Reboot Ranch
Reboot Ranch
by Eileen Watkins
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ISBN-10: 194604475X
ISBN-13: 978-1946044754
Summary
Two years ago, Anna Loehmeyer’s comfortable life fell apart when her husband was arrested for fraud. She found a new purpose when she rescued a mare bound for slaughter, and after acquiring two more hard-luck equines and a small farm, Anna started a horse-rescue operation. The only person eager to help is her teenage niece MJ, who recently lost her beloved father. Depressed and rebellious, she persuades her mother to let her spend a summer at the rescue farm, because her Aunt Anna is “the only adult I know who’s doing anything meaningful.”
Soon Anna and MJ recognize a kinship, beyond family ties, in their love of horses and desire to save them from abusive situations. Their best hope for an adoption success story, though, could also be their greatest challenge. Murphy, an ex-racehorse almost put down for injuring a jockey, loves to jump, even without a rider. But is he too dangerous for them to retrain for a new career? For the sake of the farm and their cause, both independent women may have to swallow some stubborn pride and learn when to ask for help.
Novel Excerpt
The trailer lurched sideways and Anna dodged around to check what was happening. The horse had shoved his big, gray head out the narrow emergency door and virtually trapped Clint, who gripped the animal’s halter.
Still, he shouted to Anna, “I’m okay. He got himself loose in there. Just open up the back.”
She hurried to do so, before “Murphy” could try to force his way out the safety door and maybe injure Clint in the process. She swung open the rear door and saw that the dapple-gray horse had wedged himself at an angle. He had no choice but to come out in reverse.
Fortunately, Murphy grasped that concept and yanked his head free of the small emergency door. Anna had barely jumped aside before the gray scrambled backwards out of the trailer. He pivoted and galloped in the direction of the house, headed for the main gate and the road.
“Shut the gate, shut the gate!” Clint yelled.
But Anna was as far from it as he was, and neither had a prayer of outrunning a fit, off-the-track Thoroughbred.
MJ still stood near the house, though, and sprang into action. She ran for the wide, metal-pipe gate.
The sight of her niece dashing into the path of a rogue horse terrified Anna. “MJ, no.”
The girl already had started to push the gate, though, and the tall, moving barrier confused Murphy. Just as he thundered up to it, it clanged shut. He slid to a stop like a roping pony, and half-sat that way for a second. Then he wheeled and took off again, at a more controlled speed, in the opposite direction toward the paddocks.
Anna breathed a little easier. At least for the moment, the horse was headed away from MJ and couldn’t get off the property.
Her tractor, with the front-end loader attached, stood at a right angle to the fence line just before the paddocks. Since it measured about five feet high and almost as wide, Anna figured that would stop Murphy. She and Clint ran in that direction.
But as the big gray neared the obstacle, he just flicked his ears toward it. Then he tucked his legs and leaped, clearing the tractor with inches to spare.
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