“See how the horse is balanced?” she asked Lisa.
Lisa tried to see it. Finally, she began to get the idea. “You mean the way his pace remains smooth and even?”
“You’re getting it, Lisa, you’re getting it,” Kate told her. Lisa grinned, pleased with herself, and, with the help of her local experts, she began to enjoy watching the competition. For the moment she’d forgotten that her own competition, the gymkhana, would begin at four o’clock—a mere five hours away.
CAROLE WAS VERY pleased that Kate had agreed to come to the adult events. These were the types of competitions at which Kate herself had excelled. Carole wanted to see how Kate would react to watching these events. She had the feeling that Kate’s participation, no matter how slight, was going to be the key to luring her back into riding. For a few moments, Carole watched Kate looking at the riders. At first, she thought she could see Kate moving with them unconsciously, sometimes shifting her own weight to turn the horse she was riding in her imagination, sometimes sitting back to slow the animal down. Then Carole realized it wasn’t Kate moving that way, it was she herself. Carole was taking every pace with the riders. Kate was just sitting on the bench watching. Kate was still a mystery.
BY FIVE MINUTES to four, all thoughts of the dressage test were erased from the minds of the four members of the gymkhana team. Since there were four teams, Max had assigned each team the name of a suit of cards. The Saddle Club, plus Chad, had been dubbed The Clubs. That pleased the girls. Chad didn’t seem to care.
In fact, Stevie noticed, Chad seemed very distracted. She and Lisa and Carole were buzzing with reminders of special techniques for the races. Chad stared across the course.
“Nervous?” Carole asked.
“Me?” Chad responded in surprise. “Nah.”
“So, what’s on your mind?” Carole asked him.
“My mind?”
“Why do you keep answering Carole’s questions with questions?” Stevie asked him.
“Who’s that?” he asked instead, pointing to Kate, who was busily setting up poles with rings on them for the riders to spear with their riding crops.
“That’s Kate Devine,” Lisa said, confused.
“Devine,” he echoed, a sort of dreamy look in his eyes.
It seemed such an odd thing for him to say that Lisa and Carole looked to Stevie for an explanation. Stevie shook her head. “I’ve seen these symptoms before,” she explained. “I think he just fell in love.”
“But he’s met her lots of times before,” Carole said. “Why didn’t he recognize her?”
Stevie shrugged. “Look, I can’t make any more sense out of the way he falls in love with girls than I can out of the way Kate fell out of love with riding. People are people. Sometimes they make sense. Sometimes they don’t. The one good piece of news here, though, is that if he’s trying to show off for Kate, he’ll do his best for the team.”
Just then, the two-minute-warning bell rang. It was almost time.
LISA HAD BEEN in the ring where the gymkhana games were taking place dozens of times before, but somehow, everything looked very different to her now. She and her teammates were dressed in their best riding clothes. Even Stevie had abandoned her worn-out jeans and was wearing breeches and high boots. They each had a special cover on their regular riding hats to identify their team. The Clubs’ caps were green-and-white. Carole’s had a pompon on the top, which meant that she was the team captain, elected unanimously. That also meant that she would ride the last leg of each race and would be expected to make up time lost by the less-experienced riders who had gone before her.
The Clubs were in one of the middle lanes of the ring. Diamonds were on the far left, Spades came next, then Clubs, then Hearts. The lanes were divided by poles. Each lane had four poles, evenly spaced from the start line to the far end of the ring. In some races, the poles just divided the lanes; in others, they were either used to hold props (such as rings in the first race), or for the horses to circle or weave around. Lisa hoped she’d remember the different rules of all the races.
In fact, Lisa hoped for a lot of things. She hoped she wouldn’t make any really dumb mistakes. She hoped she wouldn’t fall off her pony. She hoped she wouldn’t miss any targets, she hoped her pony wouldn’t decide to walk all day. She hoped—she didn’t have time to hope any more. The race was about to begin.
