Star Gazer (9 page)

“As ready as I'll ever be.”

They walked together to the barn and Jordan opened the stall door to let her mother inside.

Mrs. McKenzie hesitated. “I don't know…she's awfully big,” she said. “Maybe I'll just meet her from out here?” She pushed the stall door closed, keeping them both on the outside. “How much hay will a horse this size eat?”

“Jacob said that even though drafts are twice the size of a regular horse, they don't eat twice as much. And they gain weight easily, so I need to be careful that I don't feed her too much.”

Star stood at the back of her stall, content to keep her distance. Jordan hoped she'd be able to change the mare's outlook on people. She pulled out one of the carrots Jacob had given her. “Here, Mom, give her this.” She held out a carrot of her own, coaxing Star to the door.

Star Gazer caught the scent of the carrot and slowly shuffled forward on tender feet. As she got closer to the door, Jordan's mom backed away.

“Oh, my gosh!” she said, her hand going to her heart. “She's huge! How are you ever going to be able to do anything with her?”

Jordan grinned. “That's the beauty of draft horses,” she said, feeding her carrot to the big mare. “There's a reason they call them ‘Gentle Giants.' Mr. Yoder says that temperament is bred into them. Now, hold out your carrot in the palm of your hand.”

Mrs. McKenzie slowly extended her hand, but as Star stretched her thick neck to take the treat, Jordan's mom panicked and pulled her hand back.

“Mom!” Jordan laughed. “She's not going to bite you. She just wants the carrot. Now hold your hand out flat so she can take it.”

Her mother tried again, but pulled back at the last second. “She's so big it scares me.” She chuckled nervously.

“Here, let me show you.” Jordan placed her hand under her mother's, holding it steady as Star Gazer reached for the tasty treat.

“Oh my,” Mrs. McKenzie said, still hesitating as Star Gazer's big lips moved over the surface of her hand and gently took the carrot. She laughed and wiped the horse slobber off her palm. “That felt so funny. I thought she was going to take my whole hand.” She asked Jordan for another carrot.

This was an encouraging sign…and a good first step. Jordan handed her mother another carrot. “This is the last one. We don't want to spoil her too much.”

Mrs. McKenzie held the carrot, trying to be brave as Star Gazer stretched her lips to accept the last treat. She only flinched a little bit this time.

“Do you want to pet her?” Jordan asked.

Her mother shook her head and took a step back. “Maybe another day,” she said. “I've got to get back up to the house and make us some lunch.” At the barn door, she looked back. “Jordan, maybe it's best if you don't get too attached to her? There's a good chance that…that this won't work out. And even if her hooves do get better, you know we can't keep her.”

Jordan frowned.
One step forward, two steps back
. She had to come up with a plan to keep Star Gazer.

ten

Four days after Jordan had been put on restriction, her mother lifted the ban. Nicole was even allowed to come back over for visits. Mrs. McKenzie said she was giving her daughter time off for good behavior because she had worked hard and behaved perfectly. But Jordan suspected it might also have something to do with needing help to fix some more of the fence—Nicole had told them she was a great fence builder. Either way, Jordan would be glad to have her friend back. She still had a big list of chores to do; her mother hadn't relented on that.

Jordan immediately called Nicole to give her the good news. She also told her friend the bad news about her mom wanting to find a new home for Star Gazer.

“That's terrible!” Nicole said. “I'll be over as soon as I finish cleaning my room.”

An hour later, she met Jordan at the barn. She dismounted and tied Dakota to the hitching post, then followed Jordan into Star Gazer's stall.

“Wow!” Nicole said as she stood beside the draft mare. “I'm tall for a girl, but this still makes me feel really, really small.”

Jordan bent down and asked Star to pick up her hoof. The mare hesitated, but then complied with the request. “Look at the size of these feet!” Jordan said as she used the pick to clean the mare's hoof. “You're going to have to help me with these special boots Mr. Yoder dropped off last night. I'm not sure how they work.”

Nicole grabbed one of the boots and grinned at Jordan. “Did Jacob come by, too?”

Jordan held the mare's foot steady and made a face at her friend. “No, it was just his father.”

