Merrill stopped laughing. Her whole body tightened, and Barq shifted nervously beneath her. “I guess so,” she said.
“Well, the first thing you can do is relax,” Carole instructed her. “I’m not going to send you over any fences just yet.” She went over to where the cavalletti were stacked near the stable building. She was going to take it slowly—or as slowly as she could, considering they only had one afternoon. This was the only chance she was going to get to show Merrill how much fun jumping could be.
“IT’S GETTING DARK,” Lisa commented to Stevie. “Do you think they’re still at it?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Stevie said.
The two friends went outside. They reached the gate of the outdoor ring just in time to watch Merrill and Barq make a flawless round over a course of low fences. Barq was moving like a champion, and Merrill rode him confidently, with every move she made helping rather than hindering his progress. They were truly a team.
When Merrill finished, she was beaming. She rode over to the gate and dismounted. Carole, Stevie, and Lisa applauded enthusiastically.
“That was wonderful!” Lisa exclaimed. She gave Merrill a big hug. Then she turned and hugged Carole. “Carole, you’re a miracle worker!”
“She sure is,” Merrill agreed. “But some of the credit should go to Barq, too. He’s amazing!” She threw her arms around Barq’s neck. Then she turned to Lisa. “I have a big favor to ask you,” she said.
“What is it?” Lisa asked.
“Can I ride Barq for the rest of the clinic?” Merrill asked.
“Does that mean you’re not going to drop out?” Lisa asked. “Then of course you can! I can ride Chip for the rest of the week.” She gave Merrill another hug.
“Thanks,” Merrill said. “Believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to class tomorrow. Thanks again, Carole.”
Carole smiled. “You just gave me all the thanks I need,” she said. “And now let’s go shopping.”
“Shopping?” Stevie repeated. “Why?”
“For the Yankee Swap, of course,” Carole replied. “Since we’re going to be awfully busy with the clinic this week, it wouldn’t hurt to get it out of the way now.”
“I guess that’s true,” Lisa said, thinking about Simon Atherton. She still wasn’t sure what to get him.
Stevie sighed, too. The last thing she felt like doing was shopping for a gift for Veronica the snob. Still, she knew Carole was right. “All right,” she said. “Let’s get it over with.”
Carole was a little surprised at the lack of enthusiasm Stevie and Lisa were showing. “Who did you guys pick, anyway?” she asked.
Stevie shook her head. “We can’t tell each other. That would spoil the fun,” she said.
“Come on, Merrill,” Lisa said. “I’ll help you put Barq away. We’ll have to hurry if we want to make it over to the shopping center before dinner.”
“OKAY, LET’S SPLIT UP,” Stevie said when the girls arrived at the shopping center, which was a short walk from Pine Hollow.
“That could be a bit of a challenge,” Merrill commented, glancing around at the small selection of shops. “Unless someone is planning to do their gift-buying at the shoe store, that is.”
“Hey, you never know,” Stevie said. “A shoehorn could make a lovely gift for the right person.”
Carole rolled her eyes. “Very funny. Come on, let’s get shopping.”
The four girls wandered off in different directions. Lisa headed for Sights ’n’ Sounds, an electronics store that sold CDs. But as she examined the titles, she realized she had no idea what kind of music Simon liked.
Carole looked through the shelves of the small drugstore but didn’t see anything that would make a good gift for Joe Novick. All she really knew about him was that he liked to ride and to play soccer. “That’s not much to go on,” she muttered, staring at a rack full of stuffed animals.
Meanwhile, Stevie was walking up and down the aisles of the supermarket. “Hmm,” she muttered. “Moldy cheese? No, not personal enough. Pickled beets? Nah, too personal. Chicken livers? Too expensive.” She sighed. The trouble was, she didn’t want to get anything for Veronica. She left the supermarket and went into the variety store next door. As soon as she entered she spotted Merrill, who was standing near the counter looking around in bewilderment.
“How are you doing?” Stevie asked, joining her.
“I don’t really know what to get for the person I picked,” Merrill admitted. “I guess that’s the problem with being a visitor.”
