Horse Guest (9 page)

Magoo coughed. Lisa gave him a dirty look. “Stop that,” she scolded the horse. “You know your cold is getting better. Judy said so this morning. Now you’re just faking it to get attention.”

“That’s the least of his problems,” Carole said. She gestured toward the wooden door of the stall. When the girls had entered that day, they had immediately noticed signs that Magoo had been cribbing—gnawing on the wood of the stall out of boredom. It was a bad habit, and
one that the girls wanted to discourage immediately before Magoo started doing it all the time.

“I think he’s just mad because he thinks we haven’t been fussing over him enough,” Lisa said. She shrugged. “Although yesterday we were in here for ages with Britt.”

“Whatever the reason, we’ve got to nip this new cribbing habit in the bud,” Carole said, giving Magoo a thoughtful look.

The horse stared back. Then, as if defying Carole to stop him, he reached over her shoulder and started to nibble on the stall door.

Lisa couldn’t help laughing at the annoyed look on her friend’s face. She stood up and gave Magoo a pat. “At least you admit you have a problem, right boy?”

“I think his main problem is that he’s bored,” Carole said. She patted Magoo, too. “He seems to need a lot more attention than the average horse. And I’m sure being cooped up in this stall and hardly getting any exercise while his injuries are healing isn’t helping his state of mind.”

“So what should we do?” Lisa asked.

Carole shrugged. “Obviously, the best thing would be to spend lots more time with him,” she said. “But we can’t do that without neglecting our own horses.”

“Not to mention our families,” Lisa agreed with a laugh. “And our homework, once school starts next week. And our sleep.” She rubbed Magoo’s nose. “He needs a
lot
of attention.” Suddenly she had an idea. “Hey, doesn’t
Max have one of those cribbing straps? I saw it in the tack room the other day.”

Carole nodded. “He used it to break that boarder of the habit last year,” she said. “But that horse was a die-hard cribber. Magoo doesn’t have that big a problem yet, so the strap seems kind of extreme to me.”

The cribbing strap Lisa was talking about was a leather device that prevented a horse’s neck from expanding, stopping the intake of air that accompanied cribbing. As far as Carole knew, Max had used it only once, on a horse with a very serious problem. She didn’t think he would approve of its use on Magoo. But what else could they try, short of moving cots into his stall and holding his hoof full-time?

“I’ve got it!” she cried suddenly. “Veronica!”

Lisa cocked her head to one side and gave her friend a curious look. “Veronica?” she said. “What does she know about cribbing? Danny doesn’t have a single bad habit that I know of.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Carole said. She let herself out of the stall and motioned for Lisa to follow. “Veronica just bought Danny all those expensive horse toys for Christmas, remember? And I don’t think he’s so much as glanced at any of them.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. “I get it!” she said. “Those kinds of toys are meant to keep horses occupied while they’re in their stalls. To keep them from developing bad habits, like wind sucking or weaving or—”

“Cribbing,” Carole finished for her with a nod.

“But doesn’t that mean we have to ask Veronica to loan them to us?” Lisa said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “She might not let us use them. She kept bragging about the expensive catalog she ordered them from.”

Carole shrugged. “All we can do is ask, right?”

The girls left the stall and went in search of Veronica. “I hope she didn’t leave already,” Lisa said as she peeked into the student locker room. Veronica was famous for expecting Red and the other stable hands to do her work for her. It wouldn’t be unusual for her to have left the stable, even so soon after class.

But the girls were lucky. As they headed toward the tack room, they heard voices coming from Mrs. Reg’s office. One of the voices was very loud, very whiny, and very familiar.

Carole poked her head through the door. She saw Max perched on the edge of his mother’s desk, looking irritated. Veronica was standing in front of him, hands on her hips, complaining.

“But Max,” she whined, not noticing Carole. “You promised we could play the shopping game I made up!”

Max sighed. “I told you we could do it if you agreed to supply the props,” he reminded Veronica.

“But I just told you,” Veronica said, pouting. “I don’t have time to make all that stuff this week. I’ve got a lot to do.”

