Pony Tails 08- May Rides a New Pony

by Bonnie Bryant

  “No problem,” said May grandly. “These pillows are on reserve.”

  Mr. James had come to join them in the booth. He was an ecologist, and usually he was quiet and thoughtful, but now he was laughing. “You’re great, May. You’re the best salesperson I ever saw.”

  Jasmine and Corey looked at each other. Who would have imagined that May’s talent for talking to people would come in so handy?

  The girl came back with her mother.

  “They’re really lovely,” her mother said. “You’re absolutely right.”

  “She has a good eye,” May said.

  The mother beamed.

  May leaned forward and whispered loudly to the girl, “You look like a nice girl.”

  The girl blinked.

  “I bet you have a lot of friends,” May said.

  The girl nodded.

  “To spare them heartbreak, warn them that these pony pillows are almost gone.”

  10 Best Friends Forever

  “I can’t believe it,” said May, flopping into a chair at the booth. It was the first time she’d sat down all evening. “We sold every pillow.”

  Jasmine and Corey flopped into chairs on either side.

  “We could have sold a hundred,” said May enthusiastically. “Too bad you guys didn’t make more.”

  Corey and Jasmine looked at each other and groaned.

  “Thanks to you, May, all my things are sold,” Mrs. James said. She looked at the empty table and the empty shelves. “I can’t believe it.”

  “We’ve got the only booth that sold out completely,” said Jasmine proudly.

  “I wonder how everyone else at the fair did,” Mr. James said. “It looks like it was a good night.”

  The Pony Tails looked around. None of the other booths had sold out, but they had sold a lot.

  “Good evening,” said a booming voice over the loudspeaker. “We are proud to announce that this year’s craft fair made fifty percent more than last year.”

  There was a round of applause. The people who had been working at the booths looked proud.

  “The fair did so well that it exceeded its goals.”

  “They made more money than they hoped?” May said. “That’s amazing.”

  “Not only will Willow Creek Elementary School be able to buy computers for the library, but there will be money left over.”

  A gasp ran through the gym.

  “So we’ll have ice cream for lunch every day,” May said. “And cookies. And chocolate cake.”

  “The PTA has decided to donate the extra money to the Belleville Elementary School library so that it can buy computers too.”

  “That’s even better,” said May.

  The exhibitors began to pack up.

  Mrs. James and the Pony Tails had nothing to pack up because everything had been sold.

  “Come on, girls,” Mr. James said. “You must be tired. Let’s go home.”

  When they arrived at the Jameses’ house, May yawned and said, “It’s been a long day, but I have to do one more thing.”

  “What?” said Jasmine.

  “Say good-night to Mac,” May said.

  “We’ll keep you company,” said Corey.

  They followed the Pony Trail through Jasmine’s backyard into Corey’s and then into May’s. It was almost dark now. Wind was blowing up from the Silverado River.

  “I figured out something about friendship,” May said as they walked into the Grovers’ barn.

  “What’s that?” Jasmine said.

  “It’s like riding,” May said. “It’s easy to take it for granted and stop paying attention.”

  “When you forget to pay attention, everything goes wrong,” Corey said.

  They walked toward Macaroni’s stall. When he heard them, he turned and nickered.

  “He’s not asleep,” May said. “Let’s go in and say good-night.” They walked to the front of Macaroni’s stall.

  “If I had paid more attention to Macaroni, he wouldn’t have gotten jealous of Zeus,” May said. She reached out and rubbed Macaroni’s yellow nose. “I’m sorry, Mac.”

  “If Corey and I hadn’t gotten so wound up in the craft project, you wouldn’t have felt left out,” said Jasmine.

  “It’s okay,” May said. “I think we all learned something.”

  Jasmine tickled Macaroni under his forelock. “Some week, huh, Mac? First you get a corn and then you’re totally ignored.”

  “He doesn’t look so miserable,” Corey said. “In fact, he looks pretty happy.”