Looking to her right, Lisa spotted her parents in the crowd. Her father waved. Her mother yelled, “Be careful!” Lisa grinned to herself. It was just like her mother to be worried about her—even over such a little thing as this. It made her forget her butterflies. She was ready to go!
MRS. REG HELD her hand at shoulder level and let the red bandanna float down. As soon as it hit the ground, the race would begin. In this ring race, the first rider (Chad, on their team) was to ride to the first pole, spear a ring from it with his riding crop, circle the pole, and return to the starting line. He’d pass off the crop with the ring to their second rider (Lisa), who was to ride to the second pole, spear another ring, circle the pole, and then bring the crop back to their third rider, Stevie. And so on.
The instant the bandanna hit the ground, Chad was off like a rocket—at a walk. He kicked Half Dollar. He clucked to the pony. Nothing would move him. The girls yowled at him, but that didn’t help move the pony one bit! Finally, Carole yelled at Chad, “Use the whip!” Responding quickly, Chad touched the pony lightly with the whip and the animal sprinted to the first pole. Fortunately, Chad’s aim with the whip was as good as with the squirt gun. He poked the whip through the ring on the first try, and before she knew it, Lisa was grasping it from him and heading for the second pole.
It was a good thing Lisa didn’t need to use the whip on her pony, because it already had one precious ring on it. If that ring fell off, they’d have to start all over again.
Penny started to turn the wrong way when Lisa got to the pole, but Lisa got her straightened out, speared the ring on the second try (better than she’d ever done in practice), and headed toward Stevie and Nickel, who were eagerly awaiting her. After she handed off the whip to Stevie, she had her first chance to see how the other teams were doing.
The Hearts were having a terrible time. Their first rider was still trying to get the ring on the whip. But the Spades were doing just fine. In fact, their third rider was almost ready to hand off the whip to their captain, but his pony lurched and all the rings fell off! They had to start all over again. Lisa watched while Kate and Red O’Malley ran frantically over to their poles to put up new rings for them. It wouldn’t do for a team to lose because the setups weren’t being done.
The Diamonds were running just about neck and neck with the Clubs. The Diamonds’ captain was Veronica diAngelo. She was a temperamental, spoiled rich girl, but she was also a good rider. She’d give Carole a run for her money.
Veronica and Carole started their final legs at almost exactly the same second. They both leaned forward, putting pressure on their ponies to go as fast as possible. Lisa held her breath while Carole slowed Quarter ever so slightly approaching the fourth pole. She held the reins in her left hand and the whip in her right. She pointed it as if she were aiming a rifle, looking straight ahead toward the small iron ring perched atop the striped pole.
Zip! She nailed it. The ring lifted off the top of the pole and gently slid down the whip until Carole could secure it with her fingers along with the others. Quarter picked up his pace immediately and began the mad dash for the finish line. Stevie, Lisa, and Chad all bounced up and down in their saddles, shrieking encouragement.
Veronica’s team was yelling just as loud, but Lisa knew it wasn’t going to do them any good at all. Veronica had missed the ring on her first try and so she had to circle the pole twice. Carole was across the finish line, waving triumphantly, by the time Veronica had gotten halfway home.
The Clubs had four points and the Diamonds had three. Hearts came in third and got two points. Poor old Spades were last. That was worth o
ne point.
The Clubs shouted together in triumph. “We were outstanding!” Chad declared.
The girls looked at him with a little bit of surprise. It was the first time he had shown that he cared.
“I guess we were!” Lisa agreed.
“Or maybe we were just a little bit lucky—” Stevie suggested.
“You know how to find the cloudy wrapping around every lump of silver, don’t you?” Carole teased her.
Stevie smiled. “I guess so. But I just don’t want us to relax. After all, there are three more races today!”
“And the costume race is about to start,” Carole said, glancing at the far end of the ring.
“Oh, no!” Stevie groaned. “Red has given us the clown outfit! It’s got buttons up the back!”
“But who has the pirate outfit with the eyepatch?”
“The Diamonds!” Stevie said. “Can’t wait to see if Veronica will allow herself to be so unchic as that!”
