Horse Guest Read online

  MEET

  THE SADDLE CLUB

  Horse lover CAROLE…

  Practical joker STEVIE…

  Straight-A LISA…

  #1 HORSE CRAZY

  #2 HORSE SHY

  #3 HORSE SENSE

  #4 HORSE POWER

  #5 TRAIL MATES

  #6 DUDE RANCH

  #7 HORSE PLAY

  #8 HORSE SHOW

  #9 HOOF BEAT

  #10 RIDING CAMP

  #11 HORSE WISE

  #12 RODEO RIDER

  #13 STARLIGHT CHRISTMAS

  #14 SEA HORSE

  #15 TEAM PLAY

  #16 HORSE GAMES

  #17 HORSENAPPED

  #18 PACK TRIP

  #19 STAR RIDER

  #20 SNOW RIDE

  #21 RACEHORSE

  #22 FOX HUNT

  #23 HORSE TROUBLE

  #24 GHOST RIDER

  #25 SHOW HORSE

  #26 BEACH RIDE

  #27 BRIDLE PATH

  #28 STABLE MANNERS

  #29 RANCH HANDS

  #30 AUTUMN TRAIL

  #31 HAYRIDE

  #32 CHOCOLATE HORSE

  #33 HIGH HORSE

  #34 HAY FEVER

  #35 HORSE TALE

  #36 RIDING LESSON

  #37 STAGE COACH

  #38 HORSE TRADE

  #39 PUREBRED

  #40 GIFT HORSE

  #41 STABLE WITCH

  #42 SADDLEBAGS

  #43 PHOTO FINISH

  #44 HORSESHOE

  #45 STABLE GROOM

  #46 FLYING HORSE

  #47 HORSE MAGIC

  #48 MYSTERY RIDE

  #49 STABLE FAREWELL

  #50 YANKEE SWAP

  #51 PLEASURE HORSE

  #52 RIDING CLASS

  #53 HORSE-SITTERS

  #54 GOLD MEDAL RIDER

  #55 GOLD MEDAL HORSE

  #56 CUTTING HORSE

  #57 TIGHT REIN

  #58 WILD HORSES

  #59 PHANTOM HORSE

  #60 HOBBYHORSE

  #61 BROKEN HORSE

  #62 HORSE BLUES

  #63 STABLE HEARTS

  #64 HORSE CAPADES

  #65 SILVER STIRRUPS

  #66 SADDLE SORE

  #67 SUMMER HORSE

  #68 SUMMER RIDER

  #69 ENDURANCE RIDE

  #70 HORSE RACE

  #71 HORSE TALK

  #72 HOLIDAY HORSE

  #73 HORSE GUEST

  THE SADDLE CLUB SUPER EDITIONS

  #1 A SUMMER WITHOUT HORSES

  #2 THE SECRET OF THE STALLION

  #3 WESTERN STAR

  #4 DREAM HORSE

  #5 BEFORE THEY RODE HORSES

  #6 NIGHTMARE

  FOR GRANDMA’S SAKE

  Chad frowned. “This is serious,” he said. “We don’t want to make Grandma sick.”

  Stevie thought about that for a second. It would be terrible if their behavior endangered Grandma Lake’s health. And she was only here for two weeks. The least her grandchildren could do was make her stay as pleasant and soothing as possible. “You’re right, Chad,” Stevie said. “We’ve got to be on our best behavior. All of us,” she added, shooting a glance at Alex. “No pranks or practical jokes.”

  “No revenge plots,” Chad said.

  “No horsing around,” Alex put in.

  Stevie shot him another look, suspicious at his choice of words. But he spread his hands apologetically.

  “Sorry,” he said. “You know what I mean. We have to act civilized and stuff, like Mom and Dad were saying earlier.”

  “So for two weeks, all we have to do is act like good, quiet kids and not fight with each other, right?” Michael said.

  Stevie nodded firmly. “It won’t be easy,” she said, “but we have no choice. Grandma’s life may depend on it.”

