Horse Spy by Bonnie Bryant

Author:Bonnie Bryant [Bryant, Bonnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82599-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-02-06T05:00:00+00:00

“WELCOME TO Pine Hollow,” Carole said to the van driver. “My name is Carole Hanson, and—”

“Let’s just get this baby unloaded. We’re late and it’s all because of him. Here are the papers.”

The driver shoved a clipboard at Carole and went to the back of the van, where he started opening the latch. Even before the door was open, Carole knew they were in for some trouble. She could hear the horse stomping on the floor. He whinnied. The sound conveyed both irritation and restlessness.

She looked at the papers. Everything seemed to be in order. Fez had come from a farm in West Virginia. He’d been traveling about six hours, and he obviously didn’t like it. Some horses took traveling in stride, settled into new homes easily, adjusted to a variety of riders, and did their best for each one. Nothing that Carole had learned so far about Fez made her think he was that kind of horse.

While she finished checking the paperwork, Ben stepped up to give the van driver a hand. It was almost like opening a Christmas present—one that really wanted to get out of the box.

First the outer doors were unlatched and swung open. Then the driver lowered the ramp. Next came the inner door, the stall enclosure inside the van. And there was Fez—or at least Fez’s rump. His tail switched agitatedly.

Ben hopped up into the van and clipped a lead rope onto the Arabian’s halter.

“You’re going to have to mask him,” the driver said. “It took that, and more, to get him on. Lord knows what it’ll take to get him off.”

Carole and Ben each took one side of Fez, guiding him every step of the way, and every step was painful—at least for Carole. With Fez’s first step, he managed to give Carole a solid kick in her thigh. She could feel her flesh welting up into a swollen mass and knew it would be a beauty of a bruise.

“Thanks, boy,” she said gently. It wasn’t what she really wanted to say, but losing her temper with a horse had never done any good. She patted Fez on the neck, hoping to soothe him. He eyed her warily, and then Ben slipped a hood over his head.

The theory was that if a horse couldn’t see where he was going, he would follow a lead willingly, since it was probably more reliable than information he was getting with his eyes. Fez apparently wasn’t confident about Carole’s and Ben’s ability to lead him, so he remained almost as balky with the mask as he had been without it.

“Time for a bribe,” Carole said. She pulled a carrot out of her pocket and held it in front of his nose. Fez sniffed and then took it up in his teeth, nipping Carole’s hand as he did so. Carole suspected he’d done it on purpose, but she still didn’t lose her temper. She had a bruised leg and a sore hand and all they’d managed to do was to get the horse to the top of the ramp.

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