High Horse by Bonnie Bryant

Author:Bonnie Bryant [Bryant, Bonnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82515-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-01-30T05:00:00+00:00

LISA HAD TRIED everything, but nothing had worked. Teddy was getting more and more edgy, and she could feel from the tension in his neck and legs that he was about to take off.

Suddenly Phil and the other hikers appeared from the edge of the forest.

“Phil,” Lisa said. “Help! I’m so glad to see you. The horses are getting skittish, and we have to move them under forest cover, but Teddy won’t budge.”

Phil came over and took Teddy’s halter and put his arm around his neck and whispered something in his ear. Teddy snorted, but listened.

Stevie, holding Topside a couple of yards away, tried to hear what Phil was saying, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. Phil leaned close and muttered something else, and Teddy suddenly seemed to relax.

Walking close to Teddy and still talking, Phil led him out the paddock gate toward the forest.

All the other horses were watching the scene. Suddenly Stevie felt Topside relax. It was just like her brother Michael’s behavior at bedtime when he was little, Stevie realized, grinning. He would argue and argue, but once he realized that he had to go, he would get kind of floppy and easy, and then go right to bed.

Stevie and Topside walked through the gate after Phil and Teddy, with the other riders and horses following. Phil led them into the hemlock forest, where it was dark and cool.

“Thanks, Phil,” Max said, leading Garnet into the group of horses. “We’re lucky to have you on the overnight.”

“I’m enjoying it,” Phil said. “I’m learning a lot.” He looked pointedly at Stevie.

What does he mean by that? she wondered.

“The last thing you want to do is let horses panic in a storm,” Max said to the riders. “When they run in fear, they can hurt themselves, especially when it’s slippery.”

There was a quiet moment while everyone thought of what would have happened if the horses had bolted from the paddock.

“Look,” Phil said.

There was a glint of sun overhead, one sunbeam, as clear and sharp as an icicle.

“Oh,” Amie said.

The sunbeam shivered and split until it was a cluster of rays reaching through the trees.

“It’s like being inside a Christmas tree,” Amie said.

What a perfect image, Lisa thought, as everyone stood watching the sunlight spread over them.

“Back to the meadow,” Max said. “The horses will be glad to see the sunlight, too.”

They had a reverse parade then, walking out of the woods, into the wet grass at the edge of the meadow. Because of the rain, the grass was full of colors: purple stems, rusty leaves, bristly white seeds.

As soon as they reached the meadow, Topside and Garnet began to grab the grass with their teeth.

“Pull the horses’ heads up,” Max reminded the riders. “They can get colic from eating wet grass.”

Stevie knew this was true. She’d once seen a horse with colic. The horse’s stomach was as tight as a drum, and its muscles were swollen. If a horse wasn’t treated promptly for colic, it could die.

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