Free Endurance Ride by Bonnie Bryant Page B

Stevie and Carole probably need your help.”
    Chloe nodded agreement. “Once you get into the woods, the trail is flat from then on,” she said. “You’ll be able to go fast, but don’t panic.” Lisa nodded. To her surprise, Chloe gave her a brief hug. “Good luck.”
    Lisa mounted and gathered up the reins. “Take care of Max,” she told Chloe. She urged Prancer forward, resisting the impulse to turn and look back. Forward was what counted. Max needed help as fast as possible.
    Up to the crest of the ridge, Lisa kept Prancer to a controlled trot. She made herself hold the mare to a walk down the last steep section, even though she was dying to have Prancer gallop. No matter what, she couldn’t afford to have an accident herself. Max was depending on her and Prancer.
    Prancer. Lisa looked down at the gallant mare she loved so much. The horse had already traveled forty-five miles that day. Was it really fair to ask her to gallop the last five? It might be too much; it might hurt her. But Lisa knew she had no choice. Max could be dying.
    Lisa urged Prancer into as fast a trot as she could. As soon as the trail flattened and she could see the woods ahead of her, she asked Prancer to run. The mare seemed to sense Lisa’s urgency. She tossed her head, kicked her heels up once, and flew like the wind, doing what she’d been born and bred to do.

“H E ’ S BLEEDING A LOT ,” Stevie said, pointing to the puddle of blood forming under Max’s outstretched arm. Lisa had just left, and Stevie and Carole were still bending over Max. “Really a lot,” she added. “He ripped his arm on a stick. It’s scary.”
    Carole looked and shuddered. “I didn’t realize his cut was that bad,” she said. “I think we need to stop it pretty quickly.” Stevie pulled a wad of tissues out of her fanny pack, and in seconds they were soaked through. “Hold them there anyway,” Carole instructed. “Press on the cut, but remember—”
    “—don’t move him,” Stevie recited. “What can we use for a bandage?”
    Carole looked around. “I wish our windbreakers weren’t made of nylon.”
    “Belle’s polo wraps!” Stevie said. She shouted up the slope. “Chloe! Take off one of Belle’s polo wraps and toss it down here!”
    Chloe already had her horse tied to a tree. She was holding Belle and Starlight, but it wasn’t difficult for her to reach down and unwrap one of the long fleecy bandages that were protecting Belle’s legs. She wadded the bandage into a ball and tossed it to Stevie.
    Carole carefully wrapped the bandage around Max’s arm. Blood soaked through the first layer, and the second, but soon the flow was at least slowed.
    “I’ve totally wrecked one of your new wraps,” Carole told Stevie.
    “As if I care,” Stevie shot back.
    “It’s bad, Stevie,” Carole said in a shaky voice. “He really lost a lot of blood in a hurry.”
    “He’ll be okay,” Stevie said. “He has to be. Anyway, he’s not bleeding now, right?”
    “I don’t think so,” Carole said. Her hands were smeared red. “Stevie … maybe you should look at Barq? He—He’s bleeding, too.” They looked downhill at the patientgelding. “I’ll stay here with Max. One of us has to, in case he wakes up.”
    Stevie didn’t want to go, but she knew she should. Barq needed them, too, and she didn’t think they could do anything else for Max now. “I’ll help Chloe tie our horses up, and then I’ll get her to help me see what we can do about Barq. Yell if you need us. Yell if anything changes.”
    “I will,” Carole promised.
    Up on the trail, Chloe was fussing with the straps on Starlight’s bridle. “I’m not used to tack like this anymore,” she told Stevie. “I want to tie them up, but not with the bit in their mouth. My bit snaps out.”
    Stevie looked at Whitey. She could see what Chloe meant. It was dangerous to tie a horse up in a regular bridle—if the horse tried to pull away, the metal bit would injure its