Max walked out of the tack room into the stable with all of Horse Wise following him. When he got to the foaling box, he opened the door. The colt was standing there, his nose up, his eyes bright.
Max held the bottle a few inches above the colt’s nose. The colt stuck out his lips, grasped the nipple, and started sucking hard, making loud slurping sounds.
The milk in the bottle disappeared slowly.
“You don’t want him to nurse too fast or he’ll get air in his stomach. That’s why the hole in the nipple is small,” Max said. He turned to the members of Horse Wise. “Who wants to hold the bottle?”
Almost every hand went up.
“You have to hold tight, or he’ll suck the bottle right out of your hand,” Max said.
Corey went first. Max wasn’t kidding. The colt was strong. She had to hold on to the bottle with both hands. But it was fun.
May was next. The colt was nursing so hard that the bottle jiggled, which made her hands itch. “It tickles,” she said.
Almost every member of Horse Wise had a turn. Finally only a few riders hadn’t held the bottle. One of them was Jasmine.
“Go ahead,” Corey said to her. “You’ll love it.”
“That’s okay,” Jasmine said. She could tell everyone else loved feeding the colt, but she just didn’t feel like it.
May had opened her mouth, about to urge Jasmine to try it, when Corey shook her head.
When the bottle was empty, Max led them to a spot under the big magnolia tree where Horse Wise liked to meet. May lay back on the grass. The magnolia flowers were beginning to lose their petals. One white petal fell lazily onto her arm.
“There’s a reason I had you feed the colt,” Max said. “He has to learn to be comfortable with a variety of strangers because he has to be fed every two hours. Who wants to sign up?”
Hands shot up.
“First you have to check with your parents to see which feeding times are all right,” Max said. He passed out permission slips for parents to sign.
“I may move to Pine Hollow for a while,” said May as she slipped the paper into her pocket.
“I’ll get my mother to give me special bottle-feeding tips,” Corey said.
They turned to Jasmine, expecting her to say that she couldn’t wait to feed the foal. But Jasmine turned away.
Corey and May looked at each other and shrugged. Maybe Jasmine was tired of babies.
6 “It Figures!”
The girls piled out of the Grovers’ station wagon in front of May’s house.
“I’ve got to ride,” May said. “I’ll die if I don’t.”
Unmounted meetings of Horse Wise were interesting, but they were also frustrating. May felt as if she needed to ride for a week.
“Me too,” Corey said. She looked at the sun. It was still high in the sky. “We’ve got time,” she said. “I’ll bring Samurai over.”
They turned to Jasmine. “I could use a ride,” she said. Jasmine didn’t actually feel much like riding, but she wanted to be with Corey and May.
Jasmine walked through the back door of her house, through the mudroom, and into the kitchen. On the kitchen table was a stack of baby clothes. It was amazing how many outfits Sophie had for someone who’d been around for less than a day, Jasmine thought. On the refrigerator door was Sophie’s birth certificate. A week earlier, Jasmine’s drawing of Outlaw had been there, but now it was gone. It figures, Jasmine thought.
Jasmine poked her head into her parents’ room because she wanted to tell them about the new colt. Her mother was sound asleep, her mouth open. Sophie was snoozing in the crib.
Jasmine went to look for her father. He was pecking away at his computer.
“What do you think of Times New Roman?” he said.
“What?” Jasmine said.
“It’s the typeface for the birth announcement,” he said. His forehead creased with anxiety. “Maybe Times New Roman is too formal. Maybe Bodoni is better. What do you think?”
“There’s a new colt at Pine Hollow,” Jasmine said.
“Great,” her father said. “Take a look at this and give me your honest opinion.” He passed her a birth announcement that said:
Announcing
the birth of
Sophia Maria Rogers James
“What’s Maria Rogers?” Jasmine asked.
“Those are her middle names,” her father explained.
“Do I have middle names?” Jasmine asked.
“Of course you have a middle name,” her father said. “It’s Alice.”
