Horseflies (10 page)

Carole frowned. “In a way. But only because he never realized how much he owed Pegasus and the gods. It was as if he was so sure of himself that he could never really see the truth. Zeus even warned him not to try to land on Mount Olympus, but he still wouldn’t listen.”

The librarian nodded. “That’s absolutely right. The gods
were never particularly kind to any mortal, and they almost never invited anybody to come up and live on Mount Olympus.”

Carole looked out the window and saw her bus coming down the block. “Oops,” she said. “I’ve got to go or I’ll miss my bus. Thanks for all your help!”

“My pleasure.” The young man smiled.

“H
ERE YOU ARE
, kiddo.” Colonel Hanson pulled into the Pine Hollow parking lot early Saturday morning. “I hope you have a great time today.”

“Thanks for the ride, Dad.” Carole smiled at her father. He looked so handsome in his Marine Corps uniform that she was almost tempted to go with him and watch the dress parade, but today was Horse Wise, and Judy Barker was going to talk about summertime horse care. That was important, and Carole figured if she was serious about being Judy’s assistant, she’d better not miss it. She unbuckled her seat belt. “I’ll see you at home later this afternoon.”

“Right,” said Colonel Hanson. “And don’t forget to tell Stevie that joke I heard.” He chuckled. “I think she’ll really get a kick out of it.”

“Okay, Dad,” Carole promised dutifully. Stevie and her father shared a love of corny old jokes. Colonel Hanson seemed to have an endless supply of them, although Carole thought he had really scraped the bottom of the barrel with this one. “Bye!” She smiled and waved to her father, then hurried on into the stable.

Stevie and Lisa were sitting by their cubbies. “Hi, guys,” Carole called. “Ready for Horse Wise?”

“I am,” said Lisa.

“Gosh, Carole,” Stevie said, grinning and giving Lisa a wink. “We didn’t know if you were coming or not. We thought you might have decided to spend the whole weekend in the library, doing extra research on Pegasus.”

Carole smiled as she remembered her visit to the library. “Actually, I found everything I needed yesterday afternoon. Now I just have to write my report.” She threw her sneakers into her cubby. “Hey, Stevie, my dad sent you a new joke.”

“Really?” Stevie grinned with anticipation. “What?”

“You’d better sit down,” Carole warned. “It’s a real killer.”

Stevie laughed. “I
am
sitting down.”

“Okay.” Carole finished lacing one boot and took a deep breath. “Here goes. Why wouldn’t the skeleton cross the road?”

Stevie frowned for a long moment, then shrugged. “I give up. Why?”

“Because he didn’t have any guts!”

“Arrrggggh,” Lisa groaned, but Stevie nearly fell off the bench laughing.

“That’s a really good one,” she hooted. “That’s the best one I’ve heard in a long time!”

“Oh, Stevie,” Carole said. She and Lisa looked at each other and shook their heads as Stevie began laughing all over again.

Just then some other riders passed by the locker room, trooping toward the front entrance. “We need to go,” said Lisa. “Horse Wise is about to start.”

The girls hurried outside and seated themselves with the other riders under a maple tree just beyond the riding ring. Max and Judy Barker stood before the group with an array of horse equipment laid out on a red blanket. When everyone had sat down, Max stepped forward and began to speak.

“Riders, today the first half of our Horse Wise meeting will be serious—Judy is going to talk to us about how seasonal changes can affect the health and care of your horses. For the second half of the meeting, we’ll mount up and have a little fun. So give Judy a nice round of applause, and I’ll turn the meeting over to her.”

Everyone clapped for Judy, who shook hands with Max and stepped to one side of the red blanket.

“How many of you have figured out that it’s summertime?” she asked, taking off her cowboy hat and pretending to wipe sweat from her forehead.

Everyone laughed and held up a hand.

“Well, your horses have figured that out, too. And just as you don’t have to stay in school all summer, the horses don’t have to stay in the stable. In the summer they like to get out
and graze in the breezy pasture instead of staying cooped up in a hot barn.” Judy looked at the group. “Can anybody tell me what that means to them foodwise?”

