Stevie (13 page)

I could tell that Lisa was excited, too, and even Carole had perked up quite a bit. She came over to where I was standing.

“It’s going to be great, isn’t it?” I said to her.

She nodded and smiled, then bent to pick a brush out of Topside’s grooming bucket. “Let me give you a hand,” she suggested. “After all, we want to make sure Topside is in perfect shape for his big day, right?”

I grinned at her, happy that she didn’t seem too bummed out about Starlight’s knee. “Definitely,” I agreed, getting back to work with renewed gusto.

Hi, Carole! I have a very important question for you. I just got to the part of my report where I’m talking about Starlight’s leg problem. Lisa keeps telling me to make sure my report has substance, and we all know she’s the expert when it comes to school! What exactly did Judy think was wrong again? Can you e-mail me back as soon as you get this? I want to make sure I get all the details right. Because I know how Miss Fenton feels about details.…

Welcome to My Life …

Well, Miss Fenton, this is your lucky day. I’ve just received an e-mail from renowned local equine expert Carole Hanson regarding the leg injury I discussed in the previous section of my report. I feel I must tell you that Carole attacked this topic with her usual exhaustive enthusiasm, so I found it necessary to edit her essay a bit in the interest of length. I don’t want you to still be reading when school starts again in the fall! Ha ha! But seriously, I only cut about eight or nine pages. Okay, maybe it was more like twelve. But what’s still here basically sums up the whole thing, without all the long explanations and lists of fairly disgusting horse diseases and the history of the horse in America and stuff like that. I know you like a lot of detail, Miss Fenton, but trust me—in this case, less is more.

Anyway, here it is. I hope you find it very informative.

“No foot, no horse.”

It’s an old horseperson’s saying, but still a true one. You see, a horse’s feet and legs are perhaps the most important parts of its body. In the distant past, wild horses relied on their legs to save them from dangerous predators by carrying them away as quickly as possible. However, a horse’s legs are
very slender and fragile compared to the rest of its body. Some people don’t realize that a horse has no muscles at all below its knees and hocks, just bone and tendons. Some people also don’t know that a horse carries its entire weight on one leg during a gallop.…

Different breeds have legs of differing thickness and strength. For instance, a Thoroughbred has very long, slender legs because it is bred for speed. A heavy workhorse, on the other hand, has larger joints and thicker legs.…

One of the most important things to look for in a horse is good conformation, including good legs. There are a number of defects you should watch for in both the forelegs and the hind legs.…

My horse’s name is Starlight.…

I love to go riding with my friends in The Saddle Club. That’s a club that Stevie Lake, Lisa Atwood, and I started when we realized we were all horse-crazy.…

Anyway, one day earlier this spring the three of us were at our weekly Pony Club meeting. That’s when I discovered the swelling on Starlight’s knee. Luckily, Judy Barker, our stable vet, was at the meeting. After I discovered the swelling, which I did while running my hand down Starlight’s leg …

I knew that there were a number of possible diagnoses for the swelling in his knee—anything from a localized trauma or infection or a ligament or tendon strain to infectious diseases such as equine viral arteritis, pleuritis, influenza, or even severe diarrhea. However, Judy suspected a mild carpitis, which would clear up in a matter of weeks without medication
or other procedures. As usual with horses, though, there are no guarantees.…

So there we were, the three members of The Saddle Club, sitting in TD’s eating sundaes and talking about Starlight. I couldn’t believe I couldn’t ride him for at least two weeks. I didn’t know what I was going to do with my time—other than taking care of him, of course. My friends tried to reassure me, but I was still depressed. I knew I could ride a Pine Hollow horse, but then Max would have to charge me. And I didn’t even want to think about asking my father for extra money for that.