Alice! Some great middle name. “It figures,” Jasmine said. She walked away. As she left the room she heard her father pecking at the computer.
Jasmine went into her room. She changed into blue jeans and a T-shirt. Since she knew it might get cold, she decided to put on a jacket. Her new blue-jean jacket would be just right. She went to the hall closet to get it.
The closet was stuffed with boxes of diapers.
Figures, Jasmine thought. She went back into her room and dug an old sweatshirt out of the closet. The sleeves were a little short, but what else could she do?
She went out to the barn. The minute she opened the door she heard Outlaw nicker.
“Hey, pal,” she said to him.
He nickered more loudly. As she entered his stall, he bobbed his head, the white mask shape on his face gleaming.
She put her arms around him and buried her face in his soft coat. All of a sudden she felt as if she was going to cry. This is silly, she thought. She remembered that Deborah, Max’s wife, once said that when you feel like crying you should take five deep breaths. Jasmine took one, two, three. She was beginning to feel better.
Outlaw nuzzled her ear.
“You understand,” she said, turning toward him. But when she looked at Outlaw she saw that he had bright, eager eyes. He was dying to go out. He wasn’t offering sympathy. He was telling her to get moving.
“It figures,” she said.
But Outlaw was right. There was no point in moping around the barn. She got the carrier full of grooming equipment and gave Outlaw a brushing. Then she tacked him up and led him outside.
May was sitting on Macaroni. Corey was on Sam.
“I was thinking today would be a good day for a TT,” said May.
TT stood for total training. On some days the girls liked to put the ponies through their paces. The girls loved it, and the ponies loved it, too.
“Samurai’s canter has been ragged lately,” Corey said. “I mean really ragged. I don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, you know what Max says,” May said. “When you have a problem, take a deep breath and think.”
“This may need two deep breaths,” Corey said.
“Macaroni’s halt after a trot is a real problem,” May said. “I guess we’ll work on that.”
May and Corey looked at Jasmine, waiting for her to say what she wanted to work on. But Jasmine didn’t feel like a TT.
She didn’t want to hurt May’s and Corey’s feelings, so she said, “I’d better get home. I told my parents I wouldn’t stay long.”
“But you just came,” May said. “Think of Outlaw.”
“Ahem,” Corey said.
May stopped talking.
“I guess you have a lot of work with the baby,” Corey said.
“Sure,” Jasmine said. “Loads of things.” She didn’t want to admit that at home there was absolutely nothing for her to do.
Jasmine turned Outlaw toward the barn. He started walking and then stopped and looked at the wide field behind the barn. His brown eyes were wide. He seemed to be saying “Let’s go!”
“Sorry,” Jasmine said to him. “I have to help Mom and Dad.” Then she had a funny thought: I’m lying to my pony. Is that dumb or what? She sighed and rubbed Outlaw’s neck. “If you want to know the truth, Outlaw, I’m in a crummy mood.”
Jasmine put Outlaw in his stall. She gave him fresh hay and water and headed for the house.
&nb
sp; In the mudroom she sat down to pull off her boots. From upstairs came the sound of Sophie crying.
Great, Jasmine thought. Here we go again. It’s like a TV show you can’t turn off.
Sophie cried more loudly.
Jasmine looked at her boots. She decided not to take them off. She got up and walked out the back door, being careful to not let it slam.
She went to the barn and put her arms around Outlaw.
“You deserve a ride,” she said to him.
Outlaw nickered and nodded.
She got his saddle and bridle and tacked him up again. She led him out of the barn and mounted him.
Outlaw headed toward the ring behind May’s house, assuming that they were going to join Macaroni and Samurai.
As they got close to the ring, Jasmine raised her hand. But May and Corey didn’t see her. May was telling Corey something. It was as if Jasmine weren’t there. They had forgotten about her completely. It figured.
“Let’s go for a long, long ride,” Jasmine said to Outlaw. “Let’s ride forever.”