“She’ll have to, or she’ll lose,” Lisa reminded her.
“She’ll lose anyway!” Stevie said.
Lisa was beginning to like the feel of victory. She hoped Stevie was right.
Lisa could see her parents cheering like crazy for her, and that made her feel good all over. A lot of the time it seemed to her that her parents had trouble getting excited about the things she liked the most or did the best. She never got congratulations when she brought home a straight-A report card, but if she wasn’t the butterfly in the front row in the ballet recital, they were disappointed. Now here they were, cheering for her as if they were really proud of her!
“There goes the bandanna!” Carole shouted, and Chad was on his way.
The costume game went smoothly for the Clubs, but it also went smoothly for the Diamonds. The Hearts and the Spades were trying their best, but they couldn’t keep up with the leaders. When time permitted, the Clubs watched the other teams. It was clear that the Hearts and the Spades just hadn’t put enough time in on practice. They made too many little mistakes, which wouldn’t have happened if they were more familiar with the games. So, though Max had made all the teams pretty equal as far as riding ability went, when it came down to it, practice was what counted. Practice and a little bit of luck.
In the costume race, the luck went more toward the Diamonds than the Clubs. Chad accidentally ripped a hole in the leg of the clown costume when he put it on, and each of the girls stuck a leg into the hole when she put it on. It cost them precious seconds—enough of them that they came in second to the Diamonds. Spades came in third and Hearts, last. The Club and Diamond teams were now tied.
The third race was a disaster for the Clubs. It was a chain race, in which two riders rode side by side, holding a chain between them, weaving back and forth around the poles. For some reason, Penny suddenly decided she didn’t want to have anything to do with Half Dollar. Try as Lisa and Chad did, they could barely get the ponies to stay close enough to each other so they could hold the chain. They had to start over twice. By then, the Hearts had won the race and the Diamonds had come in second. The Clubs were lucky to take third, and that meant that the Diamonds were one point ahead of them. They had to beat the Diamonds in the fourth race just to stay even for the day.
The fourth event was the squirt-gun race. It was Chad’s best race, but none of the girls had ever been very good at it. Lisa was practically shaking with excitement, or nervousness. She wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. Anything that made her shake was going to have a bad effect on her target shooting.
“Breathe deeply through your nose and out slowly through your mouth,” Carole suggested to all her teammates. “It calms you and helps you focus.”
“Will it help me aim?” Lisa asked.
“I’m not sure,” Carole said. “But it’s got to be better for you than sitting there shaking in your saddle!”
Lisa laughed, releasing tension. It felt really good. After all, these were just games, and games were for having fun.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she announced, lining up Penny behind Half Dollar. At the far end of the ring, Kate and Red were setting up the pistol targets, cardboard cutouts set on easels. Each rider would have a separate squirt gun, with a different color dye in it. That way, there would be no arguments about who had or who had not hit the target.
The final target was balanced on an easel by the fourth pole. The teams were to ride to the line ten feet from the target and shoot. Mrs. Reg lifted her bandanna in the air and released it. It floated lazily toward the ground, landing gently, silently—in great contrast to the sudden and thunderous response from the four leadoff poniés on each of the teams.
Half Dollar, now accustomed to Chad’s sudden starts, leapt from the starting line, galloped to the shooting line, and halted promptly. Without hesitation, Chad raised his right arm, took aim, and fired. Bull’s-eye! Green dye smeared all over the target. Half Dollar made a U-turn and returned Chad to the starting line well ahead of the other three teams’ first riders. The Clubs were ahead.
As soon as Chad crossed the line, Lisa started Penny moving. The pony followed her lead and got to the shooting line quickly. Lisa checked and found that Penny’s forelegs were over the line. That would be an automatic foul. She pulled firmly on the reins until Penny stepped back behind the line. Then, looking nervously at the squirt gun in her right hand, she raised it and aimed. She squeezed the trigger. Blue dye shot from the nozzle, landing on the ground in front of the target. She squeezed again, harder. Same result.
