May picked up her pencil, but instead of starting the homework, she picked up the walkie-talkie and signaled to her best friend.
“Hi, May,” Jasmine answered right away.
“How did everybody like your diorama?” May asked.
“It was really good—especially because I met a girl in a blue jacket who fixed the doll’s head. Remember the blue jacket I used to have—my favorite one? She wore one just like it.” Jasmine told May all about her hard morning and the girl who had come to her rescue. “It was the weirdest thing. She used a hoofpick to fix the doll’s head!”
“What a great idea,” May said. “Who is this girl?”
“I don’t know. I never saw her before,” Jasmine said. “And she disappeared before I could ask her her name.”
“I guess this is the day for rescues,” said May. “A nice girl with the prettiest black hair helped me out. Wil McNally was being a pain as usual—”
“What’s that?” Jasmine interrupted.
“What’s what?” asked May.
“There’s a light shining at the back door of the Duttons’ house. Can you see it?”
May looked out the window of her room. It was completely dark out there. She couldn’t see anything. But she heard something.
She listened. It was dogs barking. She started to tell Jasmine when she heard the weird howl again.
“Aaah-ooooooooow!”
May shut her eyes tightly.
“May!” Jasmine said. “Do you see that?”
“What?” May opened her eyes. Now the back door of the Duttons’ house was open, and a tall figure of a woman in a long flowing robe stood there.
“Is it a … ghost?” Jasmine whispered.
Before May could answer, the figure hurried across the backyard to the stable.
“I think it’s a mad scientist!” May replied. “And whoever it is is using Joey’s barn as a laboratory!”
9 The New Girl
On Saturday Judy Barker came to check on Macaroni again. May waited nervously as the vet ran her hand down Macaroni’s sore leg.
All the riders at Pine Hollow and Horse Wise liked Judy Barker. She loved their horses and ponies almost as much as their riders did. She also expected the owners to take responsibility for their horses, no matter how young the owners were. With Judy’s help, May had learned how to check a pony’s pulse and respiration before she could read. She had learned those things with her first pony, Luna. Now she had Macaroni and she was still learning.
“The leg is almost all better,” Judy finally announced. “You’ve done a great job with him, May.”
“Can I ride yet?” May asked.
“Not today,” said Judy. “Tomorrow he’ll be ready for a ride—a nice gentle ride. Maybe a trail ride and picnic in the woods.”
May laughed. Her mother must have told Judy about the picnic she and Jasmine wanted to have. And now they could go. May couldn’t wait to tell Jasmine.
Later that morning May hurried into the tack room at Pine Hollow. That was where the horses’ saddles and bridles were stored. That was also where this week’s meeting was being held. Jasmine was already there, sitting on the floor. May started to wave to her, then stopped and stared. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There, standing right next to Jasmine, was the girl with the straight black hair who had helped May wrap Macaroni’s leg!
“May! Come meet the girl who fixed my doll’s head!” Jasmine called.
“No way!” May replied. “She’s the girl who wrapped Macaroni’s leg!”
“No! She’s the …”
The girl laughed and held up her hands to quiet May and Jasmine. “I think I should introduce myself,” she said. “My name is Corey Takamura and you’re both right. I fixed the doll’s head and wrapped the pony’s leg.” Then she smiled her nice smile. “I may even have another surprise for you.”
Max suddenly stepped over to the girls. “I see you three have met.”
“Yes, and it’s a funny story, too,” May began. “Wait’ll we tell you—”
“Later,” he said. “Right now, I wonder if you two girls could show Corey around Pine Hollow before our meeting. Then we’ll put her on a pony and see how she does.”
“Sure thing, Max,” May said.
Pine Hollow was a stable with a lot of traditions. One of the traditions was that the old riders showed new riders the ropes. May and Jasmine were only too happy to take their new friend around.
First, they led Corey to the feed storage building.
“I should have known you’d come to Pine Hollow,” May told Corey after she pointed out bags of grain. “Anyone who can wrap a pony’s leg like you can just has to be in a Pony Club.”
