Driving Team
Page 1
“IT’LL INVOLVE A LOT OF TEAMWORK AND COOPERATION.”
“Stevie Lake,” Max said, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’ve got something special for you. In honor of the, uh, let’s call it friendship, you and Veronica have struck up this morning, I’d like you two to train your horses to pull the Pine Hollow wagon. Girls, you’ll have two weeks to turn those saddle horses into a team and give a demonstration for the Cross County Pony Club!”
Stevie couldn’t believe her ears. Did Max actually believe that she and Veronica were friends? Were they going to have to train their horses together? For a demonstration that Phil was going to be watching? She shook her head. Maybe she’d misunderstood. She raised her hand again.
“Max, did I hear you correctly?”
Max grinned and nodded. Carole and Lisa glanced at each other as Stevie buried her face in her hands with a groan. Both of them knew that turning Belle and Danny into a smooth working team was going to be a lot easier than turning Stevie and Veronica into one!
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DRIVING TEAM
A Bantam Skylark Book / January 2000
“The Saddle Club” is a registered trademark of Bonnie Bryant Hiller.
The Saddle Club design / logo, which consists of a riding crop and a riding hat, is a trademark of Bantam Books.
“USPC” and “Pony Club” are registered trademarks of The United States Pony Clubs, Inc., at The Kentucky Horse Park, 4071 Iron Works Pike, Lexington, KY 40511-8462.
All rights reserved.
Text copyright © 2000 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information address: Bantam Books.
eISBN: 978-0-307-82594-0
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada
Bantam Skylark is an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc. Skylark Books, Bantam Books, and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
v3.1
Special thanks to Sir “B” Farms
and Laura and Vinny Marino
I would like to express my special thanks
to Sallie Bissell for her
help in the writing of this book.
Contents
Cover
Other Books You Will Enjoy
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
About the Author
“YIKES!” STEVIE LAKE cried as she slipped and fell to one knee in a wide puddle just in front of the stable. Globs of cold, thick mud splattered all over her jeans and shirt. “It’s really slick out here!”
“Come on, Stevie !” Carole Hanson motioned to her friend. “Horse Wise is about to begin!”
Stevie sloshed inside the stable, shivering as she pulled her wet sweatshirt close around her neck. The smell of damp hay tickled the inside of her nose as she fought back a sneeze. “I’m glad we’re meeting in Max’s office,” she said. “This weather is really lousy.”
“Can you imagine anybody trying to ride in rain like this?” asked Lisa Atwood, who was also waiting for Stevie. She looked up at the driving sheets of water that fell from the gloomy November sky. “You’d probably catch pneumonia, and who knows what your poor horse would catch?”
“Rhinopneumonitis, probably,” decided Carole.
“Huh?” Stevie said, frowning.
“I think that’s one of Carole’s fancy words for a horse cold,” laughed Lisa.
Stevie groaned. “I know a fancy word for being late, which is what we’re going to be if we don’t hurry.”
“Then let’s go,” said Lisa. “We were late for the last meeting. I don’t want to get the cold shoulder from Max again.”
The three girls hustled through the Pine Hollow stables. It was the place where they had first met and where they had discovered that each was just as crazy about horses as the others. That was when they’d formed The Saddle Club, a club that had only two rules—that the members had to be crazy about horses, and that they had to help each other out whenever possible. Lisa Atwood was the newest to riding, but she was also the oldest and most logical of the trio. Carole Hanson could be scatterbrained about everything from returning her library books to whether her socks matched, but when it came to horses, she was almost an expert and never forgot anything. Stevie Lake, the third member of the club, was often knee-deep in some crazy predicament or practical joke. Though Stevie was as devoted to horses as Carole and Lisa, much of The Saddle Club’s time was devoted to getting out of the trouble Stevie’s schemes had gotten them into. Still, they had such terrific adventures getting either into or out of their dilemmas that nobody minded.
The girls hurried around a corner, where warm yellow light poured from the open door of Max’s office. Maximilian Regnery III was the owner of Pine Hollow, the stables that had been founded by his grandfather Maximilian Regnery I and passed along to him by his own father, Max II. Max now stood behind his desk, chatting with the crowd of young riders who were seated on the floor of his office.
“Well, if it isn’t Carole, Lisa, and Stevie.” Max checked his watch and grinned. “You’re a whole thirty seconds early.”
“Hi, Max,” Lisa replied as other riders scooted over to make room for them on the floor. “We would have been here sooner, but Stevie had a slight run-in.”
Max frowned. “With a horse?”
“Actually, with a mud puddle.” Laughing, Stevie held her mud-splashed jeans away from her legs.
Just then Mrs. Reg, who was the stable manager as well as Max’s mother, stuck her head into the office.
“Max, have you got a minute to meet a new rider?” she asked.
“Just thirty seconds,” he answered.
“That’s enough.”
“I’ll be right back,” Max said to the assembled Pony Clubbers as he stepped into the hallway.
