Megan Dodson,
waiting at the railroad station for Berry, the "problem pony" her father has agreed to try to "straighte...
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Megan Dodson,
waiting at the railroad station for Berry, the "problem pony" her father has agreed to try to "straighten out,"
is
startled to receive
message from the open door of the baggage car in which Berry has been a
transported.
Get
me
out of here.
words in my head, but I didn't know where they came from. It was just a feeling, suddenly, that I
felt
the
come
me
from the direction of the baggage car, a dark wave of fear and anger and the feeling of someone calling. "Get me out of
seemed
to
here."...
the
into
The ramp was
baggageman was
in
place and
leading a horse
Then her stare collided mine, and knew. The message
into view.
with
.
.
.
I
had come from her The bond formed
in
that
first
aston-
moment proves strong and true. Megan finds that her mind is often
ishing
attuned to Berry's. But the strange terror that comes when the pony is forced
on wood belongs to Berry's mysterious past, and Megan is determined to solve that mystery. Lynn Hall's warm and touching story
to step
Illuminates a special, inexplicable rapport.
811;
46
Megan's
Man
OTHER BOOKS BY LYNN HALL The Leaving The Horse Trader Danza! Half the Battle
Tin Can Tucker
LYNN HALL
Megan s Mare
CHARLES SCRIBNEKS SONS
•
NEW YORK
——
Copyright
©
1983 Lynn Hall
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Hall,
Megan's mare.
Lynn.
Summary: Eleven-year-old Megan, daughter
of a
Yorkshire horse trainer, finding she has a special
bond
with the beautiful problem mare Berry, determines to help her overcome her fear of
[L Horses
—
Fiction]
PZ7.H1458Me
wooden
Fiction. 2. Horses I.
bridges.
—Training
Title.
1983 [Fie] ISBN 0-684-17874-5
83-3009
This book published simultaneously in the United States of America and in Canada Copyright under the Berne Convention. All rights reserved.
may be reproduced
No
in
part of this book
any form without the
permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. 1
3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
FK/C
20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America.
Megan s Mare
When I look back on my life, which I seldom have time to do, ing
to
it
seems to
mother's old hunter.
into segments accord-
there
First
horses.
fall
I
was Terrance,
taught myself to stand and
walk by pulling myself up on Terrance's groping about his legs. Or so they tell me.
Then pony.
He was
stripe
down
as I
was Tiger, a
there
his
back and a
At the time,
But to
I
Uttle
tail
and
dun native
a lovely sandy color with a black
outgrew him, there were
children do.
my
I
took
my
mop
of a
mane. And
others. life for
granted, as
assumed everyone lived
later I realized
how
have been bom into
as I did.
incredibly lucky
my family.
all
I
was
We dales.
had a
bit of a
Back then
it
farm up
was
all
in the Yorkshire
lovely rolhng fields
and meadows crisscrossed with stone walls and hawthorne hedges, and misted over with heather.
The roads were
soft dirt tracks just right for gal-
loping about on, with few motorcars to smell up the place and frighten the horses.
As less
grew
I
older,
my
dad gradually became
farmer and more horse
had a way with them, and
trainer.
so
He'd always
had Mum, and ap-
parently his reputation got about. Folks began
sending him their problem animals for schooling.
Mum
worked
sponded
at
I
Some
too.
to her better than to
into the business
sent us a
it,
from time
pony too small
did the riding, and
of the horses re-
Dad. Even
to time,
to carry
Dad
I
got
when someone an adult. Then
yelled directions at
me
from the paddock fence. It didn't
grand
earn us
much of a living, but it was
life.
Then Dad began combing
the local livestock
sales in search of likely-looking horses.
of "likely"
and
a
ill
cheaply,
His idea
was an animal that was thin and poor
They could always be bought given some good care and a bit of trainused.
ing to iron out any vices they might have, and sold at a considerable profit later on.
One evening Dad answered
was handed
door, read the note that
Mum,
said to
a knock on the
"I've a telephone message, love.
Be back in a shake." And he
left.
pub
nearest telephone was at the
The
and
to him,
in
my
the village two miles away. People wanting
dad would phone the pub and leave a message, and Dad would go down, return the call, and come home a few hours later, grinning and smelling of I
After
ale.
was eleven years
Dad
"We
left, I said,
telephone, couldn't we. past here. It gives
I
think
old,
fool.
own
could have our
Mum? The line
Dad
him an excuse
and nobody's
goes right
likes it better this
to sit
way.
around that place,
evenings, drinking with his friends."
Mum looked at me and smiled calmly. "Why does he need an men in the neighborhood
I said,
the other
evenings
down
there,
spend
their
and they don't pretend
because of the telephone. go
excuse? All
Why
doesn't
Dad
it's
just
down there?" She
bit off her
sewing thread and knotted
it
expertly.
"T wouldn't be
as
much
fun for him,
he didn't think he was putting one over on Don't you spoil
it
if
us.
for him."
my
I
was
pretty sure that most of the messages the
pub
agreed, but
I
had
I
suspicions.
owner's son brought were fakes. But that evening there
had been a genuine phone
When Dad came home "Megan,
there's a horse
he said
And mind you a bit of a
To what
I
it
me,
home. Don't
it
home.
try to ride
it.
actor, apparently."
he
said,
down by
"That was Greenlanes
Harrogate.
Wanted me
rid-
to see
could do with the mare. Said she's pretty
as a picture
want
bad
Mum
ing stable,
lead
to
coming on the morning
tomorrow. You'll have to go fetch
train
It's
call.
and
all
but
to ride her,
and even the owners
the young riding students
unmanageable,
she's gotten
can't handle her
now. Won't
cross bridges, bolting for the barn, that sort of
thing."
Mum
nodded. "Sounds
like
that old
bad
combination, a smart horse and a lot of timid
beginner
riders.
No
be too much of a job out.
Did you buy
the stable?"
proper discipline. Shouldn't to get the
her, or are
mare straightened
we
training her for
"We
up
left it a bit
"They'd
settling into his chair.
we
back
if
don't
want
in the air," like to
can break her of her to
spend a
lot
vices,
on training
a very prosperous stable,
take
I
Dad
it.
said,
have her but they not
fees. It's
We'll just see
how it goes." Next morning
good time and
my
got
I
barn chores done in
set out for the train station
two
miles away. It was a grand morning, early June
and warm, and the of wildflowers
was
air
rich with the smells
and succulent
bounced along with me their side of the
grass.
New
as I walked,
hedge and
me
lambs
them on
on mine, but shar-
ing the morning anyway.
At the railway
station
wagon drumming my
I
sat
on the baggage
heels against
its
tires
and
exchanging news and gossip with Henry, the station master.
the place with It
Then its
the train was there,
filling
and noise and excitement.
size
hissed to a silent stop finally,
and the door
of
the baggage car rolled open.
Get
me out of here.
I felt
the words in
my head, but I didn't know
where they came from. denly, that
seemed
rection of the
to
It
was
come
baggage
just a feeling, sud-
into
car, a
me
from the
di-
dark wave of fear
and anger and the feeling of someone
calling,
me out of here."
