The Flying Horse (Once Upon a Horse #1) by Sarah Maslin Nir

Author:Sarah Maslin Nir
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2023-03-14T00:00:00+00:00

No tulips came up at Piber Stud Farm once the frost fled. Instead stars of white edelweiss blossomed and bobbed across the paddocks by the cream-colored castle. Trendsetter missed the bursts of color, the paint of petals brushed across the landscape of his home. But when the breeze blew, the flowers danced in the pastures, almost like the white butterflies he once chased. By the time the buds of edelweiss tickled his heels, Trendy had caught up in the haute école of the young Lipizzaners. Despite Charles-Isaac’s grouchiness, even he could see the Dutch Warmblood had talent.

One morning, the sun bumped up into the sky, and the sterling-colored young Lipizzaners each headed out with their élèves. But Charles-Isaac did not come. Trendy peeked his head out over his half-door with a questioning look, and peered down the barn aisle. There he saw Stellar, decked in his formal red-and-gold blanket, loading up into an extra-long horse box, led by the cavalry master. Then one by one, a select group of the young Lipizzaners, his herd of friends, each stepped up the ramp and proceeded into the trailer.

“I really don’t mind that I won’t be part of the performance in Vienna this year, Cavalry Master Butscher,” Charles-Isaac said from where he was standing at the foot of the ramp. He shouted a little so the teacher could hear him inside the truck. “Trendy is not a Lipizzaner anyway; it would be embarrassing.”

In her formal white breeches, brown tailcoat, and uniform hat with the turned-up tips, Paula Butscher stormed out of the truck and down the ramp, her face almost as red as Stellar’s royal blanket. “Young man! Trendsetter is not the reason why you are sitting out this year’s performance at the imperial riding arena!”

She was furious, as any horse or human could tell. “Your poor attitude is why I have decided not to have you join the other students. You are not ready, Charles-Isaac. When you realize it is you, and only you, who stands in your own way, then you will be ready for this grand event.”

Trendy did not know what was happening. He knew there was upset and tension, but he did not know why. He did not know that the horses were heading to a performance in the most opulent riding hall in the world, the arena from Grandma Frieda’s stories. The next day, they would show all that they had learned at home at Piber Stud Farm to a VIP audience in the Spanische Hofreitschule at the heart of Vienna. It was the very place in Sarah’s postcard, an extraordinary riding ring of pure white marble, built by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI himself. The young horses would promenade beneath those gold-dipped columns and vaulted ceiling and beneath the crystal chandeliers dangling from red velvet sashes.

Trendy knew only one thing: EVERYONE WAS LEAVING WITHOUT HIM.

And so, one, two, three, four, he dragged each hoof backward in the wood shavings of his stall, reversing into its farthest corner.

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