Gold Medal Rider

by Bonnie Bryant

  Carole and Stevie exchanged glances. Even though Stevie loved dressage and Carole knew all about riding, neither of them had ever been quite so picky, or so unemotional, about any performance their horses gave. “So how well did Southwood actually do?” Stevie asked at last.

  “I’d guess we’ll end up in the middle of the pack,” Kate said. “That still puts us in contention to win. We weren’t brilliant, but we didn’t have any big goof ups. The hardest part comes next.”

  Kate began walking Southwood back to the stables, and the rest of The Saddle Club trailed behind her. Suddenly Kate halted Southwood. “Look,” she said quietly. She used her dressage whip to point to a gray horse and female rider who were warming up for their dressage test.

  “It’s Karen!” Lisa said, recognizing Dorothy’s friend. “Gosh, what a beautiful horse!” She waved, and Karen, who was close enough to hear them, nodded back and smiled.

  “Too bad her horse isn’t traveling straight,” Kate said, in a louder voice.

  “Kate, what are you talking about? He looks perfectly straight!” Stevie was astonished.

  “No, he’s not, and he’s not using his hind end at all,” Kate continued, still loud enough for Karen to hear every word.

  “Kate, shhh! She’ll hear you!” Carole hissed.

  Kate looked at Karen for a moment longer, and then down at her friends. They were shocked by the dark expression on her face. “That should give her something to think about,” Kate said, more quietly. “Right before her test, too.” She sounded satisfied.

  “But Kate! She’s a friend!” Lisa could hardly believe that Kate would do such a thing—deliberately try to upset Karen right before her competition.

  Kate’s look of satisfaction faded as she saw The Saddle Club’s dismay. She dropped her eyes as if ashamed. “There are no friends in competition,” she said at last.

  “But of course there are!” Carole protested.

  “I never found any,” Kate snapped back. She did feel ashamed. Already her old problems were coming back! Why was it never enough for her to do her best? Why did she have to beat everyone else? She didn’t know. She only knew that something about competition made her heart turn sour. They returned to the stables in silence.

  WHILE THEY WERE still in Southwood’s stall taking off his dressage gear, Dorothy came down the aisle. She had a big smile on her face and a piece of paper in her hands. “They just posted the dressage results,” she said. “Kate, out of thirty-three riders, you’re in eighth place!”

  Kate’s eyes shone bright. “We did better than I thought, then,” she said. She started to bend down to take off one of Southwood’s leg wraps, but Dorothy caught her into a hug.

  “Do you realize how good that is?” Dorothy asked. “You were fantastic! Everyone’s been talking about you.”

  Kate gave Dorothy a small fierce smile. “Great,” she said. She bent down again, finished removing the wrap, and stood back up. “Where did Karen place?” she asked.

  Dorothy checked. “She’s got two horses in your division,” she said. “Her young one must have had a problem—he’s twenty-seventh. Her old veteran, Singalong, is fifth.”

  “What color is her old horse, Singalong?” Carole asked softly.

  “Gray. Her young horse is a bay.”

  Carole nodded, feeling relieved. At least Kate’s comment hadn’t caused Karen to ride poorly.

  Kate nodded, too. “I think I’ll go check out the competition. I won’t be long.” She pushed past the rest of The Saddle Club and left the stabling area.

  “Whoa.” Lisa watched Kate walk away. “That was weird. She didn’t give us a chance to congratulate her. And why would she say those things about Karen’s horse, back when we were by the dressage arena? That was really rude!”

  “What things?” Dorothy asked. With some hesitation, Lisa and Carole described what Kate had said.

  “The horse was doing fine,” Stevie added. “I think Kate just wanted Karen to mess up.”

  Dorothy nodded, looking sad. “It’s a common enough technique—trying to make your opponent nervous. I’m sorry that Kate sank to doing it, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Karen’s far too experienced to be bothered by anything Kate says, and I’m sure Kate only said it because she’s nervous. This is a tough competition for her.”

  “We know that,” Carole said. “It just isn’t like her.”

  “Kate’ll be okay,” Dorothy assured them. “Now, I’m going to go get sandwiches for all of us. If you see Nigel, tell him so, please. You girls should take a few minutes’ rest. You’ve worked hard this morning.”