"Get
The
sensation
was new
to
me, and
it
left
me
shaken. But there was no time to think about
it
now. The ramp was in place and the baggage-
man was
leading a horse into view, in the square
of sunlight that illuminated the inside of the car.
"Ohh,"
I
breathed.
She was a picture.
A
small, fine-boned mare,
a strawberry roan, light rose in color, with a silver
mane and
shaded
to a
tail,
deep rust
and her red.
legs
and head
Her head was thrown
back, her nostrils flaring, her eyes white-rimmed
and
staring in terror.
Then her stare collided with mine, and knew. The message had come from her.
6
I
I
waited for the baggageman to lead her
down
The mare put one foot on the wooden ramp, then backed away from it, terrified. He urged, she balked. The more he urged, the more the ramp.
grimly the I
see
her
little
red mare refused.
ramp myself, to could lead her down, when the mare made
was about
if I
own
to
decision.
backed swiftly
come up
the
She lowered her head and
into the
shadows of the
car,
then
burst out toward me, clattering, leaping out into the air
and landing wide-eyed and wide-legged
on the ground. Her Instinctively
I
feet hadn't
touched the ramp.
grabbed the rope before she
had time
"There now,"
you
I
feel like a
Never mind,
her wits and bolt away.
collect
to
my voice,
soothed her with
bloody
"don't
behaving that way?
fool,
we'll teach you.
Come
along then.
We'll go home."
signed Henry's delivery receipt and led the
I
horse out onto the road toward home.
little
we were out of sight who might tell Dad, back and settled
of the station, I
When
and anyone
jumped onto the mare's home.
in for the ride
I
remem-
bered Dad's instructions to lead her home, but it
went against every
stinct in
when
my
there
ing for
fiber of
my
being, every in-
nature, to lead a horse for
two miles
was that lovely glossy back
just wait-
my bottom.
She went along quietly for me. She seemed
worn out by the tension
of the train journey,
walked along calmly, nodding her head with her step and letting her ears I
relaxed, too,
in
and
rhythm
relax.
and stroked the sunset-pink
neck and thought about the mare. Berry, her
name
was.
Dad had
said last night that she
was
a five-year-old, half-thoroughbred, half-New Forest pony.
As
I
studied her
I
could almost read
her pedigree in the lines of her body. Her head
8
and neck showed a thoroughbred elegance, but her body was short-coupled and her legs a bit
more sturdy than a thoroughbred's. And her not
much more
size,
than thirteen hands, was pure
New Forest. Her
size
was a godsend
for
me. She was too
Mum
small to carry Dad, even too small for
Mum
ride comfortably, since feet tall herself less
and
felt
stood close to
to six
out of place on any horse
than a sixteen-hand hunter.
And
so, I figured,
work with.
I
Berry would be mine to
loved her already.
I
loved her beauty,
her silvery-rose color, her miniature-thoroughbred elegance. But then
about almost
all
I
found something
to love
of the horses that passed through
my life. About a mile from home we came across a
narrow stream.
It
to a bridge
was an old arching
stone bridge, earth-floored, with grass growing
along the edges. As
whether risk
we
approached,
debated
I
to try to ride her across the bridge
having her balk, or to ride
wade her
across
the
stream.
off the
road and
Attempting the
bridge would be dangerous, not because
be thrown but because
9
I
and
I
might
was not prepared
to
force her across,
whip or
if
she should refuse.
and no
stick or spurs,
had no
I
bit in her
mouth,
nothing but the halter and lead rope. Very poor controls with
which
to
go into battle with a stub-
born horse.
was
One
of Dad's firmest rules, in training horses,
that
we must never
better of us.
were
allow the horse to get the
Never give a command unless we
in a position to enforce
it.
horse to feel that he was boss.
I
Never allow a
knew
that
if
I
rode Berry at the bridge, and she refused to cross it,
I
would be unable
would have won the
to force her across battle.
and she
This would prove to
her that she was dominant over me, as she apparently had been over the children at the riding stable. I
should never be able to train her prop-
erly, after that,
because she would not respect
me. So,
know I
reluctantly,
if I
because
I
was curious
to
could have ridden her over the bridge,
turned her
oflF
of the road
and we splashed
through the stream. Just before
down from
my
home came
into
view
I
slipped
Berry's back, brushed her hairs from
trouser legs,
and led her sedately
farmyard.
10
into the
Dad was jumps
in the
schooling a young hunter over the
low meadow, and
Mum
and the
veterinary had their heads together over old Terrance,
who had
past thirty, and
she was I
had belonged
Mum
to
ever since
my age.
put Berry in an empty
stall
and brought her
food and water, then stood outside the
with the sun on
Our with each
stall
the square.
was a
was quite
of dressed flint
it
the third side of
was a dear old
place,
Now
all
the
and then
in the side gardens,
way
Mum
flower beds, and
it
seldom came
Once when
ill
Mum
was
the side garden so that
my window,
made
I
to the
tried to
but she was
interested in the horses than in
I
hundred
and dark timbers and creamy
places.
grow flowers
more
L-shaped building
old, four or five
with vines that grew
tiles in
door
opening directly onto the cobble-
years in parts, but
roof
long,
Our house formed It
stall
my back, watching her.
stable
stone yard.
plaster,
He was
chronic foot problems.
to
weeding anything.
turned Tiger loose in
could pet him through
and the flower beds were never quite
the
same
off
a rose so neatly that no thorn ever touched
after that. Tiger could eat the blossom
his lips.
11
Eventually the veterinary drove away and
Dad brought he and
his
hunter in from the jumps, and
Mum came to see Berry. Dad said,
"Bit small, isn't she?"
"Not for some people," a
I
frowning.
chirped.
He gave me
wry look.
Mum
said,
"Did she lead home
right,
all
Megan?" "She didn't give
Mum of
my
twisting her
me
a bit of trouble."
head back
pants, then raising her
I
saw
to look at the seat
eyebrow
me.
at
I
turned slightly away from her too-knowing eyes
and went
on.
"She didn't want to come
from the baggage afraid of
jumped
though.
the
way
Seemed
to the ground.
ramp
the
Finally she took a run at
it.
all
car,
down
be
to it
and
Missed the
ramp completely."
Dad smart
"Hmm," and nodded.
said,
little
thing,
thoroughbred-pony
I've
no
cross-breds
"She's
doubt. are
a
These
like
that
sometimes. They've got the sensitivity of the
thoroughbred and the wiliness of a pony. They can be tough as
nails to train, these
They challenge you every
12
smart ones.
step of the way,
and
they watch for any sign of weakness on your
and then they take advantage. But
part,
you
if
can master them, ah, then you have something. Spirit
and brains and heart and
"Will you let
Dad
mum
and
me work
with her?"
snorted. "I expect I,
either one,
that fine-boned
I'll
I
have
asked.
Your
to.
would be too heavy
for
frame. But you're not to
little
ride her until I can
sensitivity."
be there
to give
you a hand.
