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moving along the roadway. Gray Fox stopped and planted his feet as the tractor neared, raising his head to get a better look at the scary green machine chugging toward him. Sarah stroked his neck to reassure him while she asked him to move forward.
    Suddenly, just as the tractor was passing by, its engine backfired with a thunderous crack, belching a giant plume of black smoke. Throwing his head skyward, Gray Fox reared high, the force of his movement snapping his leather martingale. Rising far above the ground on his hind legs, he seemed to linger in the air as if waiting for Sarah to slip from his back. Her crop fell from her hand as she frantically grabbed his mane to stay in the saddle, praying he wouldn’t go over backward.
    After what seemed like an eternity, the horse began his descent. When he hit the ground, he spun on his hind legs and bolted in the opposite direction. He accelerated to a full gallop, with Sarah clinging to his mane, trying desperately to stay on. Heading for the entry road, Gray Fox ran like a racehorse out of the starting gate, his long tail streaming straight out behind. Sarah heard shouts, but they were muffled by the roar of the wind in her ears.
    Down the road they plunged, with Gray Fox seeming to gallop faster with every stride. Sarah let go of his mane to pull back on the reins as hard as she could, but there was no change in his breakneck pace. If only she’d worn her riding gloves, she’d have a better grip! She remembered the ruts in the road and a terrible thought came to her. What if the horse stepped in one of the holes? Going this fast, he would certainly injure himself. Perhaps he would fall, and even break a leg. She had to stop him! Sarah felt her heart pounding as she started to panic. Again she pulled back hard on the reins, but with only the mild snaffle bit in his mouth and his martingale broken, Gray Fox lifted his head to defy the rein action.
    They flashed past the O’Briens’ bungalow with no slackening in the horse’s speed. Sarah was bent low in the saddle, Gray Fox’s mane whipping in her face. The broodmares were startled by the thundering hooves and took flight to the far end of the field, with their tails up and their foals running fast by their sides. As the bridge came into view, Gray Fox continued to run at full tilt. He might lose his footing on the wooden planks! Sarah pulled hard on the reins again, but to no avail. She grasped his mane tightly as the horse flew across the bridge with no slackening of his pace. At this speed, they would soon reach Ridge Road. If she couldn’t stop Gray Fox by then, he would run blindly out onto the road and maybe be hit by a car. Perhaps one was approaching, coming up over the hill right now!
    Sarah tried desperately to remember anything she might have read or heard over the years about how to stop a runaway horse. And then it came to her. When Paige was having a problem with Quarry going too fast on a cross-country school, Jack had taught them a way to slow down an out-of-control horse: the pulley rein. She’d never had an occasion to use it, but she remembered what Jack had told them.
    While tightening her grip on the left rein, she draw her right rein back and slightly over the horse’s neck toward the other rein. Once in place, she mustered all her strength to pull the reins as hard as she could. Gray Fox tried to resist, but even with his head in the air, there was no way he could avoid the effective technique. Sarah pulled hard again, and this time she felt his speed lessen slightly. She pulled even harder with her right rein, and at last the gray gelding resignedly slowed his pace. He seemed to surrender. In a few more strides, just as the farm sign and Ridge Road came into view, Gray Fox was under her control.
    As Gray Fox came grudgingly back to trot and then to walk, Sarah suddenly felt utterly exhausted. She steered the horse to the side of the road where he came to a stop. He