Eventually we changed the subject to Dorothy DeSoto’s upcoming visit. She was going to give a special dressage demonstration, and we were all excited about that. Dressage is a very interesting sport, with a long and fascinating history beginning in the fourth century B.C.…

Stevie is probably the most serious about dressage out of the three of us.…

Then our talk turned to Pepper. Lisa decided to make Pepper the topic of an essay she had to write for school. The topic was Life, and I didn’t blame her for wanting to write about Pepper. What’s life without beloved horses? I myself love everything about them.…

 … and Pepper is the perfect example of all that. But now, I couldn’t help wondering if he was getting too old to be ridden. Lisa told us that Max wanted her to start riding Comanche because Pepper was coming close to retirement. We were all still thinking about that (and eating our ice cream) when Judy Barker came into the restaurant.

She greeted us cheerfully, but I guess we were a little less happy to see her than usual. I was upset because of not being able to ride for two weeks. Lisa was upset because soon she wouldn’t be able to ride Pepper at all. I guess Stevie wasn’t upset about anything in particular, except that as a loyal friend she was upset on behalf of Lisa and me.

Judy was sympathetic. She started to talk about how horses get sick sometimes, which I already knew. I mean, it sometimes seems as though there are thousands of things that can go wrong.…

But of course most of those things will probably never happen to Starlight. It was just his leg that I was worried about.

That’s when Judy gave me her great news. She wanted me to be her assistant!

It was a perfect plan. She needed someone to help her on her rounds. I needed something to do with my time now that I couldn’t ride. Besides that, she would pay me for my time by taking care of Starlight for free. That was a big relief, since vet bills can be expensive and I knew my dad was already spending a whole lot on Starlight’s boarding and the rest of my riding expenses.

I knew there was a lot I had to learn about a veterinarian’s job, and I was eager to learn.…

 … and that is why proper horse care—with special attention to the legs and feet—is vital for every good rider to learn.

Welcome to My Life …

There you have it. Carole’s essay pretty much sums up what happened next. We went to TD’s (you know, that ice cream parlor over at the shopping center near Pine Hollow) to talk over what had happened at the meeting. Carole was moping about Starlight, Lisa was moping about Pepper, and I was just trying to act sympathetic (which I was, of course) even while I felt like cheering because of the news about Dorothy DeSoto.

Judy Barker’s invitation for Carole to work as her assistant cheered us all up, at least a little. But I think it was something she said that reminded Lisa about that Life essay she had to write for school.

Come to think of it, during this whole time that I’m writing about, both of my best friends were kind of preoccupied with these really serious issues of life and death and health and sickness and stuff like that. I was distracted by other things, which I’ll get to in a minute. Lisa was taking the news about Pepper’s upcoming retirement pretty hard. In addition to worrying about Starlight, her new job with Judy gave Carole a lot to think about. She had to see a lot of sick horses, and while most of them got better thanks to Judy’s excellent care, a few of them didn’t. That must have been pretty hard for Carole to handle, considering how she feels about all horses.

Anyway, I had some serious stuff on my mind at that time, too. For instance, my history paper on Paul Revere was almost due, and I had that big science test coming up.
But I’m sure you’ll understand that my first priority had to be to help my friends. It was my sworn duty as a member of The Saddle Club. Plus, there was that dressage demonstration to look forward to. I may not be serious about many things, but as Carole mentioned, I’m very serious about dressage. It’s a very exacting and demanding sport, requiring lots of discipline and responsibility, sort of like taking a science test or something. And naturally, I wanted Topside to be in top condition when Dorothy arrived.

So we were all pretty busy for a while. Carole got to visit lots of interesting places with Judy. One of the most interesting was a place called Maskee Farms, which is a racing stable owned by a man named Mr. McLeod. That was where Carole first met Prancer, a beautiful young Thoroughbred with the sweetest disposition in the world. Carole discovered that Prancer loved kids, even though she was nervous around most adults.