I
won't have you taking chances with her, understand?"
my
horse-
That evening we turned Berry out
in the
Meekly
marked small
I
nodded and turned
trousers to the stable wall.
meadow behind
the house, to let her stretch
her legs and relax and graze.
Next morning
at breakfast
Dad
said,
"I'm
going to work Grahame over the jumps for a
Megan. Then
we'll
have a go
bit,
at the little roan
mare. You can be getting her caught up and
groomed, and see Let's try a
if
mullen-mouth pelham
"Spot on, chief," last of
my
there's a bridle to
I said,
porridge on
out the back
way and
fit
her.
bit first."
and scraped up the
my way
to the sink. I ran
across the wild-grown back
13
garden
low stone wall of the meadow.
to the
Berry was grazing a called
I
distance away.
little
and she ignored me. Understandable
enough.
climbed the wall and approached her. She
I
watched, calmly, until
and
was
I
then turned
close,
trotted away.
All right,
still
understandable.
pulled up a
I
handful of grass and followed her, offering the grass.
Again she watched
until I
drew
near, then
moved away. She was playing games with me.
and she knew
it.
I
knew
She had the run of a lush mead-
ow, and she had no desire to be caught and den.
I
knew
that
I
if
if I
gave up and
be her master.
I
let
could run.
her win,
and came back, determined She looked at the I
knew
would never
to get her.
oats,
had the
laughing at me, at
my
and she looked
feeling that she
at
was
transparent attempt to
bribe her into captivity with oats.
She turned and strolled away. I
I
I also
ran to the stable for a pan of oats
I
me. Suddenly
rid-
ran after her she would
gallop away, faster than that
it
followed.
14
Around and
meadow we
across the
walked.
When I stopped, Berry stopped, too, and put down her head to graze. But
when
two or three yards, we were she with calm amusement,
Dad appeared "That's
while. her. ril
it,
'
he
at
walking,
with grim patience.
and watched "You can
called.
go lunge the yearlings for a
nodded
I
closer than
off again,
at the wall
when you're ready to
a call
I
came
I
bit.
for a
outlast
Give
me
"If
we
hot.
My
ride."
him and muttered,
haven't both died of old age before then."
The morning passed. The sun grew shirt stuck to
weak. I
I
my
back and
my
hoped the mare was
as
legs
grew wobbly
uncomfortable as
was, but she appeared to be enjoying our four-
back and
hour
stroll
small
meadow.
forth, 'round
Some time around midday a sausage
roll
and a jug
and 'round the
Mum brought me
of cold water.
I
ate
and
drank, and trudged on.
"Keep seat
it
up,"
on the shady
sooner or
cheered from her cool
wall. "She's
bound
to give in
later."
This time
been punished It
Mum
I
muttered something
for saying,
was past two
if
o'clock
15
Mum when
I'd
have
had heard. Berr>' finally
me to come up to and we looked long and
stopped and stood and allowed her. I
gripped her halter
hard at one another. The challenge was in her eyes.
Faking
ing at this point,
I
aflfection I
far
there
from
feel-
crooned to her and rubbed
her neck and praised her.
and gave her a few
oats
was
still
I
led her to the
pan of
bites.
Then I turned her loose.
Mum
by
the wall,
you six
let
and Dad were both watching from
Mum
this time.
her loose
for,
"What did
called,
you goose? You
just
spent
hours catching her."
But Dad understood. "Good show, Meg," he
called.
As soon too
still
as I
young
Dad
to
was old enough understand
me
to listen,
much
of
but
what he
about training horses.
I
think he liked to hear his theories voiced, and
I
said,
was
talked to
his only audience.
Mum had her own theories
and would get impatient
at
having to
listen to
his. I
didn't always understand
but one thing he stay with me.
said, early
Think
like the
on
what he
told
me,
in our talks, did
horse thinks, he told
me. You Ve got to put yourself inside that ani-
16
maFs
way he
brain, see things the
sees them,
and then outfox him. So today
I
thought as Berry would think.
If
being caught always led to being ridden, then
being caught was
to
be avoided. But
if
being
caught meant praise and petting and a snack of
and then freedom again,
oats,
and no bad
things, then being
something
be avoided
to
after
Berry walked away from
good things
all
caught was not
all.
me and
aching legs to follow her. This time
I
forced
it
my
took less
than an hour to catch her. Again she was praised
and given I
oats,
and again she was
released.
rolled into the long cool grass
under a
tree,
and dozed and rested while Berry grazed nearby.
When
I felt
ready,
caught hold of her
I
got up, walked to her, and
halter. It
might have been
my
imagination, but this time her eyes seemed to
glow more
softly,
with perhaps even a glimmer of
respect.
17
When
Berry allowed
fuss next morning, I
me
to catch her
without a
was triumphant. The
battle
was mine.
The
battle, perhaps,
the opening skirmish.
but
it
proved
The war was
to
be only
yet to be
fought.
We
paddock with Dad
started in the small
watching from the fence. Before Berry had carried
me more
that our
me
illicit
than a half-dozen steps ride
home from
a poor sample of this
rested
and well
fed,
the train
little
I
realized
had given
horse.
under saddle and
Today, bridle.
Berry became a feather of a horse. She arched
18
her neck and came up on that bit hke a profes-
touch of her sensitive mouth
sional, so that the
was
my
in
The curve her,
hands, but not the weight of her head.
body
of her
fit
my
legs,
and, riding
beautiful.
I felt
After a bit
rode over to
I
Dad and
said,
"She must not have been a riding stable horse very long. She's not the least bit hard-mouthed."
He
on her way obvious work.
I
Mum, who was To me he said, "It's
turned and beckoned to
the
to the stable.
mare doesn't need any paddock
want you
trek, find
some
to take
her out for a good long
bridges. Ev,
why
don't you go
along with her on Terrance." I
didn't
mind
his
knew what he was
sending
Mum
along.
I
doing, using Terrance as a
steadying influence on Berry.
He
often used Ter-
rance as a teacher with a frightened young horse.
Terrance was a huge, rawboned chestnut with age-hollows about his eyes and a good deal of
gray on his face. The sideboard in our dining
room was lined with trophies
Mum
and Terrance
had won, steeplechasing, when they were both young.
Even now,
as
we
jogged
19
down
the
summer
road, Terrance looked eagerly at the fences
passed, hoping for one
fences
more chase over
fields
we and
a pack of excited horses and gaily
in
shouting riders.
One
Mum
of the nice things about riding with
was that
was almost hke riding
it
alone.
She hummed, sometimes sang, sometimes
di-
rected a remark to her horse, but almost never
spoke to me. That
me
left
free to savor
my
horse
and the morning.
when we began
Berry bucked a few times cantering, but
and she
settled
insisted.
Our
home, ride
mare
down
first
willingly
real test
at the bridge that I
home from I
was no more than high
it
spirits,
enough when
came
I
a mile from
had avoided on the
the station.
braced myself for a
but the
battle,
little
trotted across the bridge at Terrance's side
without so
much
as a hesitation.
At the
far side,
we stopped. "Well now,"
Mum
barley-cake, wasn't
it?
said, "that
Want
to
was a
try
it
bit of
without
Terrance?"
