Hobbyhorse

MEET
T
HE
S
ADDLE
C
LUB
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

THE SADDLE CLUB SUPER EDITIONS
#1 A SUMMER WITHOUT HORSES
#2 THE SECRET OF THE STALLION
#3 WESTERN STAR
#4 DREAM HORSE

Before Carole could finish speaking, Amelia turned on her heel, grabbed the bucket, and threw it against the pasture’s metal watering trough.
Wham!
The crash was deafening. The Pony Clubbers jumped.

“Aiyh!”
shouted a startled Carole. Patch leaped sideways so fast that the lead rope tore from Carole’s hands. He squealed and reared; the other horses, also unnerved by the noise, milled in panic. Patch took off galloping for the safety of the field’s far side. The other horses began to run, too. Suddenly it was a stampede.

Max was halfway across the field, in the center of the pasture, right in the path of the panicked horses.

“Max!” Carole cried. Max turned just as the first horses were upon him. Carole covered her eyes.

Max was going to be trampled!

I would like to express my special thanks to Kimberly Brubaker Bradley for her help in the writing of this book.

L
ISA
A
TWOOD LOOKED
out the window of her father’s car. Across the highway, the Washington Monument went by in a flash. A line of tourists circled its base like a parade of ants, and Lisa wondered what it would be like to visit Washington, D.C., the way tourists did. Lisa lived in Willow Creek, Virginia, a small town just outside of D.C., and she’d spent a lot of time in the capital. Her mother had dragged her through every museum there.

Lisa leaned back and smiled. She didn’t spend much time in museums these days. She didn’t miss them.

Lisa’s mother looked over the back of the seat. “We’re almost at the airport, honey.”

“I know, Mom.” Lisa sat up a little straighter. It was a late Friday afternoon. Lisa and her parents were on their way to pick up Lisa’s cousin, Amelia, who lived in New Jersey but was going to stay with them for a week while her parents went on vacation without her. It happened to be Lisa’s winter break, but it wasn’t Amelia’s. She was being allowed to skip school.

“I bet you’ll really enjoy Amelia, honey,” Lisa’s mother said. “I remember her as such a sweet child.”

Lisa was not so sure. In the first place, her cousin was only nine years old. Lisa liked kids that age fine—in fact, she really enjoyed May, Jasmine, and Corey, three younger girls in Horse Wise, the Pony Club that Lisa and her friends belonged to.

Pony Clubs were sort of like Scout troops, except that they were all about horses. Long ago Lisa and her two best friends, Stevie and Carole, had also formed their own club called The Saddle Club. They’d recently discovered that May, Jasmine, and Corey had formed a similar club called Pony Tails. The younger girls seemed to look up to The Saddle Club, and Lisa liked that. She always tried to be nice to them.

There were other kids Amelia’s age in Horse Wise, too, and most of them took lessons at Pine Hollow Stables, where Horse Wise met and where Lisa and her friends rode. The little kids were all nice as far as Lisa knew, but she
wasn’t interested in playing with them or spending a lot of time with them. She was too old, and she liked to spend time with her own friends.

Furthermore, Lisa didn’t remember Amelia as a sweet child at all. In fact, the last time she’d seen her, three years earlier, she’d really disliked Amelia. Amelia had pulled Lisa’s dog Dolly’s tail and ripped up three of her favorite books. Amelia was a brat.

“It’s lucky Amelia started riding this year, isn’t it?” Lisa’s father said. “You two will have a lot in common.”

“I’m sure we will,” Lisa said, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. It wasn’t a lot. Lisa was thankful that her cousin liked horses. She planned to take her cousin to Pine Hollow every day. Lisa would rather not have spent her week looking after Amelia, but at least she would be around horses. And she wouldn’t have to take care of Amelia herself the whole time. Because of the school break, Max, the owner of Pine Hollow, was offering a special sort of mini riding camp just for the younger riders. Lisa knew it was sort of like day care, for kids too young to ride on their own or take care of themselves while their parents worked.

Lisa’s father pulled the car into the airport parking garage. “We’re right on time,” Mrs. Atwood said, checking her watch. “I’m glad. I wouldn’t want her to have to wait for us, the poor child. Lisa, don’t you remember her last visit? She had the nicest manners of any child I’ve ever seen.”

“Um-hm,” Lisa murmured. So Amelia had known how to say please and thank you—so what? She’d thanked Lisa for letting her look at her books, and then she’d pulled the pages out! Lisa wondered if Amelia had asked Dolly’s permission before pulling her tail.

“I was just so glad when my sister had Amelia,” Lisa’s mother continued. “They waited so long for that child.”

Her friend Carole, Lisa reflected, was also an only child. But it hadn’t seemed to turn Carole into a spoiled brat. In fact, Lisa didn’t know a more caring person than Carole.

As soon as she thought of Carole, Lisa started to worry. When the car was parked, she got out and followed her parents into the airport, but as she walked all she could think of was Carole.

Unlike Lisa, Stevie and Carole each had her own horse. Stevie’s mare, Belle, was a beautiful half-Arab, half-Saddlebred with a feisty personality that matched Stevie’s. Carole’s bay gelding, Starlight, had much of Carole’s sweetness and talent. He was still young, but he was going to be a wonderful jumper, just as Lisa was sure Carole was going to be a famous rider someday—unless she decided to be a horse trainer, breeder, veterinarian, or one of the other horse professionals she was interested in becoming.

Carole was devoted to Starlight, and the horse received the best of care. But for the past few days, he had been
slightly lame in one of his front legs. Carole hadn’t been able to ride him, and she’d been beside herself with worry. Lisa knew that if Starlight wasn’t better by the time Carole got to the stable today, Carole was going to call Judy Barker, the vet. Lisa wished she could be there to support her friend.

Oh well, at least she’s got Stevie
, Lisa thought. When they had formed The Saddle Club, the three girls had vowed that they would always be ready to help each other out. That and being horse-crazy were the club’s only rules.

Of course, Starlight’s injury probably wasn’t serious at all. Just like people, horses got minor aches and bruises all the time. Romeo, Polly Giacomin’s horse, had strained his shoulder muscle a few weeks ago. Polly couldn’t ride him for a few days, but Romeo had healed fine on his own. Lisa was sure Starlight’s lameness was nothing serious, but since none of them knew what was causing it, they all worried a little. Carole, Lisa reflected, worried a
lot.