As things worked out, it was Carole’s turn. From the moment she first touched Starlight’s belly and began her canter until the final jump had been cleared, everything went even better than Carole might have dreamed. Starlight and Carole rode the whole course as one, keeping a perfectly even pace, approaching each jump straight on, rising from the ground at exactly the right distance from the jump and landing so smoothly, Carole was sure she could have carried a glass of water with her and not spilled a drop. It was simply a dream ride.
Everybody in the audience knew it, too. Her father, Max, and Mrs. Reg stood up and clapped for her. Near them Carole saw that Lisa’s mother was standing and clapping. Even the judges were smiling, though, of course, they weren’t clapping. That would have been very bad form.
Carole felt totally numb as Starlight drew to a proper walk to leave the ring. She didn’t even know where she was going, so it turned out to be a very good thing that Starlight thought he was ready for a good long drink of water and some hay. At least he knew where to find it!
“That was fabulous!” Stevie shrieked, leaning over from Topside to give Carole a hug.
“Totally!” Lisa agreed. She would have joined in on the hug, but it wasn’t possible physically.
“Definitely,” Cam added to Stevie and Lisa’s congratulations. “It was far and away the best.”
“Do you think so?” Carole asked. She really wasn’t sure.
“Stop digging for compliments,” Stevie said. “You’re going to have a blue ribbon to prove us all right in just a minute, so wait quietly.”
That was all right with Carole. It was all she could do anyway. She was still too exhilarated by the ride she and Starlight had taken.
There were two more riders after Carole, but the audience hardly noticed them. Everybody knew who had won the blue and who deserved it. Nobody was surprised and everyone was pleased when the judges announced their decision.
“First prize of a blue ribbon to Carole Hanson on Starlight!”
Starlight heard his name. He bounced alertly, and it was a good thing, too, because Carole almost didn’t hear the announcement.
“Go on, girl. Get your prize!” Cam said. “You won it, you deserve it.”
It was true. She had won the blue. She was only vaguely aware of the audience and the judges, and of the clapping and the cries and waves. She rode Starlight up to the judges’ stand and waited patiently as the blue ribbon for the Jumping class was pinned on her horse.
“Second prize of a red ribbon to Cam Nelson and his horse, Duffy.”
That was when Carole realized that she’d actually beaten Cam. They’d been joking about who would win, and she had won. For a second she felt bad, remembering how much she liked Cam and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. The second passed, though. She and Starlight had done a wonderful job on the course and deserved to win. Cam had been good. He deserved second place.
Then, in an instant of recognition, Carole realized she was glad she had beaten Cam. She liked him as a friend and might like him as a boyfriend, but she would never like him at all if she couldn’t feel free to be her best around him. That included joking, teasing, and trying to win. That realization was a wonderful feeling of freedom for Carole.
And then there was more good news because Stevie got third place and Lisa took the fourth-place ribbon.
When the other ribbons had been awarded and Carole had taken her victory gallop, the judges called all of the Intermediate riders into the ring on their horses. Carole wasn’t certain what was going on, but the grin on Cam’s face told her it was good.
One of the judges stood up to the microphone and began a long explanation. It took Carole and her friends a few seconds to catch the idea, but it had to do with champion and reserve champion. Carole had completely forgotten about those awards. They were intended as sort of overall recognition of the best horse and rider in the group of classes. There was a point system. At this show, championship points were earned by the top five placers in each class. First place got five points, second place four points, and so on.
Carole’s mind raced. She had two blues. That was ten points. But then, she hadn’t done well at all in Equitation and only got a fourth in Fitting and Showing.
“One of the purposes of this championship system is that it sometimes enables us to recognize a rider who does consistently well, but may only take, for example, one blue ribbon. That’s the case here today.
“We are pleased to award the championship ribbon to the rider who acquired twenty-one points, and that is Cam Nelson on Duffy!”
Cam! How wonderful. Sure, Carole had done better than he had in two classes, but he’d done well in all of the classes, and he deserved something more than one blue ribbon. Carole thought that was just great. She and her friends and everybody in the audience clapped long and loudly for Cam as the bright multicolored ribbon was clipped onto Duffy’s bridle.
Carole started to signal Starlight to return to the stable. She could hardly wait to congratulate Cam in person. It seemed so right—
“And the reserve championship goes to the rider who acquired eighteen points, and that is Carole Hanson on Starlight!”
Me?
“Yahoo!” Stevie said.
Carole hadn’t even known there was such a thing as a reserve championship, and now she’d won it. She and Starlight accepted the ribbon, and then she and Cam were invited to ride around the ring together.