"Good
idea."
I
turned Berry around and
headed her over the bridge, away from Terrance.
20
Again she trotted willingly across the grassy earth floor of the ancient bridge. Mum and I shrugged at
each other, and rode on.
We jumped a very low
gate and
had an easy
canter across a sheep
meadow. Then,
for Terrance's years,
we slowed
to
in respect
an ambling
walk and entered a track through a beech wood. The trees here were so tall and so dense at the top that they shaded out the undergrowth and left
a forest floor carpeted with mosses
flowers.
The sun came through
in
and wild-
shafts
and
made it seem a magic place. Midway through the wood was a stream spanned by a rattly wooden bridge. It was flat with the ground, and no more than ten feet across,
but there were spaces between the planks where the sparkhng stream water
many it
the
of our horses first
This,
I
were nervous about crossing
time. I
knew, would be a sterner
Berry than the road.
showed through, and
test for
solid,
earth-covered bridge on the
my
determination and set her at
gathered
the bridge just behind the steady Terrance.
Ca-lop, ca-lop, ca-lop, Terrance crossed the bridge.
21
Berry placed one hoof on the
board,
first
then drew back. I felt
my mind
fear sifting into
like a
And yet it was not my fear. "Come along, love, it's perfectly
fog.
rance went across, and you can, too," I
safe. I
dark
Ter-
told her.
tried desperately to block out the terror that
was threatening
to
swamp my mind.
Berry backed, turned, tried to spin away
my
from
my
hold on her.
legs as
hard as
I
I
wouldn't
could, I
let her.
Using
pushed her toward
the bridge. She planted her feet and froze.
I
turned her in small circles to break the balk, then aimed her at the bridge again.
Suddenly she began backing. She backed toward the
swiftly for several steps, then leaped
bridge.
"Good
girl," I
shouted.
She gathered herself and leaped, a magnificent
broad jump that cleared the bridge and
landed us safely on the other
side.
Mum, I grinned ruefully. which one of us won that round." Joining
"You got her across
it,"
to call
it
a
tie, this
time."
22
wonder
Mum said.
"Yes, but she didn't step
have
"I
on
it.
I
expect we'll
We
Mum
rode on,
me
nizable tune, and
whistling
some unrecog-
trying not to think of that
curious dark fear, so like the feeling that
come over me
in the train station
had
when Berry
arrived.
After that day
every morning. As to
show some
first it
day or so
rode out alone on Berry
I
it
became
routine, she
began
of her riding stable attitude. it
was pleasant
became an everyday
the countryside she
for her.
job to carry
began
to object.
The
But when
me
about
She had
al-
ready learned, through experience at the stable with inexperienced the
fussed,
riders, that
turned out to pasture again. that she
was lazy
as
it
she balked and
ended and she was
usually
ride
if
was
It
was not
that she
and she had learned that people
so
much
was smart, could
be
tricked.
She was smart and she was stubborn, but then so was
I.
refused to go,
When I
she planted her feet and
turned her toward home, then
quickly turned her again,
sometimes spinning
her in a circle several times until she was tired
and dizzy and willing aimed
to
go in any direction
I
her.
She quit balking and switched
23
to
another
tactic
—backing up. We had almost reached the
edge of the
one afternoon when Berry
village
stopped in the middle of the road and began to go backward. "All right,
you bloody cow,"
I
want to back up, well back up." I let her carry me backward ready
to stop.
ened the
reins
But
I
wouldn't
let
swore, "you
until she
her stop.
was
I tight-
and commanded, "Back."
Back we went, up the
hill,
around the curve,
past the Overbys' and the Jacksons'.
Jackson strolled past
Michael
heading toward town
us,
with his sheepdog at his heels.
"Morning, Michael,"
I
said as
we backed past
him. "Mornin', Meg."
He
turned to look curiously
after us.
On we went, backward. Sheep appeared around Berry's
legs;
the
Kentwoods' flock was being moved from one sheep run to another. Berry tensed as the gray tide separated itself
and flowed around
her, to
pour
together in front of us.
"Morning, Mr. Kentwood. Lovely day, it?"
24
isn't
The
old
man
just stared at us
and shook
his
head.
By now Berry was legs
were
tired of the
asking for release.
unaccustomed
Her
strain of
going backward. Finally, after more than a mile, I let
her stop.
"Now will you go forward?" I asked her.
We went forward. After that
I
thought the war was won. Most
would have conceded leadership before now. But I underestimated Berry's stamina and
horses
stubbornness.
Her next maneuver was much more dangerous than balking or backing. She began bolting toward trees with low-hanging branches, at-
tempting
to
knock
enough pony's it
in
my
trick,
me
off.
but
It
was a common
was dismayed
I
beautiful Berry's repertoire.
the matter was that
I
was
in love
The
to find
truth of
with the
little
rose-and-silver devil. I
was already determined
keeping her for me. Since hadn't had a horse of
my
Dad
of figuring, I
with
the help I'd given
25
into
outgrown Tiger
own, and according
had more than earned
my way all
I'd
to talk
Dad
I
to
one,
in training ponies.
Mum
had Terrance and Dad had Behemoth,
mammoth
bucket-footed hunter. So
fident that
Dad
But only
was only
it
should have Berry, and
just that I
could break her of
this
dangerous tree-branch business. Even
my
ents' casual confidence in
con-
felt
I
could be talked around to
if I
it.
new and
my
So far neither of them had seen Berry do
was
just a
par-
horsemanship prob-
ably wouldn't stretch to cover that sort of
it
his
risk.
it,
but
matter of time.
There was one tree especially suited for Berry's evil purpose, an oak with a strategically
placed limb. So far
had escaped the limb by
I
leaning low over her neck as she swept under
but still she continued I
it,
to try.
rode her past the tree deliberately, hoping
would decide
that eventually she to try to
knock
me
off.
One
it
was
useless
we
passed
afternoon
the tree seven times, back and forth, and every
we neared
time
the tree she
the bit in her teeth
On turn her
some
I
my
patience ran out. She
hauled away on the
away from
instinct
to snatch
and dash toward the limb.
the eighth pass
dashed, and
managed
rein, trying to
the tree. At the last second
made me
shift
26
my
weight
to the
other rein. She was caught off balance, and she
cracked headlong into the tree trunk. I
When lying
flew head over teakettle onto the grass. I
flat
regained
my
breath and rose, Berry was
out on the grass.
"Oh, no, don't be dead,"
I cried.
She raised her head, shook with dazed eyes.
I
it,
stared at
me
took her bridle and urgedjier
up.
ing.
"Come up now,
there's a love."
She staggered
to
Gradually her body steadied and her eyes
began at
her feet and stood, sway-
to focus.
She raised her head and looked
me.
She seemed overcome with awe.
27
The change able to
Mum
crash, they
home
was not
in Berry's attitude
and Dad
since,
had only seen us
again a few hours
They had only
my
ride
later,
reports
of,
so notice-
before the tree
away and come day
after day.
"She's
coming
along," to go by.
