A Star Discovered (5 page)

7

Final Touches

IT WAS STILL dark when Mary’s mother dropped the girls off at Lucky Foot Stable the next morning. She gave them a hug for
good luck and three paper sacks (one each for Mary and Jody, and one for Willie) filled with goodies for lunch. When they
entered the stable and turned on the light, Star raised his head and blinked sleepily, swiveling his ears and cocking his
head as if to say, “What in the world are you doing here so early?” From his perch on the top board of Lady’s stall, Colonel
Sanders shook his head and flapped his wings indignantly. Then, in protest of the early hour, he stretched out his neck, opened
his beak to the ceiling, and crowed over and over again.

“Alright, alright, Colonel, we hear you. We’re awake already,” Mary said, covering her ears. “Star, how would you like a treat
to start off your big day?”

Mary took a shiny red apple from her lunch bag and twisted it in her hands until it split in half. She held one half between
her front teeth and offered the other half to Star on the flat of her palm. Star sniffed the treat for only an instant before
taking the whole thing in his mouth and chewing hungrily, apple juice dripping from his lips.

“Mare, I don’t think your mom packed that apple for Star to eat,” Jody giggled.

“It’s OK,” Mary slurped. She took the apple half from between her clenched teeth and held it out to Jody. “I only wanted half
anyway. Want a bite?” she offered.

“No, thanks, I have my own,” Jody replied. “We’d better get Star out and get him ready for his bath. Willie will be here before
you know it.”

“I know. I’m so glad he doesn’t have to milk this morning and can come to the show with us!”

“We ain’t gonna git to the show if you two don’t quit gabbin’ and get that colt washed,” Willie said, appearing suddenly in
the open doorway.

“Willie! You’re early, aren’t you?” Jody said, leading Star from his stall. Before Willie could reply, Mary groaned at the
sight of the right side of Star’s body, only then fully visible in the fluorescent light of the aisle.

“Oh no!” she exclaimed. “Star, what have you done?”

Willie hobbled around to the side in question while Jody turned Star’s head to the left so she could get a good look. Then
it was her turn to moan in dismay. Almost the entire right side of Star’s body from front leg to back was covered with a greenish-brown
stain that could only have been acquired by the tired colt lying down in his stall overnight in a fresh pile of manure.

“Willie! What are we going to do?” wailed Jody. “We’ll never get that cleaned off in time for the show!”

“If you quit your whinin’ and gather up some rags we will. Mary, git a lead rope and git him over to the milk house where
we can hook up some warm water,” Willie ordered. “Why do you think I had you two git up here so early? Just in case somethin’
like this happened.”

Jody grabbed the horse shampoo, two scrubby mitts, and a handful of rags the girls had cut from old towels and followed Mary
and Star up the gravel driveway. By the time they reached the milk house, Willie was standing outside the door with a hose
and spray nozzle hooked up to the warm water spigot and was testing the water temperature on his open palm.

Star cocked his head and peered warily at the gentle spray, sidestepping and almost landing on Mary’s foot.

“Star, please behave. You’ve had baths before,” Mary pleaded.

“Just hold him still and let me get him used to the spray first,” Willie instructed. Mary turned Star in a circle and led
him as close to the hose as she could. Willie sprayed water on the grass in a circle in front of Star and then slowly moved
the spray closer and closer until it played around Star’s hooves. Star snorted and stomped at the water but didn’t try to
move from Mary’s grasp. The sun was just beginning to cast its light on the day as Willie moved the warm spray gently up Star’s
front legs. When the water reached his chest, he lowered his head and opened his mouth to the spray, then lifted his muzzle
to the sky and raised his lip as horses do when they smell something funny.

“Well, I guess he’s not scared of it,” Willie chuckled. “Jody, git a bucket from the milk house and fill it up with warm water,
and git your shampoo and scrubbers ready. I’ll finish wettin’ him down in the meantime.”

