Horse Care Read Free

had. He had become a tall, broad-shouldered, good-looking boy who could barely stay in the saddle.
    Lisa gave Carole a look of disbelief. “You mean you actually haven’t noticed?” she said. “Veronica gave up on Simon weeks ago. I guess she decided his family isn’t socially prominent enough.”
    “Either that, or Simon finally realized what Veronica’s really like,” Stevie said. She turned to Carole with a grin. “Hey, that gives me a great idea. We were just talking about getting you a boyfriend. And Simon is free. What do you think?”
    “
You
were just talking about getting me a boyfriend,” Carole corrected. “And I think I’ll pass on Simon. He may be a lot cuter now than he used to be, but his personality hasn’t changed much. He’s still kind of annoying.” She giggled. “Maybe I’ll take that cute new six-year-old instead.”
    Suddenly Carole noticed that Lisa was looking distracted again. “Lisa?” she said. “Are you still with us?”
    Lisa sighed. “Yes,” she said. “I was just thinking, that’s all.”
    “About how Carole will be going off to college while her boyfriend’s still in middle school?” Stevie guessed.
    Lisa didn’t even notice the joke. “No,” she said. “I was thinking about how my mom still doesn’t understand how important Pine Hollow is. Not just riding, but riding
here
. She thinks that just because I’ll be in the saddle next Saturday, I’ve got nothing to complain about.”
    Carole nodded sympathetically. She knew exactly how Lisa felt. She had ridden at lots of different stables, and Pine Hollow was special. “Did you explain that to her?”
    “I tried,” Lisa said, “but she just kept talking aboutthis charity auction. She’s really excited about it. I guess it’s a big deal to be invited. Socially, I mean.” She sighed.
    As the three girls reached the end of the stable aisle, a horse looked out of the extra-large box stall on the corner and let out a whinny.
    Carole paused to pat the horse. “Hi there, Calypso,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
    “She’s probably excited,” Stevie guessed. “I bet she already has her baby’s name all picked out.”
    Calypso, a young Thoroughbred mare, was due to foal in the next few weeks. Max had bought her to breed with his stallion, Geronimo. The Saddle Club had been following the course of Calypso’s pregnancy for months.
    “She seems a little bored,” Carole said, looking worried. “Maybe we should spend some extra time with her after the meeting.”
    Lisa gave Calypso a pat, too. “Good idea,” she said. “But right now we’d better get going. If we’re late, the only thing we’ll be spending time with afterward is a manure fork.”

“O KAY , I’ LL START with an easy one,” Judy said at the Horse Wise meeting. The topic had turned out to be equine pregnancy and foaling. “Who knows how long the average mare’s gestation period is?”
    Carole’s hand shot up immediately. She had seen a lot of pregnant mares and assisted at several births, so she knew quite a bit. For one thing, she knew that when Judy asked about a mare’s gestation period, she was talking about the length of her pregnancy.
    All around the room, a lot of other hands were also waving in the air. The question was a pretty basic one. Judy pointed to Polly Giacomin.
    “Polly?” Judy said.
    “Eleven months,” Polly said. “Approximately.”
    “That’s right,” Judy said. “Gestation typically lasts a little more than eleven months. Anywhere from around 320 to 360 days can be considered normal.” She turned and glanced toward the doorway of the indoor ring. “Just a second,” she said. “It looks as though our special guest has arrived.”
    Carole turned to see Red O’Malley standing just inside the doorway. He was holding a lead line with Calypso at the other end.
    “Bring her in, please, Red,” Judy called.
    The stable hand led Calypso slowly toward the spot where Judy was standing. The Saddle Club