Horse Feathers Read Online Free Page B

loved. She padded across the soft carpet to peek at the eggs. They definitely didn’t look like they were going to hatch anytime soon. “I think you can relax for a few days, Stevie.”
    “Besides,” said Carole as she tried to run a brush throughher tangled curls, “have you forgotten that Max’s new mystery horse is arriving today? We can’t miss that!”
    Stevie hesitated, torn between curiosity about the new schooling horse and leaving her little charges alone for a few hours.
    “They’ll be fine,” said Lisa, reading Stevie’s thoughts.
    “Plus, if Max
has
gotten one of those magnificent jousting horses and you aren’t there to see it …” sighed Carole.
    That did it. “I guess I could leave them for a little while,” Stevie replied quickly. She checked the thermostat. It still read 99.5 degrees, as it had the last five times she’d checked it that morning.
    Stevie affectionately patted the top of the incubator. “I’ll just be gone a little while,” she whispered to the eggs. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She caught Lisa’s and Carole’s questioning looks. “On second thought, don’t do anything at all. Just sit there and be … eggy.”
    The girls got dressed in their riding clothes and went downstairs to eat breakfast. An hour later they were out the door.
    T HE S ADDLE C LUB arrived at Pine Hollow Stables just in time to see a large horse trailer being pulled up the long drive ahead of them. They could barely containtheir excitement and broke into a run, reaching the truck just as the driver was releasing the bolt on the rear door of the trailer. Max and Red were already there, waiting to unload the new arrival.
    “Good morning, girls,” said Max. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it in time to see Clara arrive.”
    “Are you kidding?” said Carole. “I barely slept a wink last night!”
    “Neither did I,” Lisa grumbled good-naturedly, “but I think it had more to do with Stevie’s alarm clock going off every four hours than it did the mystery horse.”
    Max frowned curiously and seemed ready to ask Lisa what she meant by that when the back door of the trailer opened. The driver slowly backed a large, rather unpromising-looking horse down the ramp. All the girls could see at first was a wide black-and-white rump.
    Red and Max moved in to help with the unloading. A few moments later the large horse stood on the driveway in front of them, sniffing gently at Max’s front pocket for a treat. Max handed the lead line over to Red, then followed the driver to his truck to sign the release papers.
    “I don’t think it’s a jousting horse,” Stevie said slowly. “Or if it is, it isn’t what I imagined.”
    “It looks like a workhorse,” Carole said, her browwrinkling slightly. “I wonder what Max thinks we could learn from this horse. It doesn’t even appear to be a riding horse!”
    “I got up early for this?” Veronica snorted disdainfully. The Saddle Club turned to see Veronica standing behind them, completely unimpressed. “It’s just an old nag—hardly a decent piece of horseflesh.”
    “Just because it’s not a Thoroughbred doesn’t mean it’s not a decent horse,” retorted Stevie, furious at Veronica’s rude remarks.
    Stevie could already see that the mare had a kind and inquisitive look in her eye as she glanced at her new surroundings. The longer Stevie stared at the horse, the more impressed she was. The mare was large and heavy-set, but she walked beside Red with an easy grace, matching his stride, even though his was probably much shorter than her own. As Red approached the girls the mare whinnied a greeting to Starlight, who had run up to the paddock fence. Starlight whinnied back.
    “Looks like she’s already made a new friend,” observed Lisa.
    Stevie and Carole smiled.
    Max finished signing the papers, then hurried over to take the lead line from Red. He was positively beaming. “Girls, I would like you to meet