Horse Tale by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

told her friends eagerly. “I’ve been dreaming for days about going on another one of those wonderful desert rides.” It was the next morning and the girls were eating breakfast. As soon as they were finished, they planned to saddle up their horses for a nice long trail ride.
    “Me, too,” Lisa said. She nudged Stevie. “I bet you can’t wait to ride your hero Stewball again either, huh?”
    “Mm-hmm,” Stevie murmured distractedly, stirring her oatmeal.
    “Hey, Stevie, have you heard a word we’ve said?” Carole asked. Stevie had been quiet all morning. “Earth to Stevie!”
    “I hear you,” Stevie said. “I just have something on my mind, that’s all. Don’t worry, it’s not a
bad
something,” she hastened to add. “In fact, it’s a downright wonderful something.”
    “Would you care to share that something with us?” Lisa asked dryly.
    “Not just yet,” Stevie replied mysteriously. “I want to wait until the time is right.” She grinned and started humming a little tune.
    Carole raised her eyebrows at Lisa and Kate. They shrugged, as mystified by Stevie’s odd behavior as Carole was. Still, they all knew how difficult it was to pry a secret out of Stevie before she was ready to share it. Besides, they had plenty of other things to think about at the moment.
    “Anyway, I can’t wait to start our ride,” Carole said, with one more curious glance at Stevie. “And the weather couldn’t be more perfect.”
    Lisa nodded. “It’s too bad Christine couldn’t come.”
    “I know,” Kate said. Christine and her parents were going to visit some relatives that day. Kate smiled. “But the important thing is she’ll be here for the big camp-out tomorrow.” The others couldn’t argue with that!
    W HEN THEY REACHED the barn half an hour later, John Brightstar was there to help them saddle up, as usual. “Want some help with that saddle, Lisa? It’s heavy,” he said, seeing her coming out of the tack room with Chocolate’s bridle slung over one shoulder and her saddle in her arms.
    Even though a Western saddle was larger and heavier than the Eastern ones she was used to, Lisa was perfectly capable of carrying Chocolate’s saddle herself. But she knew that if she let John help her, it would give her an opportunityto talk with him some more, so she let him take the saddle from her. As she followed him out of the barn toward the corral, she thought she saw Stevie, Carole, and Kate exchange an amused glance. Her friends would probably tease her about this later on.
    Lisa watched while John set the saddle on the fence and then went to bring Chocolate out of the small herd in the corral. The obedient mare gave him no trouble, and soon John and Lisa were busy saddling her up together. A moment later Carole, Kate, and Stevie joined them in the corral and began saddling up their own horses.
    While Lisa and John worked on Chocolate, they talked. Lisa asked him what he had to do to get ready for the auction.
    “I’m glad you asked,” John replied quickly. “I was going to ask you if you’d be interested in seeing some of the preparations firsthand.”
    “Sure,” Lisa said. “Like what?”
    John leaned over to tighten Chocolate’s girth. Then he straightened up and looked at Lisa over the mare’s back. “I thought I’d teach you a little about cutting,” he said.
    “Cutting—that’s like cutting specific horses out of the herd, right?” Lisa said, hoping he would be impressed that she knew what he was talking about. “It’s easy to figure out from its name.”
    “Well, yes, you’re right about what it is,” John said. “Although that’s actually not where the word ‘cutting’ comesfrom. A ‘cut’ is what the pen is called where cowboys drive the calves they separate from the herd.”
    “Oh, I didn’t know that,” Lisa said, trying to decide whether or not to feel embarrassed by her mistake. She decided not to. “I’d love to learn,” she said, smiling at John across