Pony Tails 03- Corey's Pony Is Missing

by Bonnie Bryant

  “I think I’m getting dizzy,” May said.

  “I think Outlaw’s getting dizzy,” Jasmine joked. “Let’s go see Samurai now.”

  “Okay,” May agreed.

  The girls opened the gate to the schooling ring and rode to Samurai’s stable.

  Corey’s house looked dark and empty. So did the stable. They tied their ponies to a post and went inside.

  “Hello!” May called into the darkness. Samurai answered with a gentle snort.

  “It looks like Samurai misses Corey, too,” said May when they reached the pony’s stall.

  Jasmine looked at Samurai. She could see what May meant. The pony was standing in the back of his stall with his head down. His eyes looked dark and sad.

  Jasmine opened the stall and walked in. Sam lifted his head and eyed her curiously. She gave him his carrot. He liked that. He sniffed her shirt pocket for another treat.

  “Here,” said May, pulling out the last carrot for Samurai. He liked that one, too.

  They both agreed that he looked better now that he’d had a treat, but something was missing. He didn’t have anyone to ride him.

  “Oh, yes, he does,” May said suddenly. “He’s got us!”

  Jasmine knew exactly what she meant. Just because Corey wasn’t there, Samurai didn’t have to stay in his stall. The two members of the Pony Tails who were there could tack him up and ride him themselves!

  Quick as could be, they fetched his tack and saddled him up. Then they took him back to the ring at May’s house.

  May walked Samurai around the ring two times while Jasmine rode Outlaw. Then Jasmine trotted on Samurai while May trotted on Macaroni. After that May took Samurai through all the exercises that Max had taught them. Finally Jasmine walked Samurai to cool him down.

  “There, that’s a good workout for you,” Jasmine told the pony as she dismounted from the saddle.

  Samurai took a deep breath and then blew out. It seemed like a sigh of contentment.

  “Good job,” said May. Corey hadn’t asked them to exercise her pony, but May was glad they’d done it. That was part of taking care of their friend’s pony while she was gone. Actually, it was a big part of taking care of Sam.

  Now, though, it was getting late. It was time to groom all three ponies and put them back in their stalls for the night.

  They shared the work on Samurai. May gave his coat a brushing while Jasmine put his tack away. Then May brought him water and Jasmine put fresh hay in his manger. They both patted him. He went back into the corner of his stall.

  “He looks lonely again,” May said. “I wish there were something else we could do for him.”

  “We could open up the door to his yard,” Jasmine suggested.

  May wondered why she hadn’t thought of that herself. Samurai’s stall had a door in the back that opened onto a small yard. In good weather, Corey opened the yard door so that he could come and go as he pleased. Today was a nice day. Sam would probably love the fresh air.

  Jasmine stepped into the stall and opened the door to the yard. Samurai sniffed at the breeze that came in. Then he stretched his neck out and peered into the yard.

  “See, that brought him right out of the corner,” said Jasmine, pleased with her idea.

  “He looks much happier,” May agreed.

  “See you early tomorrow morning!” Jasmine told Samurai as the two of them left, fastening the stall door securely behind them. They’d be bringing Sam to Pine Hollow tomorrow for their Pony Club meeting. Corey would be thrilled to see her pony, and he would be thrilled to see her.

  May waved good-night to Jasmine and raced back to her own stable, ready to groom Macaroni and settle him down for the night. She had a good feeling inside. She and Jasmine had worked hard on their lessons, and they’d done something nice for Corey’s pony. That was what being best friends meant, and the Pony Tails were definitely best friends!

  4 Where Is Samurai?

  The next morning, May got up bright and early. It was Saturday, the day of the Pony Club meeting. Today was a mounted meeting, which meant that the members would be riding at the meeting. Sometimes they had un-mounted meetings, where they learned about such things as feeding and grooming horses. As far as May was concerned, mounted meetings were much better!

  She hopped out of bed and got ready for the day. She put on her riding pants and boots and a warm shirt and jacket. Then she scooped up her hat from the apatosaurus’s head.

