These numbers staggered Taylor’s mind. Fifteen thousand dollars for a horse!
“Do you know her lineage?” Taylor asked, remembering that Mercedes’s mother had said a horse would be hard to sell without that. Her boldness shocked her. Had she actually found the nerve to say that? Taylor hoped she wasn’t reddening with embarrassment and fought a strong urge to run away.
Mrs. Ross studied Taylor with an expression that fell somewhere between disbelief and amusement. “You’re quite the horse trader, aren’t you, young lady?”
“I’m just asking,” Taylor replied with a sheepish grin.
“In fact, I had Shafir checked, and she’s a papered purebred Arabian. I can provide the documentation.”
“I don’t think Mrs. LeFleur would care about the papers. She just wants a horse for lessons and trail rides.”
“I caused Mrs. LeFleur a lot of trouble, though I didn’t mean to. And Shafir is growing wilder by the day. Tell her the horse is hers.”
“She might have to pay you a little at a time,” Taylor suggested. Again she was aghast at how forward she was being. But, she was discovering, it thrilled her, too — made her feel capable and grown-up.
“No, I meant she can have the horse. I’d rather have someone training that gorgeous creature than have her ignored. I didn’t pay anything for her, and she’s costing me money. I’ll have Bob Haynes trailer her over tomorrow in the morning.”
“Really?” Taylor asked, hardly able to believe her luck.
Mrs. Ross smiled, but just a little. “I’m glad someone can use her.”
Early Sunday morning, Taylor shivered a little in her fleece jacket as she rode her bike into Wildwood Stables. On Saturday she’d called Mrs. LeFleur, Daphne, and Mercedes and left messages about Shafir on all their phones. So far, no one had gotten back to her.
Mrs. Ross had only said that Shafir would arrive in the morning, but not exactly when. So Taylor had set her alarm for six a.m. so she could be at Wildwood by six-thirty.
Taylor went directly to the feed shed behind the main stable. She filled two buckets with oats and then went around the back to the old pump for some water. Setting a bucket under the spigot, she began priming the pump by cranking the handle up and down vigorously to get the water flowing.
Morning mist still blanketed the ground and rose from the forest just beyond, giving the ranch a soft glow. This really is the best place in the world, she thought as water began to pour, crystal clear and ice-cold, from the spout. Even the water was better than anywhere else.
Mrs. LeFleur was going to be so thrilled that Taylor had gotten a new horse for Wildwood Stables — and for free! Daphne and Mercedes might know more about horses, but she was the one who had gotten this much-needed addition to the stables.
Taylor carried the water into the stable and set it down. She wanted to let the icy water warm up a little so it wouldn’t upset Prince Albert’s and Pixie’s stomachs. “Good morning,” she greeted the horse and pony brightly. “You’re going to have some new company today.”
Prince Albert sputtered.
Taylor knew he wasn’t really responding to her remark, but she pretended he had. “Well, she’s a little wild, but I’m sure she’ll settle down once Daphne works with her a bit. She likes to play and she’s very friendly.”
She had gone to get the oats when she heard the engine of a trailer gliding to a stop in front of the main building. Walking around the corner of the building to the front, she saw a sleek silver trailer. A man with graying hair and a bit of a belly got out, looking around.
“Hi, I guess you’re Bob Haynes,” Taylor said as she approached. “I’m Taylor Henry.”
“Hey, there. I was told to ask for Mrs. Flowers.”
“LeFleur,” Taylor corrected him. “She’s not here, but I can take Shafir and put her in a stable.”
“Do you work here?”
“Yes.”
“I’d better wait for the owner.”
At that moment, the sound of kicking and angry neighing came from the trailer.
“I had a heck of a time catching her this morning, and apparently she doesn’t like to travel, either,” Bob explained.
A dark green Volvo station wagon turned from Wildwood Lane into the ranch. Mrs. LeFleur parked off to the side and practically flew out of the car.
“Is the horse here already? Oh, dear, it is!” Mrs. LeFleur turned to Bob. “I’m sorry. You have to take this horse back. I can’t possibly have it here.”
“But, Mrs. LeFleur, this is a great gift,” Taylor protested.