Jody was back in an instant with the bucket of warm water, carefully setting it down on the dewy grass. She picked up one
of the scrubby mitts and put it on over her hand.

“OK, Jody, get some of that shampoo on the mitt and just start scrubbin’ in a circle, first on his shoulder, and keep rinsin’
out your mitt, especially when you hit the green spots,” Willie instructed.

“Oh, Willie can I scrub, too?” pleaded Mary. Willie silently took the lead rope from Mary’s hand and watched as the girls
scrubbed in circles, rinsing their mitts in the bucket and replenishing the shampoo each time. Soon Star was a big greenish
soapy mess, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, stretching out his front legs and nipping playfully at the girls as they
scrubbed.

“OK, Willie, time to rinse him off,” Mary announced, standing back to admire their soaping job. But before she could take
the rope from Willie’s hand, Star planted his feet, snorted once, and shook himself heartily, showering the girls and Willie
from head to toe with greenish soapsuds.

Star shook himself heartily, showering the girls and
Willie from head to toe with greenish soapsuds.

“Daggone ornery bugger!” Willie shouted, wiping the soap from his face. Mary and Jody dissolved in a fit of giggles when Willie
picked up the hose and began to squirt Star with it, not nearly so gently this time.

“Willie! He didn’t mean it!” Mary laughed, shaking her hands to get the soap off.

“Quit yer gigglin’ and go get a sweat scraper so we can get this extra water off. Get a tail comb too. And Jody, git yer rags
ready to give him a good rubdown. Looks like most of the manure stains came off,” Willie said, continuing the spray over Star’s
back and down his hind legs until the foam completely disappeared. Star arched his back at the feel of the water and stretched
out his front legs like a dog enjoying a good scratching, clearly enjoying his bath.

Mary returned with the metal sweat scraper and Jody stepped up with a terry cloth rag in each hand. Without a word Mary applied
the blunt-edged scraper to Star’s neck and moved downward to his shoulder and then along his barrel and belly, “scraping”
the excess water from his coat as she went. Jody followed close behind with the rags, rubbing vigorously in a circular motion
until her rags were sopping wet and she had to go for more. Willie watched in silence, Star’s lead rope in hand, and Star
stretched out his neck as though this was his day at the spa. When Mary reached Star’s tail, she put down the sweat scraper
and picked up the plastic tail comb, running it through the wet tangles until they were all smoothed out. Jody wrung out her
last rag and gently wiped Star’s nostrils and the corners of his eyes.

“Well, he looks a lot better than he did a half hour ago,” Willie observed dryly. “Walk him back over to the stable and keep
him walkin’ in the sun until he dries some more. I’ll put the hose away and get the truck ready.”

Jody took the lead rope from Willie’s grasp, while Mary hung the wet rags over the fence to dry.

“Mare, don’t forget to gather up all the bathing supplies,” Jody called over her shoulder as she turned Star toward Lucky
Foot Stable.

“Since when did I get to be the groom?” Mary muttered good-naturedly, gathering up the supplies as fast as she could and taking
off at a trot to catch up to Jody and Star.

“I didn’t realize how sunny it is already,” Mary panted when she reached Star’s side. “Are we going to be late?”

The girls had been so busy working on Star that they hadn’t noticed how far the sun had risen and how quickly the morning
was getting away from them.

“Willie, are we going to be late?” Jody called to Willie who was on the barn hill getting the truck ready for Star. “Is Star’s
class in the very beginning of the day?”

“Close to, but we still have time. We won’t be as early as I wanted to be, but we’ll make it,” Willie called back, hobbling
down the hill and casting a critical eye on Star’s gleaming coat. “I reckon he looks alright. But there’s one thing you forgot.”

Willie didn’t say any more; he just turned and walked back up the barn hill toward the truck. Mary and Jody looked at Star,
then they looked at each other, then looked back at Star again, trying to remember what they had forgotten. Finally Jody’s
eyes traveled to Star’s hooves.

