Horsey Trails Read online

  Tie a Yellow Ribbon …

  “I think being lost is making me a little upset,” Brisa declared, sounding a little upset.

  “It might even be making me a bit scared,” Sirocco added, sounding a bit scared!

  “And maybe for me, just a little bit homesick,” Kona admitted. Her voice sounded far away, as if she was dreaming about their apple-tree house kitchen, far from these woodsy wilds.

  Sumatra gazed at her fellow Wind Dancers. But instead of whinnying, weeping, or whining, too, she grinned.

  “Well, now our adventure’s really starting, isn’t it?” she responded gaily.

  “Okay, let me get this straight,” Sirocco squawked. “Now you’re having fun at horse camp. Now that we’re lost, and cold, and hungry?”

  “Please!” Sumatra said breezily. “We’ll find our way. It’s summertime, so we’re not cold. And you can’t be hungry. You’ve been snacking all morning!”

  “True,” Kona said. “But Sirocco still has a point, Sumatra. If ever there was a time at horse camp to be a bit nervous, this is it!”

  “Right!” Brisa quavered. “I mean, there’s no sign of the campers or the trail. We are as lost as lost can be!”

  “Uh-huh,” Sumatra muttered. She’d only been half-listening to Brisa’s lament because she’d been deep in thought.

  And now that her head wasn’t crowded with homesickness, her thoughts were coming clear! Which is why it took only a moment for her to open her eyes wide and blurt, “A-ha!”

  “A-what?” Brisa asked glumly.

  Instead of answering, Sumatra fluttered high into the air. She spun in a slow circle, squinting through the trees in every direction.

  And then she saw it off in the distance—a hint of yellow! Whinnying with joy, Sumatra began flying straight toward the color.

  “Where are you going?” Kona neighed.

  “Follow me!” Sumatra called back over her shoulder.

  For the first time since she’d convinced her friends to go to horse camp, she trusted herself!

  The Wind Dancers followed Sumatra to a sapling decorated with a shiny yellow bow.

  Sumatra nosed the bow with a big grin.

  “I thought tying my ribbons would just make me feel at home here, make me happy,” Sumatra said. “Little did I know they were also marking our path!”

  Next, she pointed with her nose at a tree stump in the distance. It was bedecked with a bright green bow!

  Beyond that, the peach rose bush that Brisa had admired was tied up in purple satin!

  “Awesome!” Sirocco brayed.

  “Oh, Sumatra!” Brisa said dramatically. “You’ve saved our lives!”

  Kona gave her friend a very proud nose nuzzle before saying, “Come on, horses!”

  Clicking their hooves and nickering with happiness, the Wind Dancers flew from bow to colorful bow until they found themselves back at the trail with the orange slashes. And before they knew it, they had followed the trail back to camp.

  “Thank goodness we’re back!” Sirocco said as they flew toward the stables. “I thought I’d die of starvation out there in the wilderness!”

  “Oh Si-rocco,” Brisa scoffed with a giggle. “But I agree that it’s great to be back!”

  “I’m so happy to be home, too, I could kiss the ground!” Sumatra chimed in.

  Kona smiled at her.

  “Home?” she joked. “Don’t you mean horse camp?”

  “Oh, right,” Sumatra said with a chuckle. “I guess I forgot.”

  “You?! You forgot?” Sirocco neighed in triumph. “And now you think that horse camp is home?”

  “Well,” Sumatra replied with a big smile, “I feel at home here now. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, the trail rides, the big horses, the campers, the mountain air—horse camp is the best thing to come around since the dandelion meadow!”

  “Oh, Sumatra!” Kona laughed. “I don’t know whether to give you a nose nuzzle or a hoof-clop to the head.”

  “I’ll take the former, please,” Sumatra said, as the other tiny horses crowded around her. “After all, I did save your lives out there on the trail!”

  CHAPTER 8

  Home Again, Home Again

  “Rise and shine, Wind Dancers!” Sumatra announced in the dawn’s early light. “It’s our last day of horse camp! We have to make the most of it!”

  “Considering that we’ve got to be the only ones in camp who are already awake,” Sirocco whinnied sleepily, “believe me, we’ll have plenty of time to make the most of it!”