  After a hurried breakfast, she and her father went out to the stable to get Macaroni and load him, along with his tack and his grooming bucket, into the van. Macaroni was as good about getting into the van as he was about everything else. He walked right up the ramp and went straight into his little stall. May cross-tied him and closed the gate behind him.

  Outlaw was another story. He didn’t like getting into the van, so they had to play a trick on him to get him up the ramp. May held his lead rope. Jasmine walked backward in front of him, holding a carrot just out of his reach.

  Outlaw loved carrots more than he hated vans. He sniffed the carrot and stepped forward. Jasmine stepped backward. Outlaw sniffed and reached for the carrot. Jasmine walked up the ramp. Outlaw walked up the ramp. Jasmine backed into the stall. Outlaw walked into the stall. Jasmine gave Outlaw the carrot while Mr. Grover closed the gate behind him. While Outlaw was still munching, May and Jasmine exited through the little doorway at the front of the stall. It was done.

  Jasmine shook her head in wonder. “That trick works every time. Do you think it means Outlaw is dumb?”

  “Nope,” May told her. “I think it means he knows it’s a good way to get a carrot!” They laughed about that as they went over to Corey’s stable to get Samurai for the trip to Pine Hollow.

  “Good morning!” May called cheerfully as she walked into the stable. She listened for a snort, but there was none. “Samurai?” she said. He still didn’t answer. May hurried over to his stall. Jasmine was right behind her. But the stall was empty.

  “Samurai? Where are you?” May stood on her tiptoes to see if he was lying in the hay by the door. He wasn’t there.

  “He must be in the yard,” said Jasmine. The two girls entered the stall and walked through it to the yard. Samurai wasn’t in the yard.

  They looked in the corners; they looked behind the door. They even looked under the straw in the stall. There was no sign of Samurai.

  May’s stomach churned. “He’s gone!” she shrieked.

  “This is so terrible!” Jasmine said. “Where can he be?”

  “What’s the matter, girls?” Mr. Grover called as he poked his head inside the stable.

  “We can’t find Samurai!” May told him.

  Mr. Grover frowned. “There’s no time for jokes. You’re due at your meeting—with Samurai—in about half an hour.”

  “It’s not a joke, Dad,” May said urgently. “Samurai isn’t in his stall or in his yard.”

  It didn’t take long for Mr. Grover to see that May was right.

  “I can’t believe this!” May wailed. “He must have been stolen!”

  “Or he ran away!” said Jasmine.

  “Maybe Corey came by earlier with her father and took him over to Pine Hollow herself,” Mr. Grover suggested.

  “Maybe,” May said. But she sounded doubtful.

  “That has to be the answer,” Jasmine added. But inside she wasn’t sure, either. In fact, she didn’t believe it for one second.

  When Mr. Grover pulled into Pine Hollow a short while later, Corey was standing in the driveway waiting for them. May’s heart sank as Corey waved eagerly. It was the kind of wave a girl made when she was expecting to see her beloved pony in a few minutes. It wasn’t the kind of wave a girl made when she already had her pony.

  “Oh, no,” said Jasmine. Corey had a lead rope in her hand. Corey thought she was going to clip the rope to Samurai’s halter and take him off the van.

  “I can’t look,” May whispered.

  Corey watched as her two b
est friends climbed out of Mr. Grover’s car. They were getting out very slowly. May stared straight at the ground. Jasmine looked as though she had tears in her eyes. Something was wrong. Corey just knew it.

  Corey dashed over to the back of the van hitched to the Grovers’ car. She opened the door. It took only a second for her to see that there weren’t three ponies back there. There were only two—and neither of them was Samurai.

  She dropped the lead rope and turned to her friends. “You forgot my pony!”

  Jasmine shook her head. “No, we didn’t,” she said softly. “We went to get him, but …” Tears streaked down her cheek.

  “Oh, Corey!” May said. “Samurai is … missing!”

  5 Comforting Corey

  Corey was stunned. “What happened?” she asked.

  Neither of her friends seemed to be able to tell her.

