Autumn Trail

Lisa wasted no time before heading for Pepper’s stall. She didn’t even stop to greet the curious horses who looked out and nickered as she passed, though she supposed they were probably wondering what she was doing there at this hour.

Lisa had almost grown accustomed to not seeing Pepper’s head poking out to greet her as she approached, since these days he seemed to spend most of his time with his head hanging low, facing the back of the stall. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see that. But she was surprised by what she did see when she opened the stall door. Pepper was lying on his side in the straw, breathing hard.

“I
CAN
’
T BELIEVE
I’m saying this,” Carole Hanson said through chattering teeth, “but I’m glad this ride is almost over.”

Carole’s two best friends, Stevie Lake and Lisa Atwood, looked at her in amazement. “
I
can’t believe you’re saying it, either,” Stevie teased. “You mean you’re actually
tired
of riding?”

Stevie knew very well that if there was one thing Carole never tired of, it was riding. In fact, Carole, Stevie, and Lisa all loved riding—and everything else about horses—so much that they had formed a group called The Saddle Club. It had only two rules. The first was that members had to be horse crazy, and the second was that they always had to be willing to help one another out with any problem, large or small.

“Very funny. I mean I’m freezing to death,” Carole responded. She tried to glare at Stevie, but found that a bit difficult, since her eyebrows were frozen in place. She soon gave up and laughed instead. “I guess this will teach me to listen to the weather report more often. Maybe the next time it’s this cold, I’ll know to wear a warmer coat.”

The three girls were riding on one of the trails that wound through the woods behind Pine Hollow Stables, where they all took riding lessons and where Carole boarded her horse, Starlight. The weather was unusually cold for mid-November in northern Virginia. The night before, the temperature had dropped below freezing. Today, even though it was only late afternoon, it was already bitterly cold.

“I’m wearing the warmest coat I have, and I’m frozen, too,” Lisa said. “I can’t believe it’s this cold and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. At this rate it’ll be forty below zero by January.” She gave an involuntary shiver at the thought.

“It feels like it’s forty below
now,
” Carole declared. Starlight snorted as if in agreement, sending a puff of steam into the frosty air. “See? Even Starlight thinks it’s too cold to be out here.”

“No, that’s not what he said,” Stevie corrected with a mischievous grin. “He thinks you’re just being selfish. After all, he needs his exercise, no matter what the weather’s like.”

“I know,” Carole said, giving the horse a pat on the neck. “Sorry, Starlight.” Carole took her responsibilities as a horse owner very seriously. The beautiful bay gelding had been a surprise Christmas present from her father the year before.

A few seconds later Carole realized that Stevie had been teasing her again. “How do you know what Starlight was saying, anyway? You know how Max is always saying that horses don’t understand English. I bet he’d have a hard time believing you understand Horse.”

Max was the owner of Pine Hollow and the girls’ riding instructor. He was constantly teaching his riders not to tell their horses what to do in words. Even though some horses seemed to understand a few words, and the tone of a rider’s voice often conveyed meaning to his or her mount, Carole knew that the best way for riders to get their horses to do what they wanted was with their hands, legs, and seat.

Stevie knew it, too, but at this particular moment she decided to ignore Carole’s teasing and continue her previous thought. “Still,” she said, “I don’t think Starlight would object if we trotted for a while. We can move back down to a walk when we get to the meadow.”

“Great idea,” Carole said enthusiastically. “That way the horses will get their exercise, and we’ll get back to the stable faster.”

“And we can post to keep warm,” Lisa added.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Stevie said. “Come on, let’s go.”

The girls signaled for their horses to trot. By this time they were on the smooth, well-worn section of the trail leading to the wide meadow that separated the woods from the pastures behind Pine Hollow. As they left the woods a few minutes later, the girls slowed their horses back down to a walk. It was important for the horses to have a chance to cool down after their exercise before being put back in their stalls, and no matter how cold they were, the girls wouldn’t even consider breaking this rule.

As they moved across the meadow, Lisa’s eye moved automatically to the pasture where Pepper lived. Pepper had been a Pine Hollow institution for years. He was the horse that Max had usually assigned to new riders, for he was gentle and patient and had a way of teaching them—sometimes even better than Max could, although none of the girls would ever have wanted to be the one to tell Max that! Lisa hadn’t been riding as long as Carole and Stevie had; in fact, Pepper was one of the first horses she had ever ridden, and he had been her favorite mount until his recent retirement.

It had been difficult for Lisa to accept the fact that Pepper was just too old to be ridden anymore, but she had finally realized that the faithful horse deserved a rest. Stevie had even arranged a retirement party for him, so that all the riders who had learned from Pepper
over the years could come and thank him. Now Pepper spent his days peacefully grazing in the shady pasture the girls were passing.

At this moment, though, Lisa thought that Pepper’s pasture looked anything but inviting. The sun was just setting, and its last rays sent harsh shadows across the grayish, frostbitten grass. Lisa could just make out the shape of Pepper, covered in a warm wool stable blanket. He was standing near the fence on the opposite side of the pasture, closest to the stable. His head was hanging low, and he seemed to be staring in the direction of the buildings.

“Look, you guys,” Lisa said, interrupting Carole and Stevie, who were still trading joking insults. At the worried tone in her voice, both of them turned immediately to see what was wrong. Lisa pointed at the still form of the old gray horse. “Do you think it’s too cold for Pepper to be out here all night?”

Carole nodded, looking concerned. “Definitely. No horse should stay out too long in this kind of weather, especially not one as old as Pepper. I’m surprised Max hasn’t brought him in already.”

“I think I’ll ask Max if we can bring him in for the night as soon as we get back,” Lisa said. She gave a last glance at Pepper as she rode on after the others. She noticed that he didn’t even look around as the girls rode past his pasture. That wasn’t like him. Normally he would have hurried over to the fence so that they would
stop and visit with him for a while. Lisa wondered if she should mention it to the others. One of the first things she had learned at Pine Hollow was to watch the horses for odd or unusual behavior, since it was often an early warning sign of illness or injury.

Lisa glanced at Pepper again and decided to keep quiet. She was sure that in this case it was just the cold weather that was making Pepper act strange. But she promised herself she would check him over carefully when they brought him inside.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Stevie pulled her horse, Topside, up next to Lisa’s mount, Barq. “Hey, Lisa, I hope you’ve got hot chocolate at your house,” Stevie said. The three girls were going to the Atwoods’ house for a sleepover after their ride. “Carole and I have decided we definitely have a craving.”

Lisa smiled, trying to erase from her mind the image of Pepper standing motionless by the fence. “You bet we do.”

A
LITTLE OVER
an hour later, the three girls were settled comfortably in Lisa’s pink-and-white bedroom, steaming cups of hot cocoa in their hands. “This is more like it,” Carole said with a sigh. “I was beginning to think I’d never be warm again.” She snuggled down deeper into the overstuffed chair she was curled up in.

“I’ll bet Pepper thought that, too,” Lisa said. “He looked so grateful when we brought him inside.”

“And Max says horses and people don’t speak the same language,” Stevie said with a sniff.

“I’m just glad Max said it was okay to bring Pepper inside,” Lisa said. “In fact, he said he’d been planning to send Red out to bring him in anyway. He said this cold snap took him a little by surprise, and he wishes he’d brought Pepper in last night, too.” She took a sip of cocoa, almost burning her tongue because she was so distracted thinking about Pepper. “I just hope he’s all right.”

“Me, too,” Carole said. “By the way, speaking of Red, did you all happen to notice which horse he had just finished exercising when we came in?” Red O’Malley was the head stable hand at Pine Hollow.