“Maybe then we can finally begin,” said a sarcastic voice from the leather armchair in the corner. “Some of us have been waiting for hours.”
The girls turned. The voice belonged to the richest, snootiest girl at Pine Hollow, Veronica diAngelo. She’d curled herself up like a cat in Max’s one good chair, wearing a gorgeous green cashmere tunic and sparkling white jodhpurs. The sweater matched her eyes exactly, and it looked expensive. All Veronica’s friends sat around the chair, casting admiring glances at her sleek new haircut and beautiful outfit.
“I may be late, Veronica, but at least I came dressed to work,” Stevie snapped, her wet sweatshirt still clinging to the back of her neck. “Unlike some people who have the nerve to
think that if they come dressed in fancy clothes they can get somebody else to do their chores for them.”
“Are you implying that I haven’t done any work today?” Veronica’s eyes flashed.
Stevie looked at her outfit and shrugged. “I don’t know many people who come to muck out stalls dressed in cashmere sweaters.”
“I’ll have you know that I came early today, mucked out Danny’s stall all by myself, and then changed into these clean clothes,” Veronica said as her friends Betsy Cavanaugh and Meg Durham nodded in agreement.
Veronica eyed Stevie’s tattered sweatshirt and soggy jeans. “In case you haven’t noticed, some of us don’t like to lounge around in dirty, wet clothes. We prefer to get our work done and leave the muck and dirty straw on the manure pile, instead of bringing cute little samples of it to Horse Wise meetings.”
Everyone in the room chuckled. Stevie looked down at her clothes and felt a flush of embarrassment. Mud was caked on both legs of her jeans, and several wisps of hay dangled from the sleeves of her sweatshirt. She looked back at Veronica’s spotless outfit and shook her head.
“Sorry, Veronica. But I’m still not convinced you got here early just to get a stall mucked out. I think you must be playing a very late April Fools’ trick.”
“You don’t believe me?” Veronica held out her hands, displaying ten perfectly shaped nails, all painted a delicate pink. “Then come look at the dreadful damage it did to the manicure I got just yesterday!”
Normally Stevie would have ignored Veronica’s boasting, but the manicure display was simply too much. She picked her way between Joe Novick and Adam Levine until she stood directly in front of Veronica’s chair.
“See?” Veronica held up her nails for inspection.
Stevie bent over and studied them. Though each was still a mostly perfect pink oval, two nails on Veronica’s right hand had been recently chipped. Then Stevie took a deep breath and almost passed out from shock. Wafting up from Veronica’s delicate white hands was the pungent aroma of horse manure. Veronica was telling the truth. For once in her life, she had actually gotten up early and done some work!
Stevie stood up straight and grabbed one of Veronica’s hands, lifting it so that everyone in the room could see. “I want everyone here to know that on this day, Veronica diAngelo actually cleaned out her own horse’s stall. She chipped two of her very own fingernails, and her hands have the distinct aroma of eau de cheval.” She dropped Veronica’s hand and turned back toward her.
“I’m sorry for ever doubting you, Veronica,” she said with a deep bow. “I had no idea you had become such a hard worker. I apologize for accusing you of being a slacker, and if, in the future, I ever see any little potty accident that some horse might have had on the floor, you’ll be the first person I call to clean it up.”
With that, the room was filled with snickers. Veronica flopped back in the chair to pout, her own cheeks now pink with embarrassment.
Max returned to the room and tapped a pencil on his desk. “Okay, okay, you guys, let’s get this meeting under way. We’ve got a lot to talk about. Stevie, take a seat. You and Veronica can finish your conversation later.”
Stevie crept back to Lisa and Carole and plopped down on the floor just as another deluge of rain beat down on the roof of the barn. Max glanced up at the ceiling, then turned to the assembled riders and grinned.
“I don’t know if any of you are aware of this, but in two weeks we’re going to have a joint meeting with the Cross County Pony Club.”
A murmur of anticipation rippled through the riders. Lisa and Carole grinned at Stevie, whose boyfriend, Phil Marsten, was a member of Cross County. Even though they were equally good riders, there was nothing either of them liked better than competing in some aspect of horsemanship. Their competition was friendly, but Stevie was always looking for an opportunity to show off what she considered her superior riding skills. Phil seemed to have similar notions about his own skills.
“And so”—Max frowned briefly at The Saddle Club girls and cleared his throat—“in honor of all this driving rain that’s pelting our barn today, we’re going to do projects on driving horses. That’ll be the program we present for our meeting with the Cross County club.”
“You mean driving horses to shows and trail rides?” May Grover asked from her spot beside the filing cabinet.
“No,” Max explained. “I mean driving horses themselves. Horses pulling wagons and chariots and sulkies.”
“Sulkies?” Brittany Lynn piped up. “What’s a sulky?”
“That’s what Veronica is most of the time,” whispered Stevie. Lisa and Carole tried to squelch their giggles.