May and Jasmine showed Corey how the hay was stacked.
Corey said, “I’ve been riding all my life, but I’ve never belonged to a Pony Club. I’m crazy about riding, and I’m really crazy about my pony. And there’s something else—”
“You have a pony, too?” Jasmine asked, interrupting Corey.
“Yep. His name is Samurai,” she said. “But I call him Sam. Speaking of ponies, how is Macaroni’s leg?”
“Much better,” May answered. “This morning the vet said he’s ready for an easy ride. Isn’t that great, Jasmine?”
Jasmine nodded. “Outlaw will be very happy about that.” Then she turned to Corey. “Outlaw is my pony. He’s a liver chestnut with a white face that looks like a mask. He lives in the stable behind my house. May has a barn in her backyard, too. Where does Samurai live?”
“Well, we have a stable now,” Corey said. “In fact—”
“I think we’d better hurry up.” May suddenly realized the tour of Pine Hollow was taking much too long. “Let’s get back to the stable and introduce you to some of Pine Hollow’s ponies. They’re really nice, though not as nice as Outlaw and Macaroni,” she added loyally.
The girls walked out of the feed storage building and back to the stable.
“I can’t wait to meet Outlaw,” said Corey.
“He’ll be here next week for the mounted meeting and the mounted games against Cross County Pony Club. Can you play, too?” Jasmine asked.
“Sure,” said Corey. “But what’s a mounted meeting and what are we going to play?”
“A mounted meeting means we’re on our horses at Horse Wise. Today we have an unmounted meeting. At Horse Wise, there are mounted meetings every other week,” Jasmine explained.
“Mounted games means we play games on horseback. The ones we’ll be playing next week are like relay races,” said May.
“There’s so much to learn,” said Corey with a sigh.
“There sure is,” Jasmine agreed. “But here comes the best part—the ponies.”
May and Jasmine took Corey to the stalls where Pine Hollow’s ponies lived.
“At Pine Hollow, they name the ponies after small change,” Jasmine explained.
“This is Penny.” May introduced Corey to a copper-colored chestnut pony. Corey patted Penny, but Penny didn’t seem to notice. She was much more interested in munching on some hay.
“And here’s Dime,” Jasmine told her. Dime was a silver-colored pony who stayed in the corner of his stall until the girls passed by.
“He’s shy,” Jasmine went on.
Corey nodded, as if she understood that.
“Nickel is my favorite,” said Jasmine. “He’s the first pony I rode here.”
“Me too,” said May. Nickel was a gray pony.
“He’s got the sweetest face!” Corey patted Nickel’s soft nose.
“And he’s the easiest pony in the world to ride,” said May. “He does whatever a rider wants him to do—even if the rider forgets to tell him.”
The girls went on through the stable. There was a Shetland pony named Ha’penny and a Mexican pony named Peso. Corey seemed to like every one of them. She patted them, hugged them, and talked to them just the way Jasmine and May did. One thing was very clear to Jasmine and May: Corey was just as pony crazy as t
hey were!
“There’s one more thing we need to show you,” Jasmine said. “It’s the good-luck horseshoe. Whenever we have a mounted meeting, you have to touch the horseshoe before the meeting begins.”
“Nobody who has ever touched the horseshoe has gotten seriously hurt,” May explained. “It protects us.”
“Like magic?” Corey asked.
“Exactly,” said May.
“Maybe.” Jasmine shrugged. “The Saddle Club says it’s not magic; it’s common sense. When you touch the good-luck horseshoe, it reminds you to ride safely.”
“Makes sense,” said Corey. “But what’s The Saddle Club?”
“That’s what three of the older girls here call themselves,” said Jasmine. “They’re best friends who are also the best riders in Horse Wise. Their names are Carole Hanson, Lisa Atwood, and Stevie Lake.”
“You’ll get to know them,” said May. “They help us out a lot. And Max counts on them.”
