One question: were you even a real horse girl if you weren’t absolutely traumatised by Cobalt’s death as a child? Anyway, the episode begins with Carole and Starlight doing some jumps. Everyone is cheering for them, and Carole’s dad, Mitch, is videoing her lesson. Carole thinks it’s cringe, I think it’s completely endearing. Doctor Judy pops by the stables to check on Delilah and tells Carole that her work study has been approved, and she gets to be a trainee vet. Carole is thrilled. Cue opening credits.
We are now watching some kid named Sam doing a round of jumps. Now, AFAIK we the viewers have never met Sam before, but he's apparently the best thing at Pine Hollow since sliced bread, and everyone thinks he's a fantastic rider. Veronica gets all jealous, and she takes the jumps too fast because she's reckless and wants to show off. Max yells at her to slow down, but she doesn’t listen. Max scolds her and says she’s lucky neither she or Cobalt broke their necks (foreshadowing!) Now, at this point I feel like Max should’ve imposed some consequences for Veronica’s actions, but he seems to leave it at a verbal warning. Because Veronica’s always been so receptive to those.
Mitch congratulates Carole on her upcoming work experience, and puts on some old video tapes of Carole and her mum to watch together. Carole's mother has passed away, and it turns out she was a vet, which explains Carole’s interest in becoming one. Carole isn’t able to watch the video and leaves, a nice little bit of foreshadowing that her way of dealing with grief is by avoiding it.
Stevie and Lisa ask Carole if she’s excited about getting to work with Judy. (An aside: You’ll notice that Carole’s outfit for her first day of work experience is almost identical to the one her mother is wearing in the video tape. It would totally make sense for Carole to want to dress like her mum for her first day of 'work.' Props to whoever was in charge of costumes, this is a nice little moment of attention to detail!) Carole is super excited, but soon finds out that being a vet isn’t at all like she expected. She has to wrangle an angry pig, gets chased by cows, and is thrown up on by a puppy. She’s quickly feels like she's failing, and becomes disenchanted with the idea of becoming a vet.
Veronica arrives for a riding lesson with Max, only to find that he’s already giving Sam one on Pepper. Max says he hopes that Veronica doesn't mind sharing her lesson time, because Sam was sick last week and this was their only chance to make it up. Veronica passive-aggressively complains about the fact that her parents paid for a private lesson and, look: I have to say that Veronica’s in the right here. If she’s paid for a private lesson, then it’s fair to expect that. If Max needed to change it, he should’ve told her ahead of time. Veronica once again takes the jumps too fast and once again Max yells at her and then imposes zero further consequences. (I would say if a student was repeatedly riding dangerously and ignoring instructions, you should suspend them from riding until further notice, but apparently that doesn’t happen at Pine Hollow.)
Veronica gets pissy about Sam being such a great rider, and challenges him to a jump off.
Carole arrives back at home. Stevie and Lisa tell her about the jump off, but Carole’s too tired and unhappy to really engage with them. Her dad then tries to give her her mother’s vet bag (is there a technical name for these?) but Carole refuses, saying she doesn’t want to be a vet anymore. The next morning, Mitch tells her it's her decision, but that she needs to tell Judy that she wants to quit herself. I have to say, in contrast to Mrs. Atwood's repeated antics (see: the time she went full Karen on the children she almost hit with her car and threatening to send her daughter to boarding school for failing one test), it's refreshing to see some actual good parenting happening on this show. Carole tries to tell Judy, but Judy's in a rush to their next vet job and doesn't have time to chat.
Veronica is ordering clothes on the phone (that’s the early 2000s for you!) and Red suggests that she should be practising for the jump off. Apparently Max thinks Sam’s doing great, so Veronica should practise, too. Veronica doesn’t care enough to actually do this, although she does set up some miniature jumps using her food, with fries as the jump rails, which is quite funny. Kristi wants to go for a ride on Delilah, but Red explains that she can't because she needs another check-up.
Carole, Stevie, and Lisa go to watch the jump-off. Max, of course, is nowhere to be seen. (Red clearly knew about the jump off! He should've told Max! Why did NOBODY put a stop to this?) Kristi tells Veronica that she needs to beat Sam’s time of 58 seconds. Veronica begins her round. Carole notes that Cobalt is moving stiffly, like he hasn't been properly warmed up. Cobalt clips a couple of jumps, Carole says she's going too fast. Veronica whips Cobalt to go faster, Carole shouts at her to stop, but Veronica doesn’t listen. Cobalt jumps and falls on the landing, going down. Everyone rushes to help, and Max FINALLY shows up. Veronica and Cobalt are both visibly injured. Kristi comforts Veronica, and The Saddle Club reassure Cobalt that he’s going to be just fine.
A tearful Veronica asks her father if Cobalt is going to be okay. She says she wants to stay with him, but her mother and Mrs. Reg insist on her going to the doctor. Judy explains to Mr. diAngelo that Cobalt’s fractured his leg, and that his chances of recovery are very slim. Mr. diAngelo agrees that Cobalt should be euthanised. Carole is devastated, shouting at Judy that vets are supposed to save animals, not kill them. She insists that Judy should try and save him, but the adults explain that it wouldn’t be fair to keep him alive, because he would always be in pain.
The Saddle Club say their goodbyes to Cobalt as he passes, and it then cuts to him galloping in slow-motion through a forest — the implication being his spirit is running free in the horsey afterlife, which, yes, is cheesy, but I’ll be honest here: I cried like a baby straight through the ending of this episode. I found this absolutely devastating as a kid and, as an adult, I still find it sad. I don't like animals being hurt, sue me!
Overall, I do think this is one of the show's stronger episodes. Carole's discovery that being a vet (and by extension, pet ownership in general) isn't all sunshine and rainbows nicely lays the groundwork for what she has to accept at the end: that the kindest thing for Cobalt is to say goodbye to him. Veronica is given actual depth here, which is good to see. If only the writers had kept it up for the rest of the season.
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