When all of Haley’s time goes to training her pony, keeping an eye on the prize causes problems in this third book in a contemporary middle grade series in the tradition of Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague . For months, Haley Duncan has been saving up to ride with her pony Wings in a clinic with a world-famous event rider. On top of that, she wants to make sure Wings is as fit and ready as he can be, which means extra trot sets before school and training and cleaning tack all weekend. So what if Haley’s friends complain that she doesn’t have time for them anymore? So what if she has to miss her very first ever school dance, or skip a favorite family tradition, or leave early from her BFF’s first boy-girl party? Everyone will get it when they see her in the Olympics someday. But when Haley’s overscheduled existence and exhaustion causes an accident, she may have to say good-bye to her dreams… Catherine Hapka has written more than one hundred books for children and adults. She has written for series as a ghostwriter and has also authored original titles. She lives in Pennsylvania. Chasing Gold CHAPTER 1 “EASY, WINGS,” HALEY DUNCAN MURMURED, shortening the reins to stop her pony from leaping into a canter as they crossed through an open gate into a large pasture. “We’re supposed to be doing trot sets this morning, remember? That means we need to actually, you know, trot.” The pony’s left ear swiveled back toward her, then focused once again on the large sycamore log lying halfway up a gentle slope just ahead. The log’s dappled bark was further dappled by shade from the rising sun hitting the tree line outside the pasture fence, making it look odd, but Haley knew that Wings wasn’t staring at the log because he was afraid. He wanted to jump it! Haley smiled as Wings trotted sideways in protest against her snug rein. This field was one of their favorite places to practice cross-country jumping. Haley, with help from her uncle and cousins, had built several sturdy practice jumps there over the past couple of years, and she couldn’t count the number of times she and Wings had schooled over their handmade cross-country course—sometimes with only wild birds and rabbits for company, like now, and other times dodging the feeder calves that rotated through this and several other pastures on her family’s Wisconsin farm. Wings snorted and tossed his head. His trot got springier as he tried again to move forward into a canter. It was obvious that he thought jumping was a much better idea than boring trot sets. “Oh, all right, you convinced me,” Haley said with a laugh. One of the things she loved about the lively Chincoteague pony was that he never kept his opinions to himself. “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to do just one. . . .” She loosened the reins and the pony immediately surged into a canter, his gaze fixed on the log. Haley grinned as they sailed over with at least a foot to spare. Wings loved jumping as much as she did, which made them a great team in their chosen sport of eventing. The feeling of galloping across a field and sailing over a jump, the thrill of flying through the air, totally at one with her horse, was what had gotten Haley hooked on the sport in the first place. But by now, Haley had been eventing long enough to know that loving to jump wasn’t enough. They’d never make it above beginner novice level if they spent all their riding time goofing off and jumping logs just for the heck of it, let alone make it to the top of the sport, as Haley dreamed of doing one day. Wings was already looking at the next jump, a stack of straw bales. But Haley brought him back to a trot and turned him in the opposite direction. “Sorry, boy.” She gave him a pat. “We have work to do. We both need to be fit enough not to embarrass ourselves in front of Zina Charles in a few weeks. Besides, we don’t have much time this morning—I still have chores to do before school.” She grimaced, suddenly remembering that she’d promised to take care of both Jake’s and Danny’s morning chores today in addition to her own. Not that she minded—every time she did her cousins’ chores, it was money in her pocket. And she still needed to save up more if she wanted to make it to that clinic. She still could hardly believe that Zina Charles was holding a clinic so close. Living out in the middle of nowhere, as her friend Tracey called it, Haley knew she was lucky that she only had to haul half an hour to the closest local eventing trainer. And now one of the superstars of the sport was coming to a farm just forty minutes away! From the first moment she’d heard about it, Haley had been determined to ride in that clinic—no matter what it took. She wasn’t afraid of hard work, and she’d barely noticed the extra chores until school had started a couple of weeks earlier. But these days she had to set her alarm early to get everything done, and this particular Tuesday morning she was especially tired, since her babysittin