“What’s a hand gallop?”
“That means it’s very controlled,” Lisa told him. “Anyway, I wouldn’t count on it. They don’t usually ask for it in the novice classes.”
Carole considered the possibilities the show would offer. “The serpentine class is ridden at a canter.”
“That sounds cool.”
“Can you do a flying lead change?” Lisa asked.
“What?”
Stevie smiled knowingly. “The class is about weaving your horse through a series of standing poles while at the canter, but the really tricky part is getting the horse to change leads every time he goes around one. We call that a flying lead change.”
“And a lead would be what, exactly?”
“When a horse canters, one of his front legs strikes the ground first,” Carole explained. “If it’s his right leg, then he’s on a right lead; if it’s his left leg, then he’s—”
“On his left lead,” Zach finished for her. “I think I could handle that.”
“We can go over the list of classes when we get back to the stable,” Carole offered. “Maybe then you’ll get an idea of what you’re interested in.”
“Oh, I know what I’m into,” he said, grinning. “I feel the need for speed. Wouldn’t this be a perfect place for a gallop?”
They were entering a grassy open field. The Saddle Club had been through it dozens of times, so they knew it was perfectly safe to let the horses out.
“We usually stick to a canter when we’re on a trail ride,” Carole said cautiously.
“Oh come on, C, lighten up,” he coaxed.
“I think it would be okay for a little bit,” Stevie said.
“Are you up for it, Lisa?” Carole asked.
Lisa nodded.
“Okay,” Carole agreed.
Even as the words left her mouth, Zach yelled, “Yahoo!” and kicked Barq into a gallop. The three girls were a little startled. Since Zach wasn’t familiar with the terrain, it would have been wiser for one of them to lead the way. With no alternative, the three of them went after him.
Feeling the rush of the wind in her face, Carole leaned forward, urging Starlight to go faster. He snorted and responded with a burst of speed. Up ahead she could see Zach as he raced along. His riding showed not a drop of style, but she had to admit that he had a great seat and seemed absolutely fearless.
Stevie pulled even with her and the two of them shared a smile. Galloping was fun but it could also be dangerous, and a fall at this speed could have serious consequences. Carole decided they had better slow down. She managed to close the distance between her and the racing boy. “Zach!” she yelled. “Hold up!”
With obvious reluctance Zach reined Barq to a halt. The horse bounced around on his feet, too wound up from the run to stand completely still. Carole noticed Zach was having a hard time holding him in place.
Smiling and breathless, Stevie and Lisa joined them. Their faces were flushed and their eyes glittering from the sting of the wind.
“That was great!” Zach enthused.
Stevie smiled happily and flicked a strand of loose hair from her eyes. “We should do that more often.”
“No time like the present,” Zach yelled, and before the girls could protest, he was galloping away.
Carole was dismayed. “This is not good.”
Lisa looked anxious. “That field gets rough farther on. He could get hurt.”
“Not to mention Barq,” Stevie added. “Come on!”
The three girls urged their horses back into a gallop using all their skills to shorten the distance between themselves and Zach. Fueled by the possible urgency of the situation, Carole managed to coax some extra speed from Starlight. Finally she found herself within earshot to the speeding rider. “Zach, stop!” she shouted.
Zach looked surprised to find her so close to him.
“Pull up!” she cried urgently.
Something in her voice must have got through to him because he immediately slowed Barq down and gradually came to a halt.
“Phew, that was close,” Stevie said as she rode up on a winded Belle.
“What’s up?” Zach asked impatiently. “How come we’re stopping so soon?”
“Zach, you can’t simply go galloping through places you don’t know!” Carole scolded him. “It’s not safe for you or your horse.”
“It looks fine,” he protested.
“Well it’s not,” Lisa assured him. “A couple of yards from here the field gets bumpy and rocky. You can’t see it because of the grass, but the horses could easily hurt themselves.”
“Not to mention you could take a serious dive,” Stevie added grimly.
Zach looked contrite. “Sorry. Guess I got carried away.”
