Astra (11 page)

“Hey, Lil-Pill,” Charlie called as she came to a stop under the big pine tree near the barn.

Lily rolled her eyes. Charlie definitely needed to get some new material.

“How's Astra?” he asked, following her into the barn.

“Devin and Mel are ponying her out on the trail right now,” Lily said. “We're going to start training her to compete pretty soon.”

“You're kidding.” Charlie's mouth hung open. “My dad might not be too cool with that.”

“Why not?” Lily asked, grabbing the red wheelbarrow and searching for a muck rake.

Charlie handed her the extra rake. “If my dad thought Astra would recover enough to race, he'd never have given her to you. He only did that because he felt sorry for you.”

Add
no tact
to his list of demerits
, Lily thought. “Your dad told me Astra was
my
horse and I could do what I wanted with her. I want to train her to race.”

“But you can't ride anyway,” Charlie said. “Why bother training her if you can't ride her?” Then he stopped, looking as if he'd suddenly realized something. “You're doing it because of your mom, aren't you?”

Lily shrugged. She wasn't about to go into her personal feelings on horses, or her mother, with this jerk.

“I'll ride her for you, Lily.” Charlie said softly.

Lily looked up in surprise. She wasn't so sure she wanted Charlie aboard Astra again, but it was really nice of him to offer. “Really? You would? But what about Derringer? This will be his first big year of racing.”

“Well, I wouldn't be able to ride for you all the time, but I might be able to do a race here and there if my dad lets me.” He opened the door of the first stall to let Lily in with the wheelbarrow. “Astra has a lot of talent. If she makes it back to racing shape, she can beat Derringer.” He grinned. “I like riding winners.”

Lily measured Charlie's offer as she forked a load of manure into the wheelbarrow, throwing it with a little more strength than she intended. Part of it fell onto Charlie's shoes. Justice. Here she'd been thinking that he was being nice to her in offering his help, but he just wanted to ride a winning horse. “Thanks, Charlie,” she said. “I'll let you know.”

She busied herself with her work, mucking stalls for an hour before riding back home to await the arrival of her friends and Astra.

“There you are.” Lily's father came around the corner of the barn. “I should have known I'd find you out here.” He looked around. “Where's Astra?”

She pointed toward the hills. “Mel and Devin are ponying her out on the trails.” Lily watched her father's jaw tighten.

“Why don't you just keep longeing her in the round pen? Wouldn't it be easier than sending her out on the trails?”

Lily climbed down from the fence. “Astra needs to exercise more so she won't get too hyper, Dad. A few minutes in the round pen isn't good enough anymore. She's used to doing big mileage.”

Mr. O'Neil took off his ball cap and adjusted the brim. “Maybe this whole thing isn't such a good idea, Lily. It sounds like Astra is more horse than you can handle. You could get hurt,” her father said.

“I won't get hurt, Dad.”

“Well, if Astra feels good enough that she needs extra exercise, I'm sure Mr. Henley will take her back,” he said. “She'd be home in time to start race season. Isn't the most important thing that Astra feels well enough to race again?”

Lily didn't answer right away, unsure whether to travel down a road she knew would lead to trouble. But if she didn't say anything about her plans to her dad, she'd be in a lot more trouble when he finally found out. “I want to race Astra, Dad.” She stopped and waited for his reply. It didn't take long.

“What do you mean, you want to race Astra?” Lily's father practically exploded. “You can't get a horse fit for those grueling races just by ponying them.”

Lily knew she was treading on dangerous ground. She wasn't allowed to talk back to her dad, but he was being so unfair! “It was Mom's dream to ride Astra in the Tevis Cup. How can you just forget about that?”

Her father stared off toward the horizon. “I haven't forgotten, Lily.”

“Then how can you
ignore
it? How can you forget everything that Mom wanted?” she cried.

Mr. O'Neil's head snapped around. “Do you think I enjoy looking out the window and seeing the reminder of why your mother is not with us anymore? Or watching your face light up every time you talk about horses, and this one in particular? Do you think it's easy knowing that I'm making you so unhappy by not allowing you to ride?” He turned and started back toward the house with long, angry strides. “You're so much like your mother, it scares me,” he called over his shoulder.

