6

Making Star Beautiful

BY THE TIME Friday came, Star was almost back to his old self. His muscles were no longer sore thanks to a daily liniment rub, and his cheek and shoulder were not as tender to Jody’s touch. The only change the girls could detect was in the colt’s personality. Just as Willie had predicted, Star was no longer apt to get in an ornery mood. He did everything Mary and Jody asked of him, even trotting nicely around the ring. And when it was time for his lesson on squaring up, he was willing to try, although this was something he had trouble understanding.

“Ok, Jody, let’s try it again,” Mary instructed from the sidelines of the ring (which was really just the pad-dock). Finnegan sat at Mary’s feet, and Jody, a thin longe whip in her hand, held Star at the end of his lead rope. “Hold his head up a little higher and tap his right front fetlock with the longe whip—it’s not quite in place yet.”

The idea was to get all four legs in a square position—the two front legs side by side and squarely under the body, and the two hind legs the same with the head slightly elevated, ears up, looking attentive and content. The problem was, whenever Star would get the back two legs square, the front two would be out of line. And when the front two were perfect, the back two were slightly askew. And when his head was just right, all four legs were off! Jody took Mary’s suggestion and tapped Star lightly on the fetlock with the end of the longe whip. Star obediently moved the leg into position. All four legs were in line! But then he lifted his right hind foot to kick at a fly on his belly, and when the foot came down, it was all wrong!

“I give up, Mare,” Jody said, throwing the whip down in frustration. “He’s really trying, but he just can’t get it! It’s getting late, and the show is tomorrow! What are we going to do?”

“Well, we’re going to take him to the show, of course. I’m sure he won’t be the only yearling colt that doesn’t know how to square up. He’s really good at everything else, like trotting around the ring and standing quietly, even if his legs aren’t perfect. You’ll see, he’ll do fine. Remember when you were so worried about riding Lady in a show? And you won first place!”

“I know, I know. I guess I should just quit worrying about winning and make it a learning experience,” Jody decided. “It’ll be fun, right?”

“Yes. But winning wouldn’t hurt either! Now let’s take Star in and give him one last inspection. If he doesn’t behave tomorrow, at least he’ll look good while he’s being bad,” Mary giggled. “Come on, Finney, you can help us.”

So Star was given a pat on the neck for effort and led into the aisle of the stable where Jody put him on crossties. Finnegan lay down on the cool dirt floor while Mary and Jody stood back and gazed at Star with a critical eye.

“Get the scissors, Jode, I think I see a few long hairs that need to be trimmed,” Mary commanded. Willie had instructed the girls about grooming the colt for the show ring, and they had been practicing for weeks, trimming Star’s whiskers and fetlocks and bridle path of long hair. They had even clipped a little of the hair from inside his ears with electric clippers to get him used to the noise and had given him several baths under Willie’s supervision. Now Mary trimmed a few stray hairs from Star’s muzzle while Jody put the finishing touches on his already shiny coat with a soft brush.

Finnegan sat at Mary’s feet, and Jody, a longe whip in her hand, held Star at the end of his lead rope.

“Now we should pack the tack box with all the stuff we’ll need tomorrow,” Jody suggested, when they were satisfied that Star looked his best.

“Now just hold yer horses,” Willie’s voice came from the doorway of the stable. “There’s one more thing we need to do before tomorrow. Should’ve done it before this, but I never had the time to show you till now. You can’t have this old straggly mane in the show ring.”

“Straggly mane! But Willie, I’ve been training it so it’s all on one side, and I just combed it!” Jody replied indignantly.

“Yes, and it looks right good, but it’s a little too long. It needs to be pulled.”

“Pulled? What do you mean?” asked Jody.

“I know, Jode.” Mary grinned. “I read it in a book. You take a pulling comb and twist the long hairs of the mane around it, and then you yank them out.”

Jody’s mouth flew open in shock, as Willie shook his head and shot Mary a stern look.

“Mary, hush. You work on real small sections at a time, and you do pull them out, but the horse doesn’t feel any pain. They have hardly any nerves in the crest of the neck where the hair grows. He shouldn’t mind it a bit once he gets used to the feel of it.”

“But, Willie, his mane is so pretty. It’s black and white hairs all mixed together. I’ve never seen another one like it, even in books!” Jody protested.

“Now, it’ll still look just as good, just a little shorter, that’s all. The judge will like it better that way. We have to even it up so it’s all the same length, and it’ll be easier to bathe, too. Don’t forget you have to get up early and give him a bath in the morning.”

