Racehorse Read Online Free PDF

had too many spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Most of the students also needed to work on their handwriting. She had noticed quite a few of them had awfully wide margins—“As if I can’t tell that that was simply designed to make a two-page essay fill three pages,” the teacher added dryly. There were titters in the classroom.
    “A few of you don’t seem to understand what an essay is, and I’ve made notes on your papers that you should see me after class.…”
    Lisa could already imagine the tracks of red ink on her paper and the demands that she come to special-help sessions.
    “Many of you who have done well on most of the work this year just had trouble with this assignment.…”
    Ms. Ingleby would probably be sending a special note home to her parents about Lisa’s dropping grade.
    “And some of you will have to revise your papers.” There were groans around the classroom. Lisa’s mind raced. She was trying to figure out when she’d have time to do it all over again—and what she’d do.
    “But one paper was especially interesting,” Ms. Ingleby said. “It won’t surprise any of you to find out who wrote it, and I think a lot of you will know exactly what the student was talking about, so, without ado, I’m going to read it to you.”
    Ms. Ingleby picked up a paper from the top of the stack and began reading. At first Lisa didn’t recognize her own words. Then, when it sank in that Ms. Ingleby was reading
her
essay, she blushed deeply, aware that her classmates were already looking at her. They knew who had written it.
    Her essay began with general statements about life—that it was a gift whose value could only be measured by the good that the life contributed to the world. Then she got down to the business of Pepper.
    Pepper is Pine Hollow’s gentlest, sweetest, kindest horse. He’s every first rider’s first choice. He is so attentive to his rider’s needs that he makes riding seem
easy. In fact, one time I was riding Pepper, unaware that we were in a field that housed a fierce bull. We were too far from the gate to get to safety, so Pepper did the only logical thing—he taught me to jump in one easy lesson! We both landed safely on the other side of the fence. I think I can say truly that I owe Pepper my life
.
    Now his life is coming to an end. His gray coat, once dark and dappled, is now white and dappled. His head, once held high with pride, often seems too heavy for his neck to hold up. His eyes, once sparkling and alert, are now rheumy and clouded with cataracts. His ears splay awkwardly, dulled to the familiar sounds around him. He is old
.
    I love him as he is, for that is how I have known him, but I like to think of him as he was
.
    Pepper was a champion, not because he got ribbons, though he surely did, but because he taught me and many other riders how to love horses—starting with him. And we do
.
    There was a long silence in the classroom when Ms. Ingleby finished reading the essay. Lisa looked straight ahead, embarrassed. She wasn’t usually embarrassed when a teacher read her work, but in this case, she didn’t think she’d done a very good job. She didn’t feel asif she’d written about life as much as she’d written about Pepper. Nobody else seemed to have noticed, however.
    Lisa was jolted out of her embarrassment by a gentle sniff from the girl named Eleanora Griffin sitting next to her. Eleanora was crying.
    “You mean I can’t ride Pepper anymore?” she asked.
    “Not much more, I guess,” Lisa said. “Maybe Max will be using him for walks with really little kids. But he won’t be doing regular classes again.”
    “Oh, wow, I remember Pepper,” a boy two rows back said. “I rode him the only time I ever rode a horse!”
    Then the class seemed to erupt with memories of Pepper. It turned out that more than half the class had, at one time or another, been to Pine Hollow and remembered Pepper, either because they had actually ridden him—or because