“Sounds great.”
“Uh-oh,” Lisa said.
“What?” asked the other three at once.
“I just remembered something else Max said. He said he might make us dismount and remount our horses.”
There was a moment of dead silence as each girl remembered Red lifting Emily onto P.C. that morning.
“That’s a stupid test,” Stevie said angrily.
“No, it isn’t,” Carole replied. “I’m not trying to argue with you, Stevie, but it’s in the horse show rule book as one of the tests judges can ask even very young riders. Every rider ought to know how to get on and off her horse properly. It’s a fair test.”
“But I can’t do it,” Emily said. “Not without a ramp.”
The sadness in her voice made Lisa’s heart sink. “Maybe Max won’t ask that one,” she suggested.
“If he does I’ll be disqualified,” Emily said.
“Wait!” Stevie cut in suddenly. “I’ve got an idea!”
“IT’S THE GIRLS from Pine Hollow!” Ms. Payne sounded delighted to see them. “I talked to Max over the weekend—he told me you call yourselves The Saddle Club. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Stevie said, speaking for all of them. “We told Emily we’d help her work on a few things with P.C. But we’d like to help out with the other lesson first, if that’s okay.”
“Sounds great, girls.” Ms. Payne smiled warmly. “I’m glad you’re here. Why don’t you help the same riders you helped last week?”
They went into the stable. Emily wasn’t there yet, but Carole paused to pat P.C. before she looked for Joshua and the volunteers helping him. Joshua rode a different horse this week, but he hadn’t changed. He didn’t look at Carole, not even when she spoke to him, and he didn’t make a sound. He did a thorough job of grooming his horse, however, and he put on the saddle without help. Carole watched him a little sadly. She wondered if they would ever know whether he liked riding. She wondered if Joshua even knew.
TOBY WAS HAVING trouble counting. “How many hocks?” Tom asked him as Lisa joined them in the stall. This was a hard question, Lisa realized, because it meant that Toby had to understand what hocks were as well as be able to count them.
“Three,” Toby guessed. Lisa knew it was a guess, because horses were symmetrical—all their parts came in pairs. They didn’t have three of anything.
“Show me a hock, Toby,” Tom suggested. Toby correctly pointed to the bottom part of the horse’s leg, what Lisa might have described as an ankle before she started riding. “Good! How many hocks?”
“Five,” said Toby.
“Four,” Lisa stage-whispered.
“Four,” agreed Tom. “Let’s count them together, Toby: one, two, three, four.”
“Four.”
“Okay, Toby, here’s an even harder one. How many hairs on the horse?”
Toby looked at Lisa, a big grin on his face. “About a bazillion,” Lisa whispered.
“About a bazillion!”
“HELLO, CLAIRE,” STEVIE said as she came up to the little girl. “It’s me, Stevie.”
Claire turned her face in the direction of Stevie’s voice. “Who’s Stevie?” she asked.
“I helped you last week.” Stevie tried not to feel disappointed. She’d only met Claire once, after all.
“Stevie’s my friend,” called out a voice Stevie knew.
“Oh, hi, Emily!” Claire knew Emily’s voice, too. “What’s P.C. stand for today?”
“Politically Correct,” Emily answered, grinning at Stevie.
Claire frowned. “What’s that mean?”
“Never mind,” Emily said.
CAROLE CONTINUED TO WATCH Joshua throughout the lesson. Once, just once, she thought she saw the expression on his face change—he didn’t smile, but for an instant he looked lighthearted. Carole was glad.
Claire trotted without being afraid, and Toby correctly counted the number of strides his horse took on the short side of the arena. It was a very good lesson.
EMILY HAD FULLY tacked P.C. by the time the lesson was finished. Lisa held P.C. near the ramp while she mounted, and Stevie and Carole pulled some ground poles and used them to outline an L-shaped pattern in the center of the ring. Emily warmed P.C. up at a trot and a canter. Then she asked P.C. to walk through the L. He did it happily.
Emily halted him and asked him to walk backward through the L. This was harder: Most horses don’t like to back up, because it makes them nervous not to be able to see where they are going. P.C. listened to Emily carefully and backed through the L obediently. The Saddle Club was especially impressed with the way he swung his hindquarters over when Emily tapped them with her crop.