But
to
me, knowing the truth about her
former behavior. Berry seemed a changed horse.
There were no more treacherous dashes toward trees.
She backed only when
I
asked her
to,
she balked almost never. Apparently, her sion with the tree convinced her, once all,
that
I
and
colli-
and
for
was more powerful than she was. And,
28
true to equine nature, she
bowed
my hands.
authority and laid her trust in
From
on our
that point
mutual pleasure of that
me
her
rides reverted to the
earlier ride.
Having given
Berry became relaxed, supple as an
trust,
and perfectly
athlete,
to the superior
legs, the shifting
balance of
were a
two of
pair, the
hands,
my
weight. Oh,
we
in tune with
my
us, full of
my
summer
sun-
shine, full of ourselves.
On
the
first
village holds a like a fair
Sunday
in
warm-up
August each
point-to-point.
than a horse race, but
it's
year, our It's
more
great fun and
of course our family always rode in
it.
It
was
originally intended as a sort of practice run for
the serious season.
who
But
could
hunters,
before
the
start
it
had become a
free-for-all.
sit
a horse joined
in,
ranged from Shetland ponies
to
of
their
Anyone
and the mounts plow horses
to a
handful of actual hunters.
The
three of us started out early that morn-
on Berry, Dad of course on Behemoth,
ing,
I
and
Mum
on Feckless, a neat
Arab who was
in for training. It
but not as bad as
it
little
bay Anglo-
was a warm day
might have been; there was
a cool north breeze.
29
"
The
Standing in horses
was our
starting place
my
stirrups, I
counted at
green.
least thirty
and ponies milling about. There was a
delay of nearly an hour while latecomers to
village
who might wander
remove Berry's saddle and
we waited in. I
let
for
any
used the time
her rest in the
shade beside the pub.
My
friend Janey Oxberger appeared
came over
me. She was as black-haired as
to join
named Richard
her horse, a chunky Fell pony Lionheart,
and
whom
she had inherited from a string
of older brothers
and
sisters.
We
seldom saw
each other during the summer, because the horses
me busy and Janey carried a heavy load of own chores, but it was a good strong friend-
kept her
ship nonetheless. "I say,
Meg,
that's a
beauty," she said, nod-
ding to Berry. "Is she yours, or just here for training?" "It's
ing,
not decided yet.
We
took her for train-
from a stable down by Harrogate, but they
said they'd sell her, especially
if
the training
ran too high, and I'm trying to talk ting
me keep her.
We
— She's
Dad
were interrupted by a shout
30
bill
into let-
for atten-
from Edward Overby, who was race chair-
tion
man.
jmnped
I
my
to
feet
and began saddhng
Berry. "Attention, please. We'll begin in just a
minutes now. You
but
them
ril tell
to
all
know
few
the rules of the race,
you one more time so we don't
He
have any
fights
down
two young men who had exchanged
at
about
good-natured blows
"The open no
last
rules are,
scowled
year after the race.
same
may
always, you
as
you may ride no more than a hun-
gates,
dred yards
this year."
it
down
a road.
You may not
ride in
any
cultivated field nor through any farmyard. Other
may go any way you
than that, you
want. First
rider across the finish line at Minsterbury
is
the
winner."
Janey and ing
line.
I
rode into the pack at the
I'd lost sight of
didn't matter.
I
had no chance
tensed, of
Mum
and
and Dad but
so did Berry.
winning the
start-
We
it
had
race, not against
the great, leggy thoroughbred hunters that pep-
pered the pack. The glory was in the ride and leaned into
it,
into the silence
and the pressure
I
of
the wait.
In accordance with some old and ridiculous
31
—
pretense that this was a hunt, the starting cry "
was *View-hallooooo over a low
rail
fence into Overby's sheep run.
went down-fence a
smaller ponies to a
slowed
gallop. It
sterbury over hilly fences, hedges,
speed, and first
I
to
of
be jumped along
more than
wear Berry out
in
mile.
meadow we
from previous races Although
point-to-point,
in
miles to Min-
a test of endurance
wall and into the next
None
six
with a score
country,
didn't intend to
Across the
rides.
was
and streams
was
the way. It
safely.
burst of speed most of us
first
hand
to a
The
short distance
low spot where they could hop over After the
the
pub and
us leaping forward, past the
It sent
of the
it
and
sailed,
over a stone
knew the way well and from my own rambling field. I
was a casual neighborhood all in
fun,
it
was a good
course.
jumps were high or dangerous, and
most places the more timid
riders,
or the
smaller ponies, could detour to a gap in the
downed rail in the fence. They wouldn't be among the winners that way, but
hedge, or a
they'd have a lovely gallop at the end.
32
and come
in safely
Although I
I
had no hope
of winning the race
chose the most direct route for Berry, straight
and
across the fields
fences.
We made
our leaps
with the best of the hunters, or close behind them.
Berry loved
it.
She flung herself over
and rock and hawthorne hedge, and her
joy.
rail
could feel
I
About midway through the course
Dad was
looked around. the leaders;
Mum
was
well ahead of
me
I
with
the side but going
off to
along well. Janey had disappeared somewhere
behind me. Richard Lionheart was getting up years,
give
and she'd undoubtedly pulled him
in to
him a breather. Suddenly
I
sterbury bridge. for
in
thought of something. The MinIt
was a plank bridge, too long
Berry to leap as she had the
little
bridge in
our beech wood.
And
there
was no way around
banks on either side
fell
away
it.
Steep
to the river below.
We would have to go across. The bridge approached, gether in a tight pack.
We
the horses
came
to-
were among them.
They pressed Berry from behind,
before,
and
either side.
Onto the bridge we
33
clattered.
Berry was
borne along helplessly. Suddenly the black terror
my head.
filled
saw a jagged plank and a hole
I
opening beneath me. terror.
And
We
a
I felt
in the
tilting
ground
up, and total
death.
were across the bridge and galloping under the
into the village,
dazed from the
vision,
finish line rope. Still
drew
automatically
I
down to a jog and walked her gently up and down the street to let her muscles ease up. Berry
She was winded and dripping sweat, but
still
high-headed.
my
shook
I
head
around. Riders were
been
in the first
to
still
clear
coming.
seven or eight,
I
later
I
must have
figured,
the others were big thoroughbreds.
ing in
and looked
it
and
all
Mum was com-
now on her Anglo- Arab, and
a few minutes
Janey appeared, with a handful of young
children on small ponies.
The winner received
his silver
cup and much
Dad
grinned at his
shouting and back-thumping.
and
third-place ribbon, of her face
Mum
blew her hair out
and congratulated me, and we
started toward our leisurely ride,
and
it
own
village. It
was a
all
slow,
gave our horses time to un-
34
wind without muscle cramps. some walking
road,
We
their horses,
followed the
some
but
riding,
everyone flushed and happy.
Mum
came along beside me and
said,
"You
must have got Berry over the Minsterbury bridge.
Did she
fight
you?"
"She didn't have a chance.
We
were
sur-
rounded. She had to go over or be trampled."