“Higher!” she heard Chad yell.
“Come on, Lisa! You can do it!” Stevie screamed.
She pointed the nozzle higher. It didn’t work.
“Higher!” Chad yelled again. Then she understood what she had to do.
She leaned forward, almost resting on Penny’s neck, pointed the squirt gun into the air, well above her target, and squeezed with all her might. The blue dye arced into the air and landed—square on the target. She did it!
“Yahoo!” she yelled, turning Penny around and heading back to the starting line.
The Clubs were neck and neck with the Diamonds, and the Spades were close behind. There wasn’t a second to lose. Stevie bolted off the starting line like a greyhound, and handled her part like a pro. She returned a few seconds later, grinning and triumphant. It was Carole’s turn.
Lisa thought she could breathe easy now. She was sure they’d won. Almost every eye in the place was on Carole, since she was such a good rider. Lisa, however, thought that it might pay to watch Veronica diAngelo, the Diamonds’ captain, two lanes over.
Veronica and Carole left the starting line at almost the same instant. They arrived at the shooting line simultaneously. They took aim together. The yellow streams of dye shot out together. Because it was such a light color, it was hard to see it land, but Lisa had the distinct impression that Veronica had missed the target. Veronica turned her pony around right away, though, and headed back to the finish line. But Carole’s first shot missed. She took careful aim, shot again, and this time, hit the target.
Hard as she tried, and fast as she rode, she couldn’t beat Veronica back to the starting line. That meant they’d come in second and the Diamonds had won for the day. The Spades came in right behind the Clubs in the fourth race. The Hearts were last.
The Diamonds’ families and friends were cheering them on. Then the Saddle Club’s own families and friends were yelling like crazy. Even Lisa’s parents were cheering. Second place wasn’t bad. It kept them in the competition. But it wasn’t as good as first.
Kate and Red went out to pick up the targets. Lisa noticed that Kate examined the Diamonds’ target, and waved to Red to join her. He walked over and looked at it, too. Then, the two of them took the target over to the judges’ table. There was a lot of buzzing and chatting there. The judges spent time looking at their charts and looking at the target.
The P.A. system crackled to life. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the head judge said. “We have
a correction to make on the final race. A close examination of the targets reveals that one of the riders on the Diamond team did not, in fact, hit the target. Therefore, the team is automatically disqualified and comes in fourth. The new order for the final race is: Clubs, Spades, Hearts, and Diamonds. The final point standing for the day is: Clubs, thirteen; Diamonds; eleven; Hearts, nine; and Spades, seven. Teams, please line up for the presentation of ribbons.”
They’d won! Lisa had been right when she’d thought Veronica hadn’t hit the target. Good old Veronica had tried to cheat and she’d been caught at it!
The Clubs’ ponies stood still and proud as the judges pinned the blue ribbons on their bridles. It was as if they knew what they’d done and were as proud as their riders. Lisa leaned forward to admire the shiny blue satin. She decided then that it would be the first of many, many blue ribbons she would win in her life as a rider. She glanced at her best friends. The big smiles on their faces told her they all felt exactly the same way.
It seemed to Lisa then that it almost didn’t matter if they won the next two days of the gymkhana. Winning the first day was almost wonderful enough for a life-time. Almost.
IT TURNED OUT to be a good thing Lisa wasn’t set on winning on the second day, because they didn’t.
“The best part of today was the cross-country jumping,” Stevie said as the team and Kate sat at a booth at TD’s, The Saddle Club’s favorite hangout. It was an ice cream store at the local shopping center. They’d bought themselves sundaes as consolation prizes, since they had come in second to Veronica’s Diamond team.
“Don’t be too hard on yourselves,” Kate advised them. “You sure looked like you were having fun out there.”
“Well, we were,” Stevie said. “But winning is more fun.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kate said.
For the first time, Carole had the feeling that Kate was ready to reveal some of the problems she had had with riding.
“How do you mean that?” Carole asked her.
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