Chapter 1

Hi, my name is Zoe. I was taking my horse, Whisper, over jumps. We were preparing for a big show next week.

Whenever we got done, I saw my friend Riley, who told me that her horse was gone. After I put Whisper away, a gray mare, we started looking all over for her horse, Jane, a roan mare.

“One week ago”, Riley said, "a horse used for lessons was stolen. His name was Dirty.” I was getting freaked out because this is the second horse that has been stolen. I was worried that Whisper would be next. I loved her so much!

We’ve been looking for an hour around the barn, yet we

still couldn't find Jane. Kelly, the owner of the stable, had reported it to the police.

Chapter 2

The next morning was sunny. It was mid June. I was helping Riley put up flyers around the city that explained that her horse Jane was stolen. It had great pictures of her that showed exactly what she looked like. I kept assuring Riley that everything would be okay.

Whenever we got back, I was grooming and Saddling Whisper for a ride. There was two things going on now- I had a show coming up in 6 days and my best friend’s horse was just stolen. I asked Kelly if Riley could ride one of the lesson horses, Kelly said yes, but Riley said it just wouldn’t be the same. So I was on my own for practicing. I especially enjoyed riding with Riley, but I didn’t want to push her into

riding another horse. Just after five minutes of riding by myself, my arch nemesis, Liz, came in. Just like me, she also was competing Sunday. "I’m so going to beat you Sunday," she said.

“You know,” I said, “we’re supposed to be a team since we ride for the same stable. We have to each get a good score, though. Remember the winning team gets $3,000 for their stable. Kelly could really use the money right now.”

“Fine,” she said, “ Let’s see what you got.” She gestured toward the jumps.

I didn’t want to argue with her, so I got ready to jump. There were six high verticals set up in the arena. Whisper and I would crush this. We've been practicing nonstop for a

while lately. We even had a private lesson yesterday. I had

to focus. I couldn't mess this up in front of Liz. I was counting strides and was ready. We approached the first jump and when it was time, I got into the two point position and Whisper soared over the jump. I love that feeling of being in the air. It feels as if I'm flying. Whisper landed so smoothly. We headed toward the second jump and Whisper leaped over it. She loved jumping as much as I did. After that we cleared three more and had one more to do, so far a perfect round. As we headed to the jump, I was wandering what Liz was thinking about my ride. She probably thought that I'd mess up. Never mind that. I needed to focus or less I wouldn't get a perfect round. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... on one I lifted out of the saddle. As we were in mid air, I heard Whisper's hoof

tap the rail, and it fell down. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get a perfect round, but I was still proud of my horse. I gave her a big pat when whenever we got to Liz.

"Your turn," I told Liz.

"Whatever you say."

Liz started out at a trot, the a canter.

She was doing so good, I thought.

"I wish I was that good," I murmured.

Once she had completed the course, she walked over with a big smile on her face.

"Good job," I said.

"What else did you expect of me," she said.

I have no idea why Liz is like that, but it wasn't my problem

to deal with.

"I can give you a few pointers if you'd like."

"Why not," I said.

Chapter 3

It is now Thursday afternoon. That means three more days to practice for the show. Yesterday night, though, another horse got stolen. So far three horses. I really hope nothing would happen to Whisper, especially right before the big show that meant so much to me. I was literally praying about it. Jake, a guy who worked here, and Kelly, went looking for the bandits and the horses this morning. They still hadn't arrived back yet. They've been gone for almost over two hours. I was getting really worried and terrified that something might of happened to them.

Another two hours had just passed. I could see dark clouds heading our way. I spotted another guy who also worked

here, Jeff, and told him about it. He said he'd go look. I also wanted to help find them even though it would be very risky going out in a possible storm heading our way. I really cared about Kelly, she is the nicest and most caring person I know.

I quickly saddled up Whisper (in record time!) and started looking for them. Jeff and I split up so we'd cover more area. Jeff offered to take the trail that I wasn't familiar with so that I wouldn't get lost. We had to hopefully find them quickly before the storm rolled in.

Whisper and I galloped a little bit across the flat grassy area. It didn't stay flat for long, though. After that it headed into the woods which wasn't safe by the chance if it stormed. One of the trees could catch on fire since they were so high

up. I hoped nothing would spook Whisper either. To cover more ground, we trotted. I didn't want to canter because I couldn't see everything since the clouds were getting darker by the minute.

As I got deeper into the woods, I spotted two people and two horses. As Whisper and I got closer, I knew that it was Kelly and Jake.

Once we finally approached them, they started to explain everything that was going on.

"So we were just looking for the horses, because maybe they weren't even stolen. Maybe the stall doors weren't locked and they just found a way out. But whenever we were riding in the woods, we spotted a little old barn and

we heard neighing. It sounded like our lesson horse, Dirty."

"So you think the horses are here," I questioned.

"We think they are," Jake replied.

He took me to a spot where we could see most of the barn. Just as I thought I saw Dirty, Jeff appeared.

"Kelly, Jake, are you guys all right!"

"We're fine," they both replied.

I heard more neighing and I swiftly turned back around.

Jake and Kelly quickly told Jeff what was going on. Jeff came and sat next to me and was watching the old barn.

"I think that was Dirty neighing," I said.

"It sure did sound like him," Jeff replied.

"What are we going to do," Jake said," do we just go up and

close by, and then we made our way through. We all started looking for our horses.

I approached one that looked identical to Dirty, and when I got close enough, I could tell that it was him! I quickly motioned for everyone to come. I could tell that they were as happy as I was to see Dirty.

Chapter 5

We started looking around to see if any of our other horses were here. We spread out and Kelly and Jeff saw two other horses. We were all so happy that we found them.

"What do we do now?" I was wondering if we would just take them home with us or call the police.

"We should definitely call the police," Jake said.

"I think we should," Kelly said, "I mean, they stole our horses, so there's really no other option."

"I'll call them," Jeff said.

While Jeff was calling them, I heard voices coming down the other side of the barn. I motioned for him to hurry up.

"The police are coming," he quickly stated.

"Good," Jake and Kelly said simultaneously.

Now the voices were getting closer.

"Hey, look, I see people," said a man.

"But we're closed, lets see if we can help them," a woman said.

Before I could think this through, I heard police sirens.

The police quickly entered the barn.

"They're over there," said Jake.

The police ran over and put hand cuffs on the two people.

" These are the people that stole your horses," one policeman questioned.

"What?" I heard the woman say.

"Yes, that's them," said Jeff.