  “I almost forgot!” May said. Out of her pocket she pulled a bag. Out of the bag she pulled three yards of green ribbon. She held it up to Macaroni’s yellow mane.

  “It’s perfect” Jasmine said. “You can save it for the next big event at Pine Hollow.”

  “Totally,” May said. She dangled the ribbon in front of Macaroni. “What do you think of that?”

  Macaroni sniffed the ribbon and nudged it with his nose. When he figured out that it wasn’t edible, he lost interest and nuzzled May’s ear.

  “You’ll like the ribbon when I braid it in your hair,” May said. She knew Macaroni loved to look fancy.

  “I guess he hasn’t had such a bad week after all,” Corey said.

  They bent over to examine his right foot. The special shoe that the blacksmith had put on it was strange-looking. But the foot looked much better.

  “The blacksmith is coming on Monday to check his foot,” May said. “Pretty soon he’ll be back to normal.”

  The girls filed out of Macaroni’s stall into the aisle. Overhead a lightbulb inside a metal guard sent out warm yellow light.

  Jasmine yawned. “I’m going to dream of pillows, that’s for sure.”

  Corey giggled. “I’m going to dream about May’s sales talk.”

  “Wait a second,” May said sternly. “Aren’t we forgetting something?”

  “What?” asked Jasmine, rubbing her eyes.

  “We were talking about not taking things for granted.”

  Sleepily, Corey and Jasmine nodded.

  “We were talking about paying attention to people and ponies.”

  “So?” said Corey. “I don’t get it.”

  “What about Zeus?” May said. “He’s going to be living here all month. He has feelings, too.”

  “There’s so much to remember,” Corey groaned. “Sometimes I feel like my head is going to pop.”

  From the other end of the barn came the sound of nickering and prancing. It was a light sound, a frisky sound. It couldn’t be anyone but Zeus.

  “To think we nearly forgot him,” Corey wailed. “The poor thing.”

  They walked to Zeus’s stall. He was pawing at the bedding. He bobbed his head up and down to show that he was glad to see them.

  May opened the stall door. “Hi, Zeus,” she said, walking in. Jasmine and Corey followed her. Zeus watched them with his bright, friendly eyes.

  “I’m really glad you’re staying with us,” May said, stroking his soft nose.

  “Me too,” Jasmine said. She reached out and tickled the spot between Zeus’s ears. “I haven’t gotten to know you very well because I’ve been busy. But I know we’re going to like each other. You know something else? You’re going to like Outlaw, and he’s going to like you.” She smiled. “But I have to warn you, he can be a real handful sometimes.”

  Zeus looked at her gravely.

  “If you hear weird sounds in the night, it’s just my dog, Dracula,” Corey said. “Or if you think you hear a car screeching, it’s my parrot, Bluebeard.”

  “Except for Corey’s pets, she’s totally normal,” May said to Zeus.

  “And I know you and my pony, Sam, will really like each other,” Corey said.

  Zeus frisked from one foot to another as if he couldn’t wait for the night to be over and a new day to begin.

  “I’ve got something for you,” May said. With a flourish she pulled a bag from her left pocket. Out of it she pulled a yellow ribbon. “H
ow do you think this would look in his mane?” she asked.

  “Great,” Jasmine said. “But where did you get it?”

  “I remembered that I’d forgotten Zeus,” May said, “so I went back to the booth and bought it.”

  “Good thinking,” Corey said.

  “For once I was paying attention.” May put her hand on Zeus’s neck. “Even though Macaroni will always be number one, I love you both. When you go home to the Randalls at the end of the month, you’re going to go in style.”

  “Maybe we could help you train him,” said Corey shyly. “I know you know a lot more than we do, but we could learn.”

  “I don’t know anything,” May said. “I need all the help I can get.”

  “You’re not just saying that?” said Jasmine.

  “No way,” May said. “We’ll train Zeus together. It’ll be fun.”

  Jasmine sighed. “You know what? The summer seems pretty perfect now that the Pony Tails are a team again.”