"Good, then. Maybe I
home
was
silent.
I
And I was
my mind
couldn't ignore
it.
what she needed."
thankful that the road
didn't cross that bridge.
terror that filled
—time
that's
was
The unexplainable still
with me. This
Something was happen-
ing between Berry and me, something beyond
understanding, beyond
my imagination.
35
my
Dad was
so pleased with his placing in the point-
to-point,
and with the good showing Berry and
I
made, that
me
keep
times that
her.
it
was easy
to talk
him
into letting
Before her arrival Dad, or some-
Mum, had mentioned from time to time Megan should have a mount of her own,
and rd agreed. But
I
The place was always
hadn't pressed the matter. full of
care for, so the need for
horses to ride and
my own
horse hadn't
been a painful one.
But
after a
summer on Berry
I'd
have been
heartbroken to lose her. She was mine and hers,
and
Mum
I
was
and Dad were wise enough
see that.
36
to
.
As we spent more and more time together a curious
bond began
me.
was something separate from
It
although
grow between Berry and
to
affection,
loved her mightily and she was a more
I
than usually affectionate horse. This was a closeness of minds.
but
I
know how
don't
to explain
it,
existed.
it
On
school mornings Berry remained at the
low end of the back meadow, grazing with the other horses. But on Saturday and Sunday mornings,
when
fast,
she was always there by the fence, waiting
I
for our ride.
rhythm
of
came out At
first I
two days,
the back door after break-
assumed that she sensed the
five days,
two days,
five days.
But one Tuesday school was closed because of
some problem with the heating, and there was Berry, waiting for door. It
me
as I
came out the back
happened again a few weeks
later
when
a snowstorm brought another holiday. I
began
One
to
wonder.
night in
the darkness.
.
December
woke suddenly in mother's voice came sharply
My
through the wall.
.
I
got
I
up and fumbled
into
my
robe and met the two of them in the passage.
"What's the matter?" with sleep.
37
I
asked,
still
groggy
Mum
was white-faced.
"It's
Terrance. He's
dead." She, too,
was
in
pajamas and had obviously
not been out of the house.
Dad, calhng, "I just
We
I
ran after her and
"How do you know?"
know."
all
pulled on boots and wraps, and ran
out across the cobbled yard to Terrance's box.
Dad
held up the lantern;
it
sent our shadows
dancing on the stones of the stable wall.
down
Terrance was still.
A film glazed his eyes.
Mum all
He was
in the straw.
cried softly into Dad's lapels,
and we
stood about patting one another and glancing
down
at the
grand old horse. Then, gradually,
hugged and patted our way back
Mum
Dad
settled
alive
under the tea
We
at the table
we
to the kitchen.
and poked the
fire
kettle.
kept our coats and boots on
till
the
warmed up, and until we all had steaming mugs to wrap our fingers around. Mum was through sobbing by then and was down to just
kitchen
an occasional hiccup.
"Goodness knows surprise," she said.
it
shouldn't have been a
"He was
past ready to go."
38
thirty-one,
and long
"But how did you know?''
I
asked again.
She raised her head and looked back and forth from Dad to me. "I'm not sure whether I or asleep. I might have
was awake
But there was a picture
my
in
dreamed
it.
mind, clear as
could be. Terrance standing there in the sunlight, looking like he used to when he was young. He
was
staring right at
—that he was
had the—sensation me good-bye. And I woke
me, and
telling
knew he was dead." expected Dad to laugh it off, but he
up and I
I
his chair nearer the stove
I've
I
and
said, "It
scooted
happens.
known of that sort of thing to happen." "Really?"
I
gasped.
I
was thinking
of Berry
and me. nodded. "iVe noticed between horses sometimes there'll be a special bond, a special
He
closeness
mates or
stable
between two horses that are just friends. If
one
is
sick or frightened,
though the other one reacts the same way, even they may be out of sight of each other completely."
"You mean I
like
reading each other's minds?"
breathed.
"Something thing little
I talk
like
that,
I
expect.
It's I
was a
I'll
wager
about much. People'd think
crazy myself. But
it's
39
a fact, and
not a
that lots of other folks
have seen I
who work with
too."
it,
leaned closer to Dad,
noticed in
animals
my
hands. "Can
it
my
tea cooling un-
happen between a
horse and a person?"
Mum
Calmly
pened here it
"Of course
said,
tonight, or did
wasn't the
first
it
can. It hap-
you two forget? And
time."
She had our attention now.
how
"Don't you remember, Tom,
went was to
oflF
his feed
when
in labor for almost
I
Terrance
was having Megan?
I
two days," she explained
me, "and during the whole time Terrance
paced about
in his stall, sweating
and refusing
to
Old Jack Mathers was helping out then, and he was so worried, remember, Tom? Kept dosing eat.
poor Terrance with ute
Meg was
began
colic medicine.
But the min-
born, Terrance settled
down and
to eat."
We
all
looked at one another in the
silent,
dark kitchen. Finally, with
and eagerness,
an equal mixture of reluctance
I said, "I
think Berry
and
I
can do
that."
Their silence urged
me
40
on. "It
happens when
she has to go over a bridge. Not the earth bridge
out here on our road, but any wooden bridge. I get this sort of fear only it's not me that's
— —
afraid. It's as
into
my
And
summer
last
at the point-to-
she had to go over the Minsterbury got the fear, and I also got a picture. In
when
point
bridge
my
head.
though Berry's fear somehow gets
I
head.
It
was
this
round black hole and bro-
ken boards right under our feet, and I felt as there though I was tipping over backward, and ."
was death
.
.
.
They looked
at
me, not wdth the superior
skepticism I'd dreaded, but thoughtfully. Finally
Mum said, "It sounds to me as though
in Berry must have had some sort of bad scare reminds her past, and going over wooden bridges
her of
it."
"And
if
you two are on the same mental
wavelength, so to speak," casting the
memory and
radio can do
do
it,
isn't it
said, "she's
you're receiving
possible that a
broadit.
If
a
mind can
too?"
Mum it's
it,
Dad
drained her cup and stood up. "Well,
a fascinating subject, but
the night, and we've
all
41
got
it is
work
the middle of to
do in the
morning.
we
Best
some
get
home from
think you'd better stay
Megan,
sleep.
I
school tomor-
row. We're going to have to bury Terrance." "He's not going to the knacker's, then?"
I
asked.
Dad
Mum
stood close to
around her shoulder. "Would
and have a bonfire
oflF
we
let
We to
his
he'll
be
can shovel the snow
thaw the ground
expect Jack and
arm
your mum's
and glue? No,
friend go for dog food
buried in the pasture.
and put
Ed and one
can
dig. I
his
boys will give us a hand.
OflF
or
so
we
two of
to
bed now,
lot
about the
Megan."
After that night
without words.
and
thought a
two minds exchanging thoughts
of
possibility
I
I
thought about Berry and me,
loved the idea that there was a special,
I
most mystical closeness between
us.