Then there was Lisa. She always spends a ton of time worrying over her homework, but this essay was different. Lisa was agonizing over it, even after she turned it in. I don’t know why. Teachers always love everything she does, and her English teacher gave her an A on the Life essay and even read it out loud to the class. But Lisa was still all worked up about it. She seemed to think the essay hadn’t deserved an A. I didn’t quite understand that, since in my case my grades usually seem to be
lower
than I think they should be, not higher. But Lisa certainly seemed worried about something.

I suspected it probably had something to do with Pepper.
Lisa had hardly ridden another horse since she first set foot in a stirrup, and I figured she was having a hard time adjusting to the idea that she would soon have to switch to a different horse.

I decided to step in and help her out. Sometimes Lisa just sits around and thinks and worries too much for her own good. I’m no Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), but I think she probably gets that particular bad habit from her mother. I decided that as a good friend, it was time for me to step in and take some action. So one day I arranged things with Max so that Lisa could take her first trial ride on Comanche.

“You’re going to love him,” I assured her as I led the way toward Comanche’s stall. I meant it, too. Comanche is a terrific horse—he’s a deep chestnut gelding with lots of spirit and personality, with a quick, bouncy trot and a wonderful canter. He’s really fun to ride. I would swear he has a better sense of humor than some people I know. (I don’t mean you, Miss Fenton.)

“I’m not so sure about this,” Lisa said uneasily when I told her the plan.

I did my best to be patient with her. Lisa isn’t always as excited about trying new things as she could be, and I could tell she was kind of nervous. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool that she was getting the chance to get to know a whole new horse. Then again, I’ve ridden lots of different horses since I started riding, and like I said, Lisa hadn’t had nearly as much experience.

“Come on, chin up,” I said. “Let this young boy show you his stuff, okay?”

“Okay,” Lisa agreed, though she still didn’t seem very enthusiastic.

I had tacked up Comanche before Lisa arrived, so he was ready to go when we reached his stall. His eyes were sparkling with anticipation, and his ears perked forward alertly as we opened the door to lead him out. He looked so lively and ready for fun that I was almost sorry that I wasn’t the one who was getting to ride him. I let Lisa get acquainted by leading him to the outdoor ring while I hurried to get Topside, who was also ready and waiting. Then I headed for the outdoor ring, stopping only long enough to touch the lucky horseshoe that every rider at Pine Hollow touches before each ride.

We both mounted and walked around the ring a few times to warm up. Lisa looked kind of nervous, though so far she and Comanche seemed to be getting along fine. He was responding to her aids perfectly and not giving her a bit of trouble.

“Ready to let him show you his stuff?” I called when I thought the horses were limber enough. Lisa didn’t respond, but I continued anyway. Sometimes she just needs a little nudging. “Okay, let’s trot.”

I signaled to Topside, who swung into his easy trot immediately. Then I glanced over my shoulder to see how Lisa was doing.

She was posting evenly as Comanche trotted along briskly. I noticed she had a rather disgruntled expression on her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked her, guiding Topside until he was trotting right beside Comanche.

“It’s his trot,” Lisa said, sounding a little breathless from
the fast pace. “It’s so choppy. I feel like a sack of potatoes bouncing around up here.”

I shrugged. “You look okay,” I told her.

“Only because I’m posting,” Lisa replied. “I could never sit Comanche’s trot like I do with Pepper. It’s not smooth enough.” She sighed loudly. “I’m even having trouble riding it while I’m posting.”

“Balance,” I told her supportively. “That’s the most important thing. Anyway, the best is yet to come.”

I signaled for Topside to move into a canter. He obeyed instantly. Comanche started cantering, too.

Lisa’s expression changed almost immediately. I thought I knew why. Comanche has the smoothest, most wonderful canter—it’s almost like riding a rocking horse, though of course it’s much faster, which makes it that much more fun.

“Oh, this is wonderful!” Lisa cried to me.

“I knew you’d love him!” I called back, happy that Lisa had at last realized how wonderful Comanche was—thanks, in part, to me.