Carole couldn’t remember when she’d had such fun on such a short ride. Together they circled the ring, and then together they left the competition area for the stalls, followed by all the other Intermediate competitors.
As soon as they were inside, Carole dismounted and gave Starlight the gigantic hug that he deserved. She also took the opportunity to congratulate Cam and tell him how much she thought he deserved it.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’m glad for you, too.”
Then both of them were surrounded. All the young riders seemed happy for both Carole and Cam, but none were happier for them than Lisa and Stevie.
“It’s great!” Lisa declared.
“It’s Saddle Club Power!” Stevie said, reaching up and inviting Carole and Lisa to join her in a high five—only when there were three of them, they called it a high fifteen.
“What exactly do you three do in The Saddle Club, anyway?” Cam asked.
“Haven’t I told you about our meetings?” Carole asked.
“I’ve got an idea,” Stevie said, reaching to take Starlight’s reins from Carole’s hands. “Why don’t Lisa and I untack your horses—it will be an honor to tend to the champ and the reserve champ—while you two go somewhere private and Carole can explain to Cam what The Saddle Club is.”
“Good idea,” Lisa agreed, taking Duffy’s reins. “And if, when you come back, you’ve got something cool for each of us to drink, well that will be fine, too.”
“It’s a deal,” Cam said. “Oh, but be sure to take good care of Duffy. He’s a champion, you know.”
“Don’t worry,” Lisa said. “I’m good at grooming champions—and champions-to-be!”
Cam took Carole’s hand then and led her out toward the refreshment stand. They had a lot to talk about, and Stevie and Lisa suspected it wasn’t all horses!
“WE WERE WONDERFUL!” Stevie declared. She was sitting in the big easy chair in Carole’s room with her slippered feet propped up on Carole’s bed. The three of them were having a hastily arranged sleepover. It was a celebration of the victories they’d had at the horse show. It was also a Saddle Club meeting, because every time the three of them got together without any other distractions (and sometimes with other distractions), they called it a Saddle Club meeting.
“We sure were wonderful,” Lisa said. “Especially Carole.”
“Thanks,” Carole said. “It was a very special day, that’s for sure.”
The three of them were quiet for a few minutes then, each lost in her own thoughts.
“For a while there,
all I cared about was winning,” Stevie said. “I kind of assumed that was the only important part of the horse show.”
“And I assumed that just because I had a valuable horse, I would win everything,” Lisa said. “I was such a dope.”
“You weren’t a dope,” Carole said quickly. “You were just acting like one!”
The three girls laughed because they all knew that what Carole had said was true.
“And besides,” she went on, “I did my part in acting like a dope, too. Talking about assuming things, how about the way I assumed Cam was a girl? Boy did I miss the boat on that one!”
“He’s not only a boy, he’s a nice boy,” Lisa said. “He tried to help me when I was messing up with Prancer.”
“He is a nice boy,” Carole agreed. “He helped me, too. And now that I know how nice he is, I’m going to listen more carefully to his advice. It was silly of me to assume that I knew more than anybody else on my bulletin board.”
Stevie frowned. “Does that mean you’re always going to take his advice?” she asked. It was hard to imagine Carole relinquishing her position as an expert on horses.
“Heavens no!” Carole said. “I didn’t say he was always right—just that he’s worth listening to.”
That was more like it!
“Then there was another way that I acted like a dope,” Carole continued in a more serious vein. “I mean, I got frazzled when Starlight gave me such trouble in the Equitation class. I’d assumed that just because he and I had worked so hard, we’d do well. I found that working hard might help in some areas, but in others I’m just going to have to work harder.”
“My dopiness had to do with the fact that I thought determination would win,” Stevie said. “All I wanted to do was to win. I thought I could beat you both and I thought that would make me happy. I was wrong on both counts. I can be so competitive sometimes!”
“Right, and all that did was make you look determined, and that wasn’t what the judges wanted to see in the Pleasure class. Now if there had been a Determination class…,” Lisa teased.
“It all worked out, though, didn’t it?” Stevie asked. “I mean, we all won something.”
“If you mean ribbons, yes,” Lisa agreed. “And we probably got those in the right proportions, too. We’re each pretty good riders, but nobody’s kidding anybody here. Carole’s the best, Stevie, you’re next best, and I’m …” She paused for a moment, trying to think of a flattering way to describe the fact that she wasn’t as good a rider as her friends. Then she had it. “… I’m learning the most!” she declared.
“Lucky you!”
Lisa continued on a more serious note. “Well, there was a lot to learn today. I think we all got something out of the show.”
“You know, that’s what Max said he wanted for us,” Carole said, recalling their first talk with Max about Briarwood. “He said he wanted students who could learn at the show, and then later he said it again when he was talking about our personal goals.”
