Horse Sense by Bonnie Bryant

Author:Bonnie Bryant [Bryant, Bonnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82493-6
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-09-25T14:00:00+00:00

AS SOON AS jump class was over, Stevie dashed into the tack room hoping to find Lisa there. There was no sign of her. Stevie took her sandwich and a soda from the refrigerator and went in search of her friend. Finally, in the stable area, she found a small crowd gathered near Delilah’s stall. Lisa stood there along with seven or eight other students, watching Judy examine Delilah.

“Lisa, can I talk to you?” Stevie asked. Lisa turned in surprise. “I can’t believe I forgot the meeting yesterday,” Stevie rushed on. “I mean, I was busy with the gymkhana stuff, but that didn’t mean I had to forget the Club meeting. I’m awfully sorry, especially since Carole told me she forgot, too. It was a terrible mistake, and I hope you can forget about it.”

“It’s okay, Stevie,” Lisa said. “I just saw Carole, and she already told me how sorry you both were. It turned out all right anyway. Estelle was with me, so I wasn’t hanging around there by myself, you know?”

Stevie felt an unbelievable rush of relief. From the second she’d realized what they’d done, she’d known how she would have felt if two friends had done that to her—and she knew that she wouldn’t have been at all nice about it the way Lisa was being. Sighing happily, she slung her arm across Lisa’s shoulder. “Thanks for understanding. How about a Club meeting at my house this afternoon after drill?”

“That’d be great,” Lisa said.

“Now, what’s going on here?” Stevie asked.

“Judy’s examining Delilah. Carole’s helping her.”

Stevie stood on tiptoe to see. Carole was holding Delilah’s halter while Judy felt around the horse’s large belly. It was hard to believe, Stevie thought, that there really was another whole life growing inside the mare. And it wouldn’t be long now before they’d all see it.

“Everything looks fine here,” Judy said. Everybody seemed relieved, though there had never been any indication that anything was wrong. “And I still think we’re on schedule for a delivery in a couple of weeks. This gal’s not rushing into anything!” The girls all laughed. “But I’d better go now. I got a call on the way over here—”

“Judy!” Estelle called from the fringe of the group. “Before you go, could you take a look at Nero? He has been misbehaving terribly.”

Judy glanced up at Estelle. “Old Nero? What’s his trouble? Max didn’t say anything to me—”

“Well, I didn’t have time to tell him yet,” Estelle explained.

“Sure, I’ll look at him now,” Judy agreed. “Describe his symptoms to me, will you?” While Judy packed her medical bag, Estelle explained the problems the horse had given her.

“Sounds like he’s just cranky,” Judy said.

“Le mot juste!” Estelle declared. Then she blushed, realizing nobody had understood her. “Excuse my French,” she said. “It means that that is just exactly the right word.”

Judy picked up her bag and followed Estelle to Nero’s stall.

Stevie and a couple of the other girls tried to stifle giggles. They’d seen Estelle riding, and they knew it wasn’t Nero who had the problem.

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