“The hoof dressing!” Jody exclaimed. “Mare, can you get it out of the tack trunk? Oh, and we forgot to wrap his tail! The
wrap is in the trunk too!”

Star stood perfectly still while the dressing was applied, and he only moved around a little while Mary wrapped his tail in
a stretchy bandage to keep it clean. Then it was time to load.

Mary led Star to the barn hill where Willie had carefully backed the truck. Willie lowered the tailgate so that it was resting
flat on the side of the hill, making a ramp for Star. The girls had practiced loading and unloading him—making sure he didn’t
run away again—several times in the past week when he felt up to it. Now the open tailgate was a familiar sight, and Star
walked easily into the pickup bed and dropped his head to eat the hay and grain placed there. Jody ran back into the stable
to gather up her show clothes while Mary made one last inspection of the tack box to make sure they weren’t forgetting anything,
and they were finally off to the show!

8

At the Show

“YOU’RE NOT NERVOUS, are you, Jody?” asked Mary as they jounced over the bumpy back road that led to the horse show. Jody
had been silent for most of the ride, and as they neared the show-grounds, Mary thought it was time to break the ice.

“I am, but not nearly as nervous as I was when we took Lady to the show,” Jody replied quietly. “At least this time I don’t
have to ride. And I know what to expect now. And besides, it’s just for the fun and experience. It’s Star’s first show, and
if he doesn’t win anything, there’s always next time.”

Mary nodded and Willie smiled at Jody’s good judgment. As they rounded a bend in the road, a field full of horse trailers
became visible, and Willie slowed to a stop at the hand-lettered sign reading, “HORSE SHOW.” Careful not to jostle Star, Willie
put on his signal and turned slowly onto the long farm lane, and then he crept along, looking for a low hill to back up to
for the unloading. As it turned out, Willie had to drive all the way to the end of the lane, where a bank barn much like the
one on the McMurray farm sat at the top of an inviting knoll.

“Mary, why don’t you get out and guide me back, and Jody, get ready to put the tailgate down,” Willie said, looking at his
pocket watch. “We don’t have a lotta time.”

Even before Willie had finished his sentence, the girls were out of the truck, Mary waving Willie back to the perfect spot
on the hill and Jody poised to bring the tailgate down as soon as the truck was in position. In a flash, Star was led from
the makeshift trailer and down the hill.

“Now, just walk him around to get the kinks out of his legs while I find a place to park,” Willie instructed. “Then you’d
better git entered in your classes.”

Star lifted his head and gazed curiously in all directions—ears up and sniffing the air. He had only been off the farm once
before, and that excursion had been a terrible mistake.

“I hope Star doesn’t have any bad memories of his last trip away from the barn,” Mary commented. “Maybe we should take him
down to the ring, so he can see it and get used to the idea. We still have a little time before we have to enter our classes.”

“Good idea,” Jody agreed, turning toward the outdoor ring where a class was in progress. As the girls neared the ring, they
saw a group of about ten young horses lined up for inspection. The judge paced up and down the front of the line, jotting
down notes on a clipboard and occasionally stopping to speak to one of the competitors.

“Look, Jody—these are just babies! This must be the weanling class. They sure aren’t squared up!”

“Or even standing still,” Jody observed. It was all the handlers could do to get the weanlings to stop fidgeting and pawing
when the judge approached.

“Star, you can do better than that!” Mary assured the colt. But Star wasn’t listening to Mary. As he caught sight of the ring
full of babies, he flung up his head, snorted once, and let out a joyful whinny of greeting.

“Star, shhhhhh!” Jody warned. But it was too late. At the sound of Star’s hello, the weanlings became agitated, some whinnying
back, some turning in circles, but all devoting their full attention to the black-and-white colt by the side of the ring.
The competitors and even the judge turned to determine the cause of the disturbance.