  The Saddle Club sat down on some hay bales. “What a morning,” Stevie said, shaking her head. “Kate in eighth place! That’s wonderful. After the way she criticized her round, I didn’t expect her to do well at all.”

  “She said she did pretty well,” Lisa said. “She seemed satisfied.”

  “She thought she’d gotten a lot of things wrong, too,” Stevie argued. “She mostly talked about the faults they had.”

  “Well, she’s not in first place,” Carole answered. “I think Kate critiqued her round fairly. Probably even the first place round wasn’t perfect. We’re just not used to the standards of this level of competition. But I want to ask you two …” Carole picked at a piece of baling twine. “Do you agree with Dorothy? Do you think Kate’s attitude is okay, or at least not that big of a deal?”

  Stevie heard the unhappiness in Carole’s voice. “Do you mean the way she wants to win at any cost?” she asked. “I know that attitude too well. And I don’t think it’s okay. I’ve learned how destructive it can be.” Stevie’s natural competitiveness had almost caused her to break up with her boyfriend and had once caused her a lot of problems with her horse.

  “Maybe it’s part of being a top rider,” Lisa said tentatively. “At this level, I think you need to be competitive. All of the top riders probably have big goals. Like the Olympics.”

  Carole shook her head. “I don’t think you have to act like Kate just did. Nigel never would, neither would Dorothy.”

  “Beatrice might,” Stevie said.

  “Exactly,” Carole retorted.

  “Well, Beatrice isn’t going to the Olympics now. She ought to sell Southwood to Kate.” Stevie said the words casually, but the moment they were out of her mouth she recognized them for the brilliant idea they were. Lisa and Carole stared at her open-mouthed.

  “They get along so well together,” Lisa said.

  Carole clapped her hands. “Stevie, you’re right! Southwood would be the perfect horse to take Kate to the Olympics!” She smiled at Stevie and Lisa, her unhappiness at Kate’s attitude temporarily forgotten. “Maybe it really will happen: our friend, Kate Devine, a gold medal rider!”

  THE GIRLS STARED at each other with faces full of excited delight. “Well,” Stevie said, breaking the slight silence, “I don’t think we should tell her our plan right away.”

  “Right,” Lisa agreed. “Kate doesn’t know about Beatrice yet anyway. Once she learns that, we can tell her about our plan for the Olympics.”

  “She’ll be thrilled,” Carole predicted. “She and Southwood are a great match already. And her parents have so much room at the Bar None, they’ll never mind her getting another horse.”

  Stevie leaned back against the wall of Campfire’s stall. “I bet Kate has already thought about it,” she said. “The Olympics, I mean. I bet that’s the reason she’s taking this so seriously. If she does well here, with no preparation, won’t that prove how really great she can be? I bet she’s already planning on coming back to competition. With four and a half years’ training and the right horse, she could be one of the best in the world.”

  “Then we can all go to Australia and watch Kate ride,” Lisa said dreamily.

  Carole smiled. “Watch her and Southwood. He is definitely the right horse.”

  Nigel came bustling into the barn. He had changed from his dressage gear into a protective vest and a bri
ght green-and-blue jersey. His helmet was covered with matching green-and-blue fabric. “What ho, lazybones!” he cried when he saw The Saddle Club sitting down. “Get up, get up! As you Yanks say, Time’s a-wastin’! Where’s Doro?”

  “Gone to get lunch,” Carole said. They scrambled up and helped Nigel bring Campfire out to the cross-ties.

  “She must be joking,” Nigel declared. “She knows I could never eat right now. Help me get this horse ready, girls!”

  They helped saddle and bridle Campfire. The horse let out a loud whinny. From a neighboring aisle, another horse replied.

  “Campfire knows it’s time for cross-country,” Nigel said. “He’s ready to run.” Nigel sounded pleased.

  Dorothy came in with a huge bag of sandwiches and several sodas. “Sorry I’m so late—the lines were awful! Here, honey, have a sandwich.”

  Nigel looked at her dolefully. “You can’t be serious.” He quickly unwrapped a sandwich and took two huge bites.

