Excerpt

Anna was ready in the small training arena for her session with Jake. He was a very special boy. He had survived a traffic accident that should have killed him and was making remarkable progress in his recovery from his brain injury. She felt he was physically strong enough to ride Dakota all by himself without the use of any stabilizing equipment. He was sitting on the rail with his mom watching his big sister practice in the competition arena when he heard Anna’s whistle telling him that it was his turn for therapy.

“Mom, it’s my turn,” he said eagerly.

“Okay, go ahead and run over there and I’ll catch up with you in a minute.” Jolene watched her son’s attempt at running and had to giggle to herself. She never thought she would see her son walk again, so his speedy shuffle was an unexpected blessing. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something running at full speed toward Jake. It looked like Anna’s horse, Thunder. Then to her astonishment five more horses followed. Jolene ran as fast as she could to try and reach Jake before he would be trampled by the confused horses. She knew she wouldn’t make it. Jake heard them as well. He turned to see what was making the loud thumping noise. As he was turning he heard his mom yell, “Jake, lay down on the ground in a ball. Do it now!” Jake did as he was told without hesitation. Only seconds later, Thunder jumped over Jake on his way toward the woods behind the ranch. Two of the other horses missed Jake by inches as he lay there perfectly still. When the horses had passed, Jolene ran over to Jake and scooped him into her arms. “Are you all right?” she asked trembling.

“I did what you said, Mom.”

“I know, Jake. That was good.”

“Can you put me down now, Mom? I’m seven-years-old, remember.”

Jolene set Jake down near the safety of the training arena because it was obvious that the drama was not over. Looking around the area she saw many horses running or roaming about unattended. Anna, Allie, Jessie, and a few others were trying to round them up and get them back to their barn.

Frank Forsythe was working on the sound system in the announcer’s stand when all the commotion began. As soon as he could get down from the booth he took Dakota from Anna and quickly rode out toward the woods. From what he could see, Thunder and two other horses had already disappeared inside the dense covering of pine trees. As he was leaving he yelled back to Allie, “See if you can get me some help. Ben Daniels is in the hay barn. Ask him to grab some rope and meet me at the head of the Christmas Tree Trail.”

Allie left right away to find Ben. On her way she saw Betty getting out of her truck. “What in heaven’s name is going on here?” Betty asked Allie. “There are horses all the way up the dirt road near the ranch house. Thank heaven Ben was nearby and was able to wrangle them up before they got out to the main road.”

“You’ve seen Ben?” asked Allie.

“Yes, he is on his way to the barn now with three of the loose horses.”

“Frank needs him to help him out in the woods,” explained Allie.

“What is Frank doing out in the woods?”

“He went after Thunder and two other horses that ran in that direction in the chaos.”

“Frank rode out there alone?” asked Betty.

“Yes, he jumped on Dakota and took off after them. He’s a very good rider. You know, in the year since I’ve known you two I’ve never seen him ride,” Allie remarked.

“That’s because a seventy-six-year old man has no business riding, especially out into the woods,” said Betty, obviously worried about her husband.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” encouraged Allie innocently.

“I’m not so sure, Allie. He has a heart condition and was told by his doctor about five years ago, that hard riding was out of the question. I can’t believe he is taking this kind of risk.”

Allie had no idea that Frank had a heart problem. They had never told her. He looked as fit as a horse and could keep up with men many years his junior. “I’ll go and get Ben and make sure he gets out to the woods as soon as possible,” Allie said, hugging Betty. “Try not to worry.”

“Allie, does anyone know what happened?” Betty asked perplexed.

“I’m not sure. We haven’t had a chance to figure out how they got out yet,” Allie replied, “but we will. You can be sure of that.”