Horse Thief (2 page)

Stevie halted Belle. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Something’s wrong with Prancer,” Lisa replied, patting the horse reassuringly. “I can’t put my finger on it, but she’s acting a little strange.”

“Strange how?” asked Carole, who had come up behind Stevie and was leading Starlight, her bay gelding. “Is her appetite okay? Does her coat look healthy? Has she been lying down and getting up? Is she coughing?”

Despite her worry, Lisa couldn’t help smiling. Carole was so horse-crazy that she was prone to deliver lengthy lectures about riding and horse management. Her barrage of questions, Lisa knew, came from her extensive knowledge about illnesses like colic, which was the general term for a variety of intestinal problems in horses. Because horses lacked the ability to regurgitate their food,
intestinal problems could be serious; Carole’s questions covered a checklist of colic’s deadly symptoms.

Prancer, however, didn’t have any of the symptoms of colic. She wasn’t looking toward her flank or getting up and lying down. She looked exactly the same as always. Lisa shook her head again. “She doesn’t look sick,” she said. “She just hasn’t been herself for the last few days. When she sees me, she gives me strange looks, and she seems a little less energetic than usual. But otherwise, she looks great.”

Carole handed Starlight’s reins to Stevie and came into the stall with Lisa. She had spent a lot of time helping out Judy Barker, the local equine veterinarian, and had witnessed and assisted in many examinations of horses. She checked over Prancer carefully. “I can’t see anything wrong with her,” Carole said. “But you know her best, Lisa. Maybe you should talk to Max.”

Lisa nodded. “I’ll ask Max to call Judy. I’m certainly not going to take any chances. Maybe it’s just the weather—I know it’s getting
me
down. One more day of rain and I personally will be on the lookout for an ark.”

Willow Creek had had a lot of rain recently. The girls had wanted to practice outdoors after the meeting, and they thought a trail ride after the practice might do the horses some good. Horses, like people, could get cabin fever from being cooped up too long. But the outdoor
ring and the trails were slick with mud, so the girls would be practicing in the indoor ring.

Lisa finished tightening Prancer’s girth and led her out of the stall. She felt slightly better now that she had decided to ask Max to call Judy.

The three girls met Phil and Teddy in the indoor ring and began practicing lateral work. Lateral work involved turns and steps where the horse moved forward and sideways. In one lateral exercise, the leg yield, the horse moved forward and sideways while bent very slightly away from the direction of movement. The group then took turns practicing gait changes, which was also an important element of dressage tests.

During their practice sessions, the girls often helped each other out with advice about riding. Sometimes a rider could get so wrapped up in what he or she was doing that it could become difficult to correct mistakes or bad habits. And sometimes it helped a rider to know that he or she was doing something right. For this reason, The Saddle Club often took turns executing different steps and formations so that the others could praise or critique the person doing the riding.

As the practice session went on, Carole and Lisa couldn’t help noticing that Stevie and Phil seemed to be complimenting one another above and beyond the call of duty. In fact, they were being extremely helpful and supportive
of one another, commenting on every little thing that the other did well.

“Great flying change, Phil!” Stevie called out. For flying change, a horse changed leads in midcanter. “I couldn’t even tell when you gave Teddy the cue!”

Phil grinned happily, patting Teddy on the neck. In dressage, a rider tried to make the aids—the commands to his horse—nearly invisible. Carole and Lisa expected Phil to boast about the training he had been giving Teddy, but instead he kept on beaming at Stevie. “Belle looks terrific,” he said. “Those suppling exercises must really be working!”

Dressage often involved bends of a horse’s body or quick footwork, and riders could improve their horses’ flexibility through suppling exercises. Stevie spent a lot of time on these exercises, which included transitions between gaits and moving Belle sideways with leg commands. Sometimes the exercises involved bending a horse’s body in ways that the horse was unaccustomed to, so the rider had to be extra patient and gentle when teaching a horse how to do them. Suppling exercises not only helped a horse train for dressage, they also helped improve the horse’s agility for all forms of riding.

Carole and Lisa waited off to the side while Stevie and Phil practiced dressage movements involving cantering. After Phil complimented Stevie on her posture, Carole turned to Lisa, her eyebrows raised. “Do you hear what I
hear? I feel like I’m watching a class on how to have a successful relationship.”

