Before They Rode Horses (16 page)

T
HERE WAS A
flurry of activity at Pine Hollow when the girls got there in the morning. The stable had gotten little attention the previous day, since Max, his mother, and Red had all been away.

“What can we do, Mrs. Reg?” Carole asked when they arrived.

“Well, there are plenty of chores to do, and I’d like to give you a list, but Max told me he wanted to see the three of you right away when you arrived. He’s upstairs with Deborah. So go on up. Hurry, now.”

“Right away!” Carole said, echoing Mrs. Reg’s words. The three of them trooped up the stairs, remembering
that it hadn’t been so many hours ago that they’d run up the stairs to meet Maxine for the first time. The door was ajar. They knocked softly to announce their arrival and then went in.

Max was sitting on a chair next to the bed, holding Deborah’s hand. Maxine was in a bassinet on the other side of the bed. The girls peered into the bassinet to see their newest friend sound asleep.

“You wanted to see us, Max?”

“Well, really, I’m the one who wanted to see you,” said Deborah. “I don’t know how I could have made it through everything that happened yesterday without the three of you. You just seemed to know exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. I’ve been telling Max about the ice chips and the massages and the hand-holding. This morning, when I talked to Dr. Husted, he told me how you’d called his nurse to tell her what was going on—and you’ll be interested to know that what’s going on with her right now is that she’s looking for a new job—and you were totally wonderful!”

“We were just glad to be helpful,” said Lisa.

“You were more than that. You were even considerate. I haven’t told Max about how you entertained me.”

“What did they do, tell you the plots of every horse book they’d ever read?” Max joked.

“Not at all!” Deborah said. “Though, not surprisingly, they did offer. No, well, you know, I like horses and all, I mean a bit, but sometimes it’s nice to hear about something else. I asked if each of them would tell me a story about their own lives that didn’t have to do with horses.”

“These three?” Max asked, astonished. “You mean they each actually managed that?”

“Well, sort of,” Deborah said. “Lisa’s story didn’t have to do with horses, and neither did Stevie’s, but the fact was that each of the stories led up to their parents’ allowing—or encouraging—them to learn to ride. They were nice stories, to be sure, but it wasn’t one hundred percent what I’d asked for.”

“And Carole’s was about nothing but horses, right?” Max asked.

“Not a bit of it!” said Deborah. “That was the real surprise. She told us all about this wonderful dog named Sparkle who got lost and Carole and her mother took care of it until its owner came, but not before the brave little dog saved Carole’s life and how her parents promised her that after that they would buy her a dog of her very own. It was the
sweetest story, Max. And I’d never known Carole was so devoted to dogs!”

Stevie snorted. Lisa giggled. Max just laughed.

“Oh, come on, guys,” said Carole. “It was the best I could do!”

“It was a great story. It really touched me,” said Deborah.

“Me too,” Lisa said through her laughter.

“Oh, I loved it!” Stevie agreed. “And it was all new to me, too!”

“Right!” said Max. The three of them laughed together.

“Carole, why are they making fun of you?” Deborah asked. “Wasn’t your story true?”

“Every word of it,” Carole said.

“Carole!” said Stevie.

“Well, almost every word of it,” Carole said.

“Carole!” Lisa said.

“Well, every word except one,” Carole said.

“Which word wasn’t true?” Deborah asked.

“Um … uh … well … 
dog
,” said Carole.

Deborah got it and started laughing then, too. “Does this, by any chance, mean that Sparkle wasn’t a dog?” she asked.

“Uh … yes,” Carole admitted.

“Is it just possible that Sparkle was a horse?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” said Carole.

“Carole, don’t split hairs,” Max told her.

“Okay, well, right. Sparkle was a pony,” she said.

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Deborah said, teasing the girls. “You couldn’t possibly talk that long without talking about horses! The trouble with being married to a horseman is that everything has to do with horses! I go through labor listening to three stories that are all about horses, and then my baby is delivered by an equine veterinarian!”

“But they were good stories,” Carole said. “And we did try to give you some ideas about being a good mother. In my story, for instance, my parents were good to their word. As soon as we moved into our house in Willow Creek, I started taking lessons with Max and riding here. My mother had promised me my very own horse, and although she didn’t live long enough to see me get him, Dad bought me Starlight with money she’d left me, so she fulfilled her promise. That’s really important. When you make a promise, it’s got to be for real, especially when it matters a lot—like a promise about getting a horse.”

“You’re right,” said Deborah. “All of your stories had good lessons in them for me. I’ll try to be the best mother I can. Now, how can Max and I thank you for everything you did yesterday?”

“Will you let us baby-sit Maxine?” Stevie asked.

“Great idea!” said Lisa.

“Really soon!” said Carole.

“Sure,” Deborah agreed. “Are you that eager to earn some money?” she asked.

“Oh, no, it’s not that,” said Lisa. “I mean, we were talking about this last night at Stevie’s house. We’ll let you pay us—if you want to, that is.”

