Read Hoof Beat for Free Online

then returned to his mother’s other side. Carole tried again. So did Samson.
    “What’s going on with you?” she asked. His answer was to run away again.
    It didn’t seem as if he was frightened. He didn’t run in fear. Instead, it was more as if he were playing a game—just the way he’d played peekaboo, only this time, it was tag and she was It.
    When Samson went to circle the paddock yet another time, Carole decided to show him she wasn’t playing the game. She left Delilah’s side and walked over to Trudy and Lisa.
    “What’s going on with him?” Carole asked.
    “I wonder if you could teach him to fetch,” Trudy said. “I got my dog to do it very easily. That kind of game seems to come naturally to a lot of animals.”
    Carole ignored the suggestion. The purpose was not to teach Samson games, but to teach him to wear a halter.
    “Was he doing this yesterday?” Carole asked Lisa.
    “Oh, yes,” Lisa said. “Stevie had a great time with him.”
    “Did she get the halter on him?” Carole asked.
    “I don’t know,” Lisa answered. “I couldn’t stay very long. But I know she spent a lot of time with him, so she must have.” Lisa glanced at her watch. “Oops, I’ve got to get going now. See you!”
    Carole noticed that there was something secretive about Lisa, and she seemed to be doing a lot of disappearing lately. Normally, Carole would have been verycurious. Today, however, she was much more interested in what was going on with Samson.
    “Okay, see you,” she said. She returned her attention to Samson. “Come on, boy. It’s time for you to learn some manners.”
    If Samson thought that the proper way to respond to somebody who was walking toward him was to run, then she’d just have to teach him to walk toward somebody who was standing still. He had to learn to come to a call.
    She stood next to Delilah and whistled. Samson’s ears perked up. He looked at her, interested. She whistled again. She continued that until, finally, the colt walked over to her. As soon as he was within an arm’s length of her, she reached out to pat him—his reward. It was the signal he’d been waiting for, so he bolted, playing tag again.
    Trudy laughed. Carole did not.
    “It’s so
funny
!” Trudy said.
    “Not from where I’m standing,” Carole said. She tried again. The same thing happened several times until, finally, the horse realized that Carole wasn’t playing the same game he was. He stood still long enough for her to pat him, but it was nowhere near long enough for her to put the halter on him.
    “It’s as if we’ve never done this before,” she said in total frustration. “Somehow, he’s forgotten everything I taught him just two days ago. Poor Stevie must havehad a terrible time yesterday. Did she say anything to you?”
    “Not at all,” Trudy said. “She just said she had a lot of fun.”
    “Well, this isn’t fun. He must not have been doing this!”
    Carole held out the halter for Samson to examine. He looked at it very tentatively, curiously. She remained still, not wanting to distract the excitable colt. He stepped toward her extended hand.
    “I don’t believe that girl!” Stevie huffed, storming out of the stable area. “Veronica diAngelo is just impossible. Impossible. She wouldn’t give me the time of day, much less lend me money. I must have been crazy to ask her!”
    Samson bolted.
    Carole sighed. Nothing was going right today. Just when there seemed to be a chance that Samson might learn something, she was interrupted. There was no point in losing her temper at Stevie, though. That was just the way she was.
    “What’s the problem?” Carole asked resignedly.
    “All I did was ask Veronica a simple question—”
    “Nothing about Veronica is ever simple,” Carole reminded her. “So what did you ask?”
    “I’ve just got to get some money,” Stevie said. “So I thought maybe she could lend me some. You wouldn’t be able to lend me a few dollars, would