Before They Rode Horses

by Bonnie Bryant

  Stevie, Carole, and Lisa all knew that Max would have checked Patch for obvious problems before he’d called Judy, but they wanted to look for themselves. Carole held the lead line and comforted the ailing horse while Stevie and Lisa checked for sources of the problem. Stevie looked at Patch’s hoof first. Sometimes a stone could get stuck under a horse’s shoe. She ran her finger around the underside of the shoe and found nothing. She checked the bottom of his foot for soreness, but he didn’t flinch, so she decided it wasn’t a bruised frog. She felt his hoof and then his ankle for warmth, knowing that if there was infection, there might be inflammation. It felt all right to her, but to be sure, she also felt his other foot. It seemed to be the same temperature. She felt along his lower leg for any swelling. She didn’t find anything. Then she checked the left leg against the right one just to be sure they were the same size.

  “Beats me,” she said finally.

  “Then I guess it’s a good idea that Judy’s coming to take a look at it,” Lisa said.

  The girls decided that it might help Patch to put a wrap on the leg until Judy got there. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt, and it might make Patch more comfortable. Stevie got the bandage and Carole held Patch’s lead while Lisa wrapped the leg.

  “What a team we are!” Stevie said proudly when they’d finished taking care of Patch. “I think we can accomplish anything, as long as we work together.”

  “And as long as it has to do with horses,” said Lisa.

  Carole smiled at her two friends. “Okay, okay, enough of this work stuff. Did somebody say something about a trail ride a while back?”

  It was time for some fun.

  “WHY DON’T WE go see how Deborah’s doing?” Lisa asked.

  “Better still, why don’t we see if Deborah would like to come along with us?” Stevie suggested.

  “Great idea,” Carole said.

  They found Deborah sitting at her desk, glaring at her computer screen.

  “Are we interrupting?” Lisa asked.

  “I wish you were!” Deborah said. “I’ve been looking at this thing for an hour and absolutely nothing has come of it. I just can’t figure out how I want to start my article. I’m totally stuck. Any ideas?”

  “You bet,” said Stevie. “Whenever I have trouble thinking about what I want to do, I just go for a ride. How about that?”

  “Yeah, we’re going on a trail ride,” Lisa said. “Would you like to come with us?”

  “Like this?” Deborah asked, pointing to her enlarged belly.

  “The doctor said you could ride, didn’t he?” Carole asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Deborah said. “I’m just supposed to take it easy. No galloping, no jumping, no steeple-chasing.”

  “You never did that stuff before you were pregnant!” Lisa said.

  “That was his point,” Deborah said, grinning. “He told me that I could and, actually, should keep on doing everything I’d been doing before I became pregnant, and I guess that includes being a beginning rider. Do you really want to go on a trail ride with someone who can’t go faster than a walk?”

  “Yes!” said Lisa.

  “I guarantee it’ll help you think better,” said Stevie.

  “I’ll tack up Delilah,” Carole offered.

  “I’ll change my clothes and meet you at the good-luck horseshoe,” said Deborah.

  Fifteen minutes later, the four of them were ready to ride. Before they left, they each touched the stable’s good-luck horseshoe. According to tradition, no rider at Pine Hollow who touched the horseshoe had ever been seriously hurt in a riding accident. Some of the younger riders thought that meant the horseshoe had magic powers. The older riders suspected that touching the shoe was a way to remind riders that they needed to be careful. Whatever the cause, the effect was a good one. Safety was the first rule of riding at Pine Hollow, and the girls were determined to make this a safe ride for Deborah.

  They rode four abreast across the fields as they headed for the woods.

  “I’ve been thinking about a horse,” Carole said.

  “You’re always thinking about horses,” said Lisa.

  They all laughed because they knew that was true.

  “Well, more specifically, I’ve been thinking about Patch,” she said. “I wish I could figure out what’s wrong with him.”

  “He’s got a sore foot. That’s what Max said,” Deborah told them.

