Horse Care Read Free Page A

exchanged glances. Carole smiled as she shifted to a more comfortable position on the sawdust-covered floor of the indoor ring. She could tell that her friends were thinking the same thing she was—now they didn’t have to worry about Calypso being bored!
    A few Horse Wise members scooted aside to give Calypso room. She moved slowly, and Red let her choose her own pace. The mare seemed to place every hoof carefully as she walked.
    “Wow,” Simon Atherton commented loudly. “She looks even huger out here than she does in her stall, doesn’t she?”
    A few of the other students snorted or giggled. It was just the kind of ridiculous comment that Simon always made. Still, Carole had to admit that she knew what hemeant this time. Calypso looked gigantic. Her belly was taut and swollen and looked ready to explode.
    Carole studied the mare, observing the way she moved and trying to see whether her udder had begun to increase in size, which would be a sign that the foal was coming soon. But she couldn’t see any such changes yet.
    Before long Calypso was standing at the front of the group. Red kept a good grip on her halter, but the mare didn’t seem interested in acting up. She stood quietly, her ears flicking back and forth.
    “All right,” Judy said. “I think you all know Calypso, our resident mother-to-be. And I hope you’ve all been following her progress during the past few months.”
    Carole nodded. She had made a point of looking in on the mare as often as she could. All around her, she could see others nodding, including Stevie and Lisa.
    “Good,” Judy said. “I’ve been following this pregnancy closely, too. And it looks like Calypso’s gestation is going smoothly this time.”
    For a second, Carole just nodded again. Then she frowned.
This time? What did Judy mean by that?
Calypso was a young mare, and this would be her first foal. Carole exchanged glances with her friends. A few other students were murmuring as they, too, wondered about the comment.
    “Oops.” Judy shot Max a guilty glance. “I guess you all didn’t know. Calypso had some trouble the first timeMax bred her. She lost the pregnancy early on. That’s not uncommon—it happens with up to twenty percent of mares.”
    Carole gasped. She couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe that something that important had happened and she hadn’t even known.
    Stevie was just as shocked as Carole. The members of The Saddle Club spent practically all their free time at Pine Hollow. It was incredible that they hadn’t known about this. Stevie raised her hand. “What happened to make her lose the foal the last time?”
    Judy shrugged. “It’s hard to say,” she said. “It wasn’t anything specific in Calypso’s case as far as I could tell. Some common reasons include problems with the embryo, advanced age in the mare, or even just plain stress.”
    “Stress,” Carole whispered to herself. She gazed at Calypso. The mare certainly didn’t look stressed at the moment. Her eyes were half closed and she seemed to be falling asleep. Still, Calypso was a Thoroughbred, and like many Thoroughbreds she could be high-strung. Could stress have caused her problems last time? The stable was awfully busy and noisy a lot of the time, with riders rushing around and horses coming and going.
    Judy was still talking. “As I said, that loss wasn’t especially unusual. However, we know that Calypso’s dam had some trouble during all of her pregnancies, so we’rekeeping a close eye on Calypso just in case she has similar problems.”
    Judy went on to discuss other aspects of mare care, but Carole wasn’t really listening. She was still staring at Calypso, thinking hard. She could hardly believe that Max and Judy hadn’t said anything before about Calypso’s first pregnancy. Now that she knew, it seemed more urgent than ever to help look after the mare as her foaling time grew near. She decided to talk to her friends about it after the meeting. Maybe