“Well, you’re welcome to do it next week,” Max said
with a shrug, “but that won’t help us much, since the gymkhana is this Saturday.”

Carole knocked softly on the doorjamb to announce her presence. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but we have a question—for both of you, actually.” She came into the office, followed by Lisa.

Max nodded. Carole thought he looked a little relieved to have this particular conversation interrupted. “Go ahead, Carole,” he said.

Carole told him about Magoo’s new cribbing problem. Then she explained the solution she and Lisa were considering.

Max looked thoughtful. “I’ve noticed that Magoo is quite demanding of human attention. I don’t know if toys will be an adequate substitute for him. But it’s certainly worth a try if Veronica is willing to lend them to you.”

Veronica was already frowning. “What makes you think I want some strange horse slobbering all over my Danny’s things?” she demanded, turning to face Carole and Lisa. “That horse doesn’t even belong to Pine Hollow. Besides that, he’s disruptive. He’s always staring at me when I go by and making noise when I’m in Danny’s stall.”

Lisa rolled her eyes, but she tried to be polite when she answered. After all, they needed Veronica’s help. “That’s why we need the toys,” she said as patiently as she could. “We’re hoping they’ll keep him occupied so that he won’t be so restless. We’ll take good care of them and return
them as soon as Magoo goes home to Hedgerow. We promise.”

Veronica still looked stubborn. She shook her head and started to reply.

Carole interrupted. “I’ve got an idea,” she said suddenly. “Why don’t we make a deal?”

Veronica closed her mouth and looked suspicious. “What kind of deal?” she asked. Max didn’t say anything, but he looked interested.

“If you’ll lend us one of your horse toys,” Carole said, “we’ll make the props for your shopping game before the gymkhana.” She gestured to Lisa, who looked surprised but nodded quickly.

Veronica thought it over for a second. “All right,” she said at last. “It’s a deal. Okay, Max? If they make the props, is my game in?” When Max nodded, Veronica turned back to the other two girls. “That means you’ll have to gather some stuff to use for merchandise and make receipts and signs for each store.”

“Fine,” Lisa said. “We can handle that.”

Veronica wasn’t finished. “
I’ll
supply the shopping bags, though,” she said, brushing a bit of lint off her immaculate, expensive-looking breeches. She tipped her head up and looked down her nose at Carole and Lisa. “After all, you two probably don’t frequent the kinds of shops I want represented in
my
game.”

“T
HANKS FOR COMING
with me, Britt,” Lisa said the next afternoon. She and Britt were once again walking up Hedgerow’s curving driveway. “I really wanted to come back and visit again, and Carole and Stevie couldn’t come with me.”

Britt shrugged and smiled shyly. “I guess I’m the designated fill-in,” she said. “Yesterday I went to visit a horse with Polly because Stevie couldn’t do it.”

Lisa frowned at the mention of Britt’s trip with Polly. “Oh, right,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Stevie mentioned something about that.”

“Romeo’s brother looks a lot like him, except he’s bay instead of brown,” Britt said. “He seemed like a really nice horse.”

Normally that wouldn’t sound like a very strong recommendation. But Lisa knew that with Britt it was hard to tell. She hoped that the fact that Britt had brought up the topic without being prompted didn’t mean that she was really interested in Romeo’s half brother.

Still, Lisa wasn’t too worried. She’d arranged for Britt to ride Applesauce during today’s visit to Hedgerow. And once that happened, Britt was sure to fall in love with the sweet-tempered mare. Lisa just hoped that Elaine had filled in her head groom as promised. The ride had to seem like a spur-of-the-moment idea, or Britt might catch on and the surprise would be ruined.

“T
HEY
’
RE LATE
,” S
TEVIE
said, glancing at her watch.

Carole drummed her spoon on the table. The two girls were sitting in their favorite booth at TD’s, an ice cream parlor at a shopping center near Pine Hollow. “I know,” she said. “I wonder if that means she can’t bear to tear herself away from Applesauce.”