“Actually, Max counts on everybody,” May said. “If you don’t like work, you won’t like riding at Pine Hollow.”
Corey smiled. “I don’t mind work that has to do with ponies and horses,” she said.
“Good,” said May. “Max makes us work so we’ll learn. It also helps to keep costs down. That’s good for everybody.”
“Pine Hollow seems like a perfect stable,” said Corey as the girls led her back to the tack room.
“Especially if you’re pony crazy,” Corey and May said at the same time.
Jasmine laughed. “You two have to say ‘Jake.’ ”
May started to explain, but Corey already knew. She and May gave one another high fives and low fives, then and shouted “Jake!” together.
On their way into the tack room, May and Jasmine were thinking the same thing. Even though they’d just met Corey, it felt as if they’d known her all their lives.
“You know,” Corey began, “there’s something else you don’t know about me—”
“Horse Wise, come to order!” Max called. Inside the tack room, the meeting was about to begin.
“We have to go in and sit down,” said Jasmine. “Max hates it when riders are late to Horse Wise. Tell us later, okay?”
“Okay,” Corey promised. “I will.”
10 A New Teammate
Max began the Pony Club meeting by talking about the mounted games. He pulled out a sheet of paper.
“Horse Wise and Cross County will each have three teams,” he said. “Not everybody will be able to ride this time. Some people will be rooting for the team.”
All the riders groaned. Max held up one hand to silence everyone. “Remember, if you’re not riding, you’re still working for the Horse Wise team. There’s plenty for everybody to do.”
May sat up nervously. With Joey Dutton gone, Max might decide not to use their team.
Max looked at his paper. “The senior team will be Lisa, Carole, Stevie, and Veronica.”
That made sense. They were the four best riders at Horse Wise, even if nobody liked Veronica very much.
“The intermediate team will be Meg, April, Betsy, and Adam,” said Max.
May looked at Jasmine. Would they be riding or rooting? She didn’t think rooting would be nearly as much fun as riding. Jasmine looked nervous, too.
“And the junior team will be May, Jasmine, Jackie, and our newest member, Corey Takamura,” Max finished.
May and Jasmine began clapping excitedly. Their new friend was going to be their teammate, too!
“Okay, okay,” said Max. “Now, I know you four haven’t had a chance to ride as a team. I want you to saddle up the ponies now and practice before our lunch break. Stevie, you’ll help them out, won’t you? The rest of us are going to talk about worming techniques.”
May and Jasmine jumped to their feet. They grabbed their tack before Max could change his mind.
“Come on, Corey,” May said. “You should ride Peso.” She pointed to a saddle and bridle. “That’s his tack. He’s really fast and you’ll like him.”
“Okay,” said Corey, picking up the equipment from the rack behind her. Her grin matched May’s and Jasmine’s.
May introduced Corey to Jackie Rogers and Stevie Lake. Jackie smiled warmly. Her curly brown hair bounced around her shoulders.
“Your name is Stevie?” Corey asked, looking at the older girl.
“It’s really Stephanie,” Stevie explained. “But the only person who calls me that is my mother when she’s angry. Of course, that’s hardly ever,” she added quickly.
May and Jasmine laughed.
“Stevie is famous for getting into trouble,” Jasmine explained to Corey.
“But I’m almost as good at getting out of it,” Stevie said. “That’s enough about me. Let’s get to work.”
Fifteen minutes later the ponies had on their saddles and bridles. The four girls were ready to ride.
They quickly mounted up. Then, one by one, they touched the good-luck horseshoe.
Stevie set up the first race. It was the flag race. She drew a line in the dirt with her boot.
“That’s the starting line and the finish line,” said Stevie. She looked at Corey. “Starts and stops are important in mounted games. You’ve got to get going fast and you’ve got to stop fast.”
All the girls listened closely. Stevie knew what she was talking about.
Then Stevie suggested that Jasmine go first, followed by Jackie, Corey, and finally May.
