“Worked herself up into a bit of a state,” he said. “She wasn’t too keen to leave.”
He backed the chestnut mare with the lightning bolt blaze down the ramp and she stood there snorting at her new surroundings. I’d come prepared and pulled a Pop Tart out of my pocket for her. She sniffed it cautiously before snatching it up.
“It still works then?” I laughed.
“Yes,” Dan said. “Now you get to buy out the grocery store.”
“Great,” I said. “I don’t think my mom is going to like that very much.”
We hung around outside Fury’s new stall and watched her paw at the shavings. When she’d drunk some water, pooped and started eating her hay, Dan left.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thanks,” I called back. “Say hi to Miguel for me.”
Back in the barn Esther was making notes on the board in the feed room for Fury.
“She’s cute,” she said. “I like her.”
“You wouldn’t have liked her when she jumped out of the arena,” I said.
“True,” she nodded, wiping the sweat off her forehead with her bandana.
It was May and the Florida humidity had finally kicked in turning the world into one great big sticky oven.
“She’s a bit on the skinny side though,” she said. “Think Miguel will mind if I fatten her up a bit?”
“You can try,” I said. “But she’s a worrier. Even at Black Gate she sometimes wouldn’t eat all her grain.”
“Well maybe she’ll settle in better here,” Esther said. “It’s quieter. She can eat in peace.”
“I wonder how long I’m supposed to keep riding her,” I said.
“Miguel didn’t say?”
I shook my head.
“I think I’ll saddle Bluebird and go for a trail ride while I still have time to ride him,” I said. “Besides, it’s too hot to do anything else.”
“Maybe I’ll join you on Saffron,” Esther said.
“Really?” I asked. It had been ages since Esther had ridden. She was always too busy with the million and one other things that needed doing at the barn.
“Yes,” she said. “Who knows, maybe we’ll find a breeze out in the trees.”
I grabbed all of Bluebird’s stuff and was in his stall tacking him up when I heard a funny noise, almost like a tiny baby bird. I stopped for a moment to listen and it stopped and I thought I’d imagined it but then I heard it again, this time louder.
I walked down the barn aisle, stopping and listening until finally I was outside of Hampton’s old stall. That was where it was the loudest. Perhaps a bird had nested in the rafters and a baby had fallen out. It wouldn’t be the first time, although Esther’s fat orange cat Meatball usually gobbled them up before we could save them. Maybe this one would have a chance.
I peeked into the stall expecting to see a tiny, featherless blob but instead there was Mickey, sitting in the corner sobbing.
“Mickey?” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“I want Hampton back,” she cried.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Svendsen fell in love with horses at age two when she got her first pony. The only trouble was that it wasn’t a real horse, it was a rocking horse. From that day on she begged, pleaded and bribed for lessons, riding clothes and a horse of her own. She had to wait and work really hard to finally get her first real horse but when she did, it was a dream come true. Over the years she has trained horses, given lessons and even run her own stable.
No longer able to ride due to injury, Claire lives vicariously through the characters in her books. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll find her hanging out at the barn with her retired Thoroughbred Merlin who loves carrots, apples and bowing on command.
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To keep up to date on all the Show Jumping Dreams news and to learn about horse and pony care, you can follow my horse Merlin on Facebook. He is the only one with the inside scoop. Plus he’s really cute!
https://www.facebook.com/showjumpingdreams
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Other books in the Show Jumping Series by Claire Svendsen
#1 Secret Rider
#2 Pony Jumpers
#3 Winter Blues
#4 Star Pupil
#5 Sale Horse
#6 Last Chance
(Coming Soon) #7 Hunter Pace
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
COMING SOON
HUNTER PACE: CHAPTER ONE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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