Trail Ride by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

its edges reflected the surrounding meadow. The grass was so lush it looked like someone had colored it all with a single shade of green paint. Magnificent trees, whose leaves rustled in the soft breeze, invited them to shelter in their shade from the growing heat of the day. One tree arched its branches far out over the water, and some enterprising person had tied a long, thick rope to one of them.
    “It’s spectacular,” Lisa murmured.
    Carole thought that was an understatement. “
National Geographic
should see this.”
    Kate was already off her horse and waving at them from below. “Come on,” she urged. “It’s all ours.”
    The girls didn’t need to be told twice. They eased their horses down the gentle slope to the waiting paradise below, joining Kate under one of the choicest trees.
    “Last one in is a rotten egg,” Kate yelled, pulling off her boots.
    “But Kate, we can’t go swimming,” Lisa lamented. “We didn’t bring our bathing suits.”
    “You’ve got T-shirts and undies, don’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    Kate pulled off her jeans. “That’s more than they had in Eden.”
    Carole almost laughed out aloud at the shocked look on Lisa’s face. “Come on, Lisa, there’s no one here but us,” she said, following Kate’s lead. “And I’m not sure this isn’t Eden.”
    “I did it the other day when I found this place. I don’t think anyone else on the planet knows about it.”
    “I guess it’s not like we’d be skinny-dipping,” Lisa said cautiously.
    Carole was struggling out of her own clothes. “That’s the spirit.”
    Lisa threw herself on the ground and began yanking at her boots with enthusiasm. “We’better take care of the horses first, though. I bet they’re thirsty.”
    “Can we give them a drink from the pond?” Carole asked Kate, who was unsaddling Stewball.
    “The water’s great for drinking—rocky mountain pure—but I have something else in mind for the horses. Get their stuff off and give me those ropes I put on your saddles.”
    Carole hurried to obey.
What is she up to?
    Moving quickly, Kate made the soft ropes into makeshift hackamores—bitless bridles. Caroleadmired her technique and made a mental note to ask her to teach them how to do it.
    Kate surveyed her work. “All right, everybody on board. Any of you tenderfoots need a leg up?”
    “We’re going bareback riding in our underwear?” Lisa said doubtfully.
    Carole understood her concern. Bareback riding in a bathing suit might look glamorous in a television commercial, but in reality it would cause a nasty rash on the inside of your thighs from rubbing against the horse’s hair.
    “Nope. We’re going swimming and the horses are going to join us,” Kate announced triumphantly, mounting Stewball with ease.
    Carole scrambled up on Berry, thankful that he wasn’t as big a horse as her own, Starlight, was. “Are you sure about this?”
    Kate led the way to the edge of the water. “They love it,” she assured them. “Horses are natural swimmers. Cowboys use them to cross raging rivers they’re unable to swim themselves.”
    If Carole had any doubts, they were quickly banished when Berry headed for the water with obvious eagerness. Moments later she found herself sittingwith her feet submerged while her horse satisfied his thirst.
    Stewball, having already quenched his, was pawing playfully at the mirrorlike surface. He blew noisily when he accidentally splashed some water up his nose.
    “Carole,” Lisa cried, “look at me!”
    She turned to see her usually cautious friend up to her waist in water and Chocolate’s head bobbing up and down as she swam in an easy circle.
    Not wanting to be left out, Carole encouraged Berry to go deeper. The water rose around her, and she felt Berry swimming eagerly forward. She reveled in this unique experience and felt a wide smile stretching across her face.
    After a while, Kate called them out. “I think the horses have had enough for now. We can tie them to