“Oh, those,” Stevie said. “I’d forgotten. We’re supposed to meet with Max on Tuesday, and he’ll tell us how we did.”
Carole shook her head. “No, you’ve got it wrong,” she said. “We’re supposed to tell him how we did—what ribbon we’re supposed to get. What are you two going to say?”
Stevie scrunched her forehead. “I’m trying to remember what I wrote down. I was afraid that Topside was going to make it all so easy for me that I wouldn’t do the job I was supposed to do. I wanted to stay concentrated on the basics.”
“That’s a good goal,” Carole said. “I wish I’d thought of it that way. So do you think you did it?”
Stevie shrugged. “Most of the time, I guess I did. I certainly didn’t do it in the Pleasure class, but I did okay the rest of the time.”
“You should get a blue ribbon then,” Lisa said.
“No, I don’t agree,” Stevie told her earnestly. “Red is good enough for me this time.” Then she turned to Carole. “What about you? What were your goals?”
“I don’t remember all of them, although I thought about them a lot when I wrote them down. Most of them had to do with making Starlight do his best because we’d worked so hard on his training for so long.”
“And what are you going to say to Max?” Lisa asked.
Carole thought for a while before she answered the question. “This may sound odd, or it may sound conceited. I don’t know which you might think, but the fact is that Starlight did do his best all through the show. Sometimes it wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be, but I know Starlight’s limitations, and I’m very sure I got the best he had to give me. I’m going to tell Max I earned a blue.”
Stevie and Lisa both had the same thought. From almost anybody else in the world, that would have sounded like a boast. From Carole it was the honest truth, and they couldn’t fault her. She’d done so well that she clearly deserved at least one more blue ribbon. They told her so. She thanked them.
Then both Stevie and Carole turned to Lisa. “What were your goals?” Carole asked.
Lisa shifted uneasily and made a face. She remembered exactly what she’d written on each of those five pieces of paper. The recollection was embarrassing to her because it had been so foolish to think she could win blue ribbons with a horse who needed so much more training than Prancer had. But she wasn’t quite ready to explain it all to her friends.
She took a deep breath and tried, in the best way she could. “Well, with my envelope it seems that there was some kind of mistake,” she began. “The ‘goals’ that got written down for this year are actually ‘goals’ that were meant for next year—or, maybe about fifteen years from now, when I’m a lot older and wiser.”
Stevie and Carole didn’t ask for any details. They understood, and that was what friends were for.
“And speaking of goals,” Stevie said. “Tell us about your conversation with Cam after you left us. You were gone an awfully long time when you went to get those drinks for us. Just what kind of questions did Cam ask you about The Saddle Club?”
“Oh, we didn’t talk about The Saddle Club at all,” Carole said.
“Well, did he ask you anything?” said Lisa.
“Sure,” Carole said. Her friends thought there was a possibility that she was blushing as she answered the question. “He did ask me one question.”
“Yes?”
“He asked me my phone number.” Carole smiled shyly. “And I gave it to him.”
“Wow!” Stevie said. This was great news. Cam Nelson seemed like such a nice boy. “He’s so handsome, and such a good rider! You guys are perfect for one another! When are you going to see him?”
“Oh, I don’t know—” Carole began.
Then there was a knock at her door. It was Carole’s father. Colonel Hanson had a big tray of cookies and milk for the three girls.
“I thought all you ribbon winners deserved to be waited on just a little tiny bit,” he said. “So here are some homemade chocolate-chip cookies.” He put the tray on Carole’s bedside table and began handing out the milk. “Of course, in return I am going to expect breakfast in bed from you three tomorrow morning. I like my eggs boiled for three and a half minutes—no, actually three minutes forty-five seconds.…”
Lisa began giggling. Colonel Hanson was a wonderful man, and he could be very funny. He often made the girls laugh. Stevie didn’t giggle. She just tossed a pillow at him—when he wasn’t holding a glass of milk in his hand.
“All right, all right. Just burn me some toast, okay?”
“It’s a deal,” Carole said.
“Well, now, I have a question for you, daughter dear. Now that you’ve won a reserve championship, two blue ribbons, and countless lesser ones, what are you going to do next?”
Carole got a little twinkle in her eye. She shrugged casually. “I’m going to go to Disney World!”
Colonel Hanson’s jaw dropped. “How did you know?” he asked.
There was a lot to talk abou
t!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BONNIE BRYANT is the author of more than fifty books for young readers, including novelizations of movie hits such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, written under her married name, B. B. Hiller.
Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.
Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She lives in Greenwich Village with her two sons.
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