Carole sighed. After all, he was new to the rules of riding. “Never mind. Let’s go on to the creek.” Then she added firmly, “At a leisurely walk.” Although he was obviously disappointed, Zach obeyed and the rest of the trip was uneventful.
Once down by the creek the girls immediately stripped off their boots and socks and dangled their feet in the cool water. As usual the talk drifted to the subject of horses.
“Hey, Zach, come and join us,” Lisa called.
Zach sat in the grass beside them.
“Take off your boots,” Stevie urged. “The water’s great.”
“Nah, then I’d have to wait for my feet to dry before I could put them back on.”
“So?”
“I didn’t think we were going to be here that long.”
Carole saw his eyes stray longingly toward the horses. The beauty of the spot was wasted on him. It was obvious he was eager to get back in the saddle, not sit and talk. “We have to give the horses a chance to cool off, Zach,” she said, “but then we can get going.”
Stevie also seemed to have picked up on his restlessness. “Why don’t you go see how they’re doing while we dry our feet,” she suggested.
Zach jumped up eagerly. “Okay.”
“Do you know how to tell if Barq is cooled down?” Lisa asked before he could run off.
Zach shrugged. “If he’s not sweating?”
“Actually, you put your hand on his chest. If it’s not hot then he’s ready to be ridden again.”
“You guys sure do know a lot about horses,” he said as he moved off.
Carole shook her head and reached for her socks. “I’ve never seen anyone so keen to be in the saddle.”
“He’s definitely eager to learn,” Stevie agreed.
That wasn’t what Carole had meant at all. While Zach obviously loved riding, he didn’t seem to enjoy the process of learning what went with it. Still, he was new to the sport and probably overwhelmed by all the information he was getting, so she decided to keep her thoughts to herself.
“Barq is nice and cool, guys,” he called, “and so are your horses.”
Lisa laughed. “I think that’s a hint.”
“Come on, girls,” Stevie said, standing up. “This kind of devotion to horses should be nurtured.”
“But my feet aren’t even dry,” Lisa protested.
“Dry them with your socks,” Stevie suggested. “I did.”
Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Then I’ll have wet socks. It’ll feel like my feet are all sweaty.”
Stevie shrugged. “What’s your point?”
“It’s gross, that’s my point!”
“Come on, Lisa,” Carole coaxed. “If we don’t get Zach back on his horse soon, I think he’ll go into withdrawal.”
Lisa looked over to where the boy was pacing back and forth and throwing the girls anxious looks. “Okay, okay,” she relented.
The girls quickly finished getting ready, and the four of them mounted up to continue their ride. Stevie was in the lead, Lisa right behind her, Zach next, and Carole brought up the rear.
Carole thought the new rider might be a little anxious about the upcoming show, so she decided to give him some reassurance. “You know, Zach, even though you only hav
e a few weeks of riding experience, I think you’re going to do fine at the show. It really isn’t all that important, anyway.”
Zach turned and smiled at her. “Oh, I know that, C, but it’s still going to be cool to hang a handful of ribbons on my wall.”
Stevie laughed. “Gee, too bad you suffer from such low self-confidence.”
Carole didn’t find it particularly funny. In fact she was somewhat put off by the boy’s cocky attitude. “You do realize not everybody wins their first time out, don’t you?”
Zach shrugged. “I know that, but Max said I have great potential as a rider, so I’ll just do what comes naturally. I can’t lose.”
Carole shook her head. She didn’t want to discourage him, but—
“Hey, Zach,” Stevie called, turning in her saddle, “remind me to—”
She never got any further. At that moment a fox streaked across the path practically under Belle’s feet. While the mare was normally the steadiest and most reliable of mounts, millions of years of instinct took over. She shied hard to the left, catching Stevie off guard and off balance. With a shout of surprise she was thrown from her saddle, hitting the ground hard.
Belle, still alarmed by the fox, took off at a panicked gallop.
