Horsing Around Read Online Free Page A

stall. “Hi, Brownie,” she said as she petted Katie’s long face. “Are you ready for me to ride you?”
    Okay, change that. Katie wasn’t a horse. She was a pony. Becky’s pony, Brownie. Any minute now, Becky was going to climb on Katie’s back and ride her into the ring.
    Only Katie wouldn’t know what to do once she got there. She didn’t know when to turn left or turn right. She didn’t know when to walk slowly or when to gallop.
    Katie felt awful. She’d already made Becky feel bad about her red ribbon. And now, if Becky tried to ride her, she would definitely lose this competition.
    “Neigh!” Katie whinnied. That was horse language for, “This is sooo not good!”
    “What’s the matter?” Becky asked Katie. “You sound so sad.”
    I am sad , Katie thought. And scared. And kind of hungry, actually.
    Katie walked over to a big pile of hay and began munching on the dry grass. Mmm . . . it was surprisingly good.
    “You can’t have lunch now, silly,” Becky told Katie. “We have to go in the waiting area near the ring.” And with that, Becky took Katie’s reins and led her out of the stall.
    Katie followed Becky as they walked down the narrow hallway between stalls. Finally they reached the waiting area. There were four other ponies with their riders standing beside them. The kids all looked so nice in their black riding helmets, jackets, and boots. The ponies looked nice, too, with their braided manes.
    As Katie took her place in the line, Becky suddenly got a weird look on her face. She crossed her legs.
    “Oh, no,” she said.
    Katie cocked her big horse head and looked at her curiously.
    “What’s the matter, Becky?” a tall girl with a long braid asked.
    “I have to go to the bathroom,” Becky told her.
    “So go,” the girl said.
    “But I’m supposed to stay with Brownie,” Becky said.
    “He’ll be fine for a few minutes,” the girl told her. “We’re all here to watch him.”
    Becky nodded. “Stay here, Brownie,” she told Katie.
    Katie watched nervously as Becky walked away. This was really scary.
    She couldn’t think about anything except how Becky was going to try to ride her in front of all those people.
    She couldn’t think about anything except how all of their friends would make fun of Becky for messing up.
    She couldn’t think about anything except . . .
    SUGAR!
    Katie smelled something sweet and yummy. A sugar cube was in somebody’s pocket. Katie was sure of it.
    She raised her horse nose high in the air and sniffed. The sugary smell was coming from the left.
    She sniffed again. Yes. The wonderful smell was coming from a guy working in the stalls nearest the waiting area. He was filling the water trough.
    Katie really wanted that sugar. But she knew she was supposed to stay put.
    Still, a cube of sugar melting on her tongue would taste sooo good right now. It might even calm her down a little bit.
    No. NO! She wasn’t supposed to move.
    But Katie couldn’t help it. She had to have that sugar. Getting around on four legs wasn’t something Katie really had the hang of yet. As she tried to turn to the left, she banged into the brown and white pony on her right.
    The pony whinnied angrily and kicked Katie’s behind.
    “Hey,” Katie whinnied loudly. “It was an accident.”
    Katie’s whinnying upset two other horses. One white pony stood up on her hind legs and whinnied loudly.

    Katie backed away and banged into another pony, who reared up.
    “Powderpuff ! Calm down!” a small boy with glasses shouted.
    “Down, Chester!” the girl with the long braid cried out. She struggled to keep standing while she held on to her horse’s reins.
    “Behave, Stardust!” another rider cried to her horse.
    Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!
    All the horses were whinnying. They’d smelled the sugar. And they wanted it, too!
    The man with the sugar cubes in his pocket came walking through the waiting area.
    Katie trotted after him.
    The other ponies pulled and jumped away from their