A little girl in the front row raised her hand. “That they’ll eat a late breakfast and snack later at night?”

Everybody laughed again. Judy smiled. “Well, you’re almost right. Unlike you guys, they won’t eat pizza at midnight, but they will get up early and graze until they’re put in the barn at night. Their diet will change, too. Just like a big bowl of hot soup wouldn’t sound too good to us on the Fourth of July, in the summer horses like more grass and oats and less hay and corn.” Judy questioned the group again. “Can anybody tell me what else is different in the summertime for a horse?”

“They don’t have to wear blankets at night,” May Grover responded.

“That’s right, May. What else?”

Jasmine James waved her hand. “All their winter hair falls out.”

“Right. And who can tell me what happens when a horse’s winter coat falls out?” Judy waited for an answer, but nobody seemed to know. “Anybody?” she asked again. No one responded.

“Okay. I’ll show you, but first I need a volunteer horse from the audience.” Judy’s gaze fell on The Saddle Club. “Carole, would you bring Starlight out here for a demonstration?”

“Sure.” Carole jumped to her feet, delighted to be chosen but wondering if Starlight would behave. Surely he wouldn’t dare act up at a demonstration with Judy Barker. Carole raced to the barn and clipped a lead line on Starlight. “Please be good, Starlight,” she whispered as she led him back out beside Judy.

“Thanks,” Judy said softly. She took Starlight’s halter and addressed the riders. “When a horse loses his winter coat and spends a lot more time outside, he becomes a virtual fast-food restaurant for mosquitoes, flies, and gnats, which is not very pleasant for him.” Judy gave Starlight a pat and smiled at her audience. “Think of it. How would you like to spend your entire summer being bitten by bugs with nothing but your tail to protect you?”

“Ugh!” everyone groaned together.

Judy smiled again. “Okay. Now you see why horses depend on us to protect them from insects, and with Starlight’s help here, I’m going to demonstrate exactly how to do it.”

Starlight watched with interest as Judy picked up a plastic bottle and sprayed insect repellent on his lower legs. She talked as she worked.

“When you spray your horse like this, start with its legs, so it won’t be frightened. Then move slowly up its body, but never squirt anything in its face. That’s dangerous to its eyes and will scare it.”

She put the spray bottle down and picked up what looked like a bottle of roll-on deodorant. “For their faces, you can
use products like this.” She rolled the liquid around Starlight’s eyes and mouth. Starlight wrinkled up his nose, as if the insecticide smelled funny.

“If the horseflies really get bad this summer, you can use these.” Judy held up a horse blanket made of thin, meshy material that was designed to keep flies away. “Or, if horseflies just buzz around your horse’s eyes, you can use one of these ear nets.”

She picked up something that looked like a purple sock with two big toes. Carole held Starlight while Judy pulled the thing snug over the top of his head. His ears suddenly became two purple points. A fringe of little purple tassels hung down in front of his eyes. When Carole turned Starlight to face the audience, everyone began to roar with laughter.

“He looks like he’s got one of my grandmother’s lamp shades on his head!” a boy howled from the back row.

That made everyone laugh even harder. Even Max was chortling. When Carole and Judy turned to look at Starlight themselves, Carole started to giggle; then Judy joined in. “It’s true.” Carole laughed, and tears came to her eyes. “Starlight does look like he’s wearing a lamp shade!”

“Well, this contraption may look a little unusual,” Judy said when the laughter finally subsided. “But I guarantee your horse would rather look like a lamp shade than be made miserable all summer by flies.” She grinned and rubbed Starlight’s neck as she removed the ear net. “Are there any questions?”

Nobody had any, so she gave the lead line back to Carole.
“Then let’s have a big hand for Starlight for being so patient and for his owner, Carole Hanson.”

Everyone cheered and clapped. Starlight seemed to know he’d pleased the crowd. He switched his tail and pranced a little as Carole led him back to the barn.