7 A Visit to Pine Hollow
Suddenly Jasmine realized that she was alone in the middle of the field. Everything else was far away—houses, trees, Willow Creek, the highway. She felt like the only person on earth.
She stopped Outlaw and looked up. A hawk was circling in the sky, making tiny cries. Jasmine looked down and saw the wind ripple through the grass.
Jasmine pressed her knees against Outlaw’s sides, and he began to trot again. His steps were long, his head was high. She felt as if the two of them were floating.
They came to a clump of oak trees and rode through them. As they came out on the other side, Jasmine saw Pine Hollow Stables spread out down below. She saw the white U of the barn, the ring, the paddocks, and the tidy house. She heard a clank and a cough. Red O’Malley’s old green car pulled out of the driveway and headed away.
She rode Outlaw down the hill to the front of the barn. Everything was quiet. There were no riders or stable hands around.
She looked over at the house. Max’s station wagon wasn’t in the driveway. Jasmine remembered that Max had said he and Deborah and his mother were going to a party that afternoon.
The wind rustled the flowers in the magnolia tree. Suddenly Pine Hollow seemed like a lonely place.
Jasmine got down and hugged Outlaw’s neck. She looked into his soft brown eyes.
“This is no big deal,” she said. “We’re not really alone. There are horses, and ponies, and cats, and mice.”
She took a deep breath to calm herself. The silence was spooking her, and she didn’t want Outlaw to get spooked, too.
“I’m going to say hi to the horses in the barn,” she said.
She wanted to make sure that Outlaw was securely tied, so she hooked a lead rope to his halter, which was under his bridle. Then she tied the rope to the fence.
“I’ll be right back,” she said, giving Outlaw a pat.
The barn door was shut, so Jasmine went around the side, looking for a way in.
She saw an open window in the feed room. It wasn’t very big, but she figured she could squeeze through it. A wheelbarrow stood next to the feed room door. She rolled it under the window and climbed into it. The wheelbarrow rocked. She put her arms out to steady herself. She grabbed the bottom of the open window and pushed it up higher.
She looked at the window and jumped for it. She was half in, half out of the window. She wriggled, waved her feet, and fell forward onto a bale of hay.
She sneezed and rolled over.
A black shadow loomed. Jasmine jumped up and plastered herself against the wall. The shadow was cast by a large bag of carrots on the feed room counter.
“You scared me,” she said to the carrots. She laughed at herself for talking to vegetables. That made her feel better.
She turned and entered the barn. A wonderful warm, soft, steamy smell greeted her. It was the smell of horses. She stopped at the first stall.
“Nickel,” she said.
He blinked at her sleepily. He was having his late afternoon nap. Nickel loved naps.
“It’s great to see you,” she said.
Nickel yawned.
She walked to the next stall. “Barq,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
Barq shifted from one foot to the other and switched his tail.
“Starlight!” she said. Starlight was one of her favorite horses. Starlight’s nose must have itched, because he drew back his lips and snorted.
From the other end of the barn came a high-pitched cry. Jasmine stopped. It came again. It was a high, clear sound like a baby’s cry. The hair on the back of Jasmine’s neck prickled.
The cry came louder now. It sounded helpless.
It reminded Jasmine of Sophie’s cry. She ran toward the sound. It was coming from the foaling box. Jasmine looked over the wall of the box. The long-legged colt was cast. He had lain down so close to the wall that when he tried to get up there wasn’t enough room for him to roll and get his legs under him. He was trapped.
His big eyes were full of fear. He was waiting for his mother to come and save him, but he had no mother. There was only one person who could help him.
Jasmine opened the door of the foaling box and stepped inside.
The helpless colt looked up at her with his sad brown eyes. Her heart broke at the sight of such helplessness.
“You’ll be okay,” she said, and squatted next to him.
His head drooped as if he had given up hope. Jasmine remembered that Max said mothers don’t just feed their children. They make them feel safe. Somehow she had to make the colt feel safe.
She tickled his ears. “I’m here,” she said. She smoothed his forelock. “Everything will be fine.”
