Show Judge

by Bonnie Bryant

  “He already did,” Lisa told them happily. “So what do you think, Carole, you up for a long overdue Saddle Club meeting tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow night?” Carole said. “Well … I’ll have to check with Dad. I think there might be one of those all-night old-movie marathons on, and you know how he loves to have me watch with him. But if not, I guess I can. I think.” She strode off down the hall.

  Stevie exchanged glances with Lisa, who seemed equally surprised by Carole’s unenthusiastic response. Of course they all had to check with their parents first, but that was hardly ever a problem. They all automatically assumed they could do these things until they were told differently. This time Carole seemed to assume right off the bat that she wouldn’t be able to.

  Lisa put her hands on her hips. “What’s up with her these days?”

  Stevie shook her head. “I have no idea. It’s not like she’s the one under pressure to perform.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Lisa. “She’s the ringmaster and we’re the performing ponies. Speaking of which, I’ve got to get back to Jasmine.”

  Stevie spent the rest of the afternoon perfecting Corey’s tail braiding technique and reminding the girl not to get so absorbed by her work that she placed herself in a position to be kicked. From time to time she noticed Carole hanging around the locker room, which struck her as odd since she had said she was going on a trail ride. Perhaps Carole had changed her mind when she found out Stevie and Lisa couldn’t go with her. Stevie considered talking to her about it, but she needed to wrap things up and get home quickly. Her aunt was going to be visiting them for a few days and the last thing Stevie wanted was to upset her parents by being late for dinner. She was even determined to be nice to her brothers for the entire meal!

  LISA AND HER Pony Partner were finishing up when Corey stopped by the stall to see if Jasmine was ready to leave. During the course of the afternoon, Jasmine had discovered several items she needed that had been missing from her list. Now, after making the additions, she and Lisa were both secure in the knowledge that come show day they would have everything they needed at their fingertips.

  “Why don’t you go ahead?” Lisa said to Jasmine.

  “But I haven’t put all the equipment away yet.”

  “I can take care of it this time,” Lisa offered. “You did a good job on that list. You can call it a day.”

  Jasmine smiled at her gratefully. “Thanks, Lisa, you’re the best.”

  Lisa watched the duo hurry away, then picked up the grooming kit and a few other scattered items, returned them to their proper places, and took one final look around to make sure all was as it should be. As she headed for the locker room, she remembered she had forgotten to ask Stevie about the braiding lesson. Oh well, she could ask her tomorrow at the sleepover.

  The room was quiet as she entered. Not bothering to turn on the lights, since there was still enough daylight for her to see by, she quickly scooped up her things and headed for the door. As she was about to exit, she stopped short and turned back. Carole’s cubby was open. Worse, her judging folder was sticking out where anybody could get to it! Lisa remembered the ice cream parlor and how worried her friend had been that something might happen to the folder. Without another thought, Lisa moved quickly to the locker. She was reaching out to shove the items safely back inside when Carole ripped open the changing curtain, shouting, “Got ya!”

  Lisa was so startled she actually gave a small scream.

  Carole stared, her face a mask of astonishment and anger. “You? You’re the one who did it?”

  “Carole, you scared me half to death!” cried Lisa, annoyed by what she thought was her friend’s childish prank to frighten her.

  “All this time I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out who had gotten into my folder, but it never once occurred to me it might have been Stevie or you!” Carole’s voice was shaking and her eyes were full of tears. “I thought I knew you, but I don’t know you at all!” With that she ran out of the room, clutching her folder to her chest.

  Lisa was in a state of bewilderment. What just happened here? Carefully she replayed the scene in her mind: reaching for Carole’s folder, then Carole jumping out from behind the curtain where she had been hiding. Had it been a trap? Did Carole believe someone had been cheating and reading her notes? And did she really believe that that someone was her? Lisa was almost in tears at the idea. How could Carole think that? They were supposed to be best friends! Friends trusted each other. Friends helped each other. Maybe they weren’t friends after all.

  As Lisa headed for home, the tears rolled freely down her cheeks. What was happening to The Saddle Club?

