THE SLIDING DOOR ON the barn was open, the door pushed all the way back on its track. All of the stall doors were open too, the stalls empty. Several sets of hoof-shaped tracks led away from the open door, into the woods.
“Horses don’t like to step outside their comfort zone.” Nita told them. “They’re used to coming out of the barn and going a certain way. It looks like they at least started out on the trail. Unless something happens to spook them off the trail they should hopefully stick to it until it opens out to the meadow beside the lake. If we’re lucky we’ll find them digging in the snow around the lake, looking for grass.”
They grabbed halters, lead ropes, and scoops of grain to bribe the horses with and started off on foot after deciding the ranch’s utility vehicle would only spo