  When May got home, she took out her diary and wrote:

  Dear Diary,

  Today was the best day of my life. I would tell you all about it, but I am totally, totally pooped. Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything.

  May slipped the diary under her pillow. She put the special pony pillow on top of it. Then she lay down and fell asleep, and she dreamed about ponies.

  May’s Pony Training Tips

  I love the fact that my father trains horses for a living. If you don’t count my two sisters (and I usually don’t), everybody in my family loves to talk about horses. It’s the next best thing to riding them (and hugging them).

  It was a lot of fun to work with Dad on schooling Zeus. I learned a lot about training in general and an awful lot about training Zeus in particular.

  There are two things you always have to do when you’re training a pony. First, you have to repeat the same lessons over and over until the pony gets the idea. I ride Macaroni almost every day, and when I’m training him we go over a lot of the same basic things each time. Mac has learned to stand still when I mount him; to walk, trot, canter, and jump on command; and to step into the trailer like a gentleman.

  The second thing, and it’s really part of the first thing, is that you have to be consistent. That means that the way you ask your pony to do something has to be the same every time. For instance, when I taught Zeus to walk faster without breaking into a trot, I gave little squeezes on his belly with the rhythm of his walk, and I loosened the reins a bit. I always asked that way because if I had done something else—like tapping him with my riding crop—then he might have thought I wanted him to do something different, like break into a trot.

  The great thing is that ponies are smart. Lucky for me, Macaroni’s not just smart—he always wants to please me, so he really tries to understand what I’m telling him to do. Once he understands, he may need some reminders, but he’ll do it right most of the time—until eventually he does it right all the time. That’s why it pays to repeat an exercise—and to make sure you give consistent instructions—until your pony understands what you want.

  Trainers use a lot of different aids to work with ponies and horses, but the two most common are a longe line and cavalletti.

  A longe (pronounce it as if it were spelled lunge) is like a long leash, attached to a special bridle. The trainer stands in the middle of the ring, and the pony goes in a circle around her. When I have Macaroni on a longe line, I use a very long whip. It’s long so that it can reach the pony, but it’s not meant to hurt—just to get attention! When a pony is on a longe line, the trainer can see things she might never notice if she were riding the pony, like the way the pony holds his neck. It also helps the pony learn to move at a steady pace.

  When I first began training Macaroni to jump, I used cavalletti, or ground poles. (Cavalletti is an Italian word, and it refers to two or more poles. If there is only one pole, it’s called a cavalletto.) Those are long rails that are laid on the ground for the pony to step over. Once Macaroni and I were comfortable going over the ground poles, Dad and I began putting the poles on supports that hold them a few inches off the ground. Every time we went over the cavalletti, leaned forward a bit and lifted myself out of the saddle and moved my hands forward to loosen the reins, even when we were just walking and Macaroni was just stepping over the pole. You probably know that’s called jump position. We weren’t really jumping, but it was a way of being consistent because we were going to jump.

  Then Dad raised the cavalletti, and bingo, Macaroni couldn’t just step over the cavalletti, so he jumped. Macaroni’s first jump was easy—and wonderful. Since we’d been repeating the same actions again and again and we were being consistent, it was a breeze for both of us. When Dad helped us, I’m not sure whether he was actually training Macaroni or me. I don’t think it matters, though. We both learned, didn’t we?

  Cavalletti can also be used to work on a pony’s gaits. For example, if you want to train your pony to have a longer stride, you can lay a course of poles for him to step over that makes him take bigger steps. If you repeat the course enough and if you’re consistent in your signals, he’ll get the idea. However, you’ll need help in deciding exactly how far apart the poles should be. The ideal stride length is different for different ponies.

  It took my dad years and years to become a trainer. He says that every time he works with a new horse or pony, he learns something new. He also says good training is based on trust and understanding and that the only way to achieve that is to be consistent so that the horse knows he can trust you.

  The other thing Dad always says is that he wishes I were as easy to train as a horse. I wonder what he means by that!