Lily watched him go, her stomach twisting in knots. It was a no-win situation, she realized. In order for one of them to get his or her wish, the other came up a big loser.

Thirteen

Lily shaded her eyes. Three horses were making their way up the trail toward the O'Neils' ranch. From where she stood, it looked as if the exercise had taken some of the edge off Astra's energy.

“Your horse did really well.” Devin walked Jericho into the stable yard, followed by Mel leading the gray mare. “She jumped around and played quite a bit on the way out, but once she settled down, Meloney took over for some ponying practice.”

Meloney leaned down from Jasper's back and handed Astra's lead rope to Lily. “I'm glad Astra didn't pull much, because my arm is really tired. Ponying is a lot more work than I thought it would be.”

“Tell me about it,” Devin said. “I had to pony her on the way out when she was full of herself.”

“Thanks, guys,” Lily said, running her hand over Astra's warm coat. It was early April, still too cold to give the horse a full bath. Astra nuzzled her shoulder. Lily had often seen the mare give the same affectionate gesture to her mother when they came back from a ride. Tears stung the backs of Lily's eyes. She could feel Meloney staring at her.

Devin reined his horse in a half circle. “Okay, I'm heading home. I'll see you guys tomorrow.”

Lily and Meloney waved as he rode away. Meloney took off Jasper's bridle and turned the horse into the paddock she'd helped Lily and her dad fix earlier that week. “Are you okay? You're looking pretty bummed.”

Lily shrugged. “Yeah. It's just that sometimes I really miss my mom.” She tied Astra to the hitching post and picked up the rubber curry brush, working it in circles across the mare's back and over her hindquarters. Astra sighed and cocked a hind leg as she relaxed.

Lily paused with the curry poised over the mare's hip. “If my mom were still alive, I'd probably be riding with you this summer instead of always being stuck here.”

Meloney nodded in sympathy. “Yeah, that must be really awful. I feel bad about going without you.”

“What's it like out there on the trails?” Lily asked. “I mean…I used to go on rides with my mom, but nothing over a couple of miles. Domino would've laid down and quit if we did.” She laughed. “I never really asked my mom about training schedules or anything, and now I wish I had. I'm serious about training Astra to race again. But I don't have any idea how to do it.”

Picking up another brush, Meloney started on Astra's other side. “I can tell you what I know. It isn't much, but I've been listening to Mr. Henley.” She glanced at Lily over the mare's back. “I bet he'd help you if you asked him.”

Lily tossed the rubber curry in the bucket and found a soft brush to finish the job. “No way.”

“Why not?” Meloney asked, sounding surprised. “He's one of the best trainers in northern California, and he lives just down the road. You already work for him. I'm sure he'd be happy to talk about training schedules with you.”

Lily pursed her lips. “I just don't feel right about asking him.”

Meloney finished currying her side of the horse and motioned for Lily to hand her a soft brush. “I still don't get it. I thought you wanted to learn.”

“I don't know,” Lily said. “I guess I'm afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” Meloney stopped her brush mid-stroke. “Mr. Henley? He's harmless.”

“I know it's going to be a long haul getting Astra ready,” Lily said. “But she's getting better and better. What if I bring her up to race shape and Mr. Henley takes her back? He only gave her to me because he thought she wasn't going to make it.”

“But he already told you that he was going to let you keep her.”

Lily frowned. “Yeah, but that was when Astra was still really weak. Everyone thought she'd never amount to anything more than a pasture ornament. And my dad would be only too happy to let her go. He's already suggested I give her back.”

“Hmm…I see why you're worried,” Meloney said. “But hey, that doesn't mean it's going to happen. If it were up to me, I'd ask Mr. Henley for help. But if you want to try to do this yourself, I'll help anyway I can.”