“Well, not completely,” Stevie said. “I don’t know what to get the person I picked, either. This Yankee Swap business isn’t as easy as it sounded when I first thought of it.”
“I’m sure it will be fun,” Merrill said.
“I hope so,” Stevie said. She glanced around to make sure Carole and Lisa weren’t around. “Listen, I know we’re not supposed to tell each other who we picked, but I think we can make an exception in your case. If you want, you can tell me who you have and I’ll help you shop.” She sighed. “It can’t be any harder than my own shopping.”
“Thanks, Stevie,” Merrill said gratefully. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I picked Max.”
“Max?” Stevie exclaimed with a grin. “That’s great! Come on, this should be fun.” She began pacing up and down the aisles of the overcrowded shop, which sold everything from water pistols to paper plates to hula hoops.
Merrill followed. “Do you see anything he’d like?” she asked.
Stevie started to shake her head, then stopped in her tracks. “That’s it!” she exclaimed, lunging toward an object on a low shelf. “It’s perfect!”
LISA HELD HER breath the next day as Merrill took Barq into a trot and rode him toward the first obstacle, a pair of cavalletti set about six inches high. She glanced at Carole and Stevie and saw that they had their fingers crossed.
Barq didn’t hesitate at the obstacle. He pricked his ears forward, then gathered himself and took off, clearing it easily. The Saddle Club could see Merrill smiling as Barq landed cleanly and turned toward the next fence.
The rest of the course went just as well. Max had set up several cavalletti jumps as well as some slightly higher fences. He wanted the students to ride through the first part of the course at a trot, then bring their horses to a canter for the larger fences. Barq kept up a brisk trot over the cavalletti, and then, when Merrill signaled, the gelding obediently broke into a smooth canter. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he sailed over the fences. Merrill seemed to be enjoying herself, too. When she finally pulled up at the end, her smile had turned into a full-fledged grin. The Saddle Club cheered as she rode toward them.
“Nice job, Merrill,” Max said approvingly. He didn’t give direct compliments often, so the whole class knew he really meant it.
Merrill blushed. “Thanks,” she said. She looked a little embarrassed, but her friends could tell she was pleased.
It was Carole’s turn. She walked Starlight toward the start, passing Max on the way. He winked at her. “Nice job on your part, too, Carole,” he said quietly. “You must be some tutor.”
Carole felt her face turning as red as Merrill’s. “Thanks a lot, Max,” she whispered.
AFTER CLASS, LISA untacked Chip and gave him a quick grooming. Then she went to Barq’s stall. Merrill was there, carefully combing out Barq’s mane. The gelding stood quietly, obviously enjoying the attention.
“Hi, Merrill,” Lisa said, leaning on the half door. “Congratulations. You did great today.”
“You mean we did great today,” Merrill corrected, giving Barq a pat. “Barq is incredible. He couldn’t have missed a step if he’d tried.”
“Well, you deserve credit, too, you know,” Lisa reminded her. “You were the one up there telling him what to do—and doing a terrific job of it. I knew that Carole would help. You just needed to get the hang of it.”
“Carole’s a wonderful teacher,” Merrill agreed
. “And her lesson made a world of difference. But I think another reason I did so much better today was because of Barq.” She took a deep breath. “In fact, I’ve made a decision. I want my parents to buy him for me.”
“What?” Lisa’s jaw dropped. “You want to buy Barq?”
“Yes,” Merrill said, giving the gelding a hug. “He’s the perfect horse for me.”
“But …” Lisa didn’t know what to say. Merrill’s announcement had taken her completely by surprise. All she could think was that Pine Hollow without Barq would hardly seem like Pine Hollow at all.
“It makes perfect sense,” Merrill went on. “I wasn’t sure before what Carole and Stevie meant when they kept talking about how they knew it when they’d found the perfect horse. But now I know. Barq and I did everything right today. I never thought I’d be able to jump like that. I know Barq is for me. I’ll call my parents tonight.”
Lisa’s mind was racing. How could Merrill want to take Barq away from Pine Hollow? “Um, I just remembered,” she said. “I promised Stevie and Carole I’d help them with their tack. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay,” Merrill said, turning back to her grooming. As Lisa hurried away, she heard Merrill humming softly to herself while she worked.