“Well, that’s what I’m hoping we’ll find out,” said Max. “Driving is a horse sport all by itself—very different from jumping or dressage.” Max looked at the riders crowded into his office. “Have I got any volunteers to make reports at the joint meeting?”
Stevie’s hand shot up first. There was no way she was going to let an opportunity like this pass by. Max might let her do some special, wonderful report that Phil would remember for the rest of his life! Lisa and Carole raised their hands, too, as did some of the other riders. Soon one of Veronica’s manicured hands was waving in the air as well.
“Good.” Max beamed. “I’m glad you’re excited about this. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s see how I can pair you up, now.” He studied the volunteers for a moment and scratched his chin.
“Okay. Lisa Atwood and Carole Hanson, why don’t you two work together on a ten-minute report called ‘Driving Through History’? That way we can find out what sulkies are.”
“Sure, Max,” replied Lisa. “Sounds like fun.”
“Polly Giacomin and Anna McWhirter, why don’t you two give us a ten-minute report on driving tack? There’s all sorts of special equipment you need to drive a team of horses.”
“Okay.” Polly scribbled something in a small notebook and moved over to sit beside Anna.
Stevie’s arm grew tired as Max assigned the other reports, until finally only her hand and Veronica’s were left waving in the air. It was then that Max looked at her and smiled.
“Stevie Lake,” he said, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’ve got something special for you. In honor of the, uh, let’s call it friendship, you and Veronica have struck up this morning, I’d like you two to train your horses to pull the Pine Hollow wagon. Girls, you’ll have two weeks to turn those saddle horses into a team and give a demonstration for the Cross County Pony Club!”
Stevie couldn’t believe her ears. Did Max actually believe that she and Veronica were friends? Were they going to have to train their horses together? For a demonstration that Phil was going to be watching? She shook her head. Maybe she’d misunderstood. She raised her hand again.
“Max, did I hear you correctly? You want Veronica and me to turn Danny and Belle into a driving team? And give a demonstration at the joint meeting with Cross County?”
Max grinned and nodded. “You’ve only got two weeks to get them working together. It’ll involve a lot of teamwork and cooperation. Assuming that this rain stops, meet me at the back paddock at four this afternoon, and I’ll help you get started.”
Carole and Lisa glanced at each other as Stevie buried her face in her hands with a groan. Both of them knew that turning Belle and Danny into a smooth working team was going to be a lot easier than turning Stevie and Veronica into one!
“ANY QUESTIONS?” MAX looked over the group at the end of the meeting. “Okay, then. Let’s go tack up. We’ll have a flat class in the indoor ring in twenty minutes.”
For a moment, as everyone got up and scurried out of the room around her, Stevie just sat on the floor.
“Stevie, are you all right?” Carole leaned over and looked worriedly at her friend.
“I think I must be in shock,” Stevie answered. “Can you imagine two whole weeks of working side by side with Veronica?”
Carole shook her head. “Actually, I can
’t. I don’t think I have the patience.”
Stevie wrinkled her nose. “And you think I do?”
“I guess Max thinks you have something,” Carole said with a shrug.
“I think I have incredibly bad luck,” complained Stevie. “And everything could have been so great, too. I mean, I could have done a super report and really impressed Phil. We haven’t seen each other in weeks. It would have been nice to show him something that I had put a lot of effort into.”
“Stevie, don’t you mean show off something you’d put a lot of effort into?” Lisa teased gently.
“Well, maybe I do tend to show off a teeny bit in front of Phil,” Stevie admitted.
“Oh, this might not be so bad, Stevie,” Carole said. “If anybody can pull something fantastic out of the hat with Veronica, it’s you.”
“Maybe I could just shove Veronica back into the hat,” grumbled Stevie. “That would be fantastic enough for me.”
“Look,” said Carole. “Just don’t think about any of this right now. Let’s go tack up the horses. We haven’t seen them since last Wednesday’s class!”
“You’re right,” said Stevie, hopping to her feet. “I’m losing sight of what counts here. Being with Belle is far more important than worrying about Veronica.”
They hurried back down one of the long stable corridors. Carole’s gelding, Starlight, was stabled next to Stevie’s mare, Belle, and both horses’ heads were poked expectantly out of their stalls.
“Belle!” Stevie cried. “How I’ve missed you!” She reached up and gave the pretty bay mare a delicious scratch behind the ears.
“Starlight!” Carole echoed Stevie’s sentiments as her horse gave a soft nicker. She hugged him gently around the neck, pressing her cheek against his soft brown hair. “Hi, big guy!” she whispered. “I’ve missed you!”
“I’m going to get Prancer,” Lisa called. “I’ll cross-tie her up here so we can talk.”
“Okay,” said Stevie and Carole as they hurried into the tack room to get their saddles and grooming supplies. By the time they got back, Lisa already had Prancer tied just a few feet away.