Saddle Sore Read Online Free Page A

“Kate already invited me. I even got up early, to get my work done first.”
    “Great,” Lisa said. Something about the way John smiled always made her stomach feel pleasantly uneasy. She often wished John lived a little closer—like, in Willow Creek, or at least in the state of Virginia. Sometimes they wrote to each other, but it was hard to keep a long-distance friendship going.
    “I’ll put Tex in the barn and help you guys get your horses out,” he offered. He walked away, and Lisa turned back to her friends.
    Emily and Carole were standing just outside the gate, waiting with lead ropes in their hands. Kate had gone into the paddock to separate out their horses. Stevie was standing just inside the gate with her arms around a shaggy skewbald’s neck. “Good morning, darling Stewball,” Lisaheard her say. She walked over to Emily and Carole.
    “After everything I’ve heard about Stewball,” Emily said, “frankly, I expected him to look a little more spectacular than this! This is a movie-star horse?” When The Saddle Club’s friend Skye Ransom had filmed a movie at the Bar None, Stewball had been used as a stunt horse.
    “Only because he takes such good direction,” Lisa said. “We had to dye his coat so that he would match this gorgeous, brainless horse they brought in. They used the gorgeous horse for close-ups.”
    “Stewball’s a fabulous cow horse,” Carole added. “He can cut a cow out of a herd like nobody’s business. In fact, that’s really the reason Stevie didn’t buy him. She was going to, but it would have meant taking him away from the one thing he loves and does well. He wasn’t cut out to be an English horse.”
    “He’s still gorgeous,” Stevie said hotly, coming toward them leading Stewball. “Emily, I heard what you just said about my darling not looking spectacular. All I can say is, if we were having a beauty contest, I’m not sure Stewball would do worse than P.C.”
    Emily laughed. “Pretty is as pretty does. I’ve said that a hundred times myself. Don’t get your dander up, Stevie. I’ll say he’s gorgeous if you want me to.”
    “You’ll say he’s gorgeous on your own, once you see me ride him,” Stevie said. “He’s a horse and a half.”
    Kate led two horses over, Spot for Emily and a pretty red roan named Berry for Carole.
    Carole gave Berry a hug. “We always ride the same horses when we’re here,” she explained to Emily.
    Finally Kate brought out Lisa’s bay mare, Chocolate, and her own Moonglow. Before long they were all ready to ride. They had agreed that Emily should have just a little more practice in the Western saddle before they hit the trails, so they all warmed up in the empty side paddock.
    After trotting and loping Tex a few times around the arena, John showed Lisa and the others why Tex’s hindquarters were so heavily muscled. “Watch this!” He loped Tex three-quarters of the way down the side of the fence, then sat back and gave an invisible command. Instantly, Tex seemed to sit down. His hindquartersdropped and locked; he left skid marks ten feet long as he slid to a stop.
    The Saddle Club cheered. “He’s really getting good!” Carole said. “He’s really listening to you.”
    John inspected the skid marks with a proud smile. “That wasn’t too bad,” he admitted. “See, he stopped nice and straight.”
    “That was amazing,” Emily said. “What was that?”
    “It’s a reining move with a very complicated, technical name,” John explained with a grin. “We call it a stop. The longer the skid, the better.”
    “I want to learn how,” Emily declared. “Does Spot do it?”
    John shook his head. “Later in the week, I’ll start to teach you both.”
    “Great!” Emily loped Spot up the arena and back. She sat up, and Spot came to an obedient, but normal, halt. “Don’t forget,” she said to John.
    “I won’t.” Next he demonstrated a rollback. He galloped Tex down the fence line, then all in one motion