“When I tap him high on the hip, it means ‘over,’ ” Emily explained. “When I do a sort of fluttery thing behind my leg, that means ‘trot,’ and a firmer tap behind my leg means ‘canter.’ ”
“Let’s try a more complicated figure,” Carole suggested. She set up a sort of open cross. Emily rode P.C. into the middle, and from there they could go in any one of three directions. P.C. had to listen to Emily instead of choosing a route on his own. Again, he did very well, walking both backward and forward.
Emily patted him and let him trot around the ring a few times to reward him for concentrating so hard on the patterns. Meanwhile, The Saddle Club used a pair of small stepladders to create jump standards in the center of the ring.
“Walk him through the standards first,” Carole told Emily. “See if they bother him.”
They didn’t. Next, Carole set a pole on the ground between the standards. P.C. stepped over it solemnly. “We do a lot of work over poles,” Emily told them. “He knows to walk over them, and he doesn’t get nervous.”
They added poles on either side of the stepladder standards so that P.C. had to walk over several of them. While he went through them, Emily held herself in her two-point position. After P.C. had walked through the poles several times, Stevie and Lisa stuck one end of each of two poles through the first rungs of the stepladders. The other ends of the poles lay on the ground. They formed a very flat X shape. The middle of the X was only a few inches off the ground.
“This is called a cross rail,” Lisa explained. Emily walked P.C. over the low center part. It didn’t seem to bother him.
“Good boy!” Emily said. She stroked his neck. P.C. tossed his head. Stevie thought he looked proud of himself.
Carole removed the ground poles before and after the tiny jump and had P.C. step only over the jump. Then she threw her red ski jacket over the jump to make it look different and told Emily to walk P.C. over that.
“What if he steps on your coat?” Emily asked.
“It won’t be the first time a horse has stepped on that coat,” Stevie assured her on Carole’s behalf. “I’ve seen her do the same thing for Starlight.”
Carole pretended to be offended. “Starlight would never step on a jump!” she said. “He’s much too surefooted.”
P.C. didn’t step on Carole’s coat, either. He did snort a little and roll his eyes at it, but Emily pressed him forward calmly, and in the end P.C. went over the coat and rails willingly.
“That’s enough jumping practice for now,” Carole finally said. “We don’t want P.C. to get tired, and we’ve got a lot yet to do.” She glanced over at Stevie, who was humming to herself. Carole thought Stevie’s plan might work, but she wasn’t as convinced of it as Stevie and Emily seemed to be.
“We should try opening the gate first,” Emily suggested. “From what you told me, that might be hard for me to do, so I need to start practicing.”
To open a gate while on horseback, a rider first had to ride her horse alongside and very close to the gate, so that the gate’s latch was near the rider’s leg. The rider reached down and unlatched the gate; then, holding on to the gate, the rider asked the horse to move forward, pushing the gate open at the same time. Then the rider asked the horse to pivot so that the horse would be facing the other direction
but his forelegs would still be in the same place. The rider asked the horse to walk forward while pushing the gate closed, and finally she moved the horse’s side against the gate in order to reach down and latch it.
It was a tricky maneuver and could be very difficult if the horse wasn’t patient or didn’t want to walk forward into the gate. When The Saddle Club went on trail rides, they all practiced opening gates, but more often one of them just hopped off her horse and held the gate open for the others. Out West on Kate Devine’s ranch all of the horses were steady gate-openers. Belle was pretty good at it, and Carole could do it on Starlight, but Lisa still struggled when she tried it with Prancer. Lisa often thought that Prancer would rather jump the gate than wait for Lisa to open it.
Stevie explained the gate-opening to Emily in detail, then explained it again step by step while Emily and P.C. tried it with the arena gate. As Emily suspected, it was harder for her than for P.C. P.C. waited patiently while Emily fumbled with the latch, and he didn’t flinch when Emily lost her grip and the gate hit his chest.
“I’m sorry, P.C.,” Emily muttered. She tried again. After several attempts she managed to walk him through the open gateway, but she couldn’t pivot him while still holding the gate. She needed one hand to use her crop to ask P.C. to turn, and she needed the other hand to hold her reins. She didn’t have a hand left to hang on to the gate.