I
al-
became
obsessed with the need to find out about her past, to find out
whether there had indeed been an
accident resembling the picture I'd seen in
head
at the I
Minsterbury bridge.
wrote a
explaining
my
who
letter to the stable at I
Harrogate,
was and asking whether Berry
had ever had an accident on a bridge during the
42
owned her. make it sound
worded the
time they
I
fully to
as
though
I
letter care-
were seeking
help with the problem of getting her to cross bridges.
seemed an endless
It
letter
came
grabbed
it
time, but eventually a
me, postmarked Harrogate.
for
and ran
to Berry's box,
where
I sat
I
on
her manger to read.
Dear Miss Dodson: I was pleased
know
that Berry
happy
is
from you, and
to hear in
her
new home.
to
We
here at Greenlanes always thought she was
such a pretty
little
and
thing,
so intelligent.
fortunately, the intelligent horses often
Un-
make
poor school horses, since they do tend to over-
power the beginning students a bit. To the best of my knowledge she had no here involving bridges, simply be-
accidents
cause none of us was ever able to get her across a bridge.
It's
possible
that something might
have happened with one of the students that we don't
know
about, but
it's
not
likely.
Berry
wasn't used in the trekking string. She was too
undependable. So
I
don't believe that any of
our students ever rode her out away from the stable, unattended. I've
However,
checked back
in
43
it is
a possibility.
our records and found
the
name
of the dealer
who
sold Berry to us, in
case you'd like to contact him.
Number Two, Peach Lane, Good luck and best wishes,
Sloane,
It
was
J.R.
York.
Marion Stout Greenlanes Stables, Harrogate
sighed and stared at Berry's face, close
I
beside
How
my leg
was
I
as she
munched her
afternoon hay.
ever going to find out what secrets
were locked inside that russet head?
"By writing another
"And waiting I
letter,"
I
muttered.
again."
wrote to
J.R.
Sloane at York, describing
Berry and asking for the
name
whom he had bought her. There was no answer.
44
of the person from
It
Saturday in was a warm, wet, turning-green I had Mr. Fergus arrived. Berry and
March when been for a romp road
when
I
in the sheep
meadow
near the
looked up and noticed a Uttle
man
of the road.
pony trap, stopped at the edge to ask He seemed to be waiting for a chance Berry and I were both directions, so I rode over.
in a
You can t go
breathless. a bit mud-splashed and in galloping across a sheep run tidy. I
my
knocked the worst
sleeve
and
said,
Only then did
was looking
I
of
it
"Have you notice
how
March and off
lost
face with
your way?"
intently the
at Berry. His clothes
45
my
stay
man
and the whole
"
look of the
him
man and
pony trap proclaimed
the
a farmer, probably quite poor but as clean
as his profession allowed.
He didn't answer me, lines
about the whip holder and stepped down.
"Hello, there,
little
dearie,"
was Berry he spoke face,
but wrapped his pony's
and
around
I
to,
thought
I
he said
softly.
He
not me.
But
it
stroked her
saw a glimmer
of
wet
his eyes.
Finally he looked
up
at
me and
said,
"Would
you be a Miss Megan Dodson, by any chance?" "Yes.
He
How did you—
pulled from his pocket a
could see that
it
was the one
I
letter,
and
had written
I
to
Mr. Sloane, in York. Then he touched his hat in a gesture of respect that was especially sweet considering that urchin,
all
I
must have looked
like a street
mud-splashed and straggle-haired.
"I'm James Fergus, from over by Haxby. This
used
to
his stiff
be
my pony." He patted
brown
fingers. "I didn't
her back," he went on quickly.
I
Berry's face with
come
to try to get
must have looked
concerned. "I only wanted to see that she was in a good spot.
Not being abused, don't you know."
Here was the answer,
46
I
sang
silently.
"Come
along home, then," drive. We'll
I
"You Ve had a long
said.
put your pony up and
talk."
Twenty minutes later Mr. was unhitched and comfortable
Fergus's
next to Berry, and Mr. Fergus and
our stable
in I
were seated
in the kitchen, in the comfortable chairs
side of the
fire.
stable I let her
When Mum
ing
me
so she contented
fresh tin of biscuits. I
was a
the biscuits, and then
did you happen to asked. It
I
my
welcoming Mr. Fergus and remind-
made the tea and fetched we settled in to talk. Berry?"
appeared from the
my company,
that there
"How
on either
know, with wordless moves of
head, that this was herself with
pony
was
all
come looking
for
the priming Mr. Fer-
gus needed. "I'd
been
in to the city, to York,
farm business, you
around
at Sloane's to ask
had been
after
her. Sloane to
me
and
see,
I
thought
about Berry.
to find out
on a
bit of
I'd stop
My children
what happened
to
had had your letter, and he passed it on
me. Said when he'd
first
got the letter he
remember the litde mare, and he just set ask after her, the letter aside. Then me coming to espeon top of your letter, it set him to thinking,
couldn't
47
when
daily the
was
pony
my
dead of
in the
you
stolen,
him
I told
boy had brought him
night.
He'd reckoned she
expect that was
see. I
when you
conveniently forgot about her,
But when
him the whole
told
I
why he
so
wrote.
then he
story,
knew
she hadn't been stolen, and he opened up
a
Gave me your
bit.
look you up.
been
me
after
good home. tle
And
as I say,
come
to
We
letter, in
was
I
wanted
youngsters have if
Berry had a
right attached to the
all
to
lit-
creature, miss."
middle of the night, "Well, miss,
lowed
it
happened
to carry as
would
do
light
many
fit
And why
in the
He
swal-
a
little
was
it
like this."
and commenced
dam had been
trap, to
her?
to a dealer?"
mare whose work
pony
sell
his bite of biscuit
Berry's
as
my
find out
"Then why did you
est
case
gray
to talk.
New
For-
to pull the family's
work around the farm, and
of the Fergus children to school
on her back. All of the family had a
fondness for their animals. The sheep as well as the cows alities,
all
had
as did the
their
names and
bam
cats
farm.
48
who
their person-
patrolled the
The pony, Crumpet, was
too old for having
but the Fergus fences weren't what they
colts,
might have been, and a neighbor kept a thoroughbred
stallion,
and
in
due course the inevitable
happened. Crumpet died giving strawberry roan
little
feeding,
and
in a
filly
birth,
but the
thrived on her bottle
few years she had taken over
her mother's duties with school children and trap.
Berry was raised as a puppy might have been, constantly handled and petted, and more
than a bit spoiled. Her sitivity,
thoroughbred sen-
sire's
her dam's solid good sense, and her con-
tinual contact with the family all create,
in Berry,
combined
to
an unusually quick and per-
ceptive mind.
One day when Berry was
a three year old, a
group of young children, Ferguses and neighbors,
went up onto the moors
to play and, as they
usually did, they took Berry along.
been forbidden
to
They had
all
go beyond the edge of the
was dangerous.
moor
at that place,
Many
years before, after the closing of the Corn-
ish lead mines, a
because
it
group of mining engineers had
discovered a small deposit of lead in that area.
They had sunk
several exploratory shafts, then
49
decided there was not enough lead to make mining worthwhile in that spot.