She found Stevie and Carole in the tack room. “I’ve got to tell you guys something!” Lisa exclaimed breathlessly, flopping down onto a trunk.
“What is it?” Carole asked, looking concerned. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. It’s Merrill who’s gone off the deep end,” Lisa said. “She’s decided on the horse she wants. It’s Barq.”
Carole and Stevie gasped. “She wants to buy Barq?” Carole exclaimed.
Lisa nodded. “We’ve got to do something.”
“Now, wait a minute, Lisa,” Stevie said. “What do you want to do? If Merrill really thinks Barq is the right horse for her, who are we to stop her?”
“But Barq belongs here,” Lisa cried. “He belongs at Pine Hollow, not up in Maine.”
“Well, we know that all of Max’s horses are for sale if someone makes the right offer,” Carole reminded her gently. “Barq is special, but Max will sell him if Merrill is serious about buying.”
“You can’t possibly think this is a good thing, Carole!” Lisa exclaimed.
“No, I don’t,” Carole said thoughtfully. “I think it’s a terrible idea. But I think I have a different reason for thinking that than you do. I’m afraid that Merrill will just be making her riding problem worse.”
“What do you mean?” Stevie asked. “Her jumping problem is solved. We saw that today.”
“That’s not exactly what I mean,” Carole said. “I’m not quite sure how to explain it. But it has something to do with what Merrill thinks of herself as a rider.”
“I don’t get it,” Lisa said flatly. “What are you talking about?”
Carole took a deep breath. “Look, we already decided that Merrill’s problem with jumping was that she was worried she couldn’t do it, and that she was going to look stupid in front of the class. Once she figured out that she could do it, she did fine.”
“Yeah,” Stevie said. “What does that have to do with Barq?”
“Everything,” Carole replied. “She’s somehow decided that the reason she did well today was that she was riding Barq. If she thinks that’s the main reason every time she does well, she’s limiting her own abilities in her mind. Do you see?”
“I guess so,” Lisa said. “You’re saying that Merrill thinks Barq is the magical solution to all her riding problems, and that’s a bad thing.”
“It sure is,” Carole said. “It’s nice to have faith in your horse, but it’s more important for Merrill to have faith in herself.”
Stevie shook her head in wonder. “Since when did you become such a psychologist, Carole?” she teased.
“More like a horse-ologist,” Lisa said. “But now that we’ve figured out the reason why Merrill shouldn’t buy Barq, what are we going to do about it?”
“We need a plan,” Stevie began, a gleam coming into her eye.
“Hold on, Stevie,” Carole said. “I think the first thing we should do is talk to Merrill. Maybe if we point out what she’s doing, she’ll see reason.”
“Hi, girls,” a loud, cheerful voice came from the tack-room doorway. Simon Atherton walked in, almost tripping over the corner of a trunk in his path. “How are you?”
“We’re fine, Simon,” Carole replied, ignoring Stevie, who was rolling her eyes. “Did you come to clean your tack?”
“No, actually I came to borrow a currycomb,” Simon said. “You see, I stuck mine in my pocket after the last class and ended up accidentally bringing it home with me.”
“Oh, did you forget to bring it back?” Lisa asked. She was annoyed that Simon had interrupted their conversation, but she didn’t want him to see that. After all, it wasn’t really his fault.
“Not exactly,” Simon said, looking a little embarrassed. “But while it was home, my sister’s cat chewed it to bits. He’s a bit of a terror—we call him Fang.”
The three girls burst out laughing. “Your sister’s cat ate your currycomb?” Stevie exclaimed. “Oh, that’s a good one!” She chuckled. “Just for that, I’ll help you find one you can use. Come on.”
As Stevie got up and started rummaging around in the grooming trunk, Carole and Lisa exchanged glances.
“We’ll have to figure out what to do about Merrill later,” Carole whispered.
Lisa nodded. “I’ll talk to her tonight after dinner.”
“MMM, THAT WAS delicious, Mrs. Atwood,” Merrill said, pushing her chair back from the dinner table. “Thank you. May I be excused? I’d like to call my parents, if that’s all right.”