“That's too bad.” Nicole helped Jordan get the first boot on Star's huge hoof. “Jacob seems pretty shy at school, but I think he's cute. I think he kinda likes you.”

Jordan rolled her eyes. “Come on. He's a year older than I am. He likes draft horses and I now own one. He's just being nice to the new girl who doesn't know anything, that's all. He's supposed to come over sometime soon and bring medicine to put on Star's hooves.”

“Uh-huh.” Nicole waggled her eyebrows.

“It's not like that,” Jordan protested. “Really. He's just a nice boy.” She slipped the last boot on Star's other hoof, and they stood back to admire their work. “I sure hope these help,” Jordan said. “My mom's taking me to the tack store later to buy some hoof oil Jacob and his dad recommended.”

Nicole dusted her hands off on her jeans. “Yeah, her feet are really cracked and chipped. They need some serious help. You've got a lot of work ahead of you.”

“As soon as Star's feet are better, I'd like to be able to turn her out in that small pasture,” Jordan said. “That's less money we'll have to spend on hay and that will make my mom happy. The cheaper it is to feed Star Gazer, the better chance I have of being able to keep her. Do you think you could help me fix the rest of the fence so it will hold Star?”

“Sure,” Nicole said. “And if it's too hard for us, my dad can come over and help. He still feels bad that he let you get yourself into this mess.”

Jordan unlatched the door and followed Nicole out of the stall. “My mom would probably tell your dad that I'm quite capable of getting into messes all by myself.”

She grabbed Star Gazer's halter and lead rope and some pieces of apple. Star Gazer nickered and Jordan smiled.
It's a good feeling when a horse nickers at you,
she thought.
Especially when it's your very own horse
.

Star Gazer lowered her head so Jordan could slip the halter on. “Good girl,” Jordan said, holding out a chunk of apple. Star accepted it gratefully and looked for more. “Sorry, girl, you can't have them all at once.”

Jordan led the mare out of the stall and snapped her into the crossties in the center of the barn. She grabbed some brushes and a couple of buckets and handed one of the buckets to Nicole.

Nicole laughed. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Jordan turned her bucket upside down and placed it by Star's head. “I can't even
see
Star Gazer's back from down here, let alone be able to brush it,” she said. “Can you?”

“You might have a point there.” Nicole turned her bucket upside down and stood on it. “Aha. There it is. I can see it, and it's really, really broad. She looks like a stuffed couch,” Nicole hooted.

“Hey, that's my horse you're talking about!”

Jordan ran a comb through Star's mane. She wondered if the mare remembered the times when Karina Sutton had loved and cared for her. “I've got to find a way to convince my mom that we should keep Star Gazer,” Jordan said. “She already lost her first family. It wouldn't be fair to her if she just got settled in here and we sold her to someone else.” Jordan paused for a moment. “It's not fun having to leave everything you know and go someplace strange where you have to start all over again.”

When Nicole looked over at her, Jordan knew her friend suspected that she wasn't just talking about the horse.

But Nicole didn't ask her about it. “We'll figure something out, Jordan.” She tossed her brush into the grooming bucket. “Something will work out. You'll see.”

When they finished their grooming session, Jordan led Star back into her stall and they stood back to admire their handiwork. “Jacob said people think I'm crazy for buying a lame mare. They think I'm just some dumb city girl who doesn't know what she's doing.” She paused for a moment, reaching out to rub Star's cheek. “And maybe I am. But, it would be really neat if we had a chance to prove ourselves. I think I'd like to learn how to drive drafts.”

Dakota's whinny sounded outside the barn and Nicole leaned out of the stall to see who he was calling to. “Look at that,” she said. “Here comes your knight on a
very
large black horse.”

“What?” Jordan turned and peered out the door. Her mouth fell open when she saw Jacob trotting down the hill toward them on a beautiful black Percheron. His horse was so large the ground actually shook when the big hooves hit the terrain. Jacob had a backpack slung over his shoulders. He rode with no saddle; his superb balance kept him right in the middle of his horse.