They covered
wooden them that
the shafts with sturdy
covers about six feet square, and left
way. At the time they seemed safe enough, but
wood began to and children were warned away from the area
with the passing of the years the rot,
as a precaution.
But Bobby Fergus took the warning challenge.
as a
He led the group up onto the moors and
scattered the children to search for a
mine
shaft.
In short order one was found, a square of silvered
wood
planks half hidden
"I
by gorse and
dare you to run across
it,"
heather.
he shouted.
No
one took him up on the challenge.
"You do
it,"
Bobby ran afraid of
it."
one of the others
said.
across the planks. "See?
Tm
not
He ran back across.
Berry lowered her head to nibble at the grass.
On her back were
in the group, Ian
who was
the two smallest children
Fergus and
little
Jamie Gilroy,
barely three.
"Do it again, slower urged. "Walk across." "I will
if
you
this time,"
will."
50
Janet Fergus
"You do
it first/'
"All right, then." for luck,
and started
Bobby patted
Berry's neck
Berry followed.
across.
The rotting boards gave way. Bobby leaped to safety. The pony leaped, kicked, scrambled. Ian clutched her mane and screeched, but Jamie toppled over backward and
disappeared into the mine
The
terrified
shaft.
children
ran for help,
and
came with ropes and prayers, but there was no help for it. Jamie was dead. After the first grief came the hard, angry
families
questions. there,
What were you
where you oughtn't
to
be?
when
playing on the mine shaft it
children
doing up
Why
were you
you'd been told
was dangerous? But the children had
their story ready. Berry
had bolted and run away, with Ian and Jamie on her back, and they had merely followed, trying to stop her. It wasn't that they wanted Berry be blamed, but the death of a child was too much for Bobby, for any of them, to take respon-
to
sibility for.
They were
ents, of the police
all
terrified—of their par-
who might come and
Of God even. 51
get them.
In his
father swore that the
grief, Jamie's
pony must be
and
Fergus wouldn't do
it,
he would come over himself and put the gun
to
shot,
if
Berry's head. Fergus stalled Mr. Gilroy with a
promise of action the next day.
But that
was
night, after the rest of the family
asleep, Fergus took
Bobby
where Berry was
stable,
to the
darkened
Bobby was
tied.
the
only Fergus old enough to be trusted with the job, yet small
the
boy
enough
to ride Berry.
Fergus gave
careful directions to the horse dealer
Peach Lane
When
on
in York.
Gilroy
came the next
him the pony had run away believed him, but
it
day, Fergus told
in the night.
didn't matter.
No one
Berry was
safely away.
After
some months Bobby's conscience got
the better of him, really
told his
dad what had
happened. Fergus whipped
lying, as
them
and he
he
felt
his
son for
he must do, but then the two of
cried together
and decided
that, later on,
when the Gilroys' grief had abated somewhat, Bobby must tell them the truth and ask to be forgiven.
After that was accomplished, Fergus
promised
his son, they
would
52
set
about finding
Berry,
and
if
she was being
ill
used they would
try to get her back.
But meantime a new pony was needed, and
was bought, and by now he was spoiled as Berry
"Aye.
was
And
and
had been.
"And you made see that Berry
as loved
this
in a
long
trip," I said, "just to
good home?"
I'm convinced that she couldn't
have a better one." Fergus
set aside his long-
mug and struggled up out of the soft, low chair. "And now I expect Dapples and I had better be on oiu: way, or we won't be home by empty
tea
milking time."
53
I
went on riding Berry long
tall to
as I
grown too
look right on her. There were other horses
who demanded my them
after I'd
as
time, too,
more and more
of
Dad's training business expanded and
grew into a full partnership with him. But none of the
others,
owned, was ever mine was.
We
even those that
in the
way
I
that Berry
spent hours together in her box or on
the roads, or on summer-scented paths through
the beech wood.
We
grew
so attuned to one
another that our very moods were shared.
was
feeling overfed
and
content to dawdle along. depressed, as
I
often
lazy, If
I
I
she
found myself
was grouchy or
was during
54
If
my
teen years.
Berry seemed to put herself out to cheer me. She
would her,
lip at
my
made me
she
until
my
face, or at
toes
was riding
if I
and then we
laugh,
settled in to enjoy our ride.
One day
I
was
paying a
sitting in school,
reasonable amount of attention to the lesson,
when suddenly
and a great uneasiness. a tree, the off
same
I
I
my
into
head,
saw Berry standing by
tree she
had
tried to
Her head was twisted
against.
angle,
came
a picture
me
knock
at
an odd
and she was
in distress.
jumped up,
yelled something to the teacher
about trouble at home, and ran.
When
I
reached the
tree, there
was Berry
standing just as I'd seen her. She had apparently
been rubbing her head against the an
and her halter had got caught over a
itch,
of tough creeper vine that trunk.
tree to scratch
I
released her,
grew around the
and
felt
her
relief
bit
tree
and
gratitude flooding through me.
rU before. raise a
a
little
confess something iVe never told anyone
Dad had wanted to breed Berry and colt from her. He wanted to breed her to thoroughbred he knew, and
good polo pony prospect. I
was
afraid that I
I
wouldn't
would share
55
try for let
a
him.
Berry's pain
at foaling time. I believe that I bit afraid that she
dam had
might die
done, and that
if
was even a
little
in foahng, as
her
she did, something
dreadful would happen to me, too.
Of course she did die sleep as Terrance
helped I
eventually,
in her
had done, but not before she'd
me raise my own three boys.
wonder
on the other
if
side,
Berry will be there to greet
when I die?
56
me
Lynn Hall and her Paso Fino horse, Tazo
LYNN HALL
lives in the
scenic
country near Elkader, Iowa,
in
hill
a stone
cottage she built herself. She enjoys long rides with her horse Tazo,
teaches 4-H dog training classes, and breeds and shows champion English Cockers. \
She
is
the author of The Leaving, The
Horse Trader, Danza!, Half the and Tin Can Tucker
Jacket
illustration
Battle,
by Ruth Sanderson
Published by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS New York
I
Also by Lynn Hall
The Leaving Best Books for Young Adults, ALA Winner of the 1981 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
The Horse Trader Harley Williams had promised to find Karen a mare when she reached fifteen, and now here she was— Lady Bay— horse of her very own at last. "Karen's tangle of emotions for Harley is sensitively depicted, and the final outcome which sees Karen dismissing Harley after a long absence is an emotionally powerful denouement."—iAL^A Booklist
Danza! The
story of a sensitive Puerto Rican boy, Paulo,
prized horse Danza.
"...
and the
powerful and deeply affecting." —starred review, ALA Booklist
Half the Battle "A horseback journey tests the individual strength and relationship of two brothers, one blind and the other determined to become independent of his brother's shadow Convincing and ultimately positive."— >A/_/A Booklist
Tin
Can Tucker
"The rodeo beckons and orphaned Ann Tucker goes, finding friends, a family, and a factory-bound horse she rescues and turns into a champion barrel racer an entertaining, upbeat winner."— >ALyA Booklist
ISBN: 0-684-17874-5