Secret of the Stallion by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page A

asked. She thought she knew what was on Carole’s mind, and she liked it.
    “Yes, but how do we do it?” Carole asked.
    Lisa knew the answer. She held up the sheet of paper that the stable manager had handed her. “We apply at the lads’ booth for someone to tack up our mounts,” she read.
    “What?” asked Stevie.
    “It means we go ask a stable boy to do our jobs for us,” Lisa explained.
    “I can live with that,” said Stevie.
    Half an hour later, three stablehands, known in England as lads, even though one of them was a woman, led their horses to one of the schooling rings and held the reins as the girls mounted.
    At first the girls just walked their horses around the schooling ring. It gave the horses a chance to limber up. It gave the girls a chance to talk about what they wanted to accomplish in their practice ride.
    “We have to do well in our competition,” Carole said.
    “I thought that was what I was supposed to say,” Stevie joked.
    “I don’t mean we have to win, although I wouldn’t mind that. What I did mean is that we are sort of ambassadors for Pony Clubs and we want to be sure we represent the organization well,” Carole explained.
    “That won’t be any problem at all as long as I’m riding a wonderful horse like Copperfield,” said Stevie. “He’s just about perfect—almost as good as Belle.” Stevie loved her own horse, Belle, better than any other horse anywhere, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy riding Copperfield when Belle wasn’t around.
    Carole nudged Miss Havisham into a trot. The horse picked up the gait immediately, flicking her tail proudly. “This one’s a lot of fun, too,” said Carole.
    Copperfield trotted on after Miss Havisham. Next Lisa nudged Pip. He remained at a walk. That was unusual. Most of the time when a horse in front of another changed gaits, the horse behind automatically took it up. Lisa nudged again, but Pip stubbornly refused to go faster. This wasn’t at all like the behavior Pip had shown just two days earlier at Tessa’s house. Lisa was surprised, butrealized that perhaps it was because he was more upset by the long trip than the others.
    “Come on, Lisa,” Carole said. “Get him moving!”
    Lisa nudged Pip again, this time harder, almost a kick. She also jangled the reins a bit. It wasn’t great riding form, but it might get Pip’s attention. It did. He started cantering and zipped by the others. This was downright naughty behavior on Pip’s part, and Lisa couldn’t let him get away with it. She tightened up on the reins to bring him back to a trot. He shook his head rebelliously and then stopped.
    This was not a good sign.
    “I’m doing something wrong,” Lisa said.
    “Don’t be silly,” Carole said, drawing up next to her. She reached over and patted Pip on the neck reassuringly. “I think he’s just being fussy because he’s in a strange place. Once he gets down to some serious riding, he’ll forget all about his surroundings and only pay attention to you. Let’s start again at a walk.”
    Lisa nudged him and Pip began walking. The next time Carole started trotting on Miss Havisham, Pip trotted, too, but it wasn’t an easy gait as it had been the other day. Although he obliged Lisa and followed her directions, he didn’t seem a willing participant. After half an hour of riding, she’d had enough.
    “Maybe he just needs to rest a little bit more,” she said.
    “Maybe,” Stevie agreed. “And maybe we should do the same. Max said that all of the Pony Club teams were goingto have a dinner together tonight. We’re going to have to shower and change first, so why don’t we pack it in for the day and get back to the hotel?” Carole and Lisa agreed.
    Riding when there were stablehands—lads—to do all the work was very different from riding at Pine Hollow, where the girls were responsible for their own horses.
    “I think I could get used to this,” said Stevie a few minutes later when the lad who was