“I know,” Lisa said, nodding. “They’re acting like the model couple.” She gagged jokingly. “Is this the same couple we know and love?”

Both Carole and Lisa knew that Stevie, in addition to being imaginative and fun, could be supercompetitive, a quality she shared with her boyfriend. Her competitive nature helped make her a good rider, but it also made her a pain to be around sometimes, especially when she and Phil were competing against one another. Phil lived in a nearby town, so he and Stevie didn’t get to see each other as often as they would’ve liked. Unfortunately, when they did get together, they often found themselves pitted against one another. The two of them sometimes made bets with each other about who would win what rally, whose horse was better, who was a better rider, or who had discovered the latest training technique. At times the competition between Stevie and Phil resulted in not-so-smart choices—like the time Stevie had almost overtrained Belle to learn a dressage movement that Phil and Teddy had already mastered.

For the past several months, however, the couple had been remarkably squabble-free. They still argued over minor things, but their competition with each other seemed to have died down. Crossing her fingers, Carole commented, “Let’s just hope this little phase lasts. Forever.”

“Amen,” said Lisa. “Even this gooey sweetness is better than what they used to be like.”

“Are you guys talking about us?” demanded Stevie, riding up.

“Yes,” Carole replied promptly. “We’re talking about how you guys are so much more fun now that you’ve stopped trying to kill each other in competition.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and nodded.

Phil had joined them and overheard Carole’s comment. “Oh, c’mon, we gave that up ages ago,” he protested.

“We’re much more mature now,” added Stevie. Her serious expression made Carole and Lisa want to giggle, but they managed to keep straight faces. They knew how difficult it was for Stevie and Phil to suppress their natural competitive spirits when they were with each other. Aside from their competitiveness, however, Stevie and Phil made a perfect couple. They both had a great sense of adventure and were always coming up with fun things to do.

“In fact, next week we’re even celebrating six months of our not competing,” Stevie announced proudly. She smiled at Phil, who blushed a little and smiled back.

Carole and Lisa were properly impressed. “Wow. Six months,” commented Lisa. “What are you going to do, go out for a fancy dinner?”

“Are you kidding?” groaned Stevie. “I can barely afford a TD’s sundae, let alone a fancy dinner. I’m totally broke. I can’t even buy the things I need for riding.”

“Like what?” Carole asked. Stevie never seemed to care much for fancy riding equipment. She usually wore old jeans and T-shirts with cowboy boots that had seen better days, and she was the first person to admit that she preferred comfort over glamor.

“Well, I guess I don’t
need
anything exactly,” admitted Stevie. “But my old bridle looks really beat up, and I would love to get a new snaffle bridle. I don’t want a double snaffle, the kind with four reins. The guy at the tack store said I wouldn’t need a double bridle unless I was in international competition—and I’m certainly not there yet. But even simple snaffle bridles are really expensive—over a hundred dollars! There’s no way I can buy one before next Saturday.”

Carole and Lisa nodded understandingly. Now everything was much clearer. Even though Stevie was less than serious about a lot of things, she became very focused when it came to dressage tack and appearance. She always dressed impeccably for dressage events, and she trained with special equipment that Carole and Lisa didn’t have—like a dressage riding whip. Dressage whips were longer, easier to handle, and more elegant-looking than regular riding crops. Snaffle bridles had reins attached
directly to the ring of the bit. This established a direct line of communication between the rider and the horse.

“That’s tough,” Phil told Stevie. “But I know what you mean. I’ve been trying to earn extra money lately from odd jobs, and it takes forever to save up any decent amount. Mowing lawns, weeding—no job is too small for Phil Marsten. Although,” he added ruefully, “it seems like the
pay
is always too small.”

“Why do you need so much extra money?” Lisa asked curiously.

“Oh, I decided to switch feed suppliers,” Phil answered. “I’m still giving Teddy the usual stuff, but I decided to try this feed supplier who said he had a better quality of hay. I want to give Teddy the best kind of food there is, since he eats like … like a horse.”

The three girls burst into laughter. They knew that Phil took excellent care of Teddy, fussing over him like a parent with a new baby. As a result, the horse was clearly healthy, content, and well muscled.

