Racehorse

Horse Crazy

Horse Shy

Horse Sense

Horse Power

Trail Mates

Dude Ranch

Horse Play

Horse Show

Hoof Beat

Riding Camp

Horse Wise

Rodeo Rider

Starlight Christmas

Sea Horse

Team Play

Horse Games

Horsenapped

Pack Trip

Star Rider

Snow Ride

Racehorse

Fox Hunt

Horse Trouble

Ghost Rider

Prancer burst out of the gate, immediately taking the lead. But that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Stephen, the jockey, was supposed to hold her back until the last part of the race, when he’d been told to make her go as fast as she could. Carole watched Prancer carefully, and the look of the horse told her that nothing was going to stop her. The horse who loved to run fast by herself, alone on the practice track, wanted the utter joy of running by herself, ahead of the rest of the field on the racetrack. Prancer’s legs flew back and forth so fast Carole couldn’t even see them land. Stephen had sensed the urgency in the horse’s gait and had given her all the rein she needed to run wild and free, ahead of everybody else.

Even from across the track, Carole was sure she could hear the pounding of Prancer’s hoofbeats, so rapid as to be a single throbbing sound.

And then something happened.…

“H
ORSE
W
ISE
,
COME
to order!” Max Regnery called.

Carole Hanson thought those were some of the sweetest words in the English language. It meant that her Pony Club meeting was about to start. Her Pony Club was called Horse Wise. Usually, the best Pony Club meetings took place on horseback. This one was going to be an exception, though, because they had a special speaker. Judy Barker, the stable’s vet, was going to be talking to the group today. Anything Judy ever had to say about horses was interesting to Carole.

Carole settled down cross-legged on the floor between her two best friends, Lisa Atwood and Stevie Hanson. The girls exchanged excited glances. This was going to be fun, but that wasn’t news. Pony Club meetings were
always fun—especially when you were completely surrounded by friends!

Carole loved horses and anything to do with horses. She’d been riding since she was a little girl and expected to keep on riding for the rest of her life. She had her own horse named Starlight and she tried to ride him every day.

Carole boarded Starlight at Pine Hollow, the stable owned by Max Regnery. Her two best friends, Lisa and Stevie, were very different from Carole, but all three of them had one big thing in common: horses. They all rode horseback at Pine Hollow and they all loved horses so much that they’d formed their own club. It was called The Saddle Club and it only had two requirements. The first was that members had to be horse crazy. That was easy. Horses were just about the only thing the girls ever wanted to talk about. The second requirement was that members had to be willing to help one another out whenever they needed it, no matter what the problem.

Thinking about that reminded Carole of some of the problems the girls had solved in the past. That made her smile.

Lisa and Stevie were both members of Horse Wise, too, and they were right next to Carole at the meeting. Lisa, the oldest of the threesome, looked like the youngest. She was small and slender, with a creamy complexion, wavy light brown hair, and freckles. Lisa was serious
and methodical about everything she did, including horseback riding, which she’d only started doing about a year ago. She was a straight-A student at school and always tried to do everything people expected of her. That wasn’t easy when all her parents wanted was for her to be perfect! Still, Lisa seemed to manage it, most of the time, and the best part, as far as her friends were concerned, was that she managed it without being a goody-goody.

Stevie was very different from Lisa. She had long dark blond hair and hazel eyes that sparkled with mischief because that’s what was usually on her mind. She scraped by in school, spending an undue amount of time in the office of the dean and/or the headmistress of the private school she attended. However, events had shown that Stevie usually had a way of coming out on top, no matter how deep the hot water.

Carole, with wavy black hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin, had an intense look about her, when the subject was horses. When the subject was anything else, Carole could be something of a flake. It amazed her friends to recall the time when they went on an overnight trail ride with Carole. She had forgotten her own backpack and sleeping bag, but remembered to bring every possible combination of backup equipment for the horses. Carole was definitely tuned into horses and now she was very eager to listen to Judy Barker.

“A healthy horse is essential to good riding,” Judy began.
“And the most important health care a horse gets is from its rider.”

Carole hadn’t ever thought of it that way, but, of course, it made sense. It was the rider’s responsibility to know the horse well enough to recognize when something was wrong. That was the time to get off the horse, check it carefully and, if necessary, call the vet. There were always riders who thought they could get away without calling the vet—that the problems would just go away, but horse health problems rarely just “went away.” Without care, they only got worse. Carole knew that. So did just about every other Horse Wise member at the meeting.

The group, which included fifteen members at this meeting, followed Judy and Max to the paddock next to the stable at Pine Hollow. Like Max, Judy believed that the best way to learn was to do. She told the pony clubbers they should each go get the horse they usually rode and secure their lead ropes around the edge of the paddock so they could all work together at the same time. She also told them to bring their grooming buckets.

Carole found Starlight in his stall, contentedly munching on some hay. She clipped his lead rope to his halter and brought him to the paddock, picking up her grooming bucket along the way. Stevie brought Topside, a Thoroughbred horse that had belonged to a championship rider, Dorothy DeSoto, until Dorothy had an
accident that would keep her out of competition for the rest of her life. Max had been only too willing to provide a home for the wonderful gelding, and Stevie was thrilled to be able to ride him.

Lisa rode Pepper, a dappled gray gelding who had been a member of the stable for many years. Pepper was a great horse for all riders, but particularly for beginners. He had a way of instructing even the greenest greenhorn, and Lisa had been very glad for that quality in him more than once. She gave him a big hug as she brought him out to his spot at the edge of the fence, between Stevie and Carole’s horses.

All of the riders had learned how to groom their horses, and the girls began the job as Judy spoke. She explained that grooming was an excellent time to check the horse’s physical condition.

“Remember, your hands must always do two jobs as you work on grooming your horse. The first is simply grooming. The second is to check for soundness as you go.”

“What’s this?” Meg Durham asked, pointing to a small raised lump, about a half an inch across, on Patch’s leg. Judy went to examine.

“Anybody know?” she asked. Lisa raised her hand. Judy nodded.

“Patch is allergic to flies,” Lisa said. “I bet it’s a fly bite.”

“I bet you’re right,” Judy said. “The lump will go away
on its own in a short while. In the meantime, the best thing you can do for Patch is to spray him for flies. Where do we keep the fly spray?”

“On the medicine shelf in the tack room,” Meg said automatically. Then, without further instruction, she went indoors to retrieve it.

As she worked on Starlight’s coat, Carole thought about Pony Club meetings. It seemed that every question a member asked was answered with another question. The pony clubbers were supposed to have all the answers—and a lot of the time they did.

Lisa worked hard on Pepper. She loved his gray coat, and she loved to make it shine by cleaning it. In return, he usually seemed to love being cleaned. She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that he loved the feel of the brushes, cloths, and combs, or if it was because he knew how nice he’d look when it was done. She actually suspected it was because he enjoyed being the center of somebody else’s attention. Today, however, he was acting very uninterested in the whole process.