  SATURDAY ALL THE riders gathered at Pine Hollow. They started the day with an unmounted meeting, where Max and Carole showed them how to prepare a horse for traveling in a trailer and the easiest way to load an animal, then everyone moved to the tack room for a lesson on how to clean and maintain their equipment.

  Distractedly, Carole added a capful of ammonia to the water bucket to help cut grease and remove dirt from the leather. Her mind kept wandering back to the other evening when she had caught Lisa trying to sneak a peek at her judging folder. She couldn’t get over the betrayal. It made her both angry and heart-broken. Lisa was the last person on the planet she would ever have suspected of snooping.

  Max signaled Carole that he was ready to start. “You begin by using a moist, not wet, sponge, to take off the surface dirt,” he said, wiping at the seat of a saddle. “When the tack is clean but still damp, rub glycerin saddle soap into it. If you work up a lather you’re using too much, which can dull the shine and eventually crack the leather.”

  Carole’s eye happened on Stevie, who was sitting at the back with Corey, well away from Lisa and Jasmine. Again, she felt a twinge of annoyance and disappointment. Stevie seemed totally preoccupied these days with her parents’ upcoming anniversary. Carole couldn’t help feeling that Corey was getting the short end of the stick. From what she had observed, Stevie was neglecting good record keeping—Corey’s equipment box was complete chaos, and Carole was fairly certain they hadn’t yet gotten around to setting a date to have Samurai’s shoes checked before the show.

  “Carole. Carole?” Max looked at her expectantly. “May I have the cloth, please?”

  With a guilty smile, she handed it to him. She should have been paying better attention.

  “You don’t rinse the soap off,” Max continued. “Instead, use a soft cloth to buff the leather to raise the shine.”

  Carole noticed May was riveted on everything Max said and did. Veronica, on the other hand, was sitting in a corner at the back of the room, reading a book. Well that’s no great surprise. At least Veronica makes no attempt to conceal her real nature, she thought.

  Max was winding up the demonstration. “To make the leather even more supple, you can use a nonoily leather dressing, but never, never use neat’s-foot oil. It will only make things dark and greasy.”

  LISA STIRRED RESTLESSLY in her seat. For the first time in a long time she was actually wishing she was any place but Pine Hollow. That terrible scene with Carole kept replaying over and over in her head, making it impossible for her to focus on what Max was saying. Why would Carole assume she had been trying to cheat? Didn’t she know her better than that? After all the things they’d been through, Carole should at least have given her the benefit of the doubt.

  Jasmine interrupted her thoughts. “That was really useful, wasn’t it, Lisa? I’m going to make sure Outlaw’s tack is sparkling on the day of the show. He’s going to be the best-turned-out pony in the arena!”

  Lisa smiled on the outside, but on the inside she was grimacing. Unless Jasmine could learn to master the art of braiding, poor Outlaw was going to be one of the frumpiest contestants in the ring that day. Lisa hadn’t had a chance to talk to Stevie about swapping Pony Partner favors yet. She had intended to talk to her at the sleepover, but now she wasn’t sure she even wanted to have one. Carole had alrea
dy told Stevie that she wasn’t going to be able to make it, which, of course, had come as no surprise to Lisa.

  “Okay,” Max said. “Time to get your horses and ponies ready for the mounted portion of today’s lesson, and don’t be late.”

  Lisa hurried to Prancer’s stall, where she tacked up as quickly as she could. She wanted a few extra minutes to look over Jasmine’s work on Outlaw before class started.

  When she saw her Pony Partner, she was delighted. “Good job, Jasmine. Outlaw looks very nice. Let’s take the horses outside.”

  As they came out of the stable, Lisa blinked at the bright sunshine. Although it was a lovely spring day, she couldn’t really enjoy it because she was so depressed by Carole’s accusation. At least the horses seemed to like it. They snorted and sucked in large gulps of fresh air. Outlaw took a playful nip at a piece of straw that went dancing by.

  Suddenly Carole’s voice broke the calm. “Jasmine!” she said sternly. “You never, ever let your horse eat while he’s wearing his bit. Especially when he’s getting ready to enter the ring.”