“Well, I think that right about now, I could eat like a horse, too,” announced Carole. “We’ve been practicing for two hours. Let’s call it a day and go get a snack.”

“TD’s!” said Stevie. It was a natural suggestion. TD’s (short for Tastee Delight) was a nearby ice cream parlor where the trio often held impromptu Saddle Club meetings.

After making sure the horses were cooled down, the group headed back to the stable. Phil and the girls watered and groomed the horses and automatically carried their tack to the tack room for cleaning. Max and his mother, Mrs. Reg, had given too many lectures about taking care of their riding equipment for the group to leave dirty tack lying around.

In the tack room, they ran into Denise McCaskill. Denise taught part-time at Pine Hollow and was also an A-rated Pony Club member. She was majoring in equine studies at a Virginia college and was dating Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s head stable hand. Denise was looking over the equipment in the tack room and writing things down in a notebook. She looked distracted and was mumbling to herself.

Lisa tapped her on the shoulder. “Hi, Denise.”

Denise jumped a little, then smiled when she saw the girls and Phil. “Oh, hi,” she said tiredly. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, yawned, then accidentally dropped her notebook.

Carole picked it up and handed it back to her. “Are you okay?” she asked. It was completely unlike calm, efficient Denise to look so frazzled.

“I guess I am a little out of it,” sighed Denise. “Max hired me to do some extra work to plan for the rally next week, and I was just checking over the equipment to make sure everything looks okay.”

“You look really tired,” Stevie said bluntly.

“Thanks a lot,” said Denise, looking both amused and insulted.

“I didn’t mean you look terrible,” Stevie amended sheepishly. “You just look like you haven’t gotten enough sleep lately.”

“How do you find the time to work on the rally?” asked Carole. The Saddle Club had helped Max prepare for exhibitions and rallies before, and they knew how time-consuming such preparation could be. “Aren’t you busy with your college courses?”

Denise sighed again. “Busy doesn’t even begin to describe it,” she said wearily. “I’ve got two papers due next week and a midterm exam. But I asked Max if he would hire me for this because, frankly, I need the extra money. I just got a letter informing me that the college is raising tuition—again. This is the third or fourth time they’ve done that, and I just didn’t budget for the steep increases. I don’t know how I’m going to make ends meet.”

Impulsively, Lisa gave Denise a quick hug. “Listen,
we’ll
help you prepare for the rally,” she promised. “That way you’ll have more time to study.” Carole, Stevie, and Phil nodded in agreement. One of the Saddle Club rules was that members had to help each other out, and the girls often found themselves extending that help to other people, too. Sometimes the results were mixed, but their intentions were always good.

Denise smiled gratefully. “Thanks,” she replied. “I know I can count on you guys. If you could ask Mrs. Reg what we’re doing about refreshments for the rally, I’d be really grateful. I also need someone to talk to Max or Red about where we’re going to put the guest riders and horses.”

Just then, Veronica diAngelo sauntered into the tack room. “Denise, where’s Red? My new dressage bridle seems to have a loose rein. I need him to mend it for me, right away. Goodness,” she added with a light laugh, “money doesn’t really buy anything these days, does it? I may have to buy a new one already!”

Carole, Lisa, and Stevie glared at the other girl. None of them could stand Veronica, whose incredibly wealthy parents seemed to give her anything she wanted. She was undoubtedly the most spoiled member of Horse Wise, and she was the worst behaved. Besides throwing tantrums until she got her own way or flaunting her latest piece of riding equipment, Veronica never bothered to look after her horse or clean her own tack. She simply commanded Red to do it for her. The Saddle Club avoided her whenever they could, but at a close-knit stable like Pine Hollow, that was sometimes difficult.

Now Veronica was dragging a brand-new dressage bridle—exactly the kind that Stevie wanted. It didn’t appear to have the slightest thing wrong with it except that it was covered in dust. The fact that Veronica could just
buy another bridle whenever she wanted made Stevie grit her teeth. She couldn’t help—just for a second—coveting Veronica’s unlimited spending allowance.
But if I had her money
, Stevie comforted herself,
I’d probably turn out to be a spoiled brat like her
.