Chapter 6  - A Close Call

The next day, Wednesday, Lauren came over to Libby's house.  She lived just down the street from Libby. They were going to play together with Libby's toy horse collection in the sandbox in the backyard.

"We missed you at the Girl Scout hike yesterday, Lauren.  Where were you?  You didn't even call me to tell me what was going on."

"Well, I don't want to talk about it too much in case it brings bad luck.  But my mother arranged for me to have a private showing of Lady yesterday since she's for sale.  I got to ride her around the paddock and try her out.  I just love her!  She's definitely the one I want.  I hope Monica doesn't get her first.  Miss Lee thinks she's perfect for me."

"That's great Lauren.  When will you find out if you get her?"

"Not for a couple of weeks.  I'm going to have one more test ride, and I think we have to get the vet to check her to make sure she is a sound and healthy pony."

"What?  A pony?  I thought she was a horse.  Lady seems too big to be a pony."

"But she is.  She's only 14 hands tall at the shoulder.  They have to be over 14 and a half hands tall to be a horse by the book.  Lady is technically a large pony.  I think Ginger is what they would call a medium pony based on her height."

"Neat!" said Libby.  "So if Lady becomes yours, then you'll have a real pony.  I hope you get her."

"I promise I'll let you be the one to take care of her whenever my family goes out of town on vacations, OK?"

"OK," agreed Libby.  If she couldn't have a pony of her own, then taking care of someone else's would be almost as fun, even if it were only for a short time.  Then maybe she could prove to her dad that she was responsible enough to have her own.

"Now let's take these toy horse figurines of mine out to the sandbox.  I found a great little area to make a play paddock and a stable for them."  The two friends spent the rest of the afternoon pretending with their toy horses in their little stable made of sticks and sand.
 
 

 Thursday finally rolled around.  "You know, this has been the longest week of my life," Libby told Lauren as they dipped their feet in the pool at the neighborhood club again.  "I can't stand it anymore! I have to see what Ginger looks like in person.  I think I'll just explode if I have to wait one more day!"

"I have an idea," Lauren told her. "Get dressed, and get your bike.  Then follow me." 

They put their wet towels and swimsuits in one of the lockers, and Libby followed Lauren over to where her mother was visiting with some friends in the clubhouse.

"We're going for a little bike ride around the block Mom. We'll be back in a little while!"

"OK, dear!" her mom replied.  "Don't be gone long!"

"We won't!" Lauren stated confidently as she grabbed a couple of sugar cubes from the coffee table near the door.

"What's that for?" Libby asked.

"You'll see.  Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"To see Ginger, of course!"  Libby's eyes grew large, and a little smile appeared on her face.  They hopped on their bikes and pedaled down the street toward Spring Park Stables.

"Do you think we'll get in trouble?"

"Not if we don't get caught!" Lauren answered.  They pulled up their bikes near the trailhead where the Girl Scout troop had been hiking a couple of days before.   "We'll park our bikes here.  If we climb over that fence, we will be right in the pasture where the many of the stable horses are kept.  I know Lady is kept in this pasture. And Ginger just has to be in there too.  Come on!"

The girls climbed over the fence and began walking through the pasture.  They spied a grove of tall oak trees across the field.  "I'll bet the horses are in there under those trees keeping cool in the shade this time of day." 

"I'm right behind you!" said Libby.

As they approached the grove, they heard a soft snorting sound from one of the horses.  A couple of them raised their heads to get a look at the approaching girls, but then they went back to resting and gently swishing flies away with their long tails.

"There's Lady!" Libby said.  She pointed in Lady's direction.

"Lady!" Lauren called softly and held out one of the sugar cubes in the palm of her hand.  Lady looked up and saw Lauren standing near her.  She walked over and nibbled the sugar cube from her hand while Lauren patted her neck.  "You're so beautiful, Lady," she told her.

But where was Ginger?  Most of the horses seemed very uninterested in the girls, so Libby crept around carefully looking at each horse and pony in the herd.

"Can I have that other sugar cube now, Lauren?  I think I see Ginger over there."  Sure enough, there was the little chestnut colored pony resting comfortably in the shade of the oak grove. 

"Ginger! Ginger Snap!" Libby called out softly.  Ginger raised her head and looked at Libby.  Her eyes were bright and her ears focused on Libby's voice.  She noticed that Ginger had little brown freckles all over her nose just like she did.  "Oh, she's so perfect!" Libby whispered softly so as not frighten Ginger away.  Ginger walked over and nibbled at the sugar cube.  She crunched it in her teeth as Libby patted her soft face.
"This is so great," Libby whispered to Lauren.  "Ginger is even more adorable than her picture on the bulletin board.  I'm so glad we came!"
"Me too." Lauren said and then she kissed Lady on the nose.

Suddenly several of the horses raised their heads from their resting position with their ears focused in the direction of the Main Barn at the stable as if they were listening to something.  Then Libby and Lauren heard it too.  Someone was calling out, "Horses!  Horses! Come and get your supper!"

It was Tony from the stable!  He was calling the horses in to feed them their oats.

"Quick!" said Lauren, "Let's get out of here before he catches us and we get into trouble!  We're not allowed in the pasture unless we own or lease one the horses kept here."

Libby and Lauren ducked through some of the bushes in the oak grove as the herd was making its way out into the field.  They hobbled along below the tall grass all crouched over and close to the ground trying to keep from being seen.

Lauren poked her head over the tall grass to check if they'd been spotted.  As soon as she did this, Tony noticed them from a distance.  "HEY!  Who's there?"  He called out.  "This is private property!"  He started running toward the girls.  The stable had had problems in the past with trespassers and didn't want any of the horses injured or stolen by strangers.  Tony had a watchful eye on the pasture horses and was very protective of them.

"Quick!" Lauren shouted!  "Run!"  The two headed toward the fence line, but had gotten disoriented from being crouched over.  They couldn't find the spot where they had climbed over the fence, and it was so covered with kudzu vines, they couldn't get through. 

Then Libby remembered the hole in the fence.  They ran alongside the fence line until Libby found the hole.  They ducked through it just in time before Tony was able to spot them.  Now that they were outside the pasture, the girls ran along the hiking trail until they came to their bikes that they had left parked near the corner of the pasture. 

"Whew!  I'm glad we didn't get into trouble!" Libby noted.  "If we had been caught in there, we might have been suspended too.  We had better follow the rules from now on, so we don't lose our riding privileges like Monica did."

"Agreed!"

"Now let's get back to the club house and cool off in the pool.  I'm really hot after all that running!  Swimming pool, here I come!" giggled Libby.
 

go to Chapter 7 -- Lesson Day at Last