“She’s right,” Bob agreed. “A horse like Shafir would sell for upward of fifteen thou.”
“Then why doesn’t Devon Ross just sell her?” Mrs. LeFleur asked.
“I have no idea,” Bob admitted.
Taylor turned toward Bob. “Could you wait just a few minutes while Mrs. LeFleur and I talk?” she requested.
“I can spare a few minutes, but then I’ve got to get going,” he agreed.
As Taylor followed Mrs. LeFleur into the office, she hoped Daphne would show up soon. Convincing the ranch’s owner that they could train Shafir would sound more believable if Daphne were the one saying it.
When they were inside the office, Mrs. LeFleur faced Taylor. “I know you meant well. Just the same, I cannot have another horse that I must feed and board but that I can’t use for lessons.”
“Wait until you see her, though. She’s gorgeous.”
“That she may be. Nonetheless —”
Mercedes practically flew, breathlessly, into the office. “Is she really an Arabian? I picked up your message late last night, and I came over as soon as I could. Why isn’t she unloaded yet?”
“Mrs. LeFleur doesn’t think we can use her,” Taylor explained.
“She’s an untrained horse,” Mrs. LeFleur clarified.
“But a horse like that is worth a fortune!” Mercedes cried. “You can’t turn her down. It’s like throwing away a winning lottery ticket!”
“I can’t use her, and yet I’ll have to feed her, house her, pay for her farrier and veterinarian costs. An untrained horse is just a drain on my finances no matter how valuable she may be,” Mrs. LeFleur insisted stubbornly.
“I can start her,” Mercedes said confidently. “On our ranch back in Weston I started a Morgan gelding who was only four and super spirited.”
“You had a Morgan?” Taylor asked.
“We had a bunch of horses.”
Taylor was dying to know more about Mercedes’s background, but she never seemed to want to talk about it too much. Her move to Pheasant Valley had obviously been a move down, in terms of wealth, and Mercedes clearly missed the stable of horses that her family no longer owned.
“Daphne is sure she can train Shafir, too,” Taylor told Mrs. LeFleur, “and I’ll work with both of them.”
“While you’re all also working with Prince Albert,” Mrs. LeFleur reminded Taylor. “He still needs to tolerate a rider other than you.”
“Yes, but you saw how great he was with Dana. Lois and Dana and her mother will be back to work with him again. That’s like a riding lesson,” Taylor said.
“What happens when they want to have Dana ride?” Mrs. LeFleur questioned.
“By then he’ll know Dana and he’ll let her on,” Taylor proposed optimistically.
“You can’t be sure of that,” Mrs. LeFleur countered.
“By then we’ll have Shafir ready to go,” Mercedes put in. “Or we can use Mandy.”
“But that little girl only wants Prince Albert,” Mrs. LeFleur reminded them. “Besides, I don’t trust that Mrs. Ross.”
“She told me she was sorry if she caused you trouble over the ranch,” Taylor said. “That was one of the reasons she wants you to have Shafir, to make up for it.”
Taylor was unprepared for the redness that came to Mrs. LeFleur’s face. “That woman thinks she can buy whatever she wants. Well, money will not buy my forgiveness.”
Taylor and
Mercedes looked at each other, taken aback by Mrs. LeFleur’s passionate anger. Could such deep feeling be about a court case?
“Do you know Mrs. Ross personally?” Taylor dared to ask.
“Our paths have crossed before,” Mrs. LeFleur revealed.
“What happened?” Taylor asked softly.
“I’d rather not discuss it,” Mrs. LeFleur replied.
For a minute or more, no one spoke. The red fury left Mrs. LeFleur, though she still seemed shaken. Taylor waited until the woman appeared to be completely herself again before speaking. “It’s not Shafir’s fault that she keeps getting dumped on someone else. She needs a home.”
Bob Haynes appeared at the door before Mrs. LeFleur could respond to Taylor. “What would you like me to do, Mrs. LeFleur?”
By the time Daphne’s father dropped her off at Wildwood, Prince Albert, Pixie, and Shafir were all in the corral along with Mercedes and Taylor.
