Corey and Jasmine were lying on Jasmine’s bed staring glumly at the craft book.
“I thought for sure this book would be full of ideas,” Jasmine said. “And it is full of ideas, but …”
“But none of them are right,” Corey said.
Jasmine nodded. She wanted their project to be outstanding. After all, the other craft items at the fair would be made by adults.
“What we need is a really brilliant idea,” Corey said.
“And that’s exactly what we haven’t got,” said Jasmine.
“If May were here, she’d have one,” Corey said. “She always has good ideas.”
“But she’s worried about Macaroni,” Jasmine said. “She wants to be with him.”
“That makes sense,” Corey said.
Corey turned to a page that was filled with pictures of pillows. “We could make pillows.”
“Too boring,” Jasmine said.
Corey turned the page. The next page was filled with pictures of teddy bears.
“We could make bears,” Jasmine said.
“Too hard,” Corey said. She pointed to a pattern for a bear. “That one needs twelve pieces. We’d be lucky to make one bear by Friday.”
“I think we’re stuck,” Jasmine said.
“Why don’t we go ask your mom?” Corey said.
“Hey.” Jasmine giggled. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
They walked downstairs and into the kitchen.
Mrs. James was sitting at the table sewing red and yellow pieces of material together.
“What’s that?” Corey asked.
“It’s a tea cozy,” said Mrs. James. “When you put it over a teapot, it keeps the tea warm.”
“Great idea,” Corey said. Then she remembered that she and Jasmine had no ideas at all. “We’re totally stuck.”
“You couldn’t find anything in the book?” asked Mrs. James.
“Pillows are too boring, and bears are too hard,” Corey said.
“Hmmm,” said Mrs. James. “Maybe I can help.” She put down the tea cozy and frowned. She looked up at the ceiling, then down at the table. “Ah,” she said. “Why don’t you make pony pillows?”
“Ponies don’t need pillows,” Corey said. “They sleep on straw.”
“I mean pillows shaped like ponies,” Mrs. James said. “You can cut pony shapes out of fabric, sew them, and stuff them. Willow Creek is full of pony lovers. I think pony pillows might be popular.”
“Good idea,” Corey said.
Jasmine smiled. She had known her mom would come up with a great idea.
“But how?” Corey asked. “It sounds hard.”
“It’s not as hard as it sounds,” Mrs. James said. She went over to a drawer next to the telephone and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil. She brought them back to the table.
“I hear you’re good at drawing ponies,” she said to Corey.
“She’s great,” Jasmine said. “She draws the best ponies ever.”
Corey had been drawing ponies half her life, but suddenly she felt nervous. What if she drew a terrible pony?
“You can do it,” Jasmine said.
Corey hunched over the sheet of paper. She started with the pony’s ears. She knew that was an odd place to start, but that was the way she always drew ponies. She made one ear a little forward and the other one back. Then she drew the upward curve of the pony’s neck and the downward curve of the pony’s back. She raised the line in another curve for the pony’s rump. She drew the tail, making it long and wispy. She did the two backward Cs of the hind legs. And two neat hooves.
The pencil flew across the paper. There were the pony’s stomach, his front legs, and then his head.
Corey sat back. Sometimes her ponies came out really odd-looking. But this pony was okay.
“That’s the best pony I ever saw,” Jasmine said.
“It’s really excellent,” said Mrs. James. “Now draw a line half an inch outside the outline of the pony.”
Corey did that.
Mrs. James handed her a pair of scissors. “Cut along that line.”
Corey did.
“Now you have a pony pillow pattern,” Mrs. James said. “Pin that to cloth and cut around it.”
“Wow,” Corey said. “These pony pillows are going to be the best pony pillows ever made.” She giggled. “They may also be the only pony pillows ever made.”
Corey turned to Jasmine, expecting her to look happy. But Jasmine had on a worried frown.
“I just remembered something,” she said. “May hates to sew.”
“Not pony pillows,” Corey said. “She’ll love sewing them.”
“I don’t know,” Jasmine said. She kept remembering how everyone had teased May about her sewing at camp the summer before.
“We’ll talk her into it,” Corey said. “She’s going to wind up as pony-pillow-crazy as we are.”
“Come into the sewing room,” Mrs. James said. “I’ll give you my bag of fabric scraps. You can choose anything you want.”
The three of them walked into the sewing room, which was just off the kitchen. Mrs. James picked up a blue denim laundry bag and handed it to Jasmine.
Jasmine upended it, pouring fabric scraps onto the floor.
“There are so many of them,” Corey said. “They’re so beautiful. How will we ever choose?”
Buy May Rides a New Pony Now!
About the Author
Bonnie Bryant is the author of over one hundred forty books about horses, including the Saddle Club series and its spinoffs, the Pony Tails series and the Pine Hollow series. Bryant did not know very much about horses before writing the first Saddle Club book in 1986, so she found herself learning right along with the characters she created. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, Bonnie Bryant Hiller. Bryant was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives today.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-5357-3
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
1 The Horse Wise Meeting
2 Max’s Big Announcement
3 Picking Teams
4 Jasmine’s Celebration
5 Erin’s Revenge
6 Jasmine Hears Something Terrible
7 May and Corey to the Rescue
8 The Equitation Competition
9 The Final Round
10 Jasmine’s Special Dinner
11 Jasmine’s Big News
Jasmine’s Tips on Horses’ Colors
Preview: May Rides a New Pony
About the Author
Copyright Page
Pony Tails 07- Jasmine Trots Ahead Page 6