Sadie Navarro rescued a mare from an auction accomplishing what she thought was the most important mission of her young life.
Now, that mare is headed to a ranch in Montana and a home Sadie knows nothing about.
She wants to make sure the horse is in good hands, but Montana is far away and a different world from Maryland.
Will fourteen-year-old Sadie need to stand up to rugged cowboys to protect her special rescue horse?
Sadie Navarro rescued a mare from an auction accomplishing what she thought was the most important mission of her young life.
Now, that mare is headed to a ranch in Montana and a home Sadie knows nothing about.
She wants to make sure the horse is in good hands, but Montana is far away and a different world from Maryland.
Will fourteen-year-old Sadie need to stand up to rugged cowboys to protect her special rescue horse?
Sadie failed one of the horses she rescued. She searched for the reason, and the answer became clear. Distracted with lessons, showing her horse, school, and volunteer work, she neglected helping find Sunny a home. Her other activities seemed unimportant now, but it was too late.
She stared at the map on her phone, calculating the distance to Montana. It might as well have been on the moon. Cowboys, big sky, and a rescue horse from Maryland. How had this happened?
She read the rescue’s text again. “Hi, Sadie, great news — a ranch in Montana adopted Sunny! She left for her new forever home last week. I’ll talk to your mom soon and fill her in on all the details. Thanks for saving her and making this possible. Take care!”
At the barn, she dumped her phone face down in her tack box to make the terrible news disappear. She had lost track of Sunny and had no idea what kind of home the mare went to. Worse yet, Montana bordered Canada, where they still slaughtered horses for meat. This was all her fault, and she was helpless to do anything about it.
Being with her own horse was the best chance she had of taking her mind off the situation. In Lucky’s stall, she began her grooming routine. She ran the rubber curry comb over his hair, scrubbing circles on his body, bringing the dirt and dust to the surface.
A new, younger boarder at the barn peered over the stall gate. Hope wasn’t much taller than the four-foot door. Watching Sadie work Lucky’s tricolor coat, she asked, “Coming to ride?”
“Yes, and I’m hoping Lucky’s in a better mood than I am.”
“What’s wrong?” She blinked.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” Sadie answered, wishing she were young and innocent again, without the problems and pressures of being thirteen.
“Can I ride with you? It’s more fun with other people, and it will make whatever’s wrong better.”
“Sure. We’ve never ridden together, but I love your pony.” Hope’s pony was a medium-sized buckskin of unspecified breeding, a full and fuzzy coat, and tons of personality. He reminded Sadie of a giant stuffed animal.
“Thanks! I’ll meet you in the arena in a few minutes then.” Sadie had met Hope before but didn’t know her yet. Hope’s light brown ringlets framed her cherubic face graced with a perpetual smile.
Sadie continued to brush, her mood improving with every stroke. Lucky followed her every move with those giant brown eyes and turned his head to the right as she moved around to his right side. The two sets of eyes met, one human, one equine. Lucky hesitated, pulled back, and pawed the ground.
What did he sense in her? “Sorry, Lucky, it’s not about you. Everything’s fine with us. Let’s have a good ride with a new friend.”
Sadie finished tacking up and led her sixteen-hands high athletic horse into the arena. She hopped on and savored the simple rhythm of his walk while warming up his muscles. The warmth of his body radiated through her calves held to his sides. Her close contact English saddle came as close to riding without a saddle as could be, other than if she used a small jockey saddle. At five-foot-six already, she would never be a jockey, so no reason to ride like one.
She felt his long strides and the crisp spring air putting Lucky in a perky mood. She gave herself a lesson in her mind remembering all the things her instructors had taught her over the years. Heels down, shoulders back, eyes up, and breathe deep. She focused on each body part at a time, and Lucky responded by lengthening his steps even more. Yes, she was officially in a horse-crazy girl’s horse heaven created by a simple sand riding ring and a responsive partner.
Hope arrived at the arena gate and announced, “Coming in.” Sadie appreciated the excellent riding etiquette.
At the mounting block, Hope hopped on Robin in one smooth move as if she’d done this her whole life. She reached over, patted her pony’s neck, and urged his stout body into a walk with a gentle squeeze of her legs.
“I like this arena because it’s so open,” Hope said, “but I want to ride on the trails someday. I’m not allowed to ride alone, especially outside.”
Sadie said, “When my mom first said the same thing about the trails, it didn’t make sense to me. But it turned out to be the right idea, and I got to meet more people here by riding on the trails with them. Hopefully, you’ll find the same.”
“Well, I’m glad you were here today because I got to ride!”
“Let’s do it then. It’s time for us to trot. Lucky’s getting bored. What do you think?”
“I’ll work on my sitting trot with Robin after a warmup. He’s bouncy.”
“Practice makes perfect,” Sadie said and urged Lucky into his non-bouncy trot. Sadie floated as the two became one in his even two-beat cadence. Her breaths matched his, and she could go on forever like this. He showed no signs of slowing down, channeling his energy into her. Eventually, her breath shortened, a clue for a break for both of them.