“Stevie!” Lisa cried, dismounting quickly and rushing over to her fallen friend. “Are you hurt?”
Carole and Zach also hurried over.
Stevie was sitting in the dirt looking dazed. “I’m okay.… I think. Good thing I was wearing this.”
She gingerly removed her riding helmet, which had gotten knocked askew in the fall.
Lisa frowned, her face full of concern. “Looks like you got a nice bump even so.”
Zach knelt beside her. “Man, that looked rough. Are you okay, Stevie?”
Stevie saw that her fall had shaken Zach almost as much as her. “Don’t worry about it, Zach. If you’re going to ride horses, sooner or later you’re going to fall off. The trick is getting back on.” She looked around anxiously. “Where’s Belle?”
“She ran off,” Carole said. “I wanted to make sure you were all right before I went after her.”
“I’m okay,” Stevie insisted. “Please find her. She was scared and could get hurt!”
Carole thought her friend was looking awfully pale. “Don’t worry, I’ll find her.” She turned to Lisa and Zach. “You two look after Stevie. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
It didn’t take Carole long to locate Belle. The horse was standing by the edge of the woods, her reins dangling on the ground. She pricked her ears and nickered when she saw Carole on Starlight. Carole dismounted and slowly approached, talking soothingly. Belle stood docilely, making no attempt to get away.
As soon as Carole gathered up Belle’s reins and began to lead her back to the others, she noticed the horse was favoring her right foreleg. She knew a horse’s legs were delicate and susceptible to all kinds of injury, especially from the knee down. She knelt for a closer look and was alarmed to discover a definite swelling around the fetlock. Although Carole would have preferred not to move the mare until she knew the extent of the injury, she didn’t have much choice: She had to get back to Stevie.
Picking the easiest path and moving as slowly as she could, she returned to where Stevie was sitting on the ground under the shade of a tree.
Lisa came to meet her. “I think Stevie may have a concussion,” she said in a hushed voice.
Carole was immediately concerned. “What makes you think so?”
“When she stood up she got dizzy. She said things were kind of sparkly, so we had her sit back down.”
Carole felt her stomach tighten with anxiety. “That doesn’t sound good. Belle is hurt, too. I don’t know how badly, but I hate to move her until someone can take a look at it.”
Zach joined the two girls. “What’s up?”
“Belle is injured, too,” Lisa told him quietly.
Carole bit her lip. “I wish Max were here.”
“That’s it!” Zach cried. “I know how to get back to the stable. You two stay here with Stevie and I’ll bring back help.” He rushed over to where he had tied Barq and leaped into the saddle. “Back in a flash!” he assured them.
“Wait!” Carole cried, alarmed at the idea of his galloping all the way to Pine Hollow, but she was too late. Zach was already urging his horse into a run.
“Gosh, I hope he doesn’t get hurt,” Lisa said.
Carole was also concerned. “Me too. Come on, let’s go sit with Stevie. All we can do now is wait for a rescue.”
Lisa watched as Zach vanished around the bend at a blazing gallop. “At least he’ll get there fast.”
“If he gets there at all,” Carole said grimly.
STEVIE WATCHED BELLE with grave concern. She was much more worried about her horse than herself. “How bad do you think she’s hurt?”
Carole sighed. “I really can’t tell. There are several possibilities. But I don’t think it’s too serious—she’s favoring the leg but she doesn’t seem to be in a lot of pain.”
Stevie’s head hurt and she felt like crying. “I’ll never forgive myself if it’s serious. I should have been paying attention to the trail, not gabbing.”
Lisa slid a comforting arm around her shoulders. “We always chat when we ride. You were just unlucky today, that’s all.”
“Lisa’s right,” Carole agreed. “It could have happened to any one of us, and if that fox had jumped out at Starlight, he would have reacted the same way Belle did.”
“The difference is you wouldn’t have fallen off,” Stevie said despondently.
“I’ve taken my share of spills,” Carole reminded her.
“Me too,” Lisa admitted. “In fact, you’ve been there for most of them.”
