“Hand? What does that mean?”
“It’s the traditional way of measuring horses,” Stevie explained. “A ‘hand’ is four inches—approximately the width of a person’s hand across the palm. The horse is measured at the withers, which is what the part right at the end of the mane is called. You could think of withers as being shoulders. Anyway, if you translate hands to feet, you’ll see that Cinnamon is sixty inches, and that’s just five feet.”
“So we can rule out a basketball career for her?” he joked.
Lisa laughed a little even though she didn’t think the joke was very funny. In spite of the swagger in his walk, she thought Skye was nervous. She hoped that laughing at his joke would make him feel better. It didn’t.
Skye held Cinnamon’s reins nervously. He eyed the saddle, and Lisa thought she knew exactly what was going through his head. He didn’t want to climb up. He didn’t want to ride. Mostly, he didn’t want to end up in the grass again. He looked Cinnamon in the eye. Cinnamon stared back at him, blankly. He took a tentative step forward. Cinnamon responded by stepping back one step. They stared at each other again. If it was to be a game of chicken, Lisa had the awful feeling Cinnamon would win.
“Remember how I showed you to hold the reins and mount yesterday, Skye?” Lisa asked, breaking up the staring contest between horse and rider. He shook his head.
Lisa walked over to her horse to demonstrate, easily swinging her right leg up and over the saddle. Skye tried to follow her example, but ended up sliding right off the other side. He dusted himself off, circled around to Cinnamon’s left side again, and studied his target. The look of fear on his face was gone. It had been replaced by determination. He took the reins, grasped the saddle, and hoisted himself up. It wasn’t smooth or beautiful, but he was on top of the horse, and that was progress.
“You’ll get better at that,” Lisa assured him. “Practice does it. For now, the important thing is that you’re in the saddle and we’re ready to go.”
Skye smiled at her and she had the feeling that he was summoning all of his acting skills to smile at that moment.
One of the stable hands opened the doors to the street, and the four riders turned their horses to leave the stable and head for New York’s Central Park. Lisa nudged her horse, a big bay gelding, and he responded eagerly. He wanted to get out into the park and have a nice ride.
Cinnamon, on the other hand, had apparently decided that the stable was a nicer place to be, especially if she didn’t have to pay any attention to her rider. While Lisa watched, Skye nudged his horse’s belly. She merely sighed. He waggled the reins. She shook her head. He kicked her belly. She took a step forward and then stopped. “Giddyup!” he said. She looked at him over her shoulder.
“Use the riding crop on her,” Lisa suggested. “Don’t hit her hard, just use it to remind her who is in charge.”
Skye tapped Cinnamon on her flank. It worked to a certain degree. She began walking slowly, but when he tried to get her to turn right to exit, she headed left.
“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all,” Skye said to Lisa. “I mean, maybe Cinnamon really deserves a morning in her nice comfortable stable instead of running all over the park, dumping me in fields, you know?”
Lisa looked at him and knew at that moment that he was absolutely serious. And she couldn’t help it. She burst into laughter.
“It’s not funny,” he said, a little hurt.
“I’m sorry,” Lisa said, still giggling. “But it won’t be funny if you get fired from the movie because the director learns you’re a phony, will it?”
Skye shook his head, and Lisa knew she had found the key. “Okay, let’s go,” he agreed. “I’m ready to learn.”
“Good,” Lisa said. “Because we’re ready to teach. Now, first of all, let’s get out of here.”
Once again, she showed Skye how to hold the reins and how to signal the horse to move so that the horse knew he meant business.
“You have to make Cinnamon do what you want her to,” Lisa explained. “Most horses are willing to obey their riders, but before they start doing everything you say, they want to know you mean it. That’s why it’s really important to make her follow your instructions. If you let her take one step forward when you’ve already told her to stay still, she’ll try taking two the next time and then three, then you’ll never be able to control her. I guess I mean it’s important to win the little battles so you never get into the big ones.”
