Horse Feathers

"Max was very mysterious about the new schooling horse that's coming to the stable tomorrow," Lisa said excitedly. "Did you see that smile on his face? He's definitely up to something," Stevie said. It was a Saturday afternoon and Stevie Lake was walking home with her two best friends, Lisa Atwood and Carole Hanson. They'd just come from Pine Hollow Stables, where they'd had a Horse Wise meeting and a jumping lesson. Horse Wise was the name of Pine Hollow's Pony Club, run by Pine Hollow's owner, Max Regnery. Max also happened to be the Pony Club's director and the girls' riding instructor. The girls hadn't been able to stop talking about Max's surprise since he'd announced at the end of the jumping lesson that a new schooling horse was coming to Pine Hollow on Sunday, but just for a visit. There was obviously something very different and special about this horse, but whatever it was, Max was keeping it a secret. "Maybe it's one of those Lipizzaner stallions from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna," speculated Stevie. "Or a jousting horselike the kind they use in medieval festivals!" She paused for a moment to take a bite out of a carrot she'd saved from the bag of treats she'd brought for her horse, Belle. "What could be more special and different than that?" she asked. Stevie had a habit of thinking big, which for most people would be a positive feature. But with Stevie it was more of a character flaw, since thinking big usually led to thinking bigger, and that often led to one of Stevie's crazy schemes. Her crazy schemes would often put her in hot water, and then Carole and Lisa would have to come to her rescue. "Knowing Max, it's probably something that involves working hard and learning something new," Carole offered. The girls nodded. Max was always making sure they learned new and interesting things about riding and horses. Not that riding could ever become dull, thought Carole. If it were up to her, she'd be at the stables twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year. She would choose to share a stall with her treasured gelding, Starlight, over a feather bed any day. Unfortunately, her father insisted that a proper education (one that involved time spent in the classroom, textbooks, and homework) took priority over horses. So Carole had to settle for being at Pine Hollow only a few hours a day, nearly seven days a week, nearly fifty-two weeks a year. Pine Hollow Stables was a beautiful sprawling horse farm surrounded by acres of scenic pastures and miles of riding trails. The farm was located in Willow Creek, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., and housed over thirty horses and ponies, most of which were owned by Max and used for the school. Some of the students, like Stevie and Carole, boarded their own horses there. Lisa didn't have her own horse yet, but she regularly rode Prancer, an ex-racehorse that the girls had rescued. Owning a horse required time and commitment. It also required money. In order to keep costs down and encourage teamwork, one of the requirements at Pine Hollow was that everyone who rode there had to help out with the barn chores. Well, almost everyone. Veronica diAngelo, the barn prima donna, would never willingly participate in such distasteful tasks as mucking out stalls. Especially not when there were stable hands to do the work for her. Spoiled and used to having her way, Veronica was the worst example of a horseperson that the girls had ever met. More to the point, Veronica was the worst example of a human being that the girls had ever met. If there was an excuse not to pull her own weight, you could be sure that Veronica used it. But Lisa, Stevie, and Carole didn't mind doing barn chores. They were more than willing to do anything that meant spending more time around the horses and the stable. The three girls knBryant, Bonnie is the author of 'Horse Feathers' with ISBN 9780553487404 and ISBN 055348740X.