  Other Skylark Books you will enjoy

  Ask your bookseller for the books you have missed

  THE WINNING STROKE (American Gold Swimmers #1)

  by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

  COMPETITION FEVER (American Gold Gymnasts #1)

  by Gabrielle Charbonnet

  THE GREAT DAD DISASTER by Betsy Haynes

  THE GREAT MOM SWAP by Betsy Haynes

  BREAKING THE ICE (Silver Blades #1)

  by Melissa Lowell

  SAVE THE UNICORNS (Unicorn Club #1)

  by Francine Pascal

  RL 5, 009–012

  HORSE GUEST

  A Bantam Skylark Book / January 1998

  Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

  “The Saddle Club” is a registered trademark of Bonnie Bryant Hiller. The Saddle Club design/logo, which consists of a riding crop and a riding hat, is a trademark of Bantam Books.

  “USPC” and “Pony Club” are registered trademarks of The United States Pony Clubs, Inc., at The Kentucky Horse Park, 4071 Iron Works Pike, Lexington, KY 40511-8462.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-82574-2

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada.

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

  v3.1

  I would like to express my special thanks

  to Catherine Hapka for her

  help in the writing of this book.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books in the Series

  Other Skylark Books You Will Enjoy

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  “HE DID IT again,” Stevie Lake said, peering over the half door into the stall.

  Lisa Atwood sighed. Carole Hanson just shook her head in dismay and opened the stall door. The horse inside, a big chestnut gelding named Magoo, rolled his eyes at her and snorted. He shifted his weight nervously from leg to leg, but he didn’t move. That was because he had managed to get a pile of the stall’s straw bedding built up between his legs.

  “If we had given him a few more hours in there, he wouldn’t have been able to move at all,” Lisa commented.

  “Hold him still for a second, will you?” Carole said. “I’ll get some of this straw out of the way, and then we’ll take him out and put him in cross-ties in the aisle. That will make it easier to work on him.”

  The three girls set to work. Being best friends, they didn’t have to talk much to work together perfectly as a team. Lisa stepped forward and slipped a halter onto the horse’s head. Then she held him while Carole pushed some of the straw out from under his belly. Carole was careful to keep one hand on the horse’s side to let him know where she was. Magoo was by nature a nervous and easily startled horse, and she didn’t want him to get scared and kick her.

  Meanwhile, Stevie was in the aisle, unp
acking the bucket that contained Magoo’s first aid and grooming kit. “Do you think we should hot soak his foot again today?” she asked as Lisa led Magoo into the aisle and cross-tied him.

  “It can’t hurt,” Carole said. She glanced critically at Magoo’s slightly swollen left foreleg. “Judy says it’s not getting better as quickly as she’d like.”

  Judy Barker was the equine vet who treated the horses at Pine Hollow Stables. Pine Hollow was where Carole, Stevie, and Lisa rode. It was also where the three girls had decided to form The Saddle Club, which had only two rules: Members had to be horse-crazy and they had to be willing to help each other out. The three founding members of the club had been talking to Judy a lot lately. That was because of Magoo. It was early January, and the girls would be going back to school in a little more than a week. But in the meantime, their winter vacation had been more exciting than usual. That was also at least partly because of Magoo.

  On New Year’s Eve, The Saddle Club had volunteered to baby-sit for Max Regnery, the owner and manager of Pine Hollow, and Deborah, his wife. The couple had a seven-month-old baby girl named Maxi. While they were baby-sitting, the three friends had received a frantic phone call from Hedgerow Farms, a stable about ten miles away. The roof of Hedgerow’s stable building had collapsed, and horses were trapped inside. The Saddle Club had rushed to help, taking Maxi with them, and with Elaine, Hedgerow’s manager, they had saved all the horses and brought them to Pine Hollow. Most of the horses had escaped with hardly a scratch. But not Magoo. He had sustained all sorts of injuries. None of them were life-threatening, but because there were so many and because the patient was known to be difficult, Judy had advised leaving Magoo at Pine Hollow until he got a little better. The Saddle Club had volunteered to nurse him, but they hadn’t realized quite how big a job they were taking on.

