Free Sea Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page B

that when Frederica came to help her dismount, Lisa pointed it out to her.
    “I think I should walk him some more, don’t you?” she asked.
    Frederica regarded him carefully. She nodded. “I agree. Why don’t you take him into the ring and circle it for another ten minutes or so.”
    Lisa rode Jasper over to the schooling ring, where he could cool down at his own pace. She reached over and unlatched the gate and then latched it behind her. Relatching it was habit more than anything else. Max had drilled the idea into his riders’ heads that any gate that had to be opened also had to be closed.
    Jasper was comfortable circling the ring and Lisa was comfortable remaining in the saddle. She decided to ride him at a walk for five minutes and then lead him for the next five. Besides, that method would give her five more minutes of riding time.
    She kept Jasper on a loose rein and let her mind wander as they walked gently in large lazy circles.
    She was riding again. That was the most important thing. She was good and she felt good. The only thing missing was that her friends weren’t there to enjoy the victory with her. Stevie and Carole would have understood everything. In fact, she was sure that if Stevie and Carole had been there, the whole mess wouldn’t have happened in the first place. They would have known what was wrong before Lisa did and they would have gottenLisa to correct it before it had gotten her in so much trouble. One of the nicest things about Stevie and Carole was that they were friends no matter what. It was too bad she couldn’t say the same for Jill.

L ISA HAD ONLY gone halfway around the ring before trouble started. This time, it wasn’t trouble for her. It was trouble for Jill.
    Lisa heard one rider scream while the man who had been behind her on the trail yelled, “Look out!”
    She turned and instantly saw the danger. Jill had been in the process of dismounting from her horse when a breeze had shaken a coconut loose from the palm tree overhead. The large green fruit tumbled down, heading right for Jill’s horse, Tiger!
    Jill’s right foot was out of the stirrup and her leg was halfway over to the horse’s left side when the coconut struck Tiger on his rear. He jumped back first, then reared, nearly tossing Jill into the muddy dismounting area. That would have been all right. But, because Jill was a good rider, she somehow managed to get her rightleg back over the horse and then she leaned forward, grasping for the horse’s mane while he reared.
    Lisa could see Jill clutching at Tiger’s mane and realized that she’d lost control of the reins. They had slipped over her horse’s head and there was no way Jill could reach them. Without the reins to check him, the terrified horse would run wild!
    He took off like a flash, speeding past the schooling ring where Lisa was riding. A horse as scared as that could run for a long time, and on an island formed from volcanoes, there were a lot of places he could get into trouble. Lisa was barely aware of Frederica’s dash for her own horse. The only thing she really knew was that she was the closest person to Jill and she might be the only one who could save her from a real disaster.
    Her eyes flashed to the schooling ring gate, now so carefully latched. There was no time for niceties. There was no time for gates.
    As quickly as she knew how, Lisa turned Jasper around and aimed him for the fence.
    “Hyaa!” she said, slapping him with the end of her reins, since she wasn’t carrying a crop.
    Good old Jasper responded instantly. He broke into a spirited canter, dashing toward the fence and then, at just the right moment, Lisa leaned forward, rose in the saddle, gave him rein and let him fly over it! Behind her, she could hear some of her fellow trail riders applauding. It wouldn’t mean anything, though, if something happened to Jill. She pressed on.
    Jill and Tiger were about twenty yards ahead of Jasper.That was a lot of ground for a tired