Broken Horse

When Carole and Stevie reached her side, they saw that Lisa’s face was pale. She didn’t say a word. She simply pointed.

The land sloped away sharply on the far side of the hill. In the valley directly below the girls was a cluster of buildings that made up a small, ramshackle farm. Carole and Stevie hardly noticed the dilapidated farmhouse, barn, and other outbuildings. They immediately focused their attention on the source of Lisa’s horror—a tiny, muddy corral with a horse in it.

Even from a distance it was obvious that there was something very wrong with the horse. It was painfully thin and standing with its head hanging low and one forefoot lifted off the ground. It was difficult to tell what color the horse was because its coat was matted and filthy. The horse clearly needed veterinary help—and fast.

“I
STILL
THINK
this would be a lot more fun on horseback,” Carole Hanson joked breathlessly. It was a brisk Saturday afternoon in early December, and Carole and her two best friends, Lisa Atwood and Stevie Lake, were hiking in the state park just outside their hometown, Willow Creek, Virginia.

“You think everything would be more fun on horseback,” Lisa joked back. That was true. But it was also true that Lisa and Stevie felt exactly the same way. The three girls loved horses and riding so much that they had formed The Saddle Club. Their club had only two rules: Members had to be horse-crazy, and they had to be willing to help each other out.

“Hold on a second. I’ve got another pebble,” Stevie said.
She sat down on a large boulder and removed one of her shoes.

“We told you not to wear sneakers,” Carole said, leaning against a tree trunk to rest. “What happened to the new hiking boots your grandparents gave you for your birthday?”

Stevie shrugged. “They’re in my room somewhere. I think.”

Carole and Lisa laughed. Stevie’s room was famously messy, and it didn’t surprise them that their friend had lost her hiking boots in the clutter.

While she waited for Stevie to extract the pebble from her shoe, Lisa pointed her camera at an interesting-looking tree. She fiddled with the lens, trying to get the top branches in focus. It was a clear, bright winter day, and she had been taking lots of pictures of the scenery.

“Are you getting some good shots for your project?” Carole asked.

“Definitely,” Lisa said. She was doing a school science project on ecosystems, and she wanted to include plenty of photographs along with her written report. That was why she had suggested this hike. “It’s amazing how much life there is out here in the woods even in the wintertime. These pictures will be a great way to show the relationships among all the different plants and animals we’ve seen today. And they’ll make my report a lot more interesting.”

Stevie finished lacing her sneaker and stood up. “Speaking
of relationships,” she said, “did I tell you the latest on the couple of the century?”

“I take it you mean Alex and his girlfriend?” Lisa asked as the girls continued along the wooded trail.

“Who else?” Stevie said. A few weeks ago her twin brother, Alex, had started dating a girl from school named Paige Dempsey. Stevie and her older brother, Chad, and younger brother, Michael, had been teasing Alex nonstop ever since.

“All your teasing isn’t starting to come between them, is it?” asked Carole.

“Hardly,” Stevie replied. “They don’t even notice when I tease them most of the time. That’s what I was going to tell you. I squirted some of Mom’s good perfume onto Alex’s favorite sweater so that Paige would think he’d been hanging out with another woman. But all she did was start batting her eyelashes and telling him how wonderful he smelled.” She made a face. “They’re absolutely sickening. How can they stand themselves?”

Lisa paused to take a picture of a small brown bird hopping busily among the dead leaves at the base of a barelimbed oak tree. “Remember, this is Alex’s first real romance. He’s bound to be a little annoying about it.”

Stevie snorted. “A
little
annoying? We’ll see if you’re still talking that way after you spend some time with him tonight. If he can tear himself away from the wonderful Paige
long enough to come home, that is.” The girls were having a sleepover at Stevie’s house that night.

“Personally, I can’t wait to get a look at the love-struck Alex,” Carole said with a giggle. “I’m having trouble picturing it.”

“Believe me, it sounds a lot more interesting than it actually is,” Stevie said.

Lisa smiled. “Well, I think it’s kind of cute that Alex has a girlfriend. Despite what you may think, Stevie, he’s a nice guy. He deserves a little romance in his life.”

“Gross. I’m just glad I’m not going to the school dance on Friday,” Stevie declared, kicking a large dead branch off the trail so no one would trip on it. “I don’t think my stomach could take it.”

“I’m sure the last thing you’ll be thinking about on Friday is Alex’s love life,” Carole said. Stevie’s parents were taking the three girls into nearby Washington, D.C., to see a performance of the ballet
The Nutcracker.
That meant Stevie would be missing the annual holiday dance at Fenton Hall, the private school she and her brothers attended. Carole and Lisa went to the public school on the other side of Willow Creek.

“That’s for sure,” Lisa agreed. “I can’t wait.
The Nutcracker
is my favorite ballet.” Lisa knew a lot about ballet because she had been taking ballet lessons for years.

“It’s the only ballet I’ve ever seen,” Stevie admitted. “But I love it, too. It really puts me in the Christmas spirit.”

“This will be my first time seeing it, but I think I know what you mean,” Carole said. “There are certain things that make it seem like the holidays, aren’t there? Like baking Christmas cookies and decorating the tree.” Stevie and Lisa noticed that Carole’s voice sounded wistful. Mrs. Hanson had died a few years ago. Even though Carole and her father were closer than ever, they both still missed her a lot, and their holidays were always a little bit sad.

Stevie knew one topic that would distract Carole. “I can’t believe you forgot the most Christmassy thing of all,” she said. “The Starlight Ride.”

Pine Hollow, the stable where The Saddle Club rode, had lots of traditions, but the Starlight Ride was one of their favorites. Every Christmas Eve at seven
P.M
., all the young riders gathered at the stable for a lantern-lit ride through the wooded trails near Pine Hollow. The ride ended in the center of Willow Creek, where the whole town gathered to sing holiday songs and celebrate the season with the Starlight Riders. It was an unforgettable experience that The Saddle Club always looked forward to.