Star lifted her head, letting out a mighty whinny of greeting. Jacob's horse pulled to a walk and answered the call.

“Hey!” Jacob waved and dismounted, landing with a thud. It was a long way from the horse's back to the ground.

“Wow!” Jordan said. “He's awesome! Can I pet him?”

“Sure.” Jacob grinned. “This is my horse, King. I broke him myself. You can ride him if you want.”

“Really?” Jordan couldn't believe her luck. Of course she wanted to ride King. She'd never had the opportunity to ride a draft horse before.

“You want to ride too?” Jacob asked Nicole. “He could carry you both at the same time.”

Nicole took a small step back. “I've been riding most of my life, but to tell you the truth, King's size kind of scares me a bit. I'll let Jordan handle this one.”

“It's okay,” Jacob said. “I know these big horses aren't for everyone.” He turned to Jordan and cupped his hands for her to put her foot in. “Are you ready to go?”

Jordan stepped forward. Of course she was ready! This would be the next best thing to riding Star Gazer. She reached up to grab a handful of mane to help herself mount, but the Percheron gelding was too tall. “I can't reach his mane.” She laughed.

“You'll have to grab it on the way up when I boost you,” Jacob said.

Nicole gave them a doubtful look. “I don't know, Jordan. Are you sure you want to do this? There's no saddle, and if you fall off, it's a long way down. Maybe you better ask your mom first?”

“I'll take care of her,” Jacob assured. “There won't be any hot-rodding on the first ride.”

“At least let me give her my riding helmet,” Nicole said, retrieving her hat and handing it to Jordan.

When Jordan had the helmet strapped on, Jacob cupped his hands again and waited for her to mount up. Jordan put her foot into the makeshift stirrup and bounced twice, then held her breath while Jacob boosted her high. She grabbed a handful of mane as she rose into the air and swung her leg over King's broad back.

Jordan straightened up and sat there for a moment, too thrilled even to comment. She felt like she was on top of the world! King shifted his weight and she could feel the muscle power beneath her. It was unlike anything she had experienced on the regular sized horses in L.A.

“Amazing!” she said as she surveyed the area from her perch high atop King's back.

Jacob motioned for Jordan to pick up the reins. “King is plow reined, so you'll have to pull the right rein to go right and the left one to go left.”

“Good,” Jordan said. “That's just like the English reining I did in my lessons.”

“Most drafts also know voice commands,” Jacob continued. “If you want to turn right, you say “gee,” and if you need to turn left, you say “haw.”

“Someday, I'd really like to learn to drive drafts,” Jordan said. “Especially now that I have my own. That would be so cool.”

Jacob smiled. “I thought driving drafts was just a crazy, spur-of-the-moment thing for you…kind of like buying a lame draft horse at auction,” he teased. “But I'm starting to believe that you might really mean it.”

Jordan nodded vigorously and Nicole backed her with a thumbs-up.

“Then I guess we better make sure Star gets well.” Jacob handed his backpack to Nicole. “I brought some of Brother Fisher's famous cure-all concoction. Some people laugh because they don't believe it works, but they always stop laughing when their horses go sound again. We'll put it on Star's hooves when Jordan's done riding King.”

Nicole pulled out the jar and took a sniff. Her face contorted in disgust.

“Sorry,” said Jacob. “I should have warned you. But as my dad always says, ‘The worse it smells, the better it cures.'”

Jordan peered through the barn at Star, who bobbed her head and nickered to King. “I sure hope it works. I hate to see her limping around. I don't want to think about what might happen if we can't help her.”

“Oh, I'm sure it'll help.” He looked up at Jordan. “But seriously, you really need to see about getting her x-rayed. All the medicine in the world won't help if she's got a broken bone in those hooves.”

Jordan must have involuntarily tightened the reins, because King backed up from the pressure and tossed his head. “Whoa,” Jordan said, feeling a bit nervous. She really was a long way off the ground. She forced herself to relax and think positive thoughts. Star was going to be okay. Star was going to be fine.

Jacob turned King so he faced a clear area beside the barn. “When you're ready, just say, ‘King, walk up,' and give him a little squeeze with your legs.”