Free A Horse for Mandy by Lurlene McDaniel

One
    “C AN you believe it?” Mandy shouted into the phone. “My very own horse!” She could just imagine Laura Callahan’s face on the other end of the phone. Rich, proud Laura Callahan—who had grown up with a whole stableful of beautiful horses. But today, on her thirteenth birthday, Mandy Wilson’s dream of owning her very own horse finally had come true.
    “Isn’t Dad terrific?” Mandy asked. Then she hurried on, not waiting for an answer. “Isn’t that the neatest birthday present ever? I mean, I had no idea. He just surprised me.”
    Mandy stopped for a breath and Laura asked, “What breed? A Tennessee Walker, like Diablo?”
    Mandy thought of Laura’s big red-gold Tennessee Walker. How often she had longed to have him for her own. “No, not a Walker. Her name is Solana. Dad says she’s a Paso Fino.”
    For a minute, Laura said nothing. Then, “Oh, one of
them
.” Something in the sound of her voice made Mandy angry. But she swallowed hard and said nothing. She wasn’t about to let Laura spoil her birthday!
    “Anyway,” Mandy continued, a little less eagerly, “we’re heading out to your house and stables in a few minutes so I can see my horse. I—I thought you might like to meet us down by the stalls.”
    “Well, of course, I would!” Laura’s voice changed and she once again seemed her old friendly self. “When will you be there?”
    Just then Mandy’s father stuck his head into her room. “Ready?” he asked.
    Mandy nodded her head excitedly. “We’re leaving in just a few minutes. Meet you at the stables in half an hour,” she said into the phone.
    “You bet!” said Laura and she hung up.
    Mandy leaped off her bed and threw her arms around her father. “Oh, Dad, thanks! It’s the best present in the whole world.”
    Bud Wilson ruffled his daughter’s sandy blond hair and tapped her turned-up nose. “Anything for you, Princess,” he said. Mandy reminded him so much of her mother. Blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, full of life and love ... he shook off the memory. It was hard to believe that Mandy’s mother, Ruth, had died more than eight years before.
    “Dad?” Mandy asked.
    “Huh?”
    “You looked so far away. I said, ‘Could we go now?’”
    “Sorry, honey. Sure. Let’s go see your birthday present.”
    During the ride, Mandy thought about the summer. June was her favorite month. Not just because it was her birthday month, either. Because school was out and she could spend every waking hour at the Callahan stables. She could ride, groom the horses, and help her father with his veterinarian duties whenever he needed her.
    Mandy couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been around horses. But now, to have her very own horse was almost more than she could stand. Her dad had always promised her one. “When I feel you’re old enough to have the responsibility” is what he’d always told her. So today she was doubly proud. Her dad trusted her to care for her very own horse.
    A half hour later she got out of the car. She swung open the big gate leading to the Callahan home and nearby stables. Mandy felt like running ahead. Instead she scooted back into the car and rode the rest of the way up the Callahan driveway. But when they both got out and began to walk over toward one of the stable buildings, Mandy could wait no longer. She ran forward eagerly.
    “Wait for me, young lady!” her dad called after her. “You don’t even know what stall she’s in.”
    “Oh, Dad!” Mandy cried. “You’re so slow!”
    “I’m so OLD!” he laughed. “It’s the third stall over, honey. But slow down. Don’t scare her to death.”
    Mandy looked inside at her horse. Solana de Omega. Mandy was sure that she had never seen anything quite as beautiful. Solana had all the fine lines of the Paso Fino breed: short inward-curved ears; large, wide-spaced eyes with a gentle expression; and a thick, arched neck—all of the finest features. She was a buckskin, too. Creamy yellow in