Skye listened intently. He took a firm hold of the reins and aimed Cinnamon at the door. It worked. Their horses walked down the ramp and onto the city street. The four riders headed for the park. Cinnamon seemed to relax now that it was clear they had a goal. She knew the way to the park better than Skye did. The girls chatted with Skye as the horses walked easily, winding through the double-parked cars.
“Our plan for today is to take you up through a trot,” Carole said. “You’ll need to know how to balance yourself and how to post and then—”
“But all I have to learn is how to canter,” Skye said. “I don’t really have to trot, too, do I?”
“Oh, sure!” Carole responded instantly. “Trotting’s really important. And it’s essential to be able to trot before you learn cantering. That’s our goal, right, to have you be able to canter before the shoot at the end of the week?”
Skye nodded, but he didn’t speak right then because he was busy reining Cinnamon in. They’d come to a red light and the girls had stopped their horses. Cinnamon, however, seemed to want to keep going. Skye hauled back on the reins, pulling them into his chest.
It was hard to believe, but Skye Ransom—cool, suave Skye Ransom, the cute guy with the beautiful eyes, sweet nose, and even lovable ears—looked totally awkward yanking at Cinnamon’s reins. Lisa knew there was a lot of work to do.
“How much time are we going to have today?” she asked. “I mean, when do you have to be on the set?” She liked saying “on the set.” It sounded so exciting.
“I’m not due on the set until late this afternoon,” he said. “I was planning on riding until about four—”
“Oh, no way!” Stevie said. “You can’t do that much riding, and we have to be at the show by noon.”
“Well, if you have to go, it’s okay,” Skye said. “I’ll just keep on after you go.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Stevie said. “First of all, you are going to be so sore!” All the girls laughed. “And you can only learn so much in one day, probably about two hours’ worth. So, we should ride some today, some tomorrow, some the next day. It’s like a little bit goes a long way.”
The light changed and the four of them proceeded into the park. The horses seemed to become more lively as soon as they reached the bridle path. Lisa loved it when she could feel her horse get excited about riding. The bay tensed, eager to get going. Cinnamon did the same thing, too. Lisa could tell by the whiteness of Skye’s knuckles grasping the horse’s reins.
“Relax,” she said. “This is the fun part.”
She didn’t hear his answer.
Carole took over as teacher in charge of Skye. Stevie led the group, Carole and Skye came next. Lisa brought up the rear. Since Carole was the best rider and had the most experience working with new riders, including both Stevie and Lisa when they had just started, she was the best teacher. Lisa watched, remembering.
Riding had become so natural to Lisa that she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be as scared as Skye, and as ignorant. She watched while Carole demonstrated posting, showing Skye what to do with his hands, and what not to do with them. She was carefully preparing him to trot his horse. She was also preparing him to canter, but he didn’t even know it. One thing Lisa had learned was that riding knowledge was cumulative. Everything you learned was necessary to know before you could learn the next thing.
Stevie, at the front, had set the pace at a walk. When the path opened up, she began trotting.
“Are you ready?” Carole as
ked Skye. He shrugged.
“Either you are ready or you’re not,” Carole said sternly. “If you want to do something, we’ll do it. If you don’t, we’ll wait. You are the one in charge, both of the pace of this lesson, and of your horse.”
He looked sheepish. “Well, I have the feeling I ought to trot, but I’m not really sure I understand about posting. Can you show me again before we trot?”
Carole smiled and glanced over her shoulder at Lisa. “He’s learning!” she announced proudly. It was true, too. Lisa knew that a real sign of learning was not being afraid to ask for help. Carole then carefully went through the description of posting. As she demonstrated posting, she brought her horse to a trot. In a perfectly natural way, to keep up with Carole, Skye got his horse to trot, too, and probably before he knew what he was doing, he began trotting—and posting.
“Up, down. Up, down,” Carole chanted.
Lisa watched, proud as a parent. Carole was a wonderful teacher and she was right: Skye was learning a lot.
“Heels down, calves in,” Carole instructed him. “Now bring your hands in toward your hips. Hold them steady. Eyes forward, loosen up those knees.”
