Riding Camp Read Online Free PDF

She held it out to Carole.
    Carole felt the hay, rubbing it between her fingers. She sniffed a few strands of it and then the whole bunch of it together.
    “It’s moldy,” Carole said. “I sure hope none of the horses have had any of this.”
    “Fred just brought it down from the loft. He’s over—”
    Lisa didn’t get to finish. When horses’ well-being was at stake, Carole never wasted a minute.
    “Betty!” Carole called out. She ran over to Betty and showed her the hay.
    Within a few minutes, Betty gathered up all the hay from the bale that Fred had brought and put it in a pile outside, well away from the barn. Moldy hay could not only make horses sick, but it could also start fires. Betty didn’t want to take any chances.
    She had Fred bring another bale down, and together they tested it. It was just fine. Fred cut it open and each of The Saddle Club girls took a flake for her horse. The girls had to hurry a little. There was an unmounted riding class in five minutes, followed by an instructional film before dinner. Moose Hill might have a problem with at least one stablehand, but it was serious about teaching riding skills, and the girls wouldn’t have any free time until after dinner.
    They jogged across the field to the rec hall, where their unmounted class was taking place.
    “Saddle Club Meeting after dinner,” Carole said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about!”
    Lisa and Stevie certainly agreed with that.
    “Where shall we meet?” Lisa asked.
    “How about by the pond?” Stevie suggested. “There’s a clearing on the shore near our cabin.”
    The girls agreed that it would be a nice place to be in the evening. The water, stars, and moonlight would make the perfect setting for a Saddle Club Meeting.
    “O UCH !”
S LAP !
“I got it,” Stevie said. “One more wretched mosquito has met his maker. And here comes another to take its place.”
Slap!
    The lakeside in the evening
was
a pretty spot, and unfortunately one million mosquitoes seemed to agree.
    Carole ignored Stevie’s tirade against the entire insect population of western Virginia. “I can’t believe these girls,” she began. “I’ve never seen such a snotty attitude—like they’re too good to ride with anybody else!”
    Lisa told them about Debbie’s reaction to her casual remark about Max giving her eight instructions at once. “And the boys are just as bad,” she added.
    “Not all of them,” Stevie said. They didn’t have to ask her whom she had in mind.
    “Not all of the girls are awful, either,” Lisa admitted. “After all, Nora is pretty nice. And that girl Lily something, who was riding the gray, seemed friendly.”
    “Sure, some of them are fine. I guess
most
of them are fine,” Carole conceded. “But the snotty ones areunbelievable. They are so convinced they’re going to win all the ribbons at the show next week just because they won them before. And that they deserve them! Ugh, I
hate
that kind of snobbishness.”
    “So do I,” Lisa said. “So does almost everybody. But what can we do?” She slapped a mosquito. “I mean it’s not as if we can change them.”
    “Why not?” Carole asked. “I mean why not try to change them?”
    “Oooooh, look,” Stevie interrupted, pointing. On the far side of the pond, the sun was setting. Above the trees, the sky was streaked with a breathtaking array of oranges, yellows, and pinks. The scene was perfectly reflected on the glasslike surface of the pond.
    “Very beautiful,” Lisa agreed.
    “Yeah, so romantic,” Stevie said dreamily.
    Dreamy was not Stevie’s usual state. Carole didn’t think Stevie had ever noticed a sunset before in her life, but she decided to keep that observation to herself. She tossed a small pebble into the water. It made circles, rippling the sunset’s reflection.
    A frog croaked.
    “Oh, cute!” Stevie said.
    It was too much for Carole. “Cute? What’s so cute about a frog?” she asked grumpily. She was getting tired of this new