  Jasmine looked surprised at the harsh tone of Carole’s voice. “I wasn’t—He—” she stammered.

  “It’s not your fault, Jasmine,” Carole said in a gentler tone. “Someone should have taught you better, that’s all.” She moved on without even glancing Lisa’s way.

  Lisa was both furious and humiliated. How could Carole have done something like that? Jasmine hadn’t been letting her pony eat, he had just been playing around with a wisp of hay!

  OUTSIDE THE RING Stevie and Corey sat in companionable silence, waiting for Max to announce the start of class. Their mounts had snuffled each other’s noses by way of greeting and now stood quietly side by side. From the corner of her eye, Stevie caught sight of Carole approaching, clipboard in hand. Her heart began to sink. “Hi, Carole,” Stevie said in what she hoped was a cheerful voice. “Not riding today?”

  Carole strolled up to Samurai and placed a hand on his haunch. “Not today, Stevie. Some of us have to put business before pleasure,” she said pointedly. “Got to go.” She gave Samurai a pat on his flank and a puff of dust rose into the air. A frown crossed her face. “Looks like you were in a hurry grooming Samurai today, Corey.”

  “Not at first,” Corey said, defending herself. “I just had a hard time finding his dandy brush, and by the time I did, I had to hurry.” She looked at the ground, obviously embarrassed by this admission.

  Carole started scribbling on her notepad. “I saw what your grooming kit looked like this morning, Corey, and I have to say I’m surprised that you and Samurai made it out of the stable at all.” She looked directly at Stevie. “Maybe you two need to get a bit more organized.”

  Stevie found herself glaring at Carole’s back as she moved off toward May and Macaroni. What Carole had done was plain mean. So Samurai wasn’t at his absolute best today, so what? It wasn’t like this was a show day! So her Pony Partner wasn’t the most organized one in the group. But Corey had lots of other strengths. Strengths that Carole seemed to be going out of her way to ignore or belittle. Carole had changed so much lately that Stevie could only think that she had let this whole judging thing go to her head. She sighed sadly. Too bad Carole wasn’t going to come to the sleepover with her and Lisa. Maybe between the two of them they could have brought her back to her senses.

  It didn’t help matters any when, a few minutes later, they overheard Carole praising May and her pony in the most glowing of terms.

  After class, Stevie found Lisa cleaning Prancer’s stall.

  “Stevie, would you mind very much if we postponed the sleepover?” Lisa asked.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “Um, well, you know Carole can’t make it,” Lisa said hesitantly. “It really couldn’t be a Saddle Club meeting without her.”

  “You’re right. We should do it when we can all be there.” Besides, Stevie thought, I could use the time to work on the anniversary party.

  “We’ll do it another time, then,” Lisa said, looking relieved.

  “Right,” agreed Stevie. “We can do it any old time.”

  CAROLE WAS SITTING in the tack room, giving her rider rating cards one final look. She had chosen the tack room because it was the only place in all of Pine Hollow that wasn’t teeming with riders and activity. It was Saturday, the day of the show skills rally, and she had finished the first leg of her judging duties. She had spent the morning going from stall to stall, checking both ponies and riders on their appearance. How clean was the stall? How well groomed was the pony? Was the animal tacked up properly, and was the equipment being maintained properly? The results of her efforts were a small mountain of note cards, all of which she now needed to organize.

  “HOLD STILL, JASMINE, or I’ll end up sticking you in the throat,” Lisa cautioned as she struggled to get the girl’s stock pin absolutely straight.

  Jasmine tapped her foot on the ground like a restless pony. “My dad is always saying he hates wearing ties, now I know why.” She tried to run a finger around the inside of the high collar.

  Lisa moved her hand away gently but firmly. “Stop that.”

  “But Carole already came by and inspected us, so what does it matter if my pin is a little crooked?”