Every time Carole gave an instruction, Skye tried to follow it. Lisa could see that he’d follow it all right, but he’d immediately forget all the other instructions she’d given. As soon as his calves gripped the horse, his heels bounced up. Hands came in okay, but his legs would start flopping. Lisa smiled to herself. It was hard to follow a dozen instructions at once!
Carole was tireless, though. “Shoulders back, chin up. No, no, hold your hands in place. You’re not on a merry-go-round horse! If you waggle the reins like that the horse gets confused. Heels down! Watch the angle of your knees! Forearms parallel to the ground! Square the shoulders!”
“What is this? A geometry lesson?” Skye asked, struggling with the instructions. Carole laughed at his joke, but she didn’t let it interrupt the lesson. She brought him and Cinnamon to a halt and went over proper riding position again. Lisa could see that he was trying very hard, but she knew that these weren’t things a rider could learn in a day, no matter how hard he worked.
When Carole thought he was ready to move again, they began trotting. It wasn’t show form. It wasn’t even very good form, but it was better form, and that was good enough for his first lesson. Carole sighed with relief.
It was Stevie’s turn. She worked with him on stops and starts and subtle signals.
“Horses really like it better if you don’t kick them or yank at the reins,” Stevie said. Then she spent some time working with Skye on hand, leg, and crop signals. At first, he got terribly confused and couldn’t remember whether he was supposed to press or release to tell Cinnamon to speed up.
“Look, some of this will only come with time,” Stevie said. “We don’t have a lot of it so pretend you’ve been taking lessons for six months instead of a few hours, okay?”
Skye smiled at her joke. Lisa thought it was probably his first real smile of the day.
“Okay, so when I want him, I mean her, to move, I sit down into the saddle. Then, when I want her to stop, I sit down into the saddle. And, if I want to turn, I sit down into the saddle? Seems pretty clear-cut to me—as long as Cinnamon is a mind reader!” Skye said. He sounded like he was joking, but the exasperation was clear.
“Did I say that?” Stevie asked Lisa.
“More or less,” Lisa said. Then she turned to Skye. “The worst part is that it’s about true. I think it would be helpful to remember that the horse’s back is sensitive, and when you shift the way you sit in the saddle, it alerts the horse that something’s up. Then when you add another small signal …”
Lisa saw the confused look on Skye’s face and tried to explain it in another way he might understand. “Listen, you’re an actor—you know how important your small gestures are to an audience. Sometimes, something like a raised eyebrow can mean a whole lot more than if you’re jumping all over the stage.” She paused, and Skye grinned.
“And if you combine a raised eyebrow with another small gesture like shrugging your shoulders, it can mean something very different,” Lisa continued. “Well, it’s the same with horses. Small signals are very important in riding. If you combine a weight shift with a leg or hand signal, it tells the horse you mean business. Does that make more sense?”
Skye thought for a while. “I suppose so,” he said. His tone was one of resigned determination. Lisa sensed it was time to quit for the day. There was no way he could soak in as much information as he’d already gotten, so giving him more wasn’t going to do any good.
“Let’s give him a break now, guys, okay?” Lisa suggested. That made Skye smile again. “It’s time to go back to the stable.”
The group walked their horses together and chatted. As long as the subject was horses, The Saddle Club never ran out of things to talk about. Carole reminded the girls that they’d better hurry after their ride to be sure to get to the horse show by the time the afternoon session began.
“You’re really going to it?” Skye asked.
The girls nodded. “Oh, yes!” Carole said. “That’s why we’re really here—to watch Dorothy DeSoto jump. She’s really famous, and a former student of our teacher, Max. And you know, you should come, too! It would be a great way for you to learn—especially an actor like you. You’re really good at imitating things you’ve seen. Like the way you swaggered when you came into the stable today, slapping your leg with your crop. Imagine what you can learn from real riders.”
“She’s right,” Stevie told him. “It would be great experience for you—and it would be too dangerous trying to ride by yourself this afternoon. Besides, you’ll be very sore where you sit down if you try to ride any more today, anyway.”
