Jasmine Trots Ahead
Pony Tails, Book Seven
Bonnie Bryant
I would like to give my special thanks to
Catherine Hapka for her help in the writing
of this book.
1 The Horse Wise Meeting
“I wonder what today’s meeting is about,” Jasmine James said.
“I don’t know,” said Corey Takamura. “Max didn’t tell us last week.”
It was Saturday morning. Jasmine, Corey, and their other best friend, May Grover, were waiting for their weekly Pony Club meeting to start. Their Pony Club was called Horse Wise. It met at Pine Hollow Stables, where the three girls also took riding lessons. Max Regnery was the owner of Pine Hollow and their riding teacher. He was the head of their Pony Club, too.
This week’s meeting was unmounted, which meant that Jasmine, May, and Corey had left their ponies at home. The three girls were neighbors, and they all kept their ponies in barns behind their houses. When the girls had mounted Horse Wise meetings, May’s father brought their ponies to Pine Hollow in his horse trailer.
“I hope this meeting isn’t something boring like rolling bandages,” May said.
Corey shrugged. “I don’t even mind doing that,” she said. “At least it still has something to do with ponies.”
“That reminds me,” Jasmine said, tucking a strand of her long blond hair back into its ponytail. “I meant to tell you guys about the model horse I saw when my mom and I were at the mall yesterday. Or rather, the model pony.” Jasmine loved model horses and had a big collection of them. May and Corey liked them, too, but they didn’t have very many. That didn’t matter, because Jasmine let them play with hers. It was part of being best friends. That was why the three girls called themselves the Pony Tails—they were best friends and they all loved ponies.
“A model pony?” Corey said. “What did it look like?”
“That’s the best part,” Jasmine said. “It looked just like Outlaw. It had the same kind of mask and everything.” Outlaw was Jasmine’s pony. He was dark brown except for a white mask on his face that made him look like an old-fashioned bank robber.
“It sounds perfect,” May said. “You have to get it!”
“I know,” Jasmine said. She sighed. “But it will take me forever to save up enough from my allowance. And Christmas is months and months away.”
Just then a girl their age named Erin Mosley leaned over to talk to them. Erin had been taking lessons at Pine Hollow for almost a year, but she had just joined Horse Wise. “Why doesn’t your mother just buy it for you?” Erin asked Jasmine. “My parents buy me anything I want. All I have to do is ask.”
“We weren’t talking to you, Erin,” May said, rolling her eyes. Erin was always bragging. Secretly, the Pony Tails thought Erin’s parents bought her things because Erin whined so much. That was one reason the Pony Tails didn’t like her. Another reason was that Erin was a goody-goody. She always tried to impress teachers and other adults, even if it meant being a tattletale.
Erin stuck her tongue out at May. “It’s a free country,” she said. “I can talk about anything I want.”
“Just ignore her,” Jasmine whispered to her friends. She didn’t like to make trouble.
“I heard that,” Erin said, glaring at Jasmine. “You think you’re so great. But you’re not. Your parents won’t even buy you a stupid toy horse.”
Jasmine’s face turned red, but she didn’t say anything.
May frowned at Erin. “You’d better shut up,” she warned.
“Don’t tell me what to do, May,” Erin said.
“Why shouldn’t she?” Corey said. “After all, it’s a free country.”
May and Corey laughed at the angry look on Erin’s face, but Jasmine didn’t join in. She hated fighting. She didn’t like Erin any more than her friends did, but she wished they could just be nice to each other.
Erin tossed her head, making her long blond hair bounce around her shoulders. “You guys had better watch out,” she said. “You always act like you’re better than everyone else. Just because you have your own ponies, that doesn’t make you anything special. You’d just better watch out.” Erin didn’t have her own pony the way Jasmine, May, and Corey did. She rode one of Pine Hollow’s schooling ponies, a peppy Appaloosa named Quarter.
“Don’t worry about her,” Corey whispered to Jasmine. “She’s all talk and no action. She wouldn’t dare do anything to us.”
Jasmine wasn’t so sure about that. She had seen the look on Erin’s face—and she was afraid that Erin wanted to make trouble for the Pony Tails.
2 Max’s Big Announcement
A few minutes later Max started the Pony Club meeting the way he always did—by saying, “Horse Wise, come to order!”
All the students stopped talking and turned to listen. Jasmine sat up straight as she waited to hear what Max would say.
“You’re probably wondering what we’ll be doing today,” Max said. “Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. We’re going to talk about equitation. Who knows what that means?”
Several students raised their hands. Max pointed to an older girl with light brown hair named Lisa Atwood. Lisa was a member of The Saddle Club. That was a group made up of three of the older riders in Horse Wise. Just like the Pony