Trail Ride Read Online Free PDF Page B

won’t mind showing you where the mounting block is.” She trudged away.
    “Mounting block?” Carole said indignantly.
    “I know, I know,” Kate said, throwing her hands up defensively. “She’s kind of the Eeyore of the ranch, but she’s actually very nice once you scratch the surface.”
    “We’re only going to be here for a week,” Lisa reminded her. “How deep do you think we’ll get?”
    “Paper cut, maybe. Flesh wound, tops.”
    All three girls burst into laughter.
    “I can’t wait to tell Stevie about her,” Carole said. “Paula makes her cousin Dava look like Auntie Mame!”
    Kate looked puzzled. “Who?”
    “Auntie Mame,” Carole reiterated. “From the old movie with Rosalind Russell.”
    “Lucille Ball played the part, too,” Lisa offered helpfully. “In the musical version.”
    “True,” Carole conceded, “but critics agree that Russell achieved the quintessential carefree, live-life-to-the-hilt spirit of the character to a much more satisfying degree.”
    Nobody said anything for a moment.
    “Of course, the musical version did have Robert Preston,” Carole acknowledged.
    Lisa and Kate remained mute.
    Carole turned away and began fiddling with her horse’s gear. “You know, we are burning daylight,” she mumbled.
    Kate and Lisa giggled.
    “I have to stop by the house and grab our saddlebags,” Kate told them. “You two mount up and I’ll meet you there.”
    Lisa hooked her left stirrup over the saddle horn and checked to make sure her horse’s cinch was tight, then replaced her stirrup, gripped the saddle horn, and swung lightly up into place. She noticed someone had tied a small coil of rope to one side of the saddle. “Hey, Carole, what do you think this is for?”
    Carole shrugged. “Beats me, but I have one, too. Do you think it has something to do with Kate’s surprise?”
    “She’s taking us cow roping?”
    “No, it’s the wrong kind of rope for a lariat—that would be much stiffer. This stuff is soft cotton.”
    Lisa shrugged. “Well, the sooner we get started, the sooner we’ll find out the answer.” Gathering both reins in her left hand, she shifted her weight in preparation for a turn and was delighted to feel Chocolate already responding. She gave her an affectionate pat on the neck. “Atta girl.”
    When Carole was settled on Berry, the two of them set off at a lazy walk. They soon spied their friend, sitting astride her horse by the kitchen, with two bulging saddlebags secured to her saddle.
    “Hey, Lisa, is that the horse I think it is?” Carole asked as they got nearer.
    “It sure is,” Lisa confirmed. “Stewball.”
    The pinto seemed to have recognized his name, because he turned his head in their direction.
    “He looks great,” Lisa told Kate, eyeing the animal affectionately.
    “Oh, there’s no keeping Stewball down.” With no visible cueing, horse and rider swung in beside the other two. “We had him rounding up strays the last couple of weeks and he loved it, but we didn’t want toburn him out, so Dad said I could use him for pleasure riding this week.”
    “We’d better not mention this to Stevie,” Carole cautioned. “You know how much she loves him.”
    Lisa nodded. “She used to say he was practically psychic.”
    “I’m not convinced she’s wrong,” Kate told them. “I’ve met a lot of horses with good cow sense over the years, but Stewball is something special.”
    “What’s
cow sense
?” asked Lisa. She couldn’t remember having heard the term before.
    “A horse’s ability to anticipate and outwit a cow. It’s an invaluable trait in a working ranch horse. Some people say it’s a taught skill, but all the old-timers I’ve ever talked to swear it’s instinctive. The horse has to be born with it.”
    “And Stewball has that?”
    “Stewball has that and a bit to spare. He’s also got some mountain pony in him, so he’s very surefooted.”
    “Remember how Stevie wanted to take him back East to work with her