  “We’re not sure,” Mr. Grover jumped in. “His stall was empty and he wasn’t in his yard. The door to his stall was securely fastened, so he didn’t get out that way, and there was no sign of damage to the fence in the yard.”

  “Someone stole him!” Corey cried.

  “That’s what I think,” May chimed in.

  “I don’t think so, girls.” Mr. Grover shook his head. “A horse thief is more likely to be interested in a champion like Double-O-Seven in our stable. Sam’s a wonderful pony, but he’s not all that valuable.”

  “But why would Sam run away?” Corey asked. “Why would he do that?”

  Mr. Grover shrugged. “Maybe he wanted to explore his surroundings.”

  “But how could he get out?” wailed Corey. “Our yard is fenced in.”

  “He probably jumped,” said Mr. Grover. He patted Corey’s shoulder. “When Sam gets cold, hungry, and tired, he’ll be jumping right back over that fence. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

  “That’s right,” added May. She gave her friend a hug. “I bet he’ll be home by this afternoon.”

  “Of course he will,” Jasmine agreed. “He’ll remember the delicious carrots he gets at home. Besides, where is there to go?”

  Corey felt a little better. Mr. Grover and her friends seemed so sure that Samurai was okay. Corey had to believe them. Besides, as Jasmine said, where could Sam go?

  But the more Corey thought about that, the worse she felt. Samurai could go a lot of places. Behind their houses there were dozens of fields connected to one another. And then there was the forest. It was hundreds of acres. It had steep trails, tricky hills, sharp rocks, deep water, and even a few cliffs. The woods were dangerous!

  “Sam could be anywhere!” Corey cried suddenly. “I’ve got to go look for him!”

  “Now, now, don’t worry, Corey,” Mr. Grover said again. “And don’t start dreaming up awful things that could happen. I’m going home and I’ll take Rascal out to look to see where Sam went.”

  “I’m coming with you!” said Corey.

  “I think you should stay here,” Mr. Grover replied.

  “What if you don’t find him?” Corey wailed.

  “I’ll find him,” Mr. Grover said firmly. “And when I do I’ll bring him right over to Pine Hollow.”

  “Promise?” she asked.

  “I promise,” he answered solemnly. “Now, in the meantime, Max’ll have another pony you can ride. I want you to concentrate on Horse Wise and don’t worry about Samurai. I’ll take care of all the worrying on that.”

  Suddenly there was a flurry of activity in the stable behind them.

  “Horse Wise, come to order!” Max called out.

  “Yipes!” said May. “The meeting’s about to begin and we haven’t even unloaded the ponies!”

  Corey helped her friends get their ponies out of the van. She always liked to help, but this time it was especially important. The sooner the ponies were off the van, the sooner Mr. Grover could go back to her mother’s house, and the sooner he’d return with Samurai. Today there was no time to waste.

  6 Corey’s Bad Day

  Corey tried hard to concentrate at Horse Wise, but it wasn’t easy—even when Max tried to help her. Max was the man who owned Pine Hollow. He gave most of the lessons, and he was in charge of Horse Wise. When it came to horses, Max was all business. The riders sometimes joked that he could see eight mistakes a rider was making all at the same time! Today Max knew that Corey needed special attention. He tried to help her.

  “Why don’t you ride Penny, Corey,” he suggested after he heard what had happened.

  Corey nodded and headed toward the pony’s stall. Penny was a nice pony—a pretty, copper-colored mare with a sweet disposition. Normally Corey liked to be with her. But today, while she put on the pony’s tack, she was listening for Mr. Grover’s van in the Pine Hollow driveway.

  “Corey, you forgot to put on Penny’s bridle,” Max said gently.

  When Horse Wise lined up so that Max could inspect the horses’ tack, she was listening for the phone to ring with good news.

  “Corey, you’re supposed to face me, not the fence,” Max said.

  When Max told the riders to warm up their horses, Corey was hoping Mrs. Reg would come in to say that Samurai had come home. Mrs. Reg was Max’s mother. She was the stable manager.