The girls groaned in unison at this reminder, but Jody dutifully went to her tack box, took out the metal wide-toothed comb she used to comb Star’s unruly mane, and handed it to Willie.

“Well, go ahead,” she said glumly.

“That’s not the right comb, Jody,” Mary said smugly. “I told you, you have to have a pulling comb.”

“But I don’t have a pulling comb!” Jody said in frustration. “I don’t even know what a pulling comb looks like!”

“Looks like this,” Willie said, taking a small metal comb with very short teeth placed close together from his overalls pocket and holding it up for the girls to see. Star extended his muzzle and sniffed curiously at the funny-looking tool. “Now, you just start with a little section of mane and tease some of it up with the comb,” Willie murmured, demonstrating the technique as he spoke. “Then wrap the long hairs you want to get rid of around the comb and pull them out,” he continued. And with that, Willie jerked quickly on the comb and the long mane hairs pulled out easily, still wrapped around the little teeth. Star startled slightly at the feeling of pressure and the quick movement of the comb, but his ears stayed up. He turned and looked at Willie as if to say, “Hey—this is something new!”

“Willie!” Jody grimaced, putting her hand to her mouth. “Are you sure that doesn’t hurt?”

“Does it look like it hurts?” Willie asked, patting Star on the neck. “It felt a little funny to him the first time, but watch, he’s getting used to it already,” he continued, expertly wrapping the next section of mane around the comb and pulling out more strands of hair. The girls watched in silence as Willie worked his way along Star’s mane with the comb until it all lay evenly on his neck, shorter by a few inches. When at last he came to the base of Star’s neck, Willie replaced the comb in his pocket and stood back to examine his handiwork.

“Look, Jode—Star’s asleep!” Mary whispered. The girls giggled as Star’s head dropped lower and lower until the crossties seemed to be holding him up and his nose almost touched the dirt floor of Lucky Foot Stable.

“See, it hurt him so much he dropped right off,” Willie said sarcastically.

“Thanks, Willie. It does look better, I guess,” Jody acknowledged. “Oh, I just know Star is going to be the prettiest colt at the whole show!”

“Pretty or not, he just better behave himself,” Willie growled. “Now you better get all your stuff gathered up for tomorrow. I don’t want to be waitin’ on you in the mornin’.”

Willie gently patted Star awake and led him into his stall, while the girls bustled around Lucky Foot Stable gathering up the rest of their show supplies. Since they wouldn’t be riding Star, they didn’t need a saddle or bridle. But they did need a soft brush, a hard brush, a mane and tail comb, a rubber curry, and a hoofpick. These were all scrubbed clean and packed neatly in the little tack box. Saddle soap was added to buff up his leather halter if necessary, and hoof dressing thrown in to make his hooves shine. Jody carefully found a spot for the horse shampoo and scrubby mitt for bathing. Last to be tucked safely into the box was the soft leather lead shank with a brass plate reading, “Star of Wonder.” Jody’s father had given this to Jody as a gift when Star was born. When the tack box was full, the girls stood back and gazed at it with a contented sigh. “Now, where am I going to put these towels?” Mary asked herself, holding up two fluffy blue towels, one in each hand, for drying Star after his bath.

“Um, Mare . . . there’s one problem,” Jody said sheepishly.

“What? Are you still worrying about Star squaring up?”

“Nooo . . . I’m just wondering why we packed the bathing stuff in the tack box and why you’re worrying about where to put the towels when we’re giving Star a bath before we go to the show,” she said with a grin.

Mary didn’t reply, but looked first at one towel and then the other. “Hmmph,” she giggled. “I guess we didn’t think of that.”

The girls looked at each other and giggled again. The week had been very long and nerve-wracking, and the training had been frustrating. Mary and Jody were tired. Their giggles turned into full-blown laughter and they were off on a laughing jag until tears ran down their cheeks. Finnegan joined in by barking and turning in circles, and Willie just shook his head and hobbled out the stable door.

“I think we’d better go home and go to bed,” Mary suggested through her tears. “We’re so tired we can’t think straight.”

“And we have to get up early,” Jody added, wiping her cheeks. “Willie said to be here by five, so Star would have time to dry before we go. Are you sure your mom said it’s OK for me to stay at your house?”

“Of course it’s OK. And she even said she would drive us up here in the morning, so we wouldn’t have to ride our bikes so early. I think she feels guilty, because she has to work and can’t come to the show.”

“I know, my dad can’t go either. He promised he’d come to the next one.”

So the girls filled Star’s water bucket, gave him another flake of hay, and said good-bye. They were both ready for a good night’s sleep. The day they had been waiting for was almost here at last.