His eyes searched hers as if he wanted to believe her.
She kissed him on the end of his velvety-soft nose.
He sighed. He blinked. He put his nose on her knee.
He trusts me, Jasmine thought.
“Put your trust in me,” she said, sounding more confident than she felt.
She pulled two of his legs.
Nothing happened. The colt was too heavy for her to move.
She could feel his legs trembling. She put her arms around him and said, “Don’t worry.” But she could feel his heart beating faster and faster.
Max always said that when you were in a spot, you should take a deep breath and think. She took a deep breath. That part worked, but no ideas came. She saw a shudder run down the colt’s long, delicate legs. If only he could get them under him.
8 Jasmine’s Rescue Mission
Maybe if she pulled him by all four legs it would help. Carefully Jasmine gathered the colt’s four hooves and tugged at them. He didn’t move. The colt looked at her with hurt eyes, as if to ask what she was doing.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess that wasn’t a good idea.” She took another deep breath.
From outside the barn came a whinny. Outlaw was tired of waiting. She didn’t blame him. She shouldn’t have left him there for so long. What if he broke free and escaped? Jasmine was pretty sure she’d tied him securely, but what if she hadn’t? In her mind she went over what she’d done. She had clipped the rope to his halter and then tied it tightly to the fence.
Tied. Rope. Suddenly Jasmine had an idea.
“You aren’t going to like this, but it’s our only hope,” she said to the colt.
She stood up. She hated to leave him, but she knew she had to do it. She ran down the barn to the tack room, where she found a piece of rope.
When she got back to the box, she showed the rope to the colt. She let him look at it and then sniff it. He nibbled at it curiously.
“I have to do this,” she said.
She made a loop, like a lasso—Max had shown them how to do it at a Horse Wise meeting. She slipped it around the colt’s two front legs, and then swiftly around his back legs. Gently she pulled the loop closed, so that his four feet were to
gether.
The colt looked at her with startled eyes.
Jasmine closed her eyes and pulled gently on the rope. There was a tiny movement, nothing more. Jasmine pulled with all her might.
The colt slid toward her. Two, three, four, five inches. That would be enough, she was sure. She untied the knot and released his feet.
The colt looked at her with his giant eyes.
“You can do it,” she said. “You can stand.”
He just lay there, looking at her.
Jasmine remembered seeing a mother horse nudge her colt to get him to stand up. Jasmine bent over and nuzzled the colt’s forehead with her nose. His eyelids fluttered. He let out a tiny sigh. She could feel his breath on her face. He pulled his front legs under him, and then his back legs. Wobbling and swaying, he tried to rise on his back legs. Jasmine remembered that the mother horse hadn’t helped. She had stood back and let the colt do it himself.
“You’re almost there,” Jasmine said. “You can do it.”
The colt’s back legs straightened. His rear was up, but his head was still down on the ground.
“Now for the other half,” Jasmine said. “Push.”
The colt looked at her, his eyes filled with worry.
“Just do it,” Jasmine said.
He closed his eyes. He almost gave up. Then he pushed. His front legs straightened. He was standing!
“Good work,” Jasmine said. “I knew you could do it.” She put her arms around his neck and felt his heart beating more slowly now. He wasn’t afraid anymore.
“You’re strong. You’re brave,” she whispered in his ear. “You’ve got what it takes.”
As she stood back, the colt shook himself as if to say “Of course I’m strong and brave. What did you think?”
“Hey, I bet you’re hungry,” she said to the colt. “After all that work, you could use some food.”
She walked to the tack room and opened the bottle warmer. Inside was a bottle. Jasmine picked it up and shook a few drops on the back of her hand. The milk was just the right temperature.
She took the bottle back to the foaling box and let herself in. The colt dived for the bottle. He drank so hard, he almost trembled. Jasmine realized that for a colt that was just a few days old, being hungry seemed like the world’s biggest crisis.
Jasmine Helps a Foal (Pony Tails Book 10) Page 3