  Turn the page to continue reading from the Pony Tails series

  1 Two Great Ideas

  Yeoowwwl!

  As Corey Takamura hurried across her backyard to the barn, a howl filled the air.

  Yeoowwwl!

  The howl came again. Then a big, dark animal raced toward Corey and jumped up on her. She laughed as it began covering her face with kisses.

  “I love you, too, Dracula,” Corey told her dog. “But you have to get down. I’m already late for the Pony Tails meeting.”

  The big dog let out another of the weird-sounding howls that had given him his name. Dracula might sound spooky, but he was actually a very friendly dog.

  After giving Corey a few more kisses, Dracula got down. He followed closely behind Corey as she continued across the yard to meet her two best friends, May Grover and Jasmine James.

  Sometimes the Pony Tails got together at May or Jasmine’s house. But today they were meeting inside the Takamuras’ barn. It was the perfect place to meet for three animal lovers who called themselves the Pony Tails. Corey’s mother was a veterinarian. Dr. Takamura—whom everybody called Doc Tock—always had an interesting assortment of animals staying in the barn. This week the patients included an injured ferret, a basset hound named Ollie, and a litter of black kittens. Corey’s pony, Sam, also lived there, and so did her pet goat, Alexander.

  As Corey entered the big old barn, a smile spread across her face. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends the news.

  Every year one of the younger riders at Pine Hollow Stables gave a Halloween party. Pine Hollow was the stable where all three girls took lessons and went to Pony Club meetings. Corey had decided she would have this year’s party. The best part was, she was going to make it a hay-ride.

  The riders from Pine Hollow would love the idea—and Corey knew her two best friends would love it, too!

  May and Jasmine were already sitting in an empty stall, waiting for Corey.

  “What do you think Corey will say?” May asked Jasmine nervously. “Do you think she’ll say it’s a good idea?”

  Jasmine tucked a strand of blond hair back into her ponytail. “I’m not sure,” she said. “It sounds fun. But you have to admit that inviting fifteen kids and fifteen ponies to Corey’s house to go trick-or-treating is just a little bi
t crazy.”

  “It would be so much fun,” said May. “Corey’s mom is used to animals, so she won’t mind the commotion. I bet Corey will think—”

  “Think what?” a voice cut in.

  May and Jasmine jumped as Corey stuck her head over the top of the stall.

  “You scared me, Corey!” Jasmine said.

  “Me too,” said May.

  “Sorry about that, guys,” Corey said. She opened the door of the stall and sat down beside her friends. Dracula bounded in after her. “So what will I think about what?” she asked.

  May shot a nervous look at Jasmine.

  “Tell her your idea, May,” Jasmine said.

  “Uh-oh. Another one of May’s ideas?” Corey couldn’t resist teasing her friend a little. Even May admitted that some of her ideas were crazy.

  “You’re going to love this idea, Corey,” May said. “I’ve decided that you should have Pine Hollow’s Halloween party at your house this year.”

  Corey stared at her friend, amazed. “I can’t believe it!” she said. “That was my idea, too!”

  “What?” Jasmine said. “You thought of that, too?”

  Corey nodded. Actually she shouldn’t have been too surprised that she and May had come up with the same idea. With the Pony Tails, that happened all the time.

  Shortly after Corey had moved into the house between May’s and Jasmine’s, the three girls had become best friends. One reason they liked each other so much was because they were all pony-crazy. Each girl owned her own pony, and she loved to ride that pony more than anything else in the world.

  “Wait till you hear the rest of my idea,” Corey went on. “I’m going to make the party a hayride! Won’t that be fun?”

  Corey babbled on for a few more minutes. Finally she realized she was the only one talking. Jasmine seemed interested in the hayride, but May was just sitting there, staring down at the straw.

  “What’s the matter, May?” Corey asked. “Did I say something that hurt your feelings?”

  “Of course not, Corey,” May said. She smiled, but Corey thought May still looked sad, or maybe disappointed.