Earlier in the day, The Saddle Club had arranged to meet at TD’s. Lisa was supposed to bring Britt along after their trip to Hedgerow. It was all part of the plan to befriend Britt and, if all went well, ask her to join The Saddle Club.

Stevie rested her head on one hand and gazed at the empty seat across from her and Carole. “You know, I never noticed it before,” she mused. “The three of us almost always sit in this booth. But it’s really
a table built for four. Do you think that’s some kind of sign?”

“I don’t know about that,” Carole said. “I think a better sign is the fact that Britt fits our requirements so well. So far she’s always seemed willing to help us out, no matter what we ask her to do.”

“True,” Stevie agreed. “She even pitches in to help with Magoo the medical monster without complaining at all.”

Carole nodded. “And we already know she’s completely horse-crazy,” she said. She wasn’t wearing a watch, so she grabbed Stevie’s arm to check hers. “I just wonder if she’s becoming crazy about one particular horse right now.”

At that moment, the small bell above the shop’s door tinkled softly. Carole and Stevie looked up and saw Lisa and Britt entering.

Soon all four girls were seated. The waitress brought them glasses of water. “I’ll be back to take your order in a second,” she said, giving Stevie a noticeably sour look.

“What was that all about?” Britt whispered as the woman stalked away.

Lisa giggled. “She’s not very fond of Stevie,” she explained. “You’ll understand why in a minute.” Stevie always ordered outrageous combinations of ice cream and toppings at TD’s.

“Actually, I don’t have much of an appetite today,”

Stevie admitted. “I might only be able to manage a little pistachio ice cream with strawberry sauce.”

Britt wrinkled her nose, but Carole and Lisa looked concerned. “Are you worrying about your grandmother?” Carole asked.

Stevie nodded and started drumming her spoon against her water glass, almost tipping it over. “I’ve got to talk her out of coming to the gymkhana,” she said.

Lisa reached across the table and rescued Stevie’s water glass. “That’s the best plan,” she agreed. “You may have convinced Max to calm down our class yesterday, but that won’t work with the gymkhana.”

Britt was starting to look confused. The other girls quickly filled her in on the situation with Stevie’s grandmother.

“The worst part is, it’s getting harder and harder for my brothers and me to keep up the act,” Stevie said with a sigh. “It’s kind of weird. Our house is so quiet and peaceful now that it doesn’t even seem like home anymore. I never realized how much fighting with my brothers and making their lives miserable means to me. But it’s important to keep things calm for Grandma, so I’m doing my best.” She sighed again, more deeply this time.

Carole decided it was time for a change of subject. “By the way,” she said, “did you all notice that Magoo hasn’t been cribbing since we gave him that horse toy?” As promised, Veronica had lent them one of Danny’s toys, a
large plastic one almost a foot in diameter that looked and smelled like a giant apple. The girls had hung it from the roof of Magoo’s stall with a thick rope so that the horse could play with it safely.

“He did start fussing with his bandages again, though,” Lisa pointed out. “Every time he nibbles at one, the hot sauce burns his mouth and he starts jumping around.”

“I know,” Carole said worriedly. “Max is afraid he’ll hurt himself, and so am I. We’ll have to figure out a better way to get him to leave the bandages alone.”

Britt cleared her throat. “Um, I have a couple of ideas if you want to hear them,” she said.

“Of course we do,” Stevie said. “What are they?”

Once three pairs of eyes were trained expectantly on her, Britt started to look a little nervous. But she cleared her throat again and spoke. “There was a horse at my old stable who had the same problem,” she said. “They tried cayenne pepper on the bandages, but it didn’t seem to bother him.” She grinned. “My old instructor said it was because he was part Paso Fino and so he liked spicy food.”

The other girls laughed at that. Paso Finos were Spanish in origin. “So, what happened?” Lisa asked.

“First they tried a neck cradle,” Britt said.

“Oh, of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Carole exclaimed. A neck cradle was a common piece of protective equipment, useful for keeping a horse from removing blankets or bandages. “I know Max has one around somewhere.”