“I need three arms,” she said, shaking her head at The Saddle Club.
“What if you held on to the very end of the reins, and held your crop in the same hand?” Lisa suggested. “You could use your crop without pulling on P.C.’s mouth.”
Carole objected. “If he decides to run off, she’ll have no control holding her reins like that.”
“If he decides to run off while I’m hanging on to a stupid gate, I’m history anyway,” Emily said. “I’m just barely keeping my balance as it is. Anyway, I can’t use my crop. I need to use it behind my inside leg, to get him to pivot away from it, and I need to hold the gate with that hand. I can’t hold the gate with my outside hand.”
“You’re going to have to,” said Stevie, after studying the problem. “Either that or use your inside leg to get him to move.”
Emily frowned. “I can’t use my legs.”
“You’re going to have to,” Stevie said.
“I can’t.”
Lisa and Carole looked at Emily sympathetically, but
Stevie crossed her arms and looked disdainful. “Isn’t the whole point of doing this proving what you can do?” she asked. “Just push your ankle into his side and think, ‘Move, P.C.’ ”
Emily looked ready to spit fire. “Easy for you to say,” she said to Stevie.
Stevie looked Emily straight in the eye. “No, it isn’t,” she said.
Emily blinked. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll try it. Easier, maybe, than holding the gate in the wrong hand.” She took a deep breath and grabbed the top of the gate again. She clucked to P.C. and he walked forward. “Whoa,” she said to him softly when he was clear of the gateway. P.C. stood. Emily tried to move him sideways. He didn’t move. Emily grimaced. Sweat broke out on her forehead.
“C’mon,” Lisa whispered, “you can do it.” She wasn’t sure if she was talking to Emily or to P.C.
Emily took a deep breath and tried again. P.C. took a step sideways. The Saddle Club cheered. P.C. put his ears back and stopped. Emily relaxed and gave him a small pat with the hand she held the reins in. She was still holding the gate, bent forward in cautious balance. “One more step,” Emily said as if to herself. She concentrated hard, and P.C. gave a sigh and moved his hind legs over.
Emily dropped the gate and the reins and slouched on P.C.’s neck. “Good boy,” she crooned to him. To The Saddle Club she said, “That’s enough of that for now. I’ll try it again later.”
“If you can do that, you can do anything,” Stevie said, her eyes shining bright. “This dismount and mount is going to be a piece of cake. Now, here’s what we need to do.…”
ON FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL Emily brought P.C. to Pine Hollow for another trail ride. It was a beautiful day. From a distance, some of the underbrush was even starting to look green, as tiny leaves began to unfurl.
The Saddle Club groomed their horses quickly. Carole felt a slight pang of regret that she had not spent more time with Starlight in the past week. She’d ridden him on Tuesday, in their usual weekly lesson, and she’d come to Pine Hollow to groom him every day before she left for Free Rein, but she hadn’t had time to ride him.
She knew Red had turned Starlight out in the pasture to graze and play, so the horse had gotten enough exercise, and Carole certainly didn’t regret spending the time with Emily. They’d done so much in one week! Plus, Carole had learned how much she enjoyed teaching others to ride. She’d always been helpful around the stable—sometimes a little too helpful, she knew, because other people didn’t always want her advice—but she’d never taught anyone with special needs before. It had been fun, and it had been satisfying. Still, she had missed Starlight. When she grew up, if she decided to teach riding, at least she wouldn’t have to go to school. She’d have plenty of time to spend with her own horses.
Lisa combed Prancer’s mane. She’d missed riding too, partially because she loved it so much, but partially because she knew she wasn’t as prepared as the rest of The Saddle Club for the next day’s competition. Lisa hadn’t been riding for as long as Carole and Stevie. She knew she’d learned fast, but her reflexes still weren’t as sharp as her friends’. Prancer was also the least experienced of the three horses. Oh, well, Lisa said to herself. She’d learned long ago to compete for the joy of doing well on her own terms. Like Emily, Lisa hoped to ride as well as she could. She wasn’t worrying about blue ribbons this time.
