Johnny Mohawk

by Oldfield, Jenny

• ISBN13: 9781402217036
• ISBN10: 140221703X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Summary

Kirstie Scott knows her beloved horses are friendly and gentle, so when a guest at Half Moon Ranch accuses Johnny Mohawk of throwing him, she is positive that he is lying. Now Kirstie must convince everyone that Johnny Mohawk is not to blame before her family is sued and Johnny is forced to leave the ranch. Can Kirstie prove Johnny Mohawk@s innocence before it@s too late? Don@t Miss the Horses of Half Moon Ranch, an incredible new horse series: Johnny Mohawk Third-Time Lucky Midnight Lady Rodeo Rocky Wild Horses About the Series: Kirstie Scott lives with her family at Half Moon Ranch where her entire life is consumed by an undying love for horses. She finds the wild and dangerous terrain enticing and spends her afternoons riding through the tall forests and deep canyons. Kirstie always finds adventure in nature and never has a dull day. Join Kirstie and her friends for four more action-packed adventures in this popular horse series. What readers are saying about the Horses of Half Moon Ranch: "...this series is going to make quite a few little horse-crazy girls very, very happy!" "This story is one that I enjoyed. I hope that the author will continue to display such talent in writing." "The detail and story line is great. I would recommend to any horse lover!" "A wonderful story. This is a good read for any horse lover. I enjoyed it a lot." "Thought that I would read this book because I have read other books by this author and I love horses. I couldn@t put this book down! An exciting and gripping read."

Excerpts

<p>"Yee-hah!" Brad Jensen galloped Silver Flash into the corral. He reined the big sorrel mare to a sliding stop, kicked his feet from the stirrups, and vaulted to the ground.</p><p>Kirstie Scott and Lisa Goodman leaned on the fence and watched the young Texan rider. "Pretty fancy," Kirstie murmured. Brad had put the strong quarter horse through her paces on the stretch of level pasture by Five Mile Creek. He'd trotted her into the clear, shallow water, then loped her toward the ranch, raising a spray that shone like a million diamonds in the bright sunlight.</p><p>Lisa pulled down the peak of her baseball cap to shield her eyes. Brad was now hitching Silver Flash to a rail between Cadillac and Moose, his heeled boots and fringed leather chaps dripping from the charge along the river bank. "Yeah; fancy boots, fancy chaps." She was evidently trying hard not to look impressed.</p><p>"Jeez, no; I was looking at Silver Flash's footwork." Kirstie wasn't the least bit interested in the fifteenyear- old dude rider. Brad might be tall and lean, with short, fair hair and contrasting dark brown eyes, and he was a frequent visitor with his fourteen-year-old brother, Troy. But it was the horse who stole her attention. "For a big mare with a long stride, she sure can turn and stop on a silver dollar!"</p><p>". . . As Hadley would say." Lisa grinned and jerked her head toward the old wrangler who was the chief help at Half Moon Ranch. Today was Sunday, the start of a week's vacation for a bunch of twenty or so paying guests. It was time for Hadley Crane's introductory talk.</p><p>"Now, y'all need to respect your horse," Hadley was telling the group. "Don't go kicking him too hard or dragging at his mouth to get your own way." He stood by the door of the tack room beside a board with a list of horses' names chalked on it. After the talk, he would allocate a horse to each guest by asking a few brief questions and choosing a mount to suit the rider.</p><p>The nervous first-time visitors bunched together at the gate to the corral. They had fl own in from cities in the East. Most worked in offices, schools, and hospitals and had never seen the snow on the peaks of the Rockies or the sparkling, blue-green mountain lakes except in holiday brochures and on TV. Many had never been on a horse.</p><p>Hadley's gaze flicked coolly from one to the next. "Click, don't kick," he told them in a low, slow drawl. "When you want your horse to walk, click your tongue at him. When you want him to trot, click again."</p><p>"Hey, Kirstie. Hey, Lisa!" Brad Jensen ignored the talk and came to lean on the fence next to the girls.</p><p>"Hey," they murmured back without looking at him.</p><p>"What's the instruction when you want the horse to canter?" a man at the back of the group asked Hadley. The speaker was short, middle-aged, and slightly built, dressed in jeans and a white polo shirt. His voice didn't sound American.</p><p>" You English?" Hadley asked.</p><p>"Irish," came the reply.</p><p>A boy of about Brad's age stood next to the man, looking as if he wished he was somewhere else.</p><p>"What d'you reckon—father and son?" Lisa whispered. The man and boy looked alike, with the same wavy dark hair and light gray eyes.</p><p>" Yep." Kirstie had already glanced at the list of guests. "Paddy and Stevie Kane from Macgillycuddy Reeks, County Kerry."</p><p>"Macgill-y . . .what?" Brad twisted his tongue around the strange name.</p><p>"Hey," Kirstie warned, "I want to listen to Hadley!" She didn't, but she wanted Brad to shut up.</p><p>"Well, now, here in America, we don't canter; we lope," the ranch hand drawled. "And when we ask our horse to lope, we give him a kissing sound."</p><p>"Kiss, kiss! " Brad's brother, Troy, came up from behind, lunged at Lisa, then swung his<br>leg over the top rail. He straddled the fence and jammed his white Stetson down over his forehead, ready to laugh and joke his way through Hadley's talk.</p><p>" Yuck, Troy!" Lisa complained. She pretended to wipe her freckled cheek.</p><p>" 'Yuck, Troy!' " he echoed. Brad grinned. "Kiss the horse, baby brother, not the girl!"</p><p>"Not this girl, leastways!" Tossing her auburn curls, Lisa made a show of walking off through the gate into the corral.</p><p>Kirstie followed. "Pity the poor horse," she muttered. Troy and Brad were OK as far as horsemanship skills went, but as people, they got on her nerves.</p><p>"Troy's on Yukon for the week, right?" Lisa stopped beside the pretty brown and white appaloosa mare tethered along the row from Silver Flash and gave her a sympathetic pat.</p><p>"Right." Kirstie tuned in again to Hadley's talk. She noticed that the Kane father had chosen to stand to one side since his question about loping. He'd folded his arms and taken on a superior frown, as if he'd heard it all before. The son, however, had stayed with the group.</p><p>"When you're out on the trail, we want you to take care of yourselves," Hadley went on, stepping down from the boardwalk outside the tack room and into the middle of the bunch. "We ride in a line. . .that's single file to you folks from Ireland. . .and we don't pass the horse in front, 'cause that's gonna upset that other horse a little bit."</p><p>The group parted to let the wrangler through. He paused beside a couple of teenage girls who were staying with their parents at Brown Bear Cabin on the road out toward Hummingbird Rock.</p><p>"So, how long have you folks been riding?" Hadley asked them.</p><p>The girls, Carole and Linda Holgate, let the wrangler know that this was their fi rst time at a dude ranch. Scanning the list of names, he chose two quiet, steady quarter horses who'd been in the remuda at Half Moon Ranch since Sandy Scott had set up the business fi ve years earlier. Then he moved on briskly to Stevie Kane.</p>