  “Corey, you should be walking Penny, not standing still,” Max said.

  And when it was time for them to begin their circling exercises, all she could think of was Samurai.

  She saw him standing in his stall, peering over the door as she came toward him. She could almost feel his soft nose in her hand when she gave him a treat. She could smell his sweet pony smell when she gave him a hug. She could hear his soft nicker of pleasure while she groomed him and made his coat shine.

  “Corey, you should be circling in the other direction,” Max called out.

  She heard Max’s words, but it was almost as if she couldn’t understand them. Her mind was so full of thoughts about Samurai, there wasn’t room for anything else. She thought about Samurai in his stall, Samurai in his yard, Samurai on a trail ride, Samurai in a schooling ring, and Samurai jumping.

  He was a good jumper. He was a very good jumper. But was he a good enough jumper to go over the fence in his ring? Had he really done that by himself? And, if he had done it, why had he done it? Wasn’t he happy?

  Corey always tried to treat her pony well. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn’t always good to Samurai. Once she’d forgotten to give him his breakfast until almost lunchtime. Sometimes she was in such a rush when she groomed him that she didn’t do a very good job. Maybe he could tell that she really didn’t like mucking out his stall. Maybe he’d run away to get away from her!

  “Okay, everybody pair up and let’s see you march down the center of the ring in a rising trot. Divide up at the far end, circling back. May, stay with Corey,” said Max.

  Corey was only slightly aware of May riding next to her. May clucked her tongue, and Penny began to trot. Automatically Corey began posting, rising and sitting with Penny’s gait as Max had instructed. She hardly noticed when they got to the end of the ring and she turned to the left. May circled to the right.

  “Good job, Corey. Thanks, May,” said Max. “This time, alternate pairs right and left,” Max told the riders.

  Samurai wasn’t in his stable now. He wasn’t in his yard. He wouldn’t be looking over his stall the next time she walked in. She wouldn’t be able to hug him or groom him, feed him, or bring him water. Worst of all, she wouldn’t be able to ride him. She couldn’t even muck out his stall. He was gone.

  Corey gasped.

  “It’s okay, Corey,” May said when they paired up again at the far end of the ring. “He’ll come home. I know he will.”

  “But what if …” Corey couldn’t even say it. All she could see in her mind was an empty stall and an empty yard. Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked, hoping nobody would notice.

  “Good job,” said Max. “I need to work with Stevie, Carole, Lisa, Veronica, Adam, and
Meg for a while. The rest of you take a break for half an hour, okay?”

  Corey dismounted and led Penny back to her stall. She remembered to loosen the pony’s girth. She remembered to close and lock the stall door. She didn’t think she could remember any more than that. All she could think about was Samurai. Now the tears started coming faster, and there wasn’t anything she could do to stop them.

  “Oh, Corey!” said Jasmine, running over to her friend. Jasmine gave Corey a hug. Corey hugged back. She needed her friends.

  “He really will come home,” May said as she joined them. “He’s just curious about the world outside. Remember how he had to explore everything when you first moved in?”

  Corey did remember, but that didn’t stop her crying.

  “And if he doesn’t come home on his own,” May continued, “Dad will find him. He knows everything about horses and ponies, remember?”

  Corey shook her head. “But what if he can’t find Sam? What if Sam ran away because he hates me?”

  Watching her friend cry was more than Jasmine could bear. “It’s all my fault,” she said. “We should never have let him into his yard yesterday!”

  “What do you mean?” Corey demanded. She turned to look at her friend. “You let him into the yard? He should have been in his stall!”

  “But—but—” Jasmine began.

  “I mean—we just—” May tried.

  “It’s just that, well, he seemed so lonely,” Jasmine added. “We wanted him to have something interesting to do. So we exercised him and left the door to his yard open.”

  “And you let him in the yard when the weather’s nice, don’t you?” May asked.

  Corey swallowed hard. May was right. She did let Sam into the yard. He loved it out there. And her friends had only been trying to help. “I’m sorry,” she said finally to May and Jasmine. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I’m just so upset. I would have let Sam out, too.”