“Uh-oh,” Jody began, but she was cut short by a gnarly hand pulling the lead rope from her grasp. She looked up to see Willie
turning Star abruptly from the ring.

“Didn’t I tell ya to get over there and enter your classes?” he hissed, hobbling away from the ring as fast as he could go
with Star in tow and the embarrassed girls trailing behind. “You don’t bring a horse down by a ring when a class is goin’
on, especially a ring full of weanlings. Haven’t I taught you anything?”

“Sorry, Willie,” Jody squeaked. “We thought it would be good to get him used to it.”

“Oh, ya did, huh? Well, if you don’t get over there and sign up, you’ll miss your classes altogether, and there won’t be any
reason to get him used to anything. And Jody, are you plannin’ on changin’ your clothes anytime soon?”

Without another word, Mary headed to the entry booth and filled out the paperwork for two yearling classes, while Jody retrieved
her show clothes from the truck and changed into them in the bathroom of the barn.

“I got your number, Jode. Your first class is grooming and showmanship,” Mary informed Jody as she emerged from the bathroom.
“Wow! You look good,” she continued, surveying Jody’s outfit of white blouse, tan pants, green tie, and black paddock boots.

“I don’t know how I’m going to stay clean,” Jody wondered while Mary tied the cardboard number around Jody’s waist. “I wanted
to give Star one last going-over before the class. Willie said the judge is really picky about any dust or dirt they find
on the coat. And they ask if you groomed the colt yourself, so it has to be me.”

“I think you could do that and stay clean,” Mary observed. “We scrubbed him so well at the farm that he shouldn’t have a speck
of dirt on him! I’ll get the mane and tail comb and the soft brush.”

Mary was right—even with the vigorous last-minute brushing Jody gave Star’s coat, hardly a speck of dust could be raised.
And his mane and tail only needed a quick combing. Willie walked in a circle around the handsome colt, looking him over with
a practiced eye, finally nodding his approval with one reservation.

“You’re forgettin’ one thing, ain’t you?” he asked cryptically, eyeing Star’s leather lead shank as a hint.

“The saddle soap! We almost forgot!” Mary cried, retrieving the can of leather cleaner from the little tack box. “Jody, I’ll
do his lead shank, and you use the saddle soap to wipe your boots one last time, and then we’ll be ready!”

A moment later the announcer’s voice came clearly over the sound system. “The next class is class number three, yearling grooming
and showmanship. Please be ready with your yearlings at ring number one.”

“Oh no! Wait, wait, I’m almost done,” Mary cried, rushing to buff up the brown leather shank with a soft cloth. There wasn’t
time to do Jody’s boots, but they had been shined back at the barn and still looked fine. Willie stood by and observed, having
decided that the girls should get Star ready for his class on their own. Finally he interrupted their frantic last-minute
preparations.

“Alright, he looks as good as he’s ever gonna. You better git over to the ring before you miss the class altogether,” he directed.

“OK, Willie. Now, Jody, don’t forget to smile at the judge, answer all his questions, hold Star’s head up, try to square him
up the best you can, oh, and don’t be nervous,” Mary babbled breathlessly, striding along beside Jody and Star on the way
to the ring.

“Mary, I’m not nervous. Not like last time. Star will be fine,” she said, glancing proudly at the colt prancing beside her.

And Star
was
fine. Mary and Willie watched at ringside as Jody led him easily through the gate and to the fence rail as if he had been
showing all his life. The judge, a tall gray-haired man with a clipboard in his hand, first asked the handlers to walk their
yearlings around the ring, staying close to the rail, while he wrote down each of the numbers of the nine entrants. Willie
squinted at the number displayed on Jody’s back as she led Star past.

“I see Jody’s number is thirty-four,” he said to Mary. “Ain’t that the same number she had when she showed Lady?”

Mary looked at the number, then at Willie, and screwed up her face in thought. “I think it is, Willie!” she finally exclaimed.
“It
was
number thirty-four! It’s a good omen!”

