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was going to have a chance, he was going to need a clean stall, specially prepared for him. Immediately she began working on that. One of the stalls in the barn was empty. She mucked it out, removing every bit of soil and old straw. She covered the bottom of the stall with a thick layer of fresh sweet straw. A horse who couldn’t bend his neck was going to need his water bucket up high. She found a high nail and hung a fresh water bucket from it. She removed the low hooks and nails because they might cause further damage to a stiff and flailing horse.
    As soon as she was done, Judy walked the stiff gelding over to the clean stall, smiling a small thank you to Carole for knowing what to do and for doing it without being told. Carole would have been glad for some help from the owner, but he looked as shaken as his horse and seemed totally incapable of doing anything useful.
    Judy gave the horse an injection, gave the owner some instructions, and left the horse in peace. It was all they could do for him right then. It would probably be all they could ever do for him.
    When the three of them stepped outside the barn, Judy turned to the owner and said what was really on her mind. She told him that he was almost certainly going to lose the horse—over eighty percent of horses with tetanus don’t make it, and virtually all of the small percentagewho do make it receive treatment long before the disease has reached this stage.
    “Now, let me see the immunization records for your other horses,” Judy said.
    The man looked at her blankly.
    “When did the others receive their last tetanus boosters?” she demanded. Her voice sounded harder and harsher than Carole had ever heard it. Carole realized that Judy was very angry and was trying, unsuccessfully, to mask it.
    “I don’t have any records,” the man said. “My horses haven’t been sick before.”
    Judy took a deep breath. “You have six horses in that stable,” she said. “I am going to immunize each one of them against tetanus today. Today you are going to start taking proper care of your horses or I will never come here again.”
    The man nodded meekly. Judy returned to the barn to immunize the other horses. Carole returned to the truck. She was close to tears and couldn’t shake the horrible image of the sick gelding in agonized pain. She couldn’t face the reality of it for one more minute.
    When Judy and Carole left, they rode together in silence. There was nothing to say. The image of the horse with tetanus was with them both and said it all for them.
    “I T MUST HAVE been awful,” Stevie said later, trying to comfort Carole. Carole, Lisa, and Stevie had met up atTD’s for a fast visit after Judy’s vet calls. They were having an impromptu Saddle Club meeting until Carole’s father picked her up on his way home from work.
    “I’ve never seen a horse in such pain,” Carole told her friends.
    “I hope I never do,” Lisa said. She swished her spoon idly around in her root beer float. Carole’s story about the gelding with tetanus had taken her appetite away. “You know, all people who own horses should be required to belong to Pony Clubs and pass the Pony Club tests. Max would never let any of his students do such stupid things.”
    “That’s what I told Judy,” Carole said. “She told me it was too bad that horses don’t come with instruction booklets.”
    Stevie put her arm around Carole’s shoulder. “If it’s so hard to be with sick horses, maybe you shouldn’t go out with Judy again,” she suggested.
    “That was hard. Definitely,” Carole said. “But there are other things that aren’t hard—that are really wonderful. I wouldn’t want to miss a minute of those. As a matter of fact, I’ve even got some good and exciting things to tell you about.”
    “Like what?” Stevie asked.
    “Well, for starters, right after we saw the horse with tetanus, we visited a newborn foal. He was born last night. He looked like he was all legs with a