When Leonard Dawkins hears about a newborn sorrel
filly that has recently been orphaned, he knows he has to rescue her—otherwise,
she will end up dead, as well. Len and his sister, Lynn, hatch a plan to talk
their parents into letting them ask their neighbor, Mr. Carey, if they can take
the little filly, Ginger, and try to save her. Though he believes it to be a
lost cause, Mr. Carey agrees—and their adventure begins!
Len and Lynn enclose an old corn crib to make
Ginger’s new home. They do everything they know to give her a good place to
live with them—but they have a lot to learn. With very little money to buy the
things Ginger needs, they have to come up with some ingenious ideas to make
sure she gets the care she needs.
When Len meets another boy who owns a horse, he
learns that he can enter Ginger in a local horse show. Will Ginger win a blue
ribbon? Len and Lynn learn that winning doesn’t always mean what they thought
it did—and that love can be the greatest reward of all.
EXCERPT
“It was the last time I
looked, John. That was yesterday some time, I don’t suppose there’s any reason
for it to have died since. Unless it got whatever sickness took the mare. Kept
it shut away from the other stock, just in case.”
The children’s hearts
were racing now. It might be— probably was—still alive somewhere in one of Mr.
Carey’s buildings. It just had to be all right. It had to be.
“The reason I’m asking,”
their father went on for them, “Len and Lynn, here, think they can bottle-raise
a foal. I told them it’d likely die anyway, but it might teach them something,
either way.”
“Mmm. You can’t hardly
raise a foal that way. Not like you can a calf or a pig. They don’t take to it,
seems like. Cow’s milk, milk replacer, and such is too rich for them to handle.
They do pretty good for a week or two an’ then go down. It ain’t worth the time
an’ expense, I figure.”
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