arm and grabbed the water bucket with her other hand, grunting slightly under its weight.
“Guess you weren’t too thirsty today, huh, boy?” she commented to Starlight. She knew his light workout probably had something to do with that, but again, she pushed that out of her mind.
She ducked under the webbing at the front of the stall and set the grooming bucket down, then hoisted the water bucket and started down the aisle toward the faucet at the end of the U-shaped stable area, doing her best not to slosh water on her clothes.
“I don’t know why Max doesn’t just put in automatic waterers,” she muttered. “Practically every other stable around here has them, and it would sure make things easier for all of us—not to mention keeping us a lot drier.” It was tempting to dump the water out right where she was instead of carrying it all the way over to the drain beneath the faucet, but she knew Max frowned on that. She peered down at the water in the bucket. It didn’t look as though Starlight had taken more than a sip or two since she had filled it earlier that day. For a change, there weren’t even many stray specks of hay or straw floating on the top. Usually Starlight was a slob when it came to drinking, polluting his bucket with bits of whatever he had been eating or sniffing at most recently.
As Carole staggered around the corner and came in sight of the faucet area, she also came in sight of Ben Marlow. He was standing in front of the faucet watching a burly older man in a tool belt tap at the pipe leading up from the cement floor.
“What’s going on?” Carole asked, lowering her bucket carefully.
Ben looked up. “Drain’s clogged,” he reported in his usual succinct manner. His dark eyes shifted to the bucket at Carole’s feet and he shrugged. “You’ll have to use the sink in the tack room for now.”
The plumber glanced up at Carole over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, miss,” he said in a deep, cheerful voice. “It’s nothing serious. I’ll have this baby fixed in no time. Half an hour, tops.”
Carole weakly returned his smile. “Okay,” she said. “Urn, thanks.” With a groan, she reached down and hoisted Starlight’s water bucket once again.
Great, she thought impatiently as she started the long trek back down the aisle. Just my bad luck. Now she had to traverse the entire length of the stable aisle, passing Starlight’s stall halfway down, then cross the entryway and go down another hallway to the tack room. It wasn’t really very far, but just at the moment, with a full water bucket that felt heavier with every step—not to mention a mind full of eager plans for her ride with Samson—it seemed miles away.
She glanced around furtively, suddenly realizing she was alone in this part of the stable. She could move a lot faster if she just dumped out the old water right here. Nobody would ever know. And as she had noted, the water was relatively clean. She was sure Starlight didn’t have any communicable diseases. What would be the harm?
Just as she was about to tip the water onto the dirt floor, Starlight stuck his head out of his stall and pricked his ears toward her. When she saw him, a new idea popped into her head. She glanced once more at the water in the bucket.
It really is almost perfectly clean, she told herself. I mean, it would probably get more dust and dirt and gunk in it in the walk from the tack room than is in there right now. Maybe I should just return it as is and be done with it.
The idea was tempting—very tempting. Max normally insisted on having the water for all his horses changed at least three times a day. But Carole knew that a lot of other horse owners didn’t bother with that. If they didn’t have automatic watering systems, they simply checked their horse’s water supply throughout the day and changed it as necessary.
And right now, it’s not really necessary, is it? she thought, taking another few steps toward Starlight’s stall. Besides, Starlight isn’t Max’s horse. He’s mine. I should be able to judge when his water needs replacing.
She nodded, mostly satisfied with that logic. Ignoring the quivering speck of doubt in the back of her mind, she set the bucket down outside the stall and unhooked the webbing. Then she bent down to pick up the bucket one more time. However, as she lifted it and stepped forward into the stall, pushing aside Starlight’s inquisitive nose with her shoulder, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye.
She gulped, suddenly feeling irrationally guilty. Don’t be ridiculous, she assured herself as she hurried across the stall to place the water bucket in its usual spot. You’re not doing anything wrong. Besides, what you saw was probably just another horse sticking its head out over the door.
But as she gave Starlight a quick pat and stepped past him and out of the stall, she saw that it hadn’t been a horse after all. Ben was walking down the aisle toward her, staring her way with a surprised expression on his face.
Carole felt her face grow hot as she swung the wooden stall door shut behind her. She couldn’t believe her bad luck. Ben had seen her going into Starlight’s stall with that water bucket—and he would have known there was no way she could have gone to the tack room and back so fast. He must have guessed exactly what she had done.
“Hi,” he said as he reached her. He stopped and glanced over her shoulder into Starlight’s stall.
“Hi,” Carole muttered in return, n
ot quite meeting his eye. She grabbed the grooming kit, which was still sitting where she had left it. “Well, see you.”
Ben didn’t respond, and Carole was careful not to look back as she fled down the aisle toward the tack room. She wasn’t sure why she was so embarrassed. It wasn’t as if Ben had caught her doing anything truly bad. So why had he looked at her as if he had?
I guess he’s just Mr. Perfect, she thought sullenly. Well, not everybody can be Superstablehand all the time, like him. If he doesn’t like that, it’s his problem, not mine.
She sped around the corner, out of range of what she imagined was his disapproving gaze. Only then did she allow herself to relax and slow her pace. She wanted to forget about the encounter with Ben. There were too many other things to think about. More pleasant things. Starting with tacking up Samson …
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About the Author
Bonnie Bryant is the author of over one hundred forty books about horses, including the Saddle Club series and its spinoffs, the Pony Tails series and the Pine Hollow series. Bryant did not know very much about horses before writing the first Saddle Club book in 1986, so she found herself learning right along with the characters she created. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, Bonnie Bryant Hiller. Bryant was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives today.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1999 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-5388-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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