  It was true, that part of the judging was over. Lisa was very proud of the work Jasmine had put in, and while her braiding still left a lot to be desired, not even Carole could fault the girl on effort. Her pony’s coat practically glowed, his tack was immaculate, and Jasmine’s records were clear, precise, and up to the second. “You know Max is going to start the ring work soon. You don’t want Outlaw to be ashamed of his rider, do you?” Lisa said, making a minuscule adjustment to the fine white linen. “There, that’s perfect. You look like a pro.” Lisa checked her watch. “Time to go.”

  Jasmine went pale. “I think I’m going to throw up,” she said faintly.Lisa grabbed her by the shoulders. “No, no, no. You’re going to be fine. Take a deep breath.”

  She did as Lisa said.

  “Now let it out slowly. Again.” A little color came back into the girl’s face. “Better?” Lisa asked.

  Jasmine nodded and swallowed. “That was close.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Lisa said, wrapping a protective arm around the girl’s tiny shoulders. “I feel the same way practically every time I compete.”

  Jasmine was clearly surprised to hear that. “You do?”

  Lisa steered her toward her pony’s stall. “To tell you the truth, I think most riders feel that way before they go into the ring. Even the really experienced ones. Now, let’s get out there and show everyone how good you and Outlaw really are.”

  FROM HER PLACE on the top rail of the ring, Stevie could take in every detail of Corey and Samurai’s appearance, and she smiled with delight. Her concentration was broken, however, as, to her surprise, Lisa scrambled up to join her on her perch. Ever since they had canceled the sleepover in the hayloft there had been very little communication between the members of The Saddle Club.

  Lisa settled herself comfortably on the rail. “Ribbons, huh?”

  Stevie thought Lisa was making fun of her Pony Partner team and rose to their defense. “Corey has a real talent for braiding. It was her idea to weave green and black ribbons into Samurai’s mane to match her riding jacket, and I think they look terrific.”

  “I have to admit, they are a nice touch. But ribbons don’t win a horse race,” Lisa declared firmly.

  “And hoof black does?” Stevie asked, pointing to Jasmine’s pony.

  “What? There’s nothing wrong with a little polish. I thought it might draw some attention to how well Outlaw picks up his feet over cavalletti,” Lisa said defensively. “It does show off his white socks nicely, don’t you think?”

  They watched as Max put the young riders through their paces. He had started the class at the walk and then had them extend it. Everyone did fine. Next came a sitting trot. Stevie noticed that one rider, seven-year-old Lia
m, was having trouble keeping his balance. Corey, on the other hand, sat easily on her pony, the two of them completely in sync. Stevie felt like a proud parent.

  “Posting trot, please, and riders change directions,” Max instructed from the center of the ring.

  “Oh! Did you see that?” Lisa said, nudging Stevie in the ribs. “Jessica Adler circled Penny in an outside instead of an inside circle on the change of direction.”

  “Major mistake!” Stevie said. “I bet Andrea is about to tear her braids out.”

  “It was a silly mistake,” Lisa agreed.

  “Andrea should have prepared Jessica better.”

  Lisa nodded. “Absolutely.”

  The two of them grinned happily at each other.

  The rest of the event consisted of collected and extended canters with changes of lead and direction. Jessica didn’t make the same mistake again, but the damage was done. Stevie noticed that some of the riders were definitely more advanced than others, and she was gratified to see that Corey was one of them. Jasmine and May had also fared well.

  Stevie hopped down from the rail. “Cavalletti are next, and I want to talk to Corey before her turn.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Lisa said. “There’s something I want to say to Jasmine, too.”

  Stevie was eager to congratulate Corey on her fine performance and to make sure she stayed focused; the hardest part of the competition was still in front of them: first the cavalletti and then the final event, the jumping.

  Corey, Jasmine, and May were standing next to each other, chatting excitedly. Stevie rushed up to her Pony Partner and hugged her. “You are doing so well!” she told her warmly.

  Corey returned her hug. “Thanks, Stevie. I tried to remember everything you told me.”

  Lisa slipped her arm around Jasmine. “And you are outstanding!”

  “Wait until the cavalletti,” Jasmine said seriously. “Outlaw is going to be perfect.”