“Oh, she’s here! I can’t believe you did it, Taylor!” Daphne said, swinging her legs over the corral fence. “Where’s Mrs. L.?”
“She’s gone to the office,” Taylor replied. “I think she’s in shock, but she agreed to keep Shafir.”
“All right!” Daphne cheered.
“Do you know if she’ll take a saddle and halter?” Mercedes asked Daphne.
“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen her in one,” Daphne replied. “How is she dealing with Pixie and Prince Albert?”
“She’s prancing around them, but they’re kind of ignoring her,” Taylor reported.
“At least they’re not nipping her or being aggressive in any way,” Mercedes pointed out.
“That’s true. I think they’ll be friends eventually, but for now, they need to get to know one another,” Daphne said. “I’ll bring Mandy out, too. They can all spend some time together. In another hour or so, we should see if we can get a rope halter on Shafir.”
“Why not a regular halter?” Mercedes questioned.
“I just think they’re lighter than a regular halter, which is good for a horse that isn’t used to any kind of tack,” Daphne explained. “There’s a nylon rope halter in the tack room. If we can get Shafir to accept it, then we can start her training by just walking her around on a lead line at first.”
“I’ll do that,” Mercedes volunteered.
“We should take turns,” Daphne suggested. “That way she’ll get used to all of us.”
Mercedes appeared disappointed by Daphne’s response, though she nodded in agreement. Taylor suspected that she missed having a horse of her own and was hoping to become Shafir’s unofficial guardian — or at least the one Shafir knew and liked best. After all, Taylor had her bond with Prince Albert and even Pixie. Daphne had Mandy. But Mercedes didn’t have a horse to call her own.
While Prince Albert, Pixie, and Shafir got to know one another in the corral, the girls used the time to get their chores done. Daphne got Mandy groomed and ready to go out. Taylor went to work on Pixie and Prince Albert’s stalls. She gave them a thorough cleaning, removing all the straw bedding after picking out the droppings with a rake. She then hosed down each stall. While she was doing that she noticed a rough, splintery surface on the top of the half door to Prince Albert’s stall.
Mercedes was down the center aisle sweeping. “Mercedes, would you take a look at this?” Taylor asked. When Mercedes joined her, she pointed to the rough patch.
“That wasn’t there on Friday,” Taylor said.
“Uh-oh,” Mercedes said. “He might just be wood biting, but he could be cribbing.”
“What’s that?” Taylor asked.
“He made those marks with his teeth,” Mercedes explained. “Wood biting is chewing the wood and it’s a bad habit, but cribbing is worse. Cribbing is when a horse holds on to a piece of wood with his front teeth and throws his head back to suck in air.”
“Why would a horse do that?” asked Taylor.
“The rush of inhaled air feels good to a horse, and horses usually do it when they’re stressed. Or just out of boredom.”
“He’s stressed?” Taylor questioned. “Why would he be stressed? Or bored? Everything is so much better for him now.” Taylor felt deeply unsettled by the idea that Prince Albert might not be completely happy when it was her goal to give him a perfect life.
“He’s probably bored. We have to stop him from cribbing right away,” Mercedes said. “Once that behavior sets in, it’s almost impossible to break the habit. Pixie might even start doing it.”
“Is it dangerous?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah. It can make him real sick.”
“What can we do about it?”
“We could get him a cribbing collar.”
“Is that like those big cones dogs wear after they’ve had a surgery at the vet’s?”
“Sort of,” Mercedes confirmed.
“Prince Albert wouldn’t like that. What else is there?”
“There’s stuff we could put on his stall that tastes bad. We could cover the top of his stall door with metal, but he might just find something else to chomp on. You might try getting him a salt lick or maybe a horse toy so he won’t be so bored.”
Taylor went to the tack room and took out a bridle with a flexible D-ring snaffle bit. She was pulling down the ranch’s new synthetic all-purpose saddle when Daphne came in and scooped a rope halter from its hook. “What happened? You look upset.”
Taylor told Daphne about the marks on Albert’s stall door and her conversation with Mercedes. “So, I don’t really know what to do,” she concluded. “I’m just going to take Prince Albert out for a ride now and think about it. What would you do?”