  “Well, then at least have a soda,” Dorothy said, grinning at The Saddle Club.

  “No, I really can’t,” Nigel said. He took one and swallowed several gulps. “Thank you. Let’s go!”

  Nigel buckled his helmet on and picked up his crop. He tied his number around his waist. Dorothy went over Campfire briefly, checking to make sure every buckle of his tack was secure. She kissed Campfire on the nose for luck. She tried to kiss Nigel, but he wouldn’t let her. He grabbed Campfire’s reins and headed for the start box. The others followed at a slight distance. Stevie took a picture of Nigel mounting.

  “Campfire is his baby,” Dorothy said. “Nigel raised him from a foal. I hope that horse goes well today.”

  “How’d they do in dressage?” Stevie asked.

  “That’s right, I never told you. Top half of the field. Good, for a young horse. We’re pleased.” Dorothy smiled. “We don’t think Campfire’s going to be the superstar that Southwood might be, but we think he’ll be an advanced horse. He may surprise us, for good or for bad. Today we just want him to jump clear and be brave.”

  By the time they caught up with him, Nigel was riding Campfire into the open square that was the start box.

  “He’s facing the wrong way!” Lisa said when Nigel made no move to turn his horse.

  Dorothy smiled. “Just watch.”

  A timing official began counting down from ten. Nigel sat poised and ready. Campfire quivered with excitement. “Three! Two! One!” said the announcer. On “One!” Nigel whirled Campfire around. They bolted out of the box at a gallop.

  “Oh,” said Lisa.

  “They always start that way,” Dorothy said. “Otherwise, the horse might take off too soon. I’m going to the water complex now. I want to see how Campfire handles himself there.”

  “We’re going up to that big hill,” Stevie said, pointing. “We figured out that we can see the entire end of the course from there.”

  “We’d better hurry,” Carole added, catching Stevie by the arm. They waved to Dorothy and took off in the opposite direction. They made it to the top of the large hill before Nigel came into view.

  “There he is!” Lisa said. Nigel’s green-and-blue shirt shone bright against the winter-brown grass. From far away both he and Campfire looked very small. The jumps still looked big. The Saddle Club held their breath as Campfire cantered up to a big ditch with a log on the edge of it and flew over it like a bird.

  “That’s amazing,” Stevie said. “And Southwood’s fences are even bigger than that!” She raised her camera and snapped a quick picture of Campfire approaching another jump.

  Nigel and Campfire took the last three fences well. As they landed after the final fence, The Saddle Club ran down the hill to meet them. By the time they reached Nigel, he was already on the ground, removing Campfire’s tack.

  Campfire was covered in sweat and breathing hard, but he didn’t seem distressed. Nigel, on the other hand, looked completely exhausted. His jersey was soaked with his own sweat, and when he took his helmet off his hair was sopping. He started to unbuckle Campfire’s bridle. Lisa saw his fingers tremble.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Did you hurt yourself?”

  Nigel laughed. “I feel like an old man,” he said. “No, Lisa, I’m fine. I just had to work very hard to keep Campfire under control out there. He wanted to run as fast as he could. He didn’t want to listen when I asked him to slow down.”

  Dorothy looked over, smiling softly. “Full of himself, was he?” she asked.

  “You bet,” Nigel replied. “He’s a goer.” From the looks Dorothy and Nigel exchanged, Carole knew they weren’t displeased. Campfire had proved himself brave.

  Carole still had half her soda left. She offered it to Nigel, who drained it gratefully. “What if you’d gone too fast?” she asked. “Would you have gotten penalty points?” She knew that horses were penalized for going too slow.

  “No,” Nigel said, “but we probably would have run into the fences. Horses can’t jump well when they’re going that fast. At Campfire’s level, he can go pretty slowly and still be within time. Kate, though, is going to have to gallop fast and then slow down for the fences.” He frowned. “I’m a little worried that she doesn’t know how fast she has to go. Where is Kate, anyway?”

  “Looking at the fences,” Stevie answered.

  “Here I am,” said Kate, walking up. “Nice job, Nigel. I saw some of it.”

  Nigel thanked her. He asked if she knew the time allowed for her course.