  “Ah, yes, but there are so many things that could cause it,” said Stevie. “I mean, lameness can be caused by laminitis, a bruise, a sprain, a strain, a problem with the shoe, a feed problem, bog spavin, bone spavin, thoroughpin, or splints.”

  “It could be from an injury, disease, or parasite,” said Lisa.

  “It could be minor, major, or even permanent,” Carole added.

  “Oh my,” said Deborah. “Every time I think I’ve learned something about horses, I find that there are a million more things to learn.”

  “A zillion,” Lisa corrected her. “Million just covers what there is to learn about the art and science of riding. Zillion is how many things there are to learn about equine health and care.”

  “And if you add stable management, you’re definitely up around a jillion,” Stevie said.

  “How did you girls manage to learn all these things?” Deborah asked.

  “Max, Pine Hollow, Horse Wise,” said Lisa.

  “Just wanting to know because we love horses,” Stevie explained.

  “And you, Carole,” Deborah asked, “were you born knowing these things?”

  “Oh, no,” Carole said. “I learned them. I followed the stable boys around at every stable where I rode. Every time they said or did anything, I watched and listened. Sometimes they got a little tired of me, but my father was an officer so they couldn’t ignore me—at least, not at the Marine Corps base stables! But any kid who loves horses will find a way to learn these things.”

  “But don’t worry about your baby learning them. As soon as he can crawl, we’ll take charge of teaching him everything there is to know about horses,” Stevie said.

  A worried look crossed Deborah’s face. “You mean you think my baby will be as horse-crazy as you girls are?”

  “Of course he will be!” said Carole.

  Stevie nodded in agreement. “That little one is going to be next in a long line of horse lovers. It’s inevitable,” she promised Deborah. “I mean, Max did tell you about his father, didn’t he?”

  “And his grandfather?” Lisa added.

  Deborah nodded. “Sure,” she said. “I know that the man I married is Maximilian Regnery the Third and that his grandfather founded Pine Hollow and passed it on to his son, who passed it on to my Max. I know that horses are in his blood and probably will be in our baby’s, too. But how am I going to be a mother to a kid who loves something I hardly know anything about?”

  Stevie laughed at Deborah’s concern. “I wish I’d been as lucky as your baby will be!” she said. “Your baby will be with horses from the very first day of his life! I had to wait until I was about in fourth grade!”

  “Much later for me,” said Lisa.

  “I was in kindergarten or something like that,” Carole said. “But Stevie’s right. Your baby only has to wait a month now—until he’s born, I mean.”

  A strange look crossed Deborah’s face. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  “Oh, yes,” Lisa assured her. “I’m positive that Max will have his son up and out in the barn within days of the time he’s born. It’s never too early to start that kind of training.”

  Deborah winced. “I don’t think it’ll be a month,” she said.

  “Well, maybe he’ll wait until the baby is like a week or two,” Stevie said.

  Deborah cringed. “I mean I don’t think we’ll have to wait as long as a month,” she said.

  “No, more like a couple of weeks,” Stevie said, repeating herself and wondering why Deborah hadn’t understood her.

  “But don’t worry, Deborah,”
Lisa said calmly. “I know that the last month of pregnancy goes very fast. I heard my mother talking with a friend of hers about it. It’ll be over before you know it.”

  “No,” said Deborah. “It’ll be over before you know it. I mean, it is over!”

  All three girls pulled their horses to a halt and looked at Deborah. As they watched, the pained look on her face cleared. She glanced at her watch. “Now, let’s see how long it is until the next one,” she said.

  “Next what?” Carole asked suspiciously.

  “Contraction,” Deborah answered. “And I think it’ll probably be a good idea if we head back to Pine Hollow now. Not that I haven’t enjoyed this ride …”

  “Y-You mean—” Stevie stammered.

  “Yup,” said Deborah.

  “It’s now?” Lisa asked.

  “That’s right,” Deborah confirmed.

  “Really?” asked Carole.

  “Really,” Deborah said. “Now is the time. Today’s the day. I am about to turn myself into a mother, Max into a father, and Mrs. Reg into a grandmother.… And you three?”