  “There’s so much to do!” Sumatra said undeterred. “Starting with eating these yummy oat cakes for breakfast!”

  Sumatra pulled some delicious-looking treats from her ribbony backpack.

  “Wow!” Kona said, pricking her ears. “These sure are nicer than the horse pellets and raw oats we’ve been eating all week!”

  “I found out where the horse trainers keep the fancy snacks!” Sumatra boasted.

  “Yum-o!” Sirocco said, already munching on his oat cake, and suddenly not so sleepy.

  “Eat up!” Sumatra said. “It’s almost time for our final trail ride!”

  “Okay, Sumatra,” Sirocco answered between bites of oat cake. “We all know that you’ve become horse camp’s trail-ride champion. There’s no trail you can get lost on.”

  “Practice makes perfect!” Sumatra replied.

  “And you’ve been practicing every single day!” Brisa said with admiration in her voice.

  “Then after our ride,” Sumatra went on proudly, “I have another activity planned for us—swimming in the lake!”

  “What?” Kona said. “Sumatra, we can’t swim in that deep lake!”

  “I know,” Sumatra said. “But the other day I took the shortcut to the dining hall…”

  “What shortcut to the dining hall?” Sirocco demanded. “Sumatra, is there anything you don’t know about horse camp?”

  “No, I think I’ve pretty much got it covered,” Sumatra joked. “Anyway, I found a super-shallow part of the lake. It’s right by the shore but hidden by cattails. It’ll be so refreshing after our trail ride.”

  “Speaking of refreshing,” Sirocco said, “I’m kind of looking forward to napping in the back of Leanna’s pickup truck on our way back home tomorrow. All these horse camp activities have worn me out!”

  “And the minute we get home,” Brisa added, “I’m going to soak in a long, hot bath. As much as I love horse camp, I’m a little tired of the hose-downs we get here.”

  “You’re supposed to come home from camp feeling grimy,” Kona reminded them with a smile. “And hungry for a home-cooked meal. Which is what I’m going to make us for dinner tomorrow!”

  “Now I really can’t wait to get home!” Sirocco whinnied.

  “This week just flew by, didn’t it?” Kona asked. “I can’t believe it’s already time to go!”

  Sumatra just stared at Kona. Her eyes went wide and watery.

  Then, she threw her head back and neighed, “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here at caaaaamp!”

  “Oh, horses,” Sirocco neighed between laughs. “Here we go again!”

  There’s No Place Like … Home

  The next day, back home in the dandelion meadow, the Wind Dancers each soaked away their horse-camp dirt in long, hot baths (except for Sirocco, who took just a quick dip).

  Then they ate a delicious Kona-cooked meal of carrot pudding, oatmeal casserole, and apple pie.

  After that, they flew out into the evening. There, they hovered for a moment, enjoying the grassy scent of the dandelion meadow, the glow of fireflies, and the calm, night air.

  “It’s amazing how different it feels here,” Sumatra commented, “compared to the breezy mountain air at horse camp.”

  Kona gave the filly a searching look.

  “And…” she asked carefully, “are you okay with that?”

  Sumatra cocked her head for a moment. Her coat felt clean and cool after her bath. Her belly was comfortably
full of her favorite foods. And her mind brimmed with happy horse-camp memories.

  So, she found herself nodding.

  “I love horse camp,” she admitted. “But I love home, too! I guess you can be happy in both places, at different times.”

  Kona gave Sumatra a nose nuzzle.

  “You’re right,” she agreed. “You can.”

  “I wonder if Leanna is feeling the same way,” Brisa said. “Or do you think she is feeling camp-sick right now?”

  “There’s one way to find out!” Sumatra said brightly.

  The tiny horses made four beautiful silhouettes as they flew across the meadow toward Leanna’s farmhouse.

  When they landed on the windowsill of Leanna’s room, they found their friend in pajamas, sitting up in bed, scribbling in her pink diary. Like the Wind Dancers, Leanna looked freshly scrubbed—and happily exhausted.

  She seemed so tired that she couldn’t finish her journal entry. She plunked the notebook—still open—on her nightstand and snuggled down under her covers.

