Note to self: Sometimes life is so unfair. For people-and for horses.

Winnie Willis has already answered eight horse e-mails for the Pet Help Line. Now she's stumped. She can't think of anything to tell someone whose biggest problem is that her parents care too much about her life. After all, Winnie's dad has been so tied up lately with his inventions and his "friend, " Madeline, that they've barely talked.

When a buckskin disappears from the run-down Happy Trails stable, Winnie and friend Kaylee investigate-and find out what it truly means to be "part of a herd."