  “Into baby-sitters!” Lisa declared.

  “Let’s go!” Stevie shrieked. With that, she turned Belle around and kicked her firmly into a canter.

  “Whoa there!” Deborah called. Stevie drew on the reins and Belle came to a sudden halt.

  “Here? Now?” Stevie asked frantically.

  “No, not here and now,” said Deborah. “We’ve got a good long time, and racing back to Pine Hollow won’t help anything. We can walk at a leisurely pace, and when we get back, we’ll call my doctor and let him know that the process has begun.”

  “And Max. Should we call Max?” Lisa suggested.

  “Not yet,” said Deborah. “This labor is likely to take about twenty hours. There’s no reason why Max should be rushed back here. He’ll be here for most of it—and for the most important part, anyway. For now, you girls can take care of me, can’t you?”

  “Of course we can,” Stevie said. “We’re The Saddle Club. We can accomplish anything when we work together!”

  “Isn’t that what Max said he was afraid of?” Deborah asked, teasing.

  The girls couldn’t help themselves. They burst into laughter as they began a gentle walk back to Pine Hollow.

  ALTHOUGH DEBORAH INSISTED she didn’t need any help, The Saddle Club insisted she would get it. Stevie and Carole took the horses to the stable. Lisa tucked her arm under Deborah’s and walked with her into the house. Deborah called her doctor.

  “Uh-huh, right.… Definitely.… No, he’s not here.… I’m fine.… No problem.… Yes, somebody’s here with me.… Fifteen minutes.… Sure, right,” she said. Lisa listened carefully, trying to figure out what the doctor was saying so she’d know what to do when the ambulance got there.

  Deborah hung up the phone and asked Lisa if she’d like to play some Scrabble.

  “Until the ambulance gets here?” Lisa asked.

  “No,” Deborah said, shaking her head and smiling. “There’s no ambulance coming. The doctor isn’t rushing over. There’s nothing to hurry about because it’s going to be a good long time before anything needs to be rushed at all—if ever. My instructions are to stay calm, walk around if I feel like it, and don’t eat anything. I’m supposed to call and report progress every once in a while, and he definitely wants to hear from me when my contractions are five minutes apart. That’s not likely to be for another twelve hours or so. We’ve got plenty of time to play Scrabble, read a book, tell stories. See, there isn’t even any need to call Max because he’ll be back long before then. If we call him now, he’ll worry, and that won’t do me or the baby any good. And he’ll also miss the meeting. He’s leading a workshop on handling obstreperous kids, and I know the rest of the Pony Club directors would hate to miss that.”

  “There aren’t any obstreperous kids in Horse Wise!” Lisa said.

  “Well, then I guess Max knows what he’s talking about,” Deborah said with a smile.

  Lisa laughed. She decided that if Deborah could make jokes, there probably wasn’t any need for an ambulance. She didn’t know an awful lot about women having babies, but she did know about veterinary care of horses, and one of the things that an owner always had to be sensitive to was a change in basic character. If a normally sweet horse became moody and naughty, it could be a sign of a medical problem. As long as Deborah could joke like usual, that seemed to Lisa to be a sign of good health.

  “Okay, so where’s the Scrabble set?” she asked.

  Lisa was behind by twenty-three points by the time Stevie and Carole came from the stable. Deborah agreed to let the three girls work together. In no time, they’d put hacking with the k on a Triple Letter and quirt on a Double Word with the q on a Double Letter. It wasn’t easy, either, because Deborah didn’t know what either word meant. Lisa explained patiently that hacking was what they had been doing when they went on their ride in the woods, and Carole gave an intricate explanation of the braided leather quirts that Western riders used instead of whips or crops. Deborah was a good sport until Stevie came up with a way to use all seven letters for a fifty-point bonus with jodhpurs.

  “Help! I give up!” Deborah declared, looking at her measly 125 points versus The Saddle Club’s 342. “Maybe you weren’t kidding when you said you could do anything when you worked together.”

  “Well, as long as it has to do with horses,” said Lisa, looking proudly at the Scrabble board with all their other joint works, including mare, foal, and stall. Plus, they’d built colt on the c in hacking.