  “Of course,” Kate replied. “Five hundred seventy meters per minute. But I’ve never had to ride that fast before, so I don’t know what it feels like. Will it help if I watch some of the first advanced riders go?”

  “Maybe,” Nigel said. “I can watch them with you.”

  “You can borrow my watch,” Dorothy offered. “It’s got a timer, and you can use it to gauge your speed. I’ll show you how.”

  “I know how,” Kate said, taking the watch from her. “I’ve just never ridden the advanced speed before.”

  Kate talked a few minutes more with Dorothy, planning her round, and then walked off with Nigel, deep in conversation. Dorothy walked Campfire off to cool him down. Suddenly The Saddle Club was alone. Kate had come and gone and not said a single word to them.

  “Well,” Carole said, “I’m sure Kate would have more time to chat if she were used to all this. Picking up a last-minute ride like she did, she has a lot of things to learn right way.”

  “Of course,” Stevie said. “It’s been a long time since she’s done this.”

  Lisa stooped to pick up the water bucket Dorothy had brought out for Campfire. “I’m not so sure,” she said, a trifle unhappily. “I think maybe top-level riding really does take this kind of huge commitment from the riders. If Kate did this all the time, it would matter an awful lot to her, so I think she would still be this intense. And Dorothy said this was easy, compared to other events.”

  They began to walk slowly back to the stables, each lost in her own thoughts.

  “Being intense is one thing,” Stevie said. “I mean, Kate was almost rude to Dorothy back there, but I know she didn’t mean to be. On the other hand, she was rude to Karen on purpose. That wasn’t right.”

  “Kate has a long time before the Olympics. She can work on her attitude, too,” suggested Carole. “The Olympics—just think about it! They’re a dream come true. A trip to the Olympics would be worth almost anything.”

  “Of course it would be,” Lisa said. “But Kate’s going to have to work really hard.”

  “We can help her,” Stevie said firmly. “We’ll be her Olympic support crew. Right now, we can start by getting Southwood ready for cross-country.”

  In his stall, Southwood was munching hay. He seemed excited but happy, and he nickered when he saw them.

  “You know,” Stevie said as they put Southwood’s halter on and tied him in the aisle, “before we were comparing Kate’s riding to Beatrice’s, but I think it’s obvious that Kate’
s a much better horsewoman than Beatrice. She took her time warming Southwood up for dressage this morning, and she spent a long time taking care of him afterward. Kate’s not like Beatrice. Kate really cares about her horses.”

  “Nigel said that Beatrice’s biggest problem was her attitude,” Lisa pointed out. “Kate’s attitude toward Southwood is great. She loves doing everything with horses. Imagine Beatrice riding bareback the way Kate does at the ranch! The only thing Kate needs to work on is her attitude toward other riders, and I know we can help her with that!”

  Carole began to brush the dust off Southwood’s gleaming coat. “It’s going to be so exciting when Kate goes to the Olympics!” she said. “I can hardly wait! Do you think we’ll be able to go?”

  “We could help groom,” Stevie said. “I bet Kate would let us.”

  “I’m just sure she’ll make it,” Lisa said. “She’s almost a perfect horsewoman.” Lisa grinned. “We should start saving for our tickets, don’t you think?”

  Stevie caught on right away. “Our plane tickets to Sydney, Australia? I think we should fly first-class!”

  CAROLE WATCHED AS Kate and Southwood waited in the start box. Kate’s mouth was set in a tense grim line. Southwood’s nostrils quivered with excitement. “Three!” the starter called. Kate sat forward slightly and Carole saw her legs tighten against Southwood’s sides. “Two!” Southwood tossed his head. “One!” Kate and Southwood whirled in a single movement and galloped onto the course.

  “Go, Kate!” Carole screamed. She clutched Stevie’s and Lisa’s arms. They watched Southwood take the first fence of the advanced course. Kate had called it easy, but it was nearly four feet high! Southwood cleared it effortlessly, flicking his tail in the air as he jumped.

  As soon as he landed safely, the girls started to run toward the hill from which they’d watched Nigel’s ride. “Hey!” Nigel called. “You can’t see Kate’s course well from there. Follow me, I know a good spot!” They turned and hurried to catch up with him and Dorothy.