  As soon as she turned off the lamp, she fell asleep.

  Sirocco buzzed inside to take a closer peek at Leanna’s diary.

  “Sirocco!” Kona hissed. “You can’t read Leanna’s journal. That’s private!”

  “Would she have left it open if she minded someone reading it?” Sirocco protested. “Besides—look! This entry is about us!”

  The fillies pricked up their ears. They bit their lower lips. Then they gave in and joined Sirocco as he hovered above the diary.

  “See,” Sirocco whispered. He began to read out loud. “‘Favorite things about horse camp:

  1) My scrappy horse, Gumdrop, of course!

  2) All my new camp friends.

  3) The chocolate pudding in the dining hall. Yum!

  4) Free swim at the lake…’

  “And then:

  “‘I already miss horse camp so much! If I didn’t know I was going back next summer, I’d be super sad!’”

  “Next summer!” Brisa exclaimed. “Whee! We can go back to horse camp, too!”

  Sumatra’s eyes gleamed as she took over the reading from Sirocco.

  “‘Plus, it’s nice to be back home with my family, and with my little friends, the Wind Dancers, nearby.’”

  Sumatra gasped.

  “Wouldn’t it be fun to let her know we were here and there?”

  “At horse camp, you mean?” Brisa asked.

  Sumatra nodded. Then she picked up Leanna’s pencil in her teeth, flipped to the next page in the little girl’s diary and started drawing!

  As she scribbled, a picture took shape—of cabins, a lake, a long, skinny horse stable, a dining hall, and, of course, horse trails, all nestled in the shadow of a pretty mountain.

  “That’s our horse camp!” Sirocco exclaimed. “Awesome art, Sumatra.”

  The silvery blue filly grinned gratefully, then turned back to her work.

  The last thing that Sumatra added to her drawing were four, tiny, winged horses, darting over the heads of a cluster of helmeted girls on the trail.

  Then she added a caption at the bottom of the picture: Can’t wait to go to horse camp with you again next year, Leanna!

  With that, Sumatra laid the pencil down and fluttered back out through Leanna’s window. Her filly friends followed her. As the four friends flew out over the dandelion meadow, they giggled.

  “Won’t Leanna be surprised when she realizes that we shared horse camp with her!” Brisa said giddily.

  Sumatra nodded happily.

  “Sharing that secret is our gift to Leanna,” she said. “After all, we got to go to horse camp because of her.”

  “Our gift might not be a necklace or a trophy this time,” Kona added, recalling little presents the Wind Dancers had given Leanna in the past. “But I have the feeling Leanna will like this one just as much!”

  “Me too!” Sumatra said.

  With that, she led her friends back to their apple tree house, happily somersaulting and loop-de-looping all the way home.

  Here’s a sneak preview of Wind Dancers Book 12:

  Magic Horses—or Not?

  CHAPTER 1

  A Big Horse Surprise

  One bright morning, Kona, Sumatra, and Brisa clip-clopped into the kitchen of their apple tree house. Then the colt himself flew through the window. But instead of fluttering cheerily, his wings moved with urgency and he landed with a heavy clunk!

  “Whoa, horsey!” Kona reprimanded him.

  “It’s happened!” Sirocco neighed

  The fillies blinked at their friend in confusion.

  “What’s happened?” Sumatra demanded.

  “Come with me and see,” Sirocco said gloomily. Without another word, he flew back out the window.

  The anxious fillies flew behind Sirocco as he zinged across the dandelion meadow.

  He led them to Leanna’s farm.

  Once inside Leanna’s barn, the fillies stopped in mid-air and stared!

  Standing in front of a newly built stall strewn with fresh, sweet hay were Leanna and—a pony!

  “Fillies,” Sirocco said, unhappily, “meet Sassy, Leanna’s new pet!”

  A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK

  An Imprint of Macmillan

  WIND DANCERS: HORSEY TRAILS. Copyright © 2011 by Reeves International, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].

  Series editor, Susan Bishansky

  Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto

  First Edition: 2011

  www.feiwelandfriends.com

  eISBN 9781466890756

  First eBook edition: January 2015