Jigsaw Pony Read Online Free Page A

big stump. Fran and Kiera stood on each side of it. Fran held Jigsaw’s rope. Kiera said, “Come on, boy!”
    Jigsaw looked at the stump. It was broad and flat and not very far down.
    He stepped onto it with one round, trimmed hoof—then two, and three, and four. The neighbors cheered. Jigsaw stepped onto Jody’s lawn. He tasted it.
    More good grass. This really was a very nice neighborhood.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Jumping

    T he next day Kiera said, “It’s my turn for the long ride.”
    Fran was glad. Jigsaw’s feet had needed trimming. Mr. Fletcher said so. But he didn’t seem shocked. He didn’t say they were awful.
    If Jigsaw’s feet were okay then maybe something was wrong with Fran. Maybe she wasn’t a good rider.
    So Fran was glad just to ride up and down the street. That was easy. Jody walked along.
    Then Jody rode and Fran walked along. They met dogs they knew. Neighbors came out to say hi. The baby from two houses down squealed
ee-aw!
    “He said ‘Jigsaw!’” the baby’s mother said. “His first word!”
    Back in the pasture Kiera was setting up jumps. She used old beanpoles from the garden. She propped them on rocks and buckets and hay bales. There were four jumps in all.
    When Jigsaw came back, Kiera got on. She rode in a little circle. Then she asked Jigsaw to canter and pointed him at the jumps.
    Jigsaw flew over the first jump just the way Radish used to. Kiera felt as if she were in a real horse show. She felt as if she were about to win a blue ribbon.
    Jigsaw landed on the other side of the jump. He cantered toward the second one. He was going slower. Kiera nudged him with her heels, but Jigsaw kept slowing down.
    He leaped anyway, but he barely made it. Kiera heard his back feet rap the pole. He slowed to a trot.
    He still looked happy, and he was happy. He trotted up to the third jump and pushed the beanpole with his nose.
    It fell to the ground. Jigsaw trotted over it. He walked to the fourth jump. He pushed that beanpole off, too, and stepped carefully over it and stopped.
    Kiera’s face felt hot. She didn’t look back at Fran and Jody. There was only one thing Kiera was glad of right now. She was very glad she hadn’t teased Fran about the barrel racing.

    That night Kiera piled all the pony books on her bed. She got her flashlight. She turned off her lamp and pulled the covers over her head.
    Fran turned off her lamp, too. She looked across at Kiera’s bed. A tiny light glowed under the covers. A tiny whisper of sound came every time Kiera turned a page.
    Fran knew what Kiera was doing. She was doing the same thing Fran had done. She was trying to figure out how to make Jigsaw do what she wanted.
    When they were younger, Fran would have said, “The flashlight’s keeping me awake!” She would have said it loud enough for their parents to hear. Now she didn’t feel like doing that. She lay in bed listening to the pages whisper.
    After a while Fran whispered, too. “I don’t think it’s us. We’re good riders. Tish said so.”
    Under the covers, Kiera said, “If it’s not us, then something’s wrong with Jigsaw. Maybe he’s sick.”
    Fran took her flashlight over to Kiera’s bed. She got under the covers and reached for a book. They both read until the flashlights were too dim to see by anymore.
    At breakfast the next morning Kiera said, “We should have a vet come look at Jigsaw.”
    “Is something the matter with him?” Mr. Shaw asked.
    “N-no,” said Kiera.
    “Maybe,” Fran said. “He doesn’t like to keep going fast.”
    “He doesn’t like to keep jumping either,” Kiera said.
    “Are you sure you’re riding him right?” Mr. Shaw asked.
    “I hope not,” Kiera said. Fran didn’t say anything.
    “Why don’t you ask Tish to come?” Mrs. Shaw said. “She knows everything about ponies, and she knows how well you ride, too.”
    When they called her, Tish said, “I’ll be glad to come. How about Monday?”
    Fran went to mark it on the calendar. “That’s the