Pine Hollow:headstrong

Callie Forester squinted at the sun, its dull yellow-white form visible through a break in the trees on the trail just ahead. It was beginning to sink through the leaden winter sky toward the western horizon, which meant that Callie had been riding for several hours. It was time to head home. Spying a wide spot on the wooded trail, she reluctantly reversed direction and then gently nudged the Arabian gelding she was riding and clucked to send him into a trot. Barq shook his head and complied, though his trot was a little choppier than usual. "It's okay, boy. We're heading home now," Callie murmured, her attention not really as focused on the horse as it should have been. She was too busy thinking about that day's ride. It hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped, and she hadn't been hoping for a whole lot. She had been training on Barq for almost three weeks. While the Arabian gelding was a popular and reliable lesson horse at Pine Hollow Stables, Callie had already accepted the fact that he was never going to be the endurance horse of her dreams. She had been a junior endurance champion before moving to Willow Creek, Virginia, some six months earlier--or rather, before the serious car accident that had injured her soon after the move--and now that her body had finally healed, she couldn't wait to get back in the game. The trouble was, Barq was just about the only lesson horse at Pine Hollow that was at all adequate for endurance riding. She sighed. How was she ever going to get back into top competitive shape with a horse that was merely adequate? Before long, horse and rider emerged from the woods and the long, low main building of Pine Hollow came into view across the fields. But Callie wasn't looking at the stable, or at the neatly tended rings and paddocks and various smaller outbuildings that surrounded it. Instead she was focusing on the rambling white farmhouse atop a hill beyond the stable area. That was where Max Regnery, the owner of Pine Hollow, lived with his wife and two young daughters. Maybe it was time for Callie to have another talk with Max about what to do. But what good would it do to discuss it again? Callie already knew that Barq was the best endurance prospect in Max's stable. She already knew the only solution: to find a horse of her own, one that was suited to her ability, personality, and goals. Her parents had already agreed to the plan. All she had to do was find the right horse. It should be an easy job, Callie thought, giving Barq an extra squeeze as his gait faltered slightly. It's not as if there aren't plenty of horses around here. Probably a lot more than where we used to live. Callie's family had moved to Willow Creek the previous summer from the West Coast to be closer to her congressman father's work. Callie had been anxious and resentful about the move at first, but she'd been pleasantly surprised to find that the countryside of northern Virginia was dotted with pastures full of horses. Still, being able to find a horse--or even a whole herd of horses--wasn't the same as being able to find the perfect endurance prospect. In fact, it felt a little like looking for a needle in a whole field full of haystacks. Callie brought Barq to a walk as they crossed the fields. She didn't want to spend any more time than she had to cooling him out once she reached the stable. The more time she spent hanging around Pine Hollow, the better the chance that George Wheeler would find her. "Pathetic," she muttered to herself so fiercely that Barq's ears swiveled back curiously. "Totally pathetic." She knew she shouldn't let George get to her, but she couldn't help it. He had a way of bringing out the worst in her--the petty irritability and feelings of insecurity that she kept pretty well hidden most of the time. It hadn't been that way at first. When Callie had first realized that the shy, pudgy, hopelessly nerdy guy had a crushBryant, Bonnie is the author of 'Pine Hollow:headstrong' with ISBN 9780553493047 and ISBN 0553493043.