“Might be a bad omen, considerin’ what happened at that show,” Willie mumbled, but Mary had turned her full attention to the
goings-on in the ring. The judge had instructed the handlers to line the yearlings up across the ring in a row facing him.
Star happened to end up third in line, but even with colts and fillies close on either side of him, he stood quietly, only
occasionally gazing curiously to his left and right. The judge gestured for the first yearling in line, a lively bay colt,
to come forward. He instructed the handler to trot the colt along the fence line to the end of the ring and then turn and
trot back again. The bay colt picked up a nice high-stepping trot going down the ring, but when the handler turned him, he
sidestepped, snorted, and flung up his head, yanking the lead shank completely from the handler’s grasp!

“Uh-oh, Willie, there he goes!” Mary exclaimed as the bay colt took off at a jouncy trot around the ring—tail up and nostrils
flaring, whinnying at the other yearlings as if to say, “Hey, I’m free! Why don’t you join me?”

The other yearlings responded by pulling on their own lead shanks and pawing the ground, some whinnying back as they watched
the judge and the handler attempt to corner the frisky colt. Star was no exception. Jody did her best to hold him as he turned
in a circle and whinnied gleefully to the runaway colt. Finally the judge and handler, their arms outstretched, managed to
herd the outlaw into a corner of the ring, where he decided to stand quietly and let himself be caught.

“That’s always the way with weanling and yearling classes,” said a voice by the rail. “One or two of ‘em will misbehave and
rile everybody else up. Too bad it was the first one in line.”

Mary and Willie turned to find the source of the comment—a man in jeans and cowboy hat, leaning over the rail and chewing
on a piece of straw. Mary thought the man looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Willie’s reply brought her
memory back vividly.

“Hey there, good to see you again,” Willie said, shaking the man’s hand. “We’ve got a colt in this class today because of
you.” As Willie pointed Star out to the man, Mary suddenly remembered where she had seen him before. He was the driver of
the truck that had taken Star to the slaughterhouse by accident the year before.

The bay colt took off at a jouncy trot around the ring,
tail up, nostrils flaring, and whinnying.

“Well, I’ll be . . . I remember that colt now. He got himself in quite a jam that day.”

“And you told us about this show. Nice place you got here,” Willie commented. “This here is one of the girls that was goin’
crazy that day looking for the ornery bugger,” he continued. “And the other one is handlin’ the colt.”

Their attention was once more drawn to the ring, where the second entry, a palomino filly, had just finished her trot for
the judge. The runaway bay colt was back in line and behaving himself, but he had caused a lasting disturbance to the other
yearlings in the ring, all of whom were now a little more nervous and fidgety because of his antics. Star had settled down
somewhat and was standing fairly quietly, but Jody’s attempts to square him up were in vain.

“Oh well,” Mary sighed, “he doesn’t look any worse than some of the others.”

Just as Mary finished her comment, the judge pointed at Jody to bring Star out and trot him down the fence line. Seeing the
nervousness on Jody’s face, Mary tried to send her friend a telepathic message.

“Don’t worry about the commotion, Jode. You weren’t nervous before; you shouldn’t be nervous now,” she whispered as Jody and
Star began their trot. Mary breathed a sigh of relief as Star trotted nicely down to the end of the ring and back again, his
head held high. She noticed that the smile had returned to Jody’s face as the judge motioned for them to step back in line.

“That is a right nice looking colt,” the owner of the farm commented to Willie. “If he doesn’t get placed in this class, he
sure should in the conformation class. Well, good luck now.”

Willie and Mary were left alone at ringside to watch the rest of the class in silence. There were no more problems as each
yearling performed at the trot. Then it was time for the judge to go down the line, questioning each exhibitor and examining
each yearling for good grooming.

Jody faced Star as she waited for the judge and pulled gently on his halter in another attempt to square him up, this time
more successfully. His hind legs were slightly askew, but he was almost perfect in front.