“What grade are you in?” Sadie asked to fill the silence and keep her mind occupied.
“I’m in fourth grade,” Hope said, giving Robin a rest at the same time. “How about you?”
“I’m in seventh, but I should be in eighth. I went to school in Spain for a year. And while I wouldn’t have traded that for anything, it got complicated when we came back to the States. It’s okay, I like my class, even if I am the tallest one.”
They continued walking their horses, Sadie making serpentine patterns back and forth across the arena to stretch out Lucky’s neck and limbs.
“Spain! How exciting! I haven’t been to any other countries. What was Spain like?”
“Different and fun. My dad’s in the Navy, so we were stationed over there. I went to a school on base the first year we were there. Then I begged my parents to let me go to the school out in town to get to know the Spanish people and learn the language. I was a bit more adventurous back then.”
“What was your favorite part of living there?”
Sadie thought about what seemed so long ago. “The Andalusian horses. I fell in love with Spain’s Andalusian horses. They were one of the reasons I ended up getting this guy here, a half-Andalusian.” Hope fell in step behind Sadie, letting Robin walk the same pattern.
Hope said, “Lucky’s special. No one else looks like him, those colors, his full black mane and tail.”
“Thanks, and Robin is special, too. Hey, I think we need to get back to work, don’t you?” Sadie didn’t wait for an answer and eased Lucky into a smooth canter, her favorite gait. His imaginary wings unfolded, and they flew around the ring with hooves barely touching the ground. She glided him through the center, changing directions, and ended with a gradual slowdown to a trot and then a walk.
She brought Lucky to a square halt and scratched his withers. He turned his head in the direction of the scratch, and she watched his nostrils rising and falling.
Sadie understood the look in his eye to know the meaning: “Thanks, I needed that.”
They cooled the horse and the pony down at a walk, and Sadie said, “I think you’ll get to see we’re all a barn family here. I hope you like it. And if you have any questions, I’m happy to help since I’ve been here for a while.”
“Thanks, and it’s nice to know another rider here.”
Sadie and Hope had ridden for a full hour practicing the sport they loved aboard the partners in the sport they loved more. Back at Lucky’s stall while taking off his tack, Sadie was relieved to have not been the only one there today. Sometimes she enjoyed the solace of the barn; this had not been one of those days. She didn’t want to talk about Sunny but didn’t want to be alone either.
Lucky nuzzled Sadie’s shoulder for attention. Tension
released from her body with the nudge, and she patted his neck under his mane where he liked it.
“Thanks, buddy,” she said, knowing it was time to go.
Sadie traveled the one hundred yards from Loftmar Stables back to her house catching the scent of fresh-cut grass and the pastures. Non-horse lovers complained about the smell of manure, but horse lovers found the aroma a gentle reminder of the animals bringing them joy.
Lucky knew something was wrong and tried to make Sadie feel better. She sensed it, and that alone made her feel better for the moment. Something would happen to help her make this Montana situation right.
A perfect Lucky and a sweet Hope; this had to be one of those “signs” Grandma Collins spoke about. Lucky and Hope — a coincidence or a sign? Sadie took it as a sign.
Sadie Navarro helps at her barn with horse rescues. Her most recent rescue, Sunny, is sold to a ranch in Montana. She is worried about Sunny, because she had nothing to do with the sale and she wants to make sure the new home is treating her well. Mentioning her fears to her parents, they decide to make a family vacation out of it, heading off to the dude ranch Sunny is at. When Sadie gets there she is sucked right into the life of a ranch hand.
This book had many good points as well as some challenges that detracted from the overall story. There was a lot of telling instead of showing and the author did a lot of explaining things within the dialogue, which led to things feeling rushed and the characters being a little flat. I wished the scenes had been stretched out and the characters fleshed out a bit more. There were moments where I longed for paragraphs of detail and description that would suck me into the scenes, especially during the rodeo chapter. The bull riding was mentioned in two sentences and was quickly wrapped up with the sentence, "The rodeo ended, and plenty had happened in two hours." I wished we had seen more of the rodeo described in detail. It definitely wasn't an action filled, high tension story, but really set the scene for the life of a ranch hand.
The story had several small conflicts and a few minor "mysteries" to solve about the characters, but overall did not seem to have one overarching conflict. It was more the day to day on-goings at the dude ranch and all the things happening to Sadie while she was there. It read more like a diary of events, where different chapters had Sadie experiencing new things. It was a very informational deep dive into the world of horses and cowboys and ranches, but also felt a little shallow when it came to the depth of the plot. That may just be me being picky as an adult reader and a younger reader will not mind that at all. Some of the plot twists also seemed a little unrealistic to an adult reader, but young readers won't pick up on that at all.
Because I was coming at this as an adult reader, I tried not to allow some of my personal preferences detract from how I felt younger readers would enjoy this book. I think horse crazy kids will absolutely love this book. As a horse owner myself, the book was incredible accurate and everything was very realistic when it came to the horse end of things. It is the perfect upper middle grade book, a little on the higher level side due to the length and also some of the vocabulary being a little more higher level as well.