Lily smiled at her friend. “Thanks, Mel.” The sound of truck tires on gravel caught the girls' attention. Both of them turned to see Dr. Dale pull into the small barnyard. The vet got out of his truck and waved. “Lily, just the person I wanted to see,” he said. He handed her a large plastic bag. “Here are some vitamin samples and a couple of containers of supplements. They're close to the expiration date, but still good. I'm sure Astra can use them.”

“Thanks, Dr. Dale!” Lily said. She couldn't afford to feed her horse the high-powered, high-priced vitamins they had at the feed stores. The free stuff Dr. Dale had brought would help supplement the meager grain supply she was able to buy.

“Astra's looking good.” The vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the mare's heart and lungs. “Her heart rate is up a bit,” he said, sounding concerned.

“That's because we just finished ponying her out on the trails,” Lily said. “Devin and Meloney took her out for an easy three-mile trot and some walking.”

“Good.” Dr. Dale put his stethoscope away. “You're doing the right thing. Since Astra's feeling better, we should make sure she gets a little more exercise.”

“Hey, Lily, I've got an idea.” Meloney clapped her hands in excitement. “Maybe you can ask Dr. Dale to write you a program for Astra's training. He's the official vet on a lot of the local rides. I bet he knows what to do.”

“A program for what?” the vet asked.

Lily hesitated. “Ask him,” Meloney urged. “Or I will.”

Dr. Dale looked from one girl to the other. “What's the big secret?”

“I want to train Astra for endurance racing again,” Lily said.

Dr. Dale didn't answer right away.
Uh-oh
, Lily thought.
He doesn't think that's a good idea
.

The vet studied Astra for another moment, then nodded. “Sure. I don't see any reason why you can't. Her blood work has been back to normal levels for a month now. As long as you realize that you're going to have to take it easy with her to begin with, she should be okay. Once she gains her strength back, I bet she'll be a competitor to reckon with.”

Lily smiled. “Then you'll write me a training program for Astra?”

Dr. Dale put his hands up in surrender. “Wait just a minute there, young lady. I can give you some suggestions to get you started, but Steven Henley is the best trainer in the area. I'm sure he'd be happy to help.”

“See, I told you,” Meloney said, with a smirk.

Lily gave her friend a light elbow in the ribs, but she knew that she would put it off as long as possible. She didn't want to risk Mr. Henley asking for his horse back.

“I'd keep her with some light ponying if your friends are willing to help,” Dr. Dale suggested. “Gradually work her up in miles. Then, when she gets stronger, you'll need to get someone on her so she's used to carrying the weight over those miles.” He glanced toward the house. “I don't suppose your dad has had a change of heart?”

Lily shook her head.

“That's too bad,” Dr. Dale said. “But maybe someday he'll let you ride. How about
your
training? Are you in pretty good running shape?”

Lily's head snapped up in surprise. “Me?”

Meloney laughed. “Yep. A lot of riders get off and run beside their horses for a while to give them a break. It took me forever to be able to do it without feeling like I was going to keel over. You'd better start getting in shape now.”

“Oh,” Lily said, feeling a little doubtful. “Right.”

“Maybe it would be best if you only ponied Astra every other workout,” Dr. Dale said. “Then you could intersperse that with some short jogs with you,” Dr. Dale said. “You'll have to build yourself up just like this mare. You need to learn all the ins and outs of endurance racing. Even if your dad won't let you ride, you could still be a good trainer.”

“I'll go with you,” Meloney volunteered. “It'll be fun. Besides, I could use the extra workouts.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it sounds like real fun. Trying to keep up with a four-legged Arabian that's raring to go.”

They all had a good laugh. Dr. Dale finished his visit by giving Astra her spring vaccinations and waved good-bye.

“I've got to go, too,” Meloney said as she gathered up Jasper's bridle and headed to the paddock. “I'll be over tomorrow after school and we'll get started with our horse jogs.”

After her friend had left, Lily fed Astra, then went into the house to wash up for dinner. She couldn't believe that her plans were finally starting to take form.

“Better hurry,” her grandmother warned when Lily came into the kitchen. “Dinner's already on the table and your father is ready to eat.”