“Of course it is, Merrill,” Mrs. Atwood replied. “You’re excused.”
“You can use the phone in our bedroom if you’d like some privacy,” Mr. Atwood added.
Lisa looked up, her mouth full of baked potato. She swallowed fast. “Um, Merrill, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“All right,” Merrill said. “This call shouldn’t take too long. We can talk after that if you want.”
Before Lisa could reply, Merrill skipped out of the dining room. A moment later the Atwoods heard her running up the stairs.
“Merrill certainly seems to be in a good mood today,” Mrs. Atwood observed.
“Yeah,” Lisa replied glumly, pushing the last of her potatoes around on her plate with her fork.
A few minutes later Lisa wandered upstairs. Just then Merrill emerged from Lisa’s parents’ room, her face glowing.
“Guess what?” she said, running to give Lisa a hug. “They said yes! They’re going to call Max tonight to see about a price. Can you believe it?”
“Not really,” Lisa muttered, frowning. But Merrill was too ecstatic to notice.
“TODAY, AS YOU can probably tell, we’re going to get a little creative,” Max announced at the beginning of Thursday afternoon’s clinic session.
Lisa looked around the ring and smiled. Max and Red had set up a course that included some very strange-looking obstacles. There was a jump made of logs and brush, one consisting of a large pile of wooden crates, one concocted of some chairs and a couple of broom handles, and one made from old tires.
“The point of this exercise is to get your horses accustomed to jumping anything you ask them to,” Max said. “We certainly don’t want to scare them, but they need to trust you and do what you say. There’s no way of telling what sorts of things you could run across out on the trail—or in a show ring, for that matter.”
Lisa knew that was true. She had watched a horse show on TV a couple of weeks earlier and had been surprised at some of the jumps. There had been one shaped like a giant serpent, and one that looked like a tiny castle. Even many of the more normal-shaped fences were painted in wild colors and patterns. Max’s jumps weren’t that elaborate, but she knew they would serve the same purpose: to test the willingne
ss of the horses to jump anything their riders wanted them to jump.
Most of the horses in the ring, including Chip and Barq, were experienced school horses. They wouldn’t have any trouble at all with the new obstacles—they were used to dealing with all sorts of unusual situations. But when Lisa glanced over at her friends, she saw that Stevie and Carole were listening intently. Belle and Starlight were much younger and greener than most of the Pine Hollow horses, and it would be interesting to see how they would handle this challenge.
“All right, Veronica,” Max said. “You’re up first. Pace the course, then go through it at a slow canter.”
As Veronica began pacing off the distances between the jumps, Merrill leaned over to talk to Lisa.
“Guess what Max told me right before class,” she whispered excitedly. “He and my parents have already settled on a price for Barq. That means he’ll be able to ship him soon—he’ll probably be in Maine in only a couple of weeks. Isn’t that great?”
“Uh-huh,” Lisa lied with a gulp. There was no time to lose if The Saddle Club was going to talk Merrill out of her plan. “Um, let’s talk about it later, okay? You know Max hates it when people talk during class.”
“YOU WERE SUCH a good boy,” Carole said, giving Starlight a kiss on his soft nose as she finished his grooming. “You didn’t let those scary fences stop you at all, did you?” She pulled a few pieces of carrot out of her pocket and fed them to him one by one.
Starlight deserved the treat. He had done very well. Even though Carole had felt him tensing up at each strange obstacle for the first few rounds, he had obeyed her commands and jumped them anyway. That was a tribute to Carole’s careful training, as well as to Starlight’s character.
Polly Giacomin hadn’t fared so well. Her horse Romeo had refused several fences the first time around. With a little help from Max and a lot of patience, Polly had finally managed to get the gelding around the course, but it hadn’t been easy.
“Hi, are you almost ready?” Stevie asked, interrupting Carole’s thoughts. She leaned on the half door of Starlight’s stall. “Lisa and Merrill are just finishing up. Mrs. Atwood will be here soon.” Lisa’s mother had agreed to drive the girls to the mall for dinner and shopping. So far, Merrill was the only one who had bought a gift for the Yankee Swap.
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