Stevie stuck the flag in the ground at the far end of the ring. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and dropped it.
The second the handkerchief hit the ground, Jasmine was off. She was riding Penny. Penny was easygoing and did everything she was told to do.
They rode down to where the flag was. Jasmine yanked it out of the ground and rode back to Jackie.
“The handoff is the most important part of the ride,” said Stevie. “If the next rider isn’t ready and you miss the handoff, the race is lost.”
Jasmine and Jackie didn’t miss. Jackie and Dime raced around the circle quickly. Then they brought the flag back to where Corey was waiting.
On the way back Dime started acting fussy. He didn’t seem to want to return to the starting line. He moved over to one side. It was as if he wanted to stay away from Penny.
But Corey was ready. She watched Dime and Jackie. As Dime edged to one side, Corey nudged Peso in that direction, too. When Dime finally came across the line, Corey and Peso were right there to meet him.
Corey took the flag from Jackie. She and Peso made the trip back and forth very fast. She rode Peso back to exactly where May and Nickel were waiting. May and Nickel ran their part of the race quickly, too.
“Nice going, girls,” Stevie said. She smiled at Corey. “Good job with the handoff from Jackie. If you hadn’t been ready to move, the race could have been lost.”
“I’m sorry about Dime,” said Jackie. “He just didn’t want to cooperate, I guess.”
May was a little annoyed with Jackie. Ponies could be difficult sometimes, but it was the rider’s job to control them. At least Corey had known what to do. It was beginning to seem that Corey always knew what to do.
“Let’s try another race,” said Jasmine.
“Okay,” Stevie agreed. They tried four more races before they broke for lunch. They carried eggs back and forth on a spoon; they practiced opening and closing a paddock gate; they carried buckets of water (without spilling too much); and they shot at a target with squirt guns. They all agreed that the squirt gun race was the most fun.
“Of course it is.” Stevie grinned. “I invented it!”
The riders were exhausted and happy by the time they untacked their ponies.
“You guys are a great team!” Stevie told them while she helped them with the tack. “Cross County doesn’t stand a chance against you.”
That was the most important thing the team wanted to hear.
“Lunch break!” Max called.
That was the second
most important thing the team wanted to hear.
11 Trouble
May, Jasmine, and Corey took their sandwiches and juice to May and Jasmine’s favorite place at Pine Hollow. It was a shady hill behind the stable, overlooking a paddock where horses were allowed to run free.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” Jasmine asked.
“The best sight in the whole world,” Corey agreed, looking at the horses. “Almost as great as watching my own pony in a field.”
“I just have a small paddock area in my backyard,” said Jasmine.
“I’ve got more space,” May chimed in. “My dad’s a trainer so he needs a full-size ring and a large paddock.”
“We like to ride in May’s paddock,” said Jasmine.
“We did,” May corrected her. “I’m not sure we’re ever going to want to ride in our backyards anymore, though.”
“Really?” said Corey. She took a bite of her peanut butter sandwich. “What happened?”
Jasmine made a face. “It’s our new neighbor.”
“It’s creepy there now,” May added.
“What do you mean?” Corey asked.
“We think some kind of weird scientist moved in,” said May.
“What?” Corey stopped eating her sandwich. “How do you know?”
“There are these weird sounds coming from the house,” said Jasmine.
“But maybe—” Corey started to say.
“We’ve heard howling and screeching,” May went on. “And at night lights flicker on and off.”
“You can’t—” Corey began.
“May thinks the new neighbor is like Dr. Frankenstein,” Jasmine added. “She might even be doing weird experiments in the stable!”
Corey’s jaw dropped.
May nodded. “Wait until I tell you what we saw last night!”
“No.” Corey shook her head and stood up.
May was really enjoying telling the story. She tugged at Corey’s sleeve so she’d sit down again. “We both saw it. It was the scientist—dressed like a wizard or something.”
“No!” said Corey. She said it louder.
Pony Tails 01- Pony Crazy Page 3