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  I would like to express my special thanks to Dorothy Campbell for her inspiring tale and to Caroline Ring and the Tamarack Pony Club for their inspiring enthusiasm. —B.B.H.

  Copyright © 1992 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  “The Saddle Club” is a registered trademark of Bonnie Bryant Hiller.

  “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

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeacherslibrarians.com

  eISBN: 978-0-307-82502-5

  Originally published by Bantam Skylark in April 1992

  First Delacorte Ebook Edition 2012

  v3.1_r1

  “AND THEY’RE OFF!”

  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.…

  For D.M.G.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  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

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  “HORSE WISE, 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.

  She automatically checked his vital signs as she worked, noting that his breathing rate was normal and his pulse was normal. These were all good news. She was concerned, however, and her face must have shown the worry, because Stevie quickly noticed it.

  “What’s wrong?” Stevie asked. “Is Pepper sick?”

  Lisa shrugged. “He just doesn’t seem very interested in the grooming. It’s like he’s not alert or something. Is that sick?”

  “Not really,” Stevie said. “It’s the way I usually am in school. Sick isn’t the word my teachers use to describe me.” She could make a joke out of anything. Lisa wasn’t sure this was something to joke about.

  “Look,” Stevie went on. “It’s probably just that he doesn’t feel in top condition because he’s not well groomed yet. Wait to see how he feels when his coat’s shiny, okay?”

  That made sense to Lisa. She redoubled her efforts to make him clean, but when Judy came to check on her progress, Lisa asked her about his apparent listlessness.

  Judy checked him quickly to be sure nothing was going wrong. Then she smiled reassuringly. “He’s just getting old.” She carefully opened Pepper’s mouth and showed Lisa the horse’s teeth. “Look at the wear on these teeth and the angle of Pepper’s jaw. Max probably knows for sure, but I would guess Pepper is somewhere in his mid-twenties. In horse equivalent years, that makes him nearly ninety. Don’t worry if he seems a little un-enthusiastic sometimes.”

  Ninety?! That certainly explained it. “I guess I have to be really careful with him, don’t I?” Lisa asked.

  “You have to be really careful with all horses,” Judy reminded her. “And Pepper’s advanced years just go to show you what good care will do.”

  Lisa returned to the job of grooming Pepper. At ninety he definitely deserved the best she could give him.

  Carole was ready to clean Starlight’s hooves. As she’d learned to do, she began with his right front hoof and ran her hand straight down his leg to the hoof. Doing this accomplished three things: It let Starlight know where her hand was, which was important, because horses could get nervous if they didn’t know what was happening; it allowed her to check his leg as she went; and finally, it was a way of telling him what was coming.

  This time, however, her hand didn’t make it all the way to the hoof. She stopped short at the knee. She felt something odd. She lifted her hand, put it above the knee again, and ran it downward again. She still felt something odd. There was some swelling at Starlight’s knee.

  “Judy,” she called out. “Something’s wrong with Starlight.”

  Judy came right over.

  “Look, when I run my hand down his leg, it feels warm and swollen at the knee.”

  “Just the right knee?” Judy asked.

  Carole had been so concerned that she’d forgotten to check his left leg. Whenever something didn’t seem right, the first thing to do on a horse was to check the opposite side for comparison. Carole was embarrassed to have forgotten to do that, but she also knew what she would find. Starlight was her horse and she knew his legs very well. His left leg wouldn’t have the swelling she’d detected in his right leg. It would feel normal. She checked and she was right.

  “Yes,” she said. “It’s just the right one.”

  Judy felt for herself. She asked Carole if she’d noticed that Starlight was limping or favoring the leg. She hadn’t. Carole unclipped the lead rope and led him around the paddock while Judy observed carefully.

  “Well, that’s the good news,” Judy said. “Whatever it is, it barely shows in his walk yet. That means that we’ve caught it early before much damage has been done.”

  Carole knew what she meant. About the worst thing a rider could do with a horse was to work him when he was lame. That could make a small injury turn into a permanent problem.

  Judy checked the knee several more times carefully and made her pronouncement to the whole group, who had been watching.

  “It could be a couple of things,” she said. “But they all come down to the same prescription for now. Does anybody know what that prescription is?”

  “Complete rest,” said Betsy Cavanaugh.

  Judy nodded.

  “Bandages,” Polly Giacomin suggested.

  Judy agreed.

  “Hose the joint,” Carole said. “That’s almost like a massage, and it reduces inflammation, which helps healing.”

  “Very good,” Judy said.

  Carole was pleased that everyone knew how to care for the horse, but the problem was “complete rest” meant that Carole wasn’t going to be able to ride Starlight until the leg was healed. They’d been riding together almost every single day since Christmas, when her father had given him to her. She couldn’t imagine a day without a ride on Starlight.

  “How long will Starlight need rest?” she asked.

  Judy shrugged. “It’s hard to say, Carole. If it’s a mild carpitis and the swelling comes down quickly, then maybe as little as two weeks. If it isn’t, and it doesn’t, we might need to take an X ray, and then we’ll just see. It’s hard to tell. All I can say for sure is that he needs rest, bandages, and hosing twice a day for twenty minutes.”

  “Oh, Carole, that’s terrible,” Stevie said. “Poor Starlight!”

  “And poor you,” Lisa added. Both of her friends knew how hard it was going to be for Carole not to be able to ride Starlight for two weeks. And what if it went on for longer than that? Carole shook her head, trying to shake off the thought.

  “It’s okay,” she said bravely to her friends. “The important thing is that it’s probably not very serious and Starlight will recover. All I have to do is to take care of him.” She smiled, trying to reassure all the Horse Wise members who were feeling sad for her.

  Carole clipped Starlight’s lead rope back to the ey
e hook on the paddock fence. A thousand questions were rushing through her head. How could this have happened? What could she have done to keep it from happening? Would Starlight heal quickly? Would he heal at all? Was he in pain? What should she do first?

  The first thing she wanted to do was to hug her horse and apologize for whatever had happened. She also wanted to bury her face in his soft mane and cry. She wanted to cry for him because of his injury. She also wanted to cry for herself because she wouldn’t be able to ride for so long. Two weeks. And what if it had to be longer than that?

  Carole didn’t want to think about that. She’d certainly cry then, and that wasn’t a good idea in front of everybody else. Instead of crying, she got to work. She patted Starlight affectionately and went into the stable to fetch some bandages. That, at least, had the advantage of getting her away for a few minutes so if she did cry, nobody would see.

  The stable was nearly empty because most of the horses were in the paddock. Mrs. Reg, Max Regnery’s mother and the stable’s manager, was at her desk off the tack room, busily scribbling something. It took Carole just a few minutes to locate the leg bandages and to choose one for Starlight. She started back toward the paddock.

  “Oh, Carole!” It was Max. He was coming out of his own office and he was beaming. Something had made him very happy. Carole was glad someone was happy. “Have I got good news!”

  “I need it,” she said.

  “What’s the matter?” Max asked, concerned that his star pupil was so upset. It wasn’t like Carole to be unhappy at Pine Hollow. Carole explained about Starlight’s injury.

  “It happens, Carole,” he said matter-of-factly. “Horses get injuries. One of the reasons I make my riders all learn to be caretakers is to minimize injuries, but the fact is that they happen, and it’s a part of horseback riding. You and Starlight will learn from this.”

  Knowing Max was right didn’t make Carole feel better. It just made her feel more petulant.

  “This isn’t what I want to learn right now!” she complained. “If I can’t ride for two weeks, there’s nothing to look forward to!”