Free Crown Prince Challenged by Linda Snow McLoon

the gate. He didn’t attempt to move away when she reached for his reins. By then Kelly was on her feet, her face twisted in anger as she hurried to retrieve her horse. Without saying a word, she snatched the reins away from Lindsay.
    â€œAre you all right?” Lindsay asked her. When Kelly nodded, Lindsay said, “Would you like to get back on?”
    â€œI’m not riding in here with that crazy horse!” Kelly snapped. “Let me out.”
    Lindsay held the gate open so Kelly could lead Jet away. Nicole quickly dismounted and followed them with her buckskin mare, Jubilee. Sarah watched them go, relieved that at least it appeared Kelly hadn’t gotten hurt.
    Prince didn’t like standing still and was getting antsy, tossing his head and pulling harder on the lead shank. Now that she and her horse had the boarders’ area all to themselves, Sarah resumed walking Prince. He continued to be distracted by the many horses in the arena, jigging occasionally and pulling on the shank, but she was able to get in the fifteen minutes of walking Jack had prescribed. It wasn’t pleasant dealing with a totally uptight horse, but Sarah realized the experience might make Prince calmer on another, similar occasion. When she finally turned him toward the gate, she was glad to be leaving the hubbub behind.
    Once they were back in his stall, Sarah stood close to her horse, talking softly and stroking his neck. Gradually she felt the tension leave him. She thought about what had happened in the indoor, knowing the humiliation of falling from her horse would make Kelly even more resentful.
Would it help if I apologized?
Sarah wondered. She decided to bite the bullet and give it a try.
    At the other end of the barn, Midnight Jet was on cross-ties in the aisle with Kelly and Nicole standing beside him, deep in conversation. Kelly’s gray riding pants had a large dark stain on her right side where she had fallen. The girls saw her coming and turned to face her, silently glaring.
Ugh!
Sarah thought.
Two against one.
    â€œKelly, I’m really sorry for what happened,” Sarah said. “I hope you’re okay.”
    Kelly put her hands on her hips. “You’ve got some nerve, bringing that crazy Thoroughbred into the indoor arena when it was crowded. He’s an accident waiting to happen!” she said, glowering.
    Sarah wasn’t surprised by Kelly’s words, but that didn’t make them any easier to take, especially when Kelly’s riding had caused the incident. There was no doubt in Sarah’s mind that Kelly had purposely tried to frighten Prince. Sarah took a deep breath and shook her head. She’d been an idiot not to realize this conversation would be a waste of time. She turned to walk away.
    â€œAnd don’t even think of riding him in our class, either,” Nicole called after her. “Your horse is a menace!”
    Sarah winced. She stopped short and spun around to face them. “Excuse me?”
    â€œIt’s all over the barn that you’re supposed to start riding in our class,” Nicole continued with a sneer. “After what your horse did today, we don’t want him anywhere near our horses. He’s dangerous!”
    Sarah bit her lip and decided not to argue. She started back to her stall, her mind racing.
How do those jerks know Jack wants me to ride in their class?
Perhaps Paige had mentioned it to someone, and then the boarding-barn rumor mill had kicked in.
I wonder if Kelly and Nicole plan to use what happened today against me,
she thought.
Will they try and convince people Crown Prince is vicious because he kicked out at Jet?
    Sarah needed to share this latest incident with Kayla, and she texted her friend.
Call me ASAP. Important!
She put her phone in her pocket and went to get a wheelbarrow and manure fork from the shavings shed, dodging rain drops along the way. With Prince on cross-ties, she got to work on his stall, but it