Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [20]
'Nothing, of course! You keep two-dozen nearly perfect ponies in your back paddock.' Mrs Crook laughed.
Cheryl sighed. 'There are a few ponies out there that would probably do well with a bit of work, but I have enough to do showing my boys. I could send a few of the geldings out to my clients to show, but everyone has ponies of their own. Unless you want to take a couple back with you, Jill.'
'Hales is starting a warmblood this season,' Mrs Crook said.
Cheryl pulled a face. 'Are you serious? Big dumb things they are. You'll come back to ponies in the end, you know, Hales.'
Hayley smiled but she didn't answer. In the time Shelby had known her Hayley had had four different horses. She didn't seem to be able to stick to just one. Shelby thought Hayley's arrangement with Mrs Edel to start young horses would suit her much better than buying and selling ponies or hacks all the time.
'What about you, Shelby? Do you show? Jill could pop a couple of geldings in the straight-load float and take them back with you. You can bring the float back next time you're up.'
Shelby's face broke into a grin. Imagine that! she thought. Two beautiful show ponies. She would be happy to take any one of these home.
'See that little blue roan there? That's Tribute,' Cheryl went on. 'He's by Tuppence. You'd do well on him. He blitzed them as a yearling, but then he had an injury. He has a scar, so I'm never going to sell him now, but he's a dynamite little pony.'
'Cheryl! Don't tease the girl!' Mrs Crook admonished.
Shelby folded her arms. She didn't think Cheryl had been teasing. She was pretty sure Cheryl was for real, but sadly for Shelby, Jill Crook was having none of it.
They turned back. Shelby would have nowhere to keep two ponies anyway. Mrs Edel wasn't going to let her agist two ponies for free. Unless she sold Blue. Then she would have ten thousand dollars in her bank account. That was a lot of agistment money to have up your sleeve.
Shelby pictured Blue's trusting face and felt bad for even thinking it. Besides, she was moving house. Handing two ponies over to Mrs Crook was one thing, but she was pretty sure Cheryl wouldn't send her geldings off just anywhere.
On the way back they passed a paddock about the size of a dressage arena. There was no grass. It was all dirt. A few ponies stood together under one of the trees dozing.
'A Jenny Craig paddock?' asked Hayley.
'Yes, for my founder ponies,' Cheryl replied.
'A what pony?' Shelby asked, remembering her conversation with Lydia.
'They get founder. Laminitis. It's a foot disease. Horses can get it when they're too fat, so we keep them in here during the spring to stop them getting overweight.'
Founder, Shelby thought, not foundation. Could it be that word Lydia had misheard?
'What is it? What do you do about it when it happens?' she asked.
Mrs Crook chimed in. 'They stand funny. On their heels. They can get it in one foot, or just the fronts, or sometimes all four if it's really bad.'
'They also get it when the mare retains the placenta,' Cheryl added. 'That's why I like to bring our mares into the breeding barn to foal, so we can make sure the afterbirth is complete.'
Shelby watched the ponies. One of them put back its ears and snapped. The group broke apart, sauntering out of the shade. 'They don't look sick,' she said. 'What can you do about it if they do get it?'
'I think they put some special sort of shoe on them, don't they?' Mrs Crook asked.
'They used to years ago. I'm not sure what they do now,' Cheryl answered. 'We've never had a case of full-on founder here, just a bit of tenderness, which we've nipped in the bud. Now we're always careful to bring them in to this paddock as soon as the winter frosts finish and the spring grass starts to grow.'
'It's really serious. It can kill them,' Mrs Crook told Shelby.
'Kill them?' Shelby repeated.
Could it be that Chance had this 'founder' disease? Would Lydia listen? More