“We just want to spend time with Maxine,” said Stevie.

“Well, we sort of have to,” Carole said.

“Why ‘have to’?” asked Max.

“Easy,” said Stevie. “She’s already been voted in as the newest member of The Saddle Club!”

Deborah shook her head. “My daughter can’t even burp properly and she’s already fated to be horse-crazy!”

“Lucky girl,” said Carole.

Lisa and Stevie couldn’t have said it better.

Bonnie Bryant is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tails series. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, B. B. Hiller.

Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.

Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.

Read all The Saddle Club Super Editions by Bonnie Bryant! Each one is packed full of extra action.…

#1 A SUMMER WITHOUT HORSES

When Stevie can’t ride for a while, Lisa and Carole make a pact not to ride until their friend has recovered. After all, they’re The Saddle Club, and they always stick together. To seal the pact, the girls decide that if any of them breaks the vow, they’ll have to ask stuck-up Veronica diAngelo to join their club. That’ll keep them out of the saddle for sure!

But can three horse-crazy girls really stay away from horses and riding for more than a day? Find out in this super edition, which contains three separate stories about Lisa, Stevie, and Carole—and their summer without horses.

#2 THE SECRET OF THE STALLION

It’s going to be the most amazing Saddle Club adventure ever! The girls are traveling to horsey old England. They’ll ride in a show on the grounds of a real castle. Lisa has done some homework and discovered an ancient unsolved mystery about the duke who once lived there. The duke buried treasure under the stall of his spirited stallion. Then tragedy struck—the barn burned down, and the stallion perished. A year later the duke’s body was found on the same spot, his hand clutching a single fire opal.… Legend says the treasure will be found by a rider with fire in his heart.

The girls are busy with the show, sight-seeing in London, and getting ready for a costume ball at the castle. On that night, it seems that almost anything could happen—but the story of the duke, his stallion, and the tragedy of the burning barn couldn’t replay itself, could it?

#3 WESTERN STAR

The girls can’t wait for winter break from school. Carole, Stevie, and Lisa are heading West to spend the first part of their vacation at one of their favorite places—the Bar None Ranch.

But what they thought would be a quick trip turns into a snowbound adventure. The girls must rescue a herd of horses that face a terrible fate.…

Join The Saddle Club on an unforgettable journey that recalls the true spirit of giving and the strength of friendship.

#4 DREAM HORSE

Stevie Lake gets conked on the head so hard she’s laid up in the hospital. Then she starts having weird dreams about herself and her Saddle Club friends, Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood. No big deal—until the dreams start coming true! First it’s just little things. Stevie
saw
Phil get thrown from Teddy before it happened. She
knew
Starlight was going to stomp on Carole’s foot. Then Carole and Lisa rely on one of Stevie’s dreams to pull a prank on stable snob Veronica diAngelo.

But when their sick friend has a scary vision, the girls aren’t sure they want to know: Is it just a horse in Stevie’s dreams, or is it a nightmare?

Carole Hanson, Stevie Lake, Lisa Atwood, and their friend Emily are off to spend a week at one of their favorite places: the Bar None Ranch. A whole week of nothing but riding—The Saddle Club can’t wait. But is it possible for even these horse-crazy girls to spend too much time in the saddle?

Turn the page for a preview of Saddle Club #66,
Saddle Sore.
Then look for it in your bookstore to find out!

“L
OOK
! Y
OU CAN
see the mountains!” Emily Williams leaned forward, pressing her face against the pane of one of the plane’s small windows. “Some of them even still have snow.”

“The Bar None isn’t that high up,” Emily’s friend Lisa Atwood assured her. “We won’t be riding through snow.”

Emily sat back. “That’s good, I guess, since I only brought summer clothes. But riding through snow is fun!”

“Riding through sagebrush is fun, too,” a third friend, Carole Hanson, said.

“Well, I don’t know about riding
through
sagebrush,”
joked the final girl in the cabin, Stevie Lake. “Riding
near
sagebrush, maybe. Riding around it. Riding past it and admiring the sagebrush—that’s fun. But riding
through
sagebrush hurts! It’s prickly.”

“I’ll write that down so I don’t forget it,” Emily said dryly. The others laughed. It was hard for them all not to laugh, when they knew they were on their way to having such a great time riding at the Bar None ranch.

Lisa, Carole, and Stevie had been best friends for a very long time. They were all completely horse-crazy, and, in fact, they had met at Pine Hollow, a riding stable in Willow Creek, Virginia, where they all rode. When they discovered how much they had in common, they formed The Saddle Club. Its only two rules were that members had to help each other out, and they had to be totally, irredeemably, horse-crazy.

They hadn’t known Emily Williams for that long, but already she was one of their close friends. Because she had cerebral palsy, Emily rode at the Free Rein Therapeutic Riding Center, a place for disabled riders. She was a very good rider. She even had her own horse, a loving palomino named P.C. Sometimes Emily came to Pine Hollow to ride, but she kept P.C. at Free Rein.