Stevie mustered a smile. “And vice versa.”
Carole frowned. “Speaking of falls, I hope our fearless would-be hero doesn’t take one.”
“Try not to worry. I’m sure he made it to the stables okay.” Lisa said. “In fact, he could be back with Max any time now.”
Almost as if he had heard their conversation, Zach appeared from around the bend riding Barq at a canter. Much to the girls’ mutual relief, Max was right behind.
Max immediately dismounted and hurried to where Stevie sat. “Zach told me you took quite the tumble,” he said, kneeling down next to her.
Stevie felt foolish. She hated it when she fell. Not so much for the pain, but because she felt like it made her look like less of a rider. “It wasn’t so spectacular.”
Max raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “Modesty from you, Stevie? Now I really am alarmed. Let me take a look at your head.”
Stevie squirmed. “I’m okay, Max, it’s Belle who’s hurt. Could you please check on her?”
“Stevie, you know how strongly I feel about horses, but people come first,” he said firmly. “Now tell me how you’re feeling. Are you nauseous or dizzy?”
“She said she was dizzy when she tried to stand up,” Lisa volunteered.
Max nodded. “How’s your vision?”
“I saw stars at first. Now things just look a little fuzzy around the edges,” Stevie confessed. She was glad to have an adult around to take charge. Truth was, she didn’t feel all that great and was a little scared.
Max took her head between his hands. “Let me look into your eyes.” After a moment he seemed satisfied and released her. “I would guess that you have a mild concussion. Nothing to be alarmed about, but you’ll have to go to the hospital for a checkup just to be on the safe side.”
Stevie nodded her consent. “Now will you look at Belle?” she pleaded.
Max smiled and touched her gently on the cheek. “Yes, now I’ll look at Belle.” He picked up a backpack he had brought with him and approached the horse. Belle looked alert but was holding her foreleg slightly off the ground. He knelt down and gently ran his hand down the leg. Belle twitched uneasily.
Stevie winced in sympathy with her.
“Do
you think it’s serious, Max?” Carole asked.
“Any injury to a horse’s leg should be taken seriously,” Max replied, continuing his examination. “It could be a sprain of the fetlock joint or the tendon. It’s difficult to tell with this much swelling.”
Stevie struggled not to cry. “How will we get her home? Can she walk on it?”
Max opened the bundle. “We’re going to have to apply a pressure bandage. That should give her enough support to make it back to the stable.”
They all watched closely as he placed thick cotton wadding evenly around the leg. “This cotton will keep the bandages from injuring her skin. Carole, can you hold it in place while I wrap?”
Carole did as he asked.
Max carefully wound the long crepe bandage around Belle’s leg, making sure it covered well above and below the actual injured area, and pulled it as tightly as he could. “It’s too bad we can’t hose it down with cool water first,” he said as he worked. “That often helps reduce the swelling in these situations.”
When he was finished he stepped back to study his work, then had Carole lead the mare forward a few steps while he observed. Belle still favored the leg but didn’t seem quite as distressed about putting weight on it as she had before.
Max returned to Stevie and the others. “If we take it nice and slow she should make it back to the stable without any problem. Before Zach and I left, I asked Mrs. Reg to call Judy Barker and your parents, Stevie. They’ll probably be there by the time we arrive.”
Stevie started to climb to her feet. For a moment the world swirled dizzily around her. If it hadn’t been for Lisa and Max steadying her, she might have fallen again.
“Take it easy,” Max warned. “Normally it’s a good idea to get back in the saddle right after a fall. In this case, however, I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“Why do you have to get right back up on a horse when you fall?” Zach whispered to Lisa.
“The idea is to not give yourself too much time to think about what happened,” she explained. “If you do, you could lose your nerve.”
“On the other hand,” Max continued, “you’re in no condition to walk all the way back.”
Stevie agreed. She really didn’t feel much like walking, but it was an unwritten rule of riding that you always put your horse’s needs before your own. “I have to lead Belle home,” she said determinedly.
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