Lisa thought back to the evening before, when Emily had finally managed to open, walk through, and close the gate at Free Rein. “Victory!” she’d shouted, throwing her hands in the air, and The Saddle Club had crowded around P.C., patting him and clapping Emily on the back. It had been a terrific moment.
Stevie hummed as she curried Belle’s shining flank. For once in her life, she wasn’t worried about beating Veronica. At least, not personally. She couldn’t wait until the next day’s competition.
All three girls heard the Free Rein horse trailer rattle up the bumpy driveway. By the time they got outside, Emily’s mother was already leading P.C. out of the van. Emily was climbing out of the cab.
The Saddle Club stopped short. Fresh from grooming their own horses, they could see how really raggedy P.C. looked by comparison. His winter coat was thick and shaggy. He still had a patch of mud on his rear, behind the saddle, and dust hung around him.
“He rolled in the paddock today,” Emily said, sounding very exasperated. “My mom helped me groom him and tack him up before we came. It took us forever, and he still looks horrible! He had mud all over, he was disgusting—I’ll never have time to get him clean by tomorrow.”
“What’s tomorrow?” Mrs. Williams asked.
“Nothing, Mom, I’ll tell you later. Okay? Thanks.” Emily kissed her mother and took P.C. from her. Mrs. Williams gave Emily a slight frown, shook her head, and got back into the cab of the trailer.
“She knows something’s up, she just doesn’t know what,” Emily said. “She told me she’d be back in an hour and a half. We’ve got to hurry!”
They started out on the trail. This time, The Saddle Club took Emily on a slightly more varied route. “Max isn’t letting anyone ride on the trail for tomorrow’s course,” Stevie said. “He’s already got the stations up, and he doesn’t want anybody cheating. But we can show you all the different kinds of trails.”
They rode up hills and down. They rode in fields of dead grass, in deep, muddy woods, and across short stretches of gravel. They took P.C. across several streams. As Emily had predicted, he didn’t seem to mind the water at all. In fact, he even seemed to enjoy it.
At one point a small log lay across th
e path. Carole went over it at a trot and turned Starlight to watch Emily, who was next. Emily balanced P.C. and brought him to a walk. He came up to the log and neatly hopped over. Emily praised him soundly. “He’s having a great time,” she declared. “He’s going to do fine.”
The Saddle Club exchanged smiles of happiness and relief. It did look as though P.C. would be fine. “If only—” Lisa began.
“Hush,” Stevie told her firmly. “We don’t want to talk about it. We might jinx things.”
“No talk,” Emily agreed. “I don’t need to be any more nervous than I already am. Let’s head home. I don’t want to make my mom mad by keeping her waiting. Not now.”
Lisa looked at Emily. She didn’t look nervous. Like Stevie, Lisa found she couldn’t wait until morning.
EMILY ASKED HER MOTHER to come into Max’s office. For a moment the four girls only looked at Max and Emily’s mother, not saying a word.
“Out with it,” Max said encouragingly. “I know that look,” he told Mrs. Williams. “They want a favor, and they don’t think they’re going to get it. Girls, what is it?”
“I would like to ride in the handy hunter competition,” Emily said, with characteristic suddenness.
“Oh. Well.” Max’s smile dimmed and he seemed at a loss for words. “Well, now—”
All the girls talked at once.
“She can do it, Max!” said Stevie.
“We’ve been working with her every day,” Carole added. “You know we wouldn’t ask if—you said you trusted us—”
“It’s a very simple competition,” Lisa told Mrs. Williams, though she knew that wasn’t completely true. “Max designed it for beginning riders. Emily really can—”
“I can do it, Mom!”
Max held up his hand. “Enough!” he said. The office went quiet. “Did you know anything about this?” he asked Mrs. Williams. She shook her head. “It’s a little competition I planned for my Pony Club,” Max explained. He went on to give the details of the junior handy hunter trail competition. “It’s true that I planned it with my beginning riders in mind,” he concluded. “Everyone from Pine Hollow should be able to complete the competition safely, though only the good and more experienced riders are going to do well. But I don’t know about your daughter—I worry about whether it would be safe for her.”
Riding Class Page 7