Daphne sighed thoughtfully, tapping the rope harness against her side. “Maybe Prince Albert needs to spend less time in his stall and more time turned out in the field. I can do that on the days you’re not here. And — I don’t know — maybe you could get here on a weekend day to ride him and make sure you give him a ride every time you are here.”
“And do you think that would work?” Taylor asked.
“Try it, and then if it doesn’t, we can think of something else,” Daphne replied. “She’s right that we should get him to stop cribbing. It’s not good for him.”
“Okay, thanks.” Talking to Daphne had improved Taylor’s mood. She felt less panicked, less guilty.
“Don’t worry,” Daphne said as she left the tack room. “We’ll figure it out.”
Taylor loaded all the tack she needed plus a helmet into a wheelbarrow and pushed it toward the corral, staggering a little under the weight of the saddle, pad, stirrups, and bridle. Letting herself into the corral, she clicked, and Prince Albert headed toward her, followed by Pixie. Once the horse was completely tacked, she swung into the saddle.
On the other side of the corral, Mercedes was trying to slip the rope halter over Shafir’s head, but the spirited Arabian mare kept ducking away from her.
Daphne was approaching, leading Mandy.
“Could you open the gate for me?” Taylor requested.
Daphne pulled the corral gate open. “I’m going to teach you to do this yourself,” Daphne said as Taylor and Prince Albert passed through at a walk, followed by Pixie.
“Okay,” Taylor agreed. “That would be good.” There were so many things about horses she wanted to learn; the list seemed endless, but she was eager to improve.
At the gate to the field, Taylor had to hop off, open the gate, lead Pixie and Prince Albert through, and then mount once again. Knowing how to open the gate from atop a horse really would be helpful, she decided.
With a light squeeze, all the command Prince Albert required, Taylor moved him into a lively trot, what she thought of as a jog. Behind them, Pixie automatically picked up her pace.
The field was a rounded, gently sloping mound. The sun was now well into the sky. Taylor reined Prince Albert back a moment so she could open her fleece jacket.
Prince Albert slowed at a sunny patch of yellow dandelions that had not yet t
urned into puffballs. He stretched his head down to munch on the vegetation, but Taylor gently pulled him back up. “No eating with your bridle still on!” she said, dismounting. “We don’t need any more bad habits.” Slipping off the bridle, she landed softly in the thick grass, trusting Prince Albert not to run off. She wasn’t too worried since he was occupied with his favorite pastime — eating.
Taylor dismounted and sat cross-legged in the field. That put her just above eye level with the grazing Pixie and Prince Albert. “Why are you stressed, Albert?” Taylor asked, not really expecting an answer, but hoping that somehow he could sense her question. “I’m sorry if I haven’t been paying attention to you this week. I’ve been really busy. You know, one minute I had all this time, and the next minute Claire asks me to go pick up an abandoned horse and pony with her, and just like that, my life is turned upside down! Suddenly, I work at a ranch and have all these responsibilities.”
Lying back flat in the grass, Taylor gazed up at the vivid blue sky. Shutting her eyes, she let the red and orange swirls caused by the sun play across her eyelids.
Taylor wondered if Prince Albert had sensed any of what she had said to him. But how could she expect a horse to understand what she was dealing with when her own best friend didn’t even seem to understand?
Had she done the same thing to Travis that she had unintentionally done to Prince Albert — made him feel unimportant and unappreciated?
Prince Albert whinnied anxiously. When Taylor opened her eyes, he was standing over her. Prince Albert stuck his nose out toward her and breathed softly onto her face, like Daphne had done to him before. Taylor smiled up into his soft, round eyes, knowing that it was his way of communicating with her.
Sitting forward, she stroked his muzzle. “I’m all right, boy. Sorry if I scared you.” Taylor was so touched by Prince Albert’s affection that emotional tears sprang to her eyes. Clasping his muzzle in both hands, she kissed its velvet surface.
As though not wanting to be left out, Pixie moved in close to them. Taylor laughed to see the sunny round weeds all jutting this way and that as Pixie held them in her mouth. In the next second, Pixie munched them down.