Skye looked at Lisa to see if the vote was unanimous. “I agree,” Lisa said, smiling at him. “This is going to be my first real horse show, but I’ve learned a lot watching good riders—and these are the best.”
“Well, you’ve convinced me,” Skye said. “We’ll go to the horse show together. And if it turns out that the best part about it is that sitting there means I’m not sitting here,”—he pointed to the saddle—“that’s still good enough for me!”
The four of them laughed as they walked their horses out of the park to return to the stable. Lisa thought, as they walked back, how lucky she was. Not only was she horse crazy, but she had lots of opportunities to ride. Poor Skye. Not only was he not horse crazy, but he had to ride even when he didn’t want to. She remembered how she’d hated having to take piano and ballet lessons. But when you loved something—like riding—you didn’t care how much you had to practice. Lisa hoped that seeing the championship riders at the show would help give him the inspiration he’d need, because without inspiration, he wasn’t ever going to fool anybody about his riding.
THE GIRLS DECIDED to wear their street clothes to the horse show. Skye would wear his riding clothes. He looked a little funny traveling around the city in breeches, high boots, and a velvet-covered hat, but as Stevie pointed out, it accomplished two things. In the first place, nobody recognized him. Secondly, everybody at Madison Square Garden would assume he was a competitor and let him straight in. The girls had their passes. They had already agreed to meet Max and Mrs. Reg in the stable area by noon.
Getting there by noon was no trouble. Skye’s studio had provided him with an enormous black limousine, which was waiting outside the stables when they returned from the park.
“Wow!” the girls said in one breath as the driver hopped out to open the door for Skye.
“Well,” Lisa said reluctantly, “I guess well meet you at the horse show—”
“Are you kidding?” Skye interrupted. “You’ve got to come with me!”
Stevie didn’t need to be asked twice. “All right!” she crowed as she bounded inside the stretch limousine. Carole followed more sedately, but her dark eyes were wide and shining. When Lisa slid in behind her, Stevie whispered, “I w
ish Miss Veronica diAngelo could see us now. She’d be absolutely green!” Laughing, The Saddle Club agreed that it was true. Veronica was a snobby girl who rode at Pine Hollow Stables. Just because her father owned the local bank, she acted as if he owned the whole town, too!
Skye joined them, and the car pulled smoothly away from the curb. “All set?” he asked the girls.
“You bet!” Stevie answered for them.
Lisa just smiled and leaned back against the soft leather seats. So this is what it felt like to be famous. She could get used to this. Definitely.
AFTER THE SADDLE Club girls got tired of staring out the windows at the city streets, the foursome settled back and watched game shows on the car’s television. Stevie rooted around in the mini refrigerator for some sodas and Skye found some munchies. All too soon the driver pulled up in front of the side entrance of Madison Square Garden.
“Life in Willow Creek is going to be so dull after this!” Stevie complained, stepping out of the limo. She saw that there was a small group of people who had paused on the sidewalk, hoping for a glance at someone famous who might emerge from the limousine. Several people looked at her curiously. It was all the encouragement she needed. She smiled brightly. They smiled back. She nodded and then waved. They waved back. Behind her, Lisa, Carole, and Skye exited from the limo and headed for the side door.
“Thanks for the lift,” Skye said to Stevie loud enough for people to hear it. That made them think it really was Stevie’s car. It was her cue and she wrote the script as she went along.
“Anytime,” Stevie said graciously. “As a matter of fact, you can have this old car. See, the Porsche’s been in the shop but the new Rolls arrives tomorrow …”
The crowd around Stevie got bigger. They looked at her in awe. She added cars to her repertoire. “… and the Corvette? Well, the brakes were really shot. I mean, when you need a Lamborghini, a Corvette just won’t do!” Somehow, Stevie kept a straight face. She was about to launch into a monologue on the advantages of her small jet over her large one when a girl about her own age stepped out of the crowd.
Horse Show Page 5