Carole Hanson said. Bridle in hand, she sat down on the floor of the tack room at Pine Hollow Stables. One of her two best friends, Stevie Lake, sat down beside her. “You forgot the toothbrush and toothpaste,” Stevie said. “Toothbrush and toothpaste?” Carole asked. Stevie nodded. “For the bits,” she explained. “Believe me: Three out of four horses surveyed preferred the taste of cool mint gel to the taste of metal polish. Starlight and Belle included.” Carole laughed. Starlight, a bay gelding, was her horse, and Belle, a half-Arabian, half-Saddlebred mare, was Stevie’s. “I guess that’s the least we can do for them, considering we won’t see them for a week,” Carole commented. It was summer vacation, and she, Stevie, and their other best friend, Lisa Atwood, were leaving the next morning for a week’s trip out West. “So I guess we should clean Lisa’s tack, too, huh?” Stevie asked, the slightest note of reluctance creeping into her voice. Despite being horse-crazy like Carole and Lisa, Stevie wasn’t known for her love of barn work like tack cleaning and stall mucking.
