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you’re taking care of Amelia, you can get Patch.”
    Amelia waited at the gate while The Saddle Club slipped into the pasture. “I’m riding Patch,” she announced importantly. “Max said he was a very good horse. One of the best.”
    Jessica Adler, who was Amelia’s age and a friend of all the Pony Tails, spoke up. “He is a good horse, and he’s a very, very, very easy horse. I rode Patch in my first lesson, but when I got to be a good rider Max let me have someone else.”
    Across the field, Stevie and Lisa watched the exchange.
    “Look at Amelia. She’s getting all red and mad again,” Stevie said.
    “I know,” Lisa said with a shake of her head. There was nothing she could do about it. Both Barq and Nickel had decided that they liked their freedom, and while they weren’t running from the girls, they had reversed direction and were walking to the far end of the field. Stevie and Lisa had to walk after them.
    “Amelia,” Carole called from the edge of the pasture, “come over here by the fence. There are some things I need to tell you.”
    Carole thought Amelia looked a little blotchy and grouchy again. She briefly wondered why, then quit worrying about it. Amelia’s natural expression wasn’t all that pleasant anyway. Probably nothing was wrong.
    “See?” Carole said, “I’ve wrapped the lead rope around Patch’s neck, so I can hang on to him while I put his halter on.”
    “That’s Patch?” Amelia sounded disgusted.
    Carole patted the horse affectionately. “Yeah, silly boy,he found some mud to roll in. He probably had an itch on his back. It’s going to take you a while to groom him.”
    “But he’s ugly,” Amelia said. “He doesn’t look like Prancer at all. And Jessica said he was—”
    Patch had big knees and a thick head and wasn’t built very well, but he had a wonderful heart. “He’s a good horse,” Carole interrupted, speaking firmly. “Now, listen, Amelia, because this is important. The one thing you have to know about Patch is that loud noises frighten him. You have to be careful—”
    Max had hung his metal grain bucket on the fence post near Amelia. Before Carole could finish speaking, Amelia turned on her heel, grabbed the bucket, and threw it against the pasture’s metal watering trough.
Wham!
The crash was deafening. The Pony Clubbers jumped.
    “Aiyh!”
shouted a startled Carole. Patch leaped sideways so fast that the lead rope tore from Carole’s hands. He squealed and reared; the other horses, also unnerved by the noise, milled in panic. Patch took off galloping for the safety of the field’s far side. The other horses began to run, too. Suddenly it was a stampede.
    Lisa couldn’t believe her eyes. All the horses in the pasture were galloping out of control. She and Stevie ran for the pasture fence. Lisa looked back over her shoulder. “Oh no!” she screamed. “Max!”
    Max had decided to come out and help Lisa and Stevie.He was halfway across the field, in the center of the pasture, right in the path of the panicked horses.
    “Max!” Carole’s cry echoed Lisa’s. Max turned just as the first horses were upon him. Carole covered her eyes.
    Max was going to be trampled!

I T WAS TOO LATE for Max to try to escape. Carole uncovered her eyes and saw Max’s own eyes widen, but he kept his body perfectly still. Carole knew that the horses wouldn’t deliberately bump Max, but if one horse ran into another or didn’t pay attention, Max could be trampled.
    The horses swerved around him. One of them knocked Max’s hat to the ground, but in a moment Max was safe. The horses galloped down to the far end of the field and whinnied and snorted and milled around. They were no longer running as a herd, and the danger was over.
    Carole looked for Lisa and Stevie and was relieved to seethem on the outside of the fence. They slipped back through the rails and caught up to Max, and all three came back to the gate.
    The Pony Clubbers stood in shocked silence. They