  “Maybe you three should try to do something really hard now,” said Deborah.

  “Like what?” Stevie asked, eager for the challenge.

  “Anything that doesn’t have anything to do with horses,” Deborah said.

  “Why would we want to do that?” Carole asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Deborah. “Sometimes you have to do things just to prove to yourself that you can. I mean, there was a time in each of your lives when you didn’t ride horses, talk horses, breathe horses, and live horses, wasn’t there?”

  “Not so long ago,” Lisa said, remembering that she’d only begun to ride recently.

  “Well, there was life before you rode horses,” said Deborah. “I mean, you did things, learned things, played things—oh, dear …” A pained look crossed her face and she glanced at her watch.

  “It wasn’t that bad,” said Stevie.

  “It’s a contraction,” Deborah explained. The girls watched her. In a few seconds, the uncomfortable look left her face. “There, it’s over.” She looked at her watch again. “It was fifteen minutes since the last one, so that’s the same as it was.”

  “Is that good?” Lisa asked.

  “It’s normal,” said Deborah. “It’ll take a long time for that to change. There’s still no hurry at all. So, now, where were we?”

  “Would you like us to read to you?” Lisa suggested. “I’ve got my copy of Black Beauty in my backpack.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t think so,” Deborah said.

  “I brought National Velvet,” Carole offered.

  “I’m rereading Misty of Chincoteague,” Stevie said. “I don’t have it with me, but it’s in my house and I could run and get it if you’d like.”

  Deborah burst into laughter. “You three are absolutely incorrigible!” she declared.

  “What does she mean?” Carole asked.

  “Beats me,” Stevie said. “Seems to me we’re all reading great books.”

  “Are you just annoyed because we beat you at Scrabble?” Lisa asked.

  Of course the girls all knew exactly what Deborah was talking about. They were teasing her back.

  “No. What were we talking about when my contraction started?” Deborah asked.

  “Not we—you,” Carole said. “You were talking about the time before we rode horses.”

  “That’s it, then,” said Deborah. “I don’t want you to beat me at Scrabble with
horse words. I don’t want you to read to me from your horse books. I want each of you to tell me a real-life story that really happened to you.”

  “Great,” said Stevie. “There was the time Belle and I—”

  “No. I want to hear stories that don’t have anything to do with horses.”

  “What for?” Carole asked.

  “Well, my baby is going to be surrounded by horses and horse talk all of his life. Horses are fun, but they aren’t everything. I’d like to know that somehow, something other than horses was ever important to the three of you. I’ve got to admit that I find the idea that I’m about to be a mother even scarier than the idea that I’m about to have a baby. So, I need some help. I know I can always get help from you about horses. Give me some help about mothering.”

  The girls looked at one another.

  “No horses?” Carole asked.

  “Not a one,” Deborah said.

  There was a long silence.

  “How about a cup of tea?” Lisa asked.

  “Sure,” Deborah agreed. “It’ll probably help inspire your storytelling. I’ll let you fix the tea. The doctor said I shouldn’t eat anything, so just bring me some ice chips to munch on. I’ll wait here for you.” She put her feet up on a chair, leaned back, and closed her eyes.

  The girls hurried out of the living room into the kitchen, where they had a quick conference.

  “Is she okay?” Stevie asked.

  “No horses?” Carole echoed, still stunned by the idea that she might actually have something to say that didn’t have to do with her favorite subject. When she wrote a history paper, it was about the cavalry in the Civil War. In English, she’d only been happy when they’d read “Charge of the Light Brigade.” Horses were everywhere in Carole’s life. She always assumed that that was fine with everyone around her. Now Deborah wanted something else.

  As usual, Lisa was the voice of reason. “Come on, girls,” she said. “Deborah is acting a little odd because she’s about to have a baby. It’s normal. I heard her talk to her doctor. She’s supposed to take it easy and keep track of her contractions. If her idea of taking it easy is having a day off from horse talk, well, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me. We can do this for her.”