A Horse for Mandy Read Free Page A

David. ..”
    “You just stop it, Mandy Wilson!” Laura yelled back. “I could care less about your stupid little horse. I own a real show horse, not some squatty little saddle pony. And as for David ... well, it’s obvious that he prefers me to you.”
    Mandy stopped dead, the tears springing to her eyes. “You’re so mean, Laura. I hope that I never have to talk to you again!”
    “Well, that goes double for me!” Laura shouted back. Then she ran toward her house. Mandy stood shaking for a long time after she had left.
    Suddenly, the day was a disaster. As she headed back toward the stables, Mandy couldn’t help but feel she’d lost something special.
    She found herself back at the stable and then felt a warm muzzle in the middle of her back. With a start she turned around and realized that Solana had been following behind her all along. She buried her face in her horse’s mane and began to cry.
    “You’re so lucky, Solana,” Mandy said between sobs. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a person.” Solana snorted.
    Mandy remembered Laura’s angry words again. She thought of her mixed-up feelings at seeing Laura and David together. Why should that bother her so much? She and David had talked lots of times, and Laura didn’t seem to notice. This was silly. Could she have a crush on him?
    No, she was just mad at Laura, she thought. Absentmindedly, Mandy led Solana into her stall. She turned to fasten the rope door. But her mind was far away. Her fingers fumbled at a job she should have been able to do in her sleep. She turned and walked away, not realizing the knot was only half tied.

Five
    “H EY, Solana! Come on, you lazy nag. . . let’s go for a ride.” Mandy began calling to her horse as she walked toward the stall door. There was no familiar answering snort. In fact, the closer she got to the stall, the stranger things seemed.
    Solana’s stall was empty. Mandy couldn’t imagine where she was. She remembered roping up the door the day before. But the ropes were untied and Solana was not in her stall.
    “Who could . . . ?” Mandy wondered out loud, looking at the dangling ropes. Then she ran out into the yard and began to whistle. From behind the stable Mandy heard a feeble whinny.
    “Solana! What are you doing there?” she asked, running around the stable. Mandy stopped suddenly. There was Solana all right, but her head was drooping and she seemed shaky on her legs. “What’s the matter?” Mandy anxiously ran to her horse. Solana could hardly walk. She was limping terribly. It took them almost ten minutes to cover the short distance back to her stall.
    Inside, Mandy picked up Solana’s left foreleg and searched the hoof for damage. She could see nothing. No cuts, no thorns. ..but it was swollen. “Stay, Solana!” Mandy cried in alarm. “I’ll go find Dad.”
    Dr. Wilson rushed back with his daughter in a matter of minutes. “Oh, Dad, what’s wrong? Can’t you help her?” Mandy began to cry softly.
    He examined the horse carefully. “Honey, I’m afraid it’s Laminitis—Founder.” He shook his head grimly at his own diagnosis.
    Mandy had been a vet’s daughter too long not to understand what that meant. “Founder! Oh, no.. .” Mandy choked back her sobs. “But that could mean...” Her voice trailed off. She couldn’t say the words.
    “That could mean permanent crippling. Maybe even putting her down,” he finished grimly.
    “No! Can’t you do something?” But she already knew the answer to that, too.
    “Honey,” Dr. Wilson explained, holding her by the shoulders. “You know that this is something that has to run its course. There’s a lot of congestion in her foot right now. The blood flow is very heavy. It’s jammed up and she’s hurting. But at least it’s not infected. We can do something to prevent that. We’ll start antibiotics. I’ll give her a shot of adrenaline, too, in this leg. Maybe that will slow the flow of the blood and help the