  “Bruised sole,” Lisa said, beginning a list of Magoo’s medical problems as her friends crouched down and carefully checked the horse’s foreleg. “Capped hock. Broken knee.” She paused. “That last one always sounds so awful.”

  Carole glanced up, looking surprised. “But Lisa,” she said, “a broken knee isn’t like a broken leg. It doesn’t mean that the bones in the knee are actually fractured. It just means that the skin is broken on the—”

  “I know, I know,” Lisa said, holding up a hand. “I don’t need one of your famous lectures, Carole.”

  All three girls laughed at that. Carole was well known for launching into lengthy, detailed monologues on horse care or riding at the least provocation. The lectures were almost always interesting—Carole really knew what she was talking about—but the timing wasn’t always appropriate. For instance, at the moment The Saddle Club had a lot of work to do with Magoo. What they needed was less talk and more action.

  “I’ll go fill a tub with hot water,” Stevie volunteered, heading down the aisle.

  Carole was examining the gelding’s bandages. Several of the ones on his sides and forelegs were frayed around the edges or hanging loose. A couple were gone altogether.

  “He’s still fussing with his bandages,” Carole said, bending closer to peer at an uncovered wound. There were a few specks of straw and dirt embedded in it already. She sighed. “We’ve got to figure out how to stop him. Otherwise we’ll never be able to keep these wounds from getting infected.”

  Magoo had turned his head to see what Carole was doing. He snorted and tried to move away from her probing fingers.

  “It’s okay, boy,” Lisa said soothingly, going to the horse’s head. “We’re here to help. Even if you don’t seem to believe it.” She rolled her eyes at Carole. “Who could have guessed Magoo would turn out to be such a problem patient?”

  Before Carole could answer, Stevie reappeared with the tub. She added some Epsom salts to the hot water, then helped her friends convince Magoo to put his injured foot into it. The horse seemed suspicious at first. He lowered his head toward the water, then jerked his leg away as Carole tried to lift it. Eventually, after several tries, the girls succeeded in getting his hoof into the tub.

  “It feels good, doesn’t it?” Stevie said to the gelding as he relaxed a little. “If you could just remember that from day to day, we wouldn’t have so much trouble.”

  While Magoo’s foot soaked, The Saddle Club set to work cleaning his wounds with an antibiotic and replacing the bandages. As they worked, they talked.

  “I can’t believe the gymkhana is next Saturday already,” Lisa said. In December, Max had announced that the first big event of the new year at Pine Hollow would be an informal horse show known as a gymkhana. All the young riders at the stable would divide into teams of four to compete in all sorts of fun and exciting games and races that would test the skills they had been practicing in their riding classes.

  Stevie looked up from her examination of the scabby wound on Magoo’s right knee. “I can’t believe we haven’t come up with any good ideas for events yet,” she said, sounding a little grumpy.

  Carole and Lisa exchanged glances. They knew that when Stevie said “we,” she was really referring mostly to herself. Stevie had a quick and amazingly creative mind. She was famous for inventing interesting and original ideas for gymkhana games. But this time she hadn’t managed to come up with a single one yet.

  “Don’t feel bad, Stevie,” Lisa comforted her. “We’ve been a little busy lately.”

  Stevie didn’t look comforted. “I mean, practically everybody else has given Max tons of ideas for wacky games,” she said. “Adam came up with an ice-cream-sundae-making race.” She frowned. “That one should have been mine.”

  Carole laughed. “True,” she said. “And what about Polly’s idea for a backward obstacle course? That one will really be challenging.” Adam Levine and Polly Giacomin were both in The Saddle Club’s riding class.

