Free Hayride by Bonnie Bryant

okay.”
    “We’re still going to make your party the best hayride birthday ever, you know.”
    Luckily, Carole could still have the party. She wouldn’t be able to dance—so much for the slow dance with Cam she’d been imagining—but Dr. Curtis had said she could go on the hayride if she promised to sit still. What else was she going to do? Carole wondered. Stand up and hop around on her left ankle? She had to admit that it was still quite painful, even with the Ace bandage on.
    “We’ll put our heads together one more time and think up sitting-down games for people who don’t want to dance,” Colonel Hanson said.
    Carole
was
still excited about the party, of course, but even it wouldn’t make up for two whole weeks without riding. Carole had been riding for as long as she could remember. The only time she’d taken more than a day or two off was after the tragic death of one of her favorite horses, Cobalt. And not riding had just made her more miserable. Besides, even if she could handle it, she wasn’t sure Starlight could.
    “He’ll be higher than a kite after two weeks off,” Carole said, voicing her thoughts.
    Colonel Hanson reminded her that there were other people at Pine Hollow who could exercise Starlight for her. Carole nodded, but it was hard to think of the right person. Red and Max were far too busy. Lisa was too inexperienced. Maybe she would ask Stevie to take him out once or twice if she wasn’t too busy with Topside.
    W HEN C AROLE AND her father got home, the phone was ringing. “Why did the horse make friends with the cow next door?” she heard her father say as she limped into the kitchen. A dumb joke could only mean that he had an appreciative audience on the other end of the line. And, as far as Carole knew, Stevie was the only person who fit that qualification.
    “Because he wanted to be a good neigh-eigh-eighbor!” Colonel Hanson finished. He handed the receiver to Carole. “I really got her that time,” he said.
    Carole took the phone from her chuckling father. “I was just going to call you,” she said.
    “Good, because I’ve been trying to call you for the past hour.”
    “What’s up?”
    To make sure she didn’t forget, Stevie told Carole right away all about Veronica’s phone call to Phil. Carole agreed that this latest incident might be the most revolting crime Veronica had ever committed against The Saddle Club. Then Stevie filled Carole in on the lesson—Simon following Lisa around, Garnet being lame, Veronica freaking out as usual.
    “How bad is the bruise?” Carole asked.
    Stevie grinned into the receiver. Of course Carole was more concerned about Garnet than about any of the humans involved. Her heart always went to horses first.
    “Not too bad, but Judy says she needs two weeks off.”
    “Just like me,” Carole said. She told Stevie that her ankle was really sprained and that, as far as riding went, she was literally “grounded” for the next two weeks. “I’m really worried about Starlight’s training,” she added.
    Stevie volunteered to exercise him at least a few times.
    “That’s nice of you, but I know it’ll be hard since you also have to work with Topside. You don’t want to let him slip now that he’s doing so well.”
    They discussed the other possibilities. Stevie agreedthat Lisa couldn’t really do it. She
was
a good rider, but she didn’t have the experience to handle Starlight if he continued being as moody as he had been. The minute he sensed any timidity on Lisa’s part, he’d do exactly what he wanted.
    “Who else? Let’s see …” Stevie’s voice trailed off as she thought.
    “There is someone else, you know,” Carole said hesitatingly. “Someone who’s got a forced two-week vacation from riding.”
    “You can’t mean Veronica!” Stevie cried, knowing that that was exactly who Carole meant.
    Carole began cautiously. She knew how mad Stevie was at the suggestion, but she had to put Starlight first. “I know she