“You are such a wonderful horse,” she said, giving him a kiss on the nose as she hurriedly put him back in his stall. “Even if you did look like a big lamp with that thing on your head, you didn’t misbehave once!”

She ran back out and joined Stevie and Lisa. Judy was just finishing up her lecture.

“With regular tube worming and spraying and even our little lamp-shade hats, we can keep these horses healthy and comfortable all summer long.”

Everyone stood up and clapped as Judy ended her talk. She shook Max’s hand again and carried her supplies to her truck.

“Okay,” Max said. “Everybody go tack up and bring your mounts back out here to the ring. We’re going to divide into teams and play some games.”

“How many teams?” someone asked.

“Two. Divide up by the first letter of your last name.
A
through
M
versus
N
through
Z
.”

The group raced toward the stables. Lisa and Carole and Stevie hurried along behind the younger riders.

“I thought I was going to die when Judy put that ear net on Starlight’s head,” Stevie said, still chuckling.

Carole laughed. “I know. It was hysterical! But he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I think he enjoyed it.”

“He was the star of the show,” said Lisa. “Starlight has real stage presence!”

“I’m so glad I worked all those kinks out of him,” Carole said. “I don’t know what he would have done if Judy had tried to put that fly hat on him a week ago.”

They tacked up and met the rest of Horse Wise by the outdoor ring. Just to be sure that Starlight wouldn’t act up, Carole decided to run him for a little while before they joined the games. She didn’t want a repeat performance of their last riding class, particularly after Starlight had been the hit of Horse Wise.

“I’ll catch up with you two later,” Carole said to Stevie and Lisa as she led Starlight toward the big paddock. “I’m going to give Starlight one more dose of my antikink medicine, just to be sure.”

“But he was so good with Judy and the fly hat,” said Lisa.

“I know,” replied Carole. “But better safe than sorry.” She tugged Starlight’s bridle to keep him from sidling over into Belle.

“Don’t be too long,” Stevie called. “We need you on our team. We don’t want to be beaten by the last half of the alphabet!”

Stevie and Lisa continued toward the ring while Carole led Starlight to the upper end of the paddock and climbed aboard.

As usual, Starlight was fidgety at first, backing up instead of going forward, then going sideways. Carole made him stop
and collect himself; then she urged him into a brisk trot. Just as before, the more he moved, the better he behaved. They had covered half the paddock at a trot when she gave him the signal to canter.

The big bay horse moved seamlessly into the easy, three-beat gait that felt to Carole as comfortable as sitting in a rocking chair. His ears flicked forward, and he seemed to enjoy the freedom of stretching his legs in the green pasture. Halfway down the long field, Carole sat forward in her seat slightly, touched him behind the girth with her right heel, and loosened the reins. Starlight recognized the signals, and
zoom!
they were off at a gallop. Birds scattered from the underbrush as Carole and Starlight zipped through the tall grass.

They galloped the length of the paddock. Then Carole pulled him down into a trot. He obeyed instantly. After every gallop he was again the willing, dependable horse she loved.

“Good boy!” she said, patting his neck. “Now that you’re acting like your old self, we need to get back and help out the girls.”

Starlight tossed his head as he trotted back toward the riding ring, eager to return to the other horses and do his part in the games.

By the time Carole and Starlight reentered the ring, the teams were tied. The last event, the tennis racket relay, was almost finished.

“Over here, Carole!” Stevie frantically waved her arms. “Take my place! You and Starlight are better at this than Belle and I, and our team only needs one point to win!”

Carole trotted over to Stevie. “Are you sure?” she asked. She knew how much Stevie loved to compete and didn’t want to take her turn away from her.

“Sure I’m sure,” said Stevie.

Stevie and Belle moved out of line while Carole and Starlight took their place. Lisa and Prancer were just twisting through the last section of the poles. Lisa held a tennis racket in her left hand with a ball balanced on the face of it. At the last pole, the ball careened perilously to one edge of the racket, but Lisa recovered just in time and passed it to Carole with a gasp.