  “That’s a good one,” Lisa agreed. “But can you believe that even Veronica diAngelo came up with a good idea?” Veronica was The Saddle Club’s least favorite person at Pine Hollow. Her family was extremely wealthy, and Veronica thought that made her better than everybody else. She took a lot more pride in her expensive wardrobe than in her riding skills, although she was a better-than-average rider in spite of that. Her horse, a blue-blooded champion named Danny, had cost more than Carole’s horse, Starlight, and Stevie’s horse, Belle, put together.

  Stevie made a face at the mention of Veronica’s name. “It figures her game has to do with shopping,” she said. “It’s her favorite activity.” Veronica had suggested a race in which players had to match merchandise with the correct receipts and then return them to the right “store” to win. Max had seemed a little doubtful, but he had agreed to add the game to the gymkhana as long as Veronica promised to supply the props.

  “There’s still a week until the gymkhana,” Carole told Stevie, reaching for a clean bandage. “I’m sure we can come up with some good ideas before then.”

  “Okay,” Stevie said. “Let’s start now. I was thinking about doing some kind of race where two riders have to cross the ring together while tossing something back and forth between them.”

  Lisa grinned. “That sounds hard. But fun.”

  “What would they throw?” Carole asked. “Tennis balls or something?”

  Stevie shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about that,” she said. “I guess tennis balls would work. But that seems kind of boring. Maybe we could use ripe tomatoes. Or raw eggs.”

  “Ugh,” Lisa said, picturing egg yolk and tomato innards splattered everywhere. “I’m not sure Max will go for that. This gymkhana is going to be inside, remember?”

  “Hmmm,” Stevie said. “That’s too bad. It would be a lot more fun if the riders had to go back to the starting line if they dropped the ball—or whatever—instead of just chasing it down. Eggs would work perfectly. So would water balloons, I guess. But that’s been done to death.”

  “How about snowballs?” came a soft voice from nearby.

  The three girls looked up in surprise. They
hadn’t realized that anyone was close enough to hear their conversation. A slender girl with reddish brown hair and freckles was standing just a short way down the aisle. She had approached so quietly that The Saddle Club hadn’t noticed her until she had spoken. Only Magoo had been aware of the girl’s approach. His ears were pricked toward her curiously.

  “Oh, hi, Britt,” Carole greeted the newcomer.

  Stevie didn’t bother with greetings. “Snowballs!” she exclaimed. “It’s brilliant. Why didn’t I think of that?”

  The girl just smiled timidly. Brittney Lynn had been coming to Pine Hollow for less than two weeks. She and her mother had just moved to the area, and Britt was riding at the stable on a trial basis. If things worked out, she would become a permanent member of The Saddle Club’s riding class.

  So far, The Saddle Club could tell that Britt was a very good rider—almost as good as Carole. Other than that, they still didn’t know much about her. The new girl was painfully shy, which didn’t make getting to know her very easy. But they were trying.

  “Have you been out on the trail, Britt?” Lisa asked. She had just finished rebandaging a gash on Magoo’s hind leg, so she stood and stretched her back.

  Britt shook her head. “I was riding Diablo in the indoor ring,” she said, her voice so soft that Lisa had to lean forward a little to hear her. “Max wanted me to try him out.” Since Britt was new to the stable, Max was letting her try several of his horses before deciding which one she would ride in class.

  “What did you think of him?” Carole asked. She had ridden Diablo herself in the past, and she knew that he was an appropriate choice for a rider of Britt’s ability. But the gelding could be feisty, and Carole wondered if his strong personality might intimidate such a shy girl.

  “He’s a nice horse,” Britt said.

  Carole exchanged glances with her friends. Was that really all Britt had to say about Diablo? Now that she stopped to think about it, Carole realized that Britt didn’t ever have much to say about anything. If someone had asked Carole what she thought of Diablo—or any other horse she’d ever met—her answer could easily have gone on for most of the day. Stevie and Lisa would have been almost as bad.

  Britt didn’t seem to notice the glances. She was looking at Magoo, who was starting to get fidgety again. “How’s he doing?” she asked. Everyone at Pine Hollow knew Magoo’s story by now.