Endurance Ride Read online

  “That’s the river?” Chloe sounded nervous.

  “Don’t worry,” Max said. “It won’t be deep, and I’m sure they’ve made the crossing safe.”

  “I’m not worried,” Chloe said, sounding cross. “It’s just that Whitey doesn’t like rivers this early. Any time we come to one in the first twenty miles, he kicks up a fuss.”

  “After that he doesn’t care?” Carole asked.

  “I know it sounds strange, but it’s true,” Chloe said. “It’s the only thing he’s bad about.”

  Lisa cheered up a bit. So darling Whitey wasn’t perfect after all.

  Sure enough, when they reached the gentle slope of land that led into a lazy, softly flowing river, Whitey refused to move forward. Chloe urged him on, patiently but firmly. Whitey snorted and trembled and attempted to whirl.

  “Maybe you could lead him across,” Carole suggested.

  Max shook his head. “The water’s too deep. Just take your time, Chloe. We’re in no hurry.”

  “It could take hours,” Chloe said with a short, exasperated laugh. “I was afraid he’d be like this.”

  Long ago Prancer had been wary of water, too, but she’d overcome her fear as she had grown to trust Lisa. Now she looked at the river with interest, and Lisa had an idea. “Let me give you a lead, Chloe,” she said sweetly. “Have Whitey follow right on Prancer’s tail, and Carole, you come right behind him.” Often horses could be persuaded to do something in a group that they wouldn’t do on their own. Like peer pressure, Lisa thought with a giggle.

  Sure enough, Prancer splashed through the girth-deep water, and Whitey not quite as happily followed. “There!” Lisa said, once they’d reached the opposite bank. She turned in the saddle to give Chloe a smug smile. She guessed Thoroughbreds were of some use after all.

  Just then Prancer stumbled. The riverbank was muddy and deep, and for a moment Prancer seemed to get one foot stuck in the mud. She staggered and regained her balance. Lisa, caught unaware, felt herself falling over Prancer’s shoulder, but she grabbed Prancer’s mane and held on. Prancer took a few steps forward, then limped.

  “Oh no!” Right away Lisa knew what had happened. She motioned for the others to ride past her; then she dismounted into the squelchy mud. She pulled Prancer’s foot up with her hands. She was right. The deep mud had acted like a suction cup, pulling Prancer’s shoe right off her foot.

  “Did you lose a shoe?” Max asked.

  “Yes. Here it is.” Lisa reached down and gingerly fished it from the mud. The nails that held it on to Prancer’s foot were twisted out of shape, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t been. Only a farrier could put the shoe back on the horse.

  Lisa leaned against Prancer’s shoulder in despair. What could she do now? “Max,” Lisa wailed, “Prancer’s already started limping. She’ll never be able to do this with a shoe missing.” Some horses had tough hooves and never needed shoes. Prancer was just the opposite—she depended on them. Without a shoe to protect her foot from the rocks on the trail, Prancer would be in pain.

  Max looked worried. “I don’t know. We’re right in between the start and the first check,” he said. “So I guess it’s best to go on. They’ll have a farrier there who can nail the shoe back.”

  Chloe dismounted and handed Max her reins. “Let me see,” she said to Lisa. Lisa moved over, and Chloe inspected Prancer’s foot. “Look—the shoe came off cleanly,” she said. “She didn’t damage her hoof at all.”

  Lisa nodded. “I already saw that. But she’s got such tender feet—”

  Chloe smiled smugly and dropped Prancer’s foot back to the ground. “Most Thoroughbreds have tender feet, don’t they? And that can really be a problem on an endurance ride.”

  Lisa gritted her teeth. She wanted to hit Chloe.

  “Lucky for you, she’s got a pretty average-sized hoof,” Chloe said. She walked over to Whitey. Lisa gave Carole a mystified glance. Just how did darling Chloe think she was going to fix this? Lisa very much doubted that Chloe had extra horseshoe nails, an anvil, and a fully trained farrier hanging from her saddle.

  Chloe opened one of her odd-looking bags and pulled a strange black rubber object out of it.

  “Aha!” Max said with a grin. “Chloe saves the day!”

  “What’s that?” Carole asked, leaning forward in the saddle to look.

  “It’s an Easy Boot,” Chloe explained. While Lisa stared in amazement, Chloe pulled it over Prancer’s bare foot and fastened it tightly. “It’s temporary, but it should hold her until the vet check.”

  “Th-Thanks,” Lisa stammered. She’d never even heard of Easy Boots before, but she was incredibly grateful that Chloe had brought one along. If the strange-looking thing worked, it would save Prancer’s foot and let them all continue the ride. But ugh, Lisa hated to be grateful to Chloe!

  STEVIE SAW THE flags for the first vet check just ahead of them on the trail and sighed with relief. She needed a break. “Here we go, Belle,” she murmured as they trotted steadily along. “Fresh water. A quick bath for you. Hay.”

  “Hay!” Beside Stevie, Phil let out a sound that was half groan, half laugh. “I know I’m starving, Stevie, because when you said ‘hay,’ I actually thought, That sounds good—a nice flake of hay!”

  “Grass or alfalfa?” Stevie inquired.

  “Oh, I’m not picky. Whatever they’ve got the most of.”

  Stevie laughed and Mr. Baker smiled. “For the last three miles,” he said, “I’ve been wishing I wasn’t such a coffee drinker.”

  Stevie understood. “It’s gotten much too hot for coffee, hasn’t it?” she said. Sweat kept sliding from under her dark helmet, through her hair, and down her neck. It was driving her crazy. She remembered that Chloe’s strange-looking helmet had vents in it, and now she understood why. “Don’t worry,” she told Mr. Baker, “Mrs. Reg and Deborah said they’d bring some nice, cold sodas. I’m sure they’ll let you have one of those.” Mrs. Reg, Max’s mother, helped him run the stable. Deborah was Max’s wife.

  The sound Mr. Baker made was definitely a groan.

  Stevie was too proud to say it, but she already felt tired. English-style riders rose and fell with the motion of their horses’ trot. It was called posting. Usually posting felt as natural and effortless as breathing to Stevie, but now, nineteen miles into the endurance ride, she was beginning to realize all sorts of things about posting she’d never noticed before. Her knees were stiff and her ankles were sore. Worse, she realized they had thirty-one miles to go.

  “Let’s walk,” she suggested. “We’re almost to the check. Let’s start their cool-down now.” The horses would be given a chance to get their breath back, and then they would be carefully examined by veterinarians and officials. Only those passed by the vet could continue the ride.

  “Great idea,” Phil said thankfully, sitting back in the saddle. Teddy dropped to a walk. His sides were moving in and out, which meant he was breathing harder than normal. Belle and Dominic were, too. The ride was hard—but not, Stevie reminded herself, harder than the training rides had been.

  At the check there was a line of horses waiting. Stevie dropped to the ground and hugged Belle’s sweaty neck. She was already so sweaty herself that it made no difference.

  “Hi, Stevie!” A cluster of little girls surrounded her.

  “Pony Tails!” she said. The Pony Tails, May, Jasmine, and Corey, were three younger riders from Pine Hollow. Like The Saddle Club, they’d formed a club based on their love of ponies.

  “We came with Mrs. Reg and Deborah,” Corey said. “We wanted to help out.”

  “Great,” Stevie said. “Do you have water? Let’s start by sponging Belle down.” Stevie began to rinse cool water over Belle’s shoulders and legs, and the little girls did the same. Deborah appeared with a bale of hay, which she set before Belle, and Mrs. Reg, to Stevie’s unutterable relief, put a can of cold soda in her hand.

  Almost all the riders had support crews meeting them at the checks. Stev
ie saw that Mr. Baker’s wife was helping him, and Phil’s friends A.J. and Bart were taking care of Teddy.

  “We thought you’d be with Lisa and Carole and Max,” May said. “We thought we’d be helping all of you at once.” She pointed to the six buckets of water they had ready.

  Stevie explained that she’d wanted to ride with Phil. She didn’t say anything about Chloe. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sound polite—and besides, Chloe wasn’t her problem anymore. Stevie knew this wasn’t entirely fair to Carole and Lisa, but she also knew that if they could have gotten away from Chloe, they would have.

  “They must be a lot farther behind you,” Jasmine observed. “We thought you’d be all together.”

  Stevie shrugged. She didn’t think they’d gone particularly quickly or particularly slowly. Phil had urged them on, but Teddy’s natural trot was slower than Belle’s, so Stevie had never felt like she was hurrying. Of course, Stevie had no way of knowing how fast her friends were riding.

  “I’m sure they’re not far behind,” she said. For a moment she wished they were all together. Too bad Chloe had to ruin everything—though even Stevie didn’t blame her for asking Max for a sponsorship. It would be rotten to come all the way to a ride and not go. What Stevie blamed Chloe for was her annoying know-everything personality. That, Stevie decided, was what was really keeping her away from her friends. She felt a rush of sympathy for Carole and Lisa, wherever they were. She was sure Chloe wouldn’t improve over time.

  Stevie’s turn at the vet came quickly. The vet examined Belle, listened to her heart rate, and then made Stevie trot her down to a marker and back. She measured how quickly Belle’s heart rate dropped afterward.

  “She looks marvelous,” the vet said with a grin. “You pass. Have fun.”

  Stevie grinned. She hadn’t realized until a feeling of relief swept over her that she was actually worried about the check. Of course Belle would be fine! Stevie was thrilled to hear it, all the same.

  The vet moved on to Mr. Baker’s horse. As she got ready to ride again, Stevie couldn’t believe the check had gone by so quickly. Jasmine pressed an orange into her hands, and Mrs. Reg stopped to pat Belle’s shoulder. “She’s a credit to your hard work, Stevie,” she said.

  Stevie glowed. Mrs. Reg had given her a compliment! That rarely happened.

  She turned Belle in a half circle and watched Mr. Baker’s horse complete the examination. Then she watched Phil bring Teddy in. He trotted Teddy down to the marker and back, just as Stevie had. The vet leaned over and put her stethoscope between Teddy’s front legs. This was the easiest way to hear a horse’s heartbeat.

  The vet frowned. She glanced at her wristwatch, then listened through her stethoscope again. Finally she nodded and passed Teddy through.

  Phil’s face was white. He led Teddy up to Stevie and Mr. Baker and put his arm across his horse’s withers. “All bets are off, Stevie,” he said. “We’ll just have to say you’ve won, because I’m not racing Teddy anymore. He barely passed the check. His heart rate didn’t come down like it should have.”

  “Wow,” Stevie said. “I’m sorry, Phil.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s my fault,” he said miserably. “Go ahead and say it, Stevie. Say ‘I told you so.’ ”

  Stevie shook her head. She felt too anxious about Teddy to be mean to Phil. “Do you want to continue?”

  “What do you think, sir?” Phil asked Mr. Baker.

  Mr. Baker looked at Teddy carefully. “What do you think?” he returned.

  Phil took a deep breath. “Well, I guess the vet wouldn’t have passed him if she didn’t think he was okay. I know they’d rather pull a horse that might make it than pass one they don’t think will. So I guess we can go on. But all bets are seriously off, Stevie, and from now on we’re going more carefully. We’re not going to push it.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Stevie said.

  “Sounds very fine to me,” Mr. Baker said. “I think you’ve got the right approach now, Phil.”

  “Yeah, well, too bad it took me nineteen miles. Let me get Teddy another drink of water, and I’ll be ready to go. Stevie, I’m leaving my jacket with A.J. Do you want to leave yours?”

  “No thanks.” Stevie had taken hers off and tied the sleeves around her waist. It got in the way, especially with her fanny pack and all, but she had apples stuffed in both pockets to give to Belle later on.

  “Here,” Mrs. Baker said. She handed oranges to the three riders. They thanked her and said good-bye to their crew.

  “See you at the next check!” A.J. yelled.

  “Look!” May said, just as Stevie was riding away. “There’s Lisa and Carole!”

  Stevie stood in the stirrups and twisted so that she could see them. “Lisa, Carole! Hi! Good luck!”

  “LOOK, THERE’S STEVIE!” Carole stood in her stirrups and waved. Lisa did the same.

  “Gosh,” Carole said as she sat back gently, “they’re already leaving. Look at all the riders between us and them. They must be at least half an hour in front of us.” She was a little bit sorry that they were so far behind.

  “You know, they’re riding almost up with the people who are trying to win,” Chloe observed. “I’d say they’re going too fast.”

  Carole bit back a retort. How would Chloe know? “Stevie’s a very good rider,” she said.

  “Oh, sure,” Chloe said casually. “I’m sure you’re all very good at riding in a ring.”

  “There are the Pony Tails,” Lisa said quickly, before Carole could answer. From the expression on Carole’s face, whatever she’d been about to say wouldn’t have been polite. “Look, Carole, they’ve come to help Mrs. Reg crew. Look, Max! There’s Deborah and Maxi.”

  Both Chloe and Carole looked in the direction Lisa pointed. “Are those little kids going to be your crew?” Chloe asked.

  “Those little kids,” Carole said, gritting her teeth, “are smart and hardworking. And they know tons about riding. In a ring and out of one.”

  Chloe smiled. “At the rate we’re riding today, an inexperienced crew isn’t going to be a handicap at all. So I wouldn’t worry about that.”

  “We weren’t,” Max said. It was the first he’d spoken for three miles. Carole, turning around, saw that Max looked a little grim. Was Chloe finally getting to him, too? Max winked at Carole and she suddenly felt much better.

  “Who’s your crew, Chloe?” she asked. She steered Starlight toward the waiting Pony Tails.

  “My mom and dad. Just my mom was going to do both of us until my dad dropped out. Of course, we’re all pretty good at doing what we have to do. My mom knows everything about endurance riding.”

  “Of course,” Carole said, with her last shred of politeness. “I’m sure she taught you everything you know.”

  “Oh, no!” Chloe gave a startled laugh. “No, I taught her. I mean, my dad and I did. My mom doesn’t ride.”

  As soon as they dismounted, all their support people rushed around the horses, making them as cool and comfortable as possible. Lisa gave Prancer’s reins to Jasmine and set out to find the farrier. He quickly nailed Prancer’s shoe back on her hoof.

  Jasmine looked at the Easy Boot in Lisa’s hand. “What’s that?” she asked. “Why was it on Prancer’s foot?”

  Lisa explained what the Easy Boot was and how she had gotten it. Jasmine looked over at Chloe with an expression of awe. “Cool!” she said. “Lisa, she saved the day for you!”

  “I know,” Lisa said bitterly. “I know.” Saved the day, she thought, just so she could wreck it by being incredibly pompous and boring for the entire fifty miles.

  “It must be so cool riding with a girl like that,” Jasmine continued. “You can tell just by looking at her that she’s a real endurance rider.”

  “Believe me,” Lisa told the smaller girl, “Carole and I are enduring plenty.”

  Carole came up on Starlight. “We passed!” she said happily. Then, seeing the expression on Lisa’s face, she added comfortingly, “Thirty-one mile
s, Lisa. Only thirty-one miles to go.”

  Lisa nodded grimly. She knew exactly what Carole meant. Thirty-one miles until they never had to see—or hear—Chloe again.

  “WAS IT SUPPOSED to get this hot?” Carole asked. She wiped yet another drop of sweat off her nose. “I didn’t think it was going to be this warm today.”

  “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” Max said with a chuckle. Carole frowned. That seemed like such a stupid thing to say. Grown-ups were always saying things like that. What difference did a little humidity make? Sweltering heat was sweltering heat.

  “Why don’t you take off your jacket?” Chloe asked. “I’m going to take off mine.” She stopped Whitey for a moment and removed her tunic.

  Now Carole felt stupid. Why hadn’t she taken off her jacket? She’d forgotten she was wearing it, that was all.

  Lisa giggled. “I forgot about mine, too, Carole,” she whispered. Carole felt a little better. The truth was, the trail had gotten much harder, and just plain riding was absorbing most of their attention. They were going up the face of a steep, rocky hill. Not only did Carole have to use her leg muscles to hold herself steady in the saddle, she had to continually watch the path. She didn’t want Starlight twisting an ankle or cutting himself on the edge of a sharp rock.

  Carole stopped Starlight on a small patch of grass just off the trail, unzipped her jacket, and took it off. The breeze on her bare arms made her feel better instantly, but she wasn’t quite sure what to do with her jacket. If she folded it across her legs, it might get tangled in the reins. Usually when she wore a jacket on a trail ride, she just kept it on the whole time. Usually, she thought, I don’t have twenty-four miles to go. She looked to see what Chloe was doing and sighed.

  Of course. Chloe’s jacket was some sort of special hiking jacket. With a few quick folds, Chloe stuffed it into its own little pouch, then hung the pouch among the bags hanging from her saddle.

  Carole tied her jacket sleeves around her waist. She hated to do that—she sat on its hem every time she posted, and it bunched up funny over her fanny pack—but it sure beat wearing the thing. She wondered if her father would care if she somehow managed to lose her jacket on the trail. She decided he would.