Gift Horse Read Free

forever.
    Stevie was crazy about a lot of horses. One of her favorites was a skewbald pony named Stewball who lived on her friend Kate’s dude ranch out west. Stevie also loved Carole’shorse Starlight; Topside, Max’s Thoroughbred gelding; and just about every other horse she’d ever met.
    But now Stevie knew that none of those horses could ever belong to her the way No-Name did. The two of them were perfectly matched in personality. Where another rider might get annoyed at the mare’s curiosity and playfulness, Stevie loved it. Where another horse might get confused at Stevie’s impulsive commands during mounted games, No-Name seemed to know what Stevie was thinking almost before Stevie did. Like Stevie, No-Name also had a talent for dressage, a form of riding requiring precision, skill, and careful training. Not every horse had that kind of talent—and not every rider, either.
    “That’s my horse!” the shout came again. Stevie glanced at the girl, who had short blond hair and an angry look on her face. Then she returned her attention to her team, helping the excited girls and boy lead their ponies out of the ring.
    Carole and Lisa were there a moment later to greet and help her.
    “What was that girl shouting about?” Stevie asked them as they headed into the barn.
    Carole and Lisa both shrugged.
    “Something about you and No-Name,” Carole replied.
    Before any of them could say another word, May Grover rushed up to Stevie with her pony trailing behind her. “Stevie, will you help me find a hoof pick? I lost mine.”
    “Sure thing,” Stevie replied instantly. With that, the three older girls forgot all about the blond girl and set to work assisting the younger girls with their horses. There was a lot to do to get the horses ready for the trip back to Pine Hollow, which meant there was no time to waste thinking about strange girls yelling odd things in the crowd.
    A few minutes later Carole was leading Diablo out of the barn toward the van when she passed Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s head stable hand. His normally cheerful face wore a puzzled expression.
    “What’s the matter, Red?” Carole asked, immediately concerned. Ever since she’d owned Starlight, she knew better than ever how easy it was for things to go wrong with a horse. Spotting problems or potential problems quickly was one of the skills Max tried to teach them in Horse Wise. Carole was good at it. So was Stevie. For instance, Stevie had been the one to figure out No-Name’s allergy to weeds, thereby saving the mare a lot of unnecessary discomfort.
    Red shook his head. “Nothing’s the matter,” he replied, reaching out to take Diablo’s lead. “At least, I don’t think so. But you’d better go take a look for yourself.” He gestured toward the row of temporary stalls behind him.
    Carole hurried in the direction he’d indicated, still feeling a little worried. A voice came out to greet her—Veronica’s voice.
    “That’s right, Jessica,” Veronica was saying from insideone of the stalls. “If you need to walk around behind him, you should run your hand over his back and quarters, move slowly, and talk to him the whole time. That way he knows what you’re doing, and he’s less likely to get spooked. See?”
    Carole smiled, understanding why Red had looked so shocked. One of Pine Hollow’s many traditions was that riders helped care for the horses they rode. That meant grooming, cleaning tack, mucking out stalls, and everything else that had to be done. Another tradition was that riders helped each other whenever necessary. Both traditions were ones that Veronica liked to ignore. Normally she seemed to consider Red her own personal stable hand, and the last place anyone would expect to find her was helping someone else.
    But now, here she was helping out another rider. Carole shook her head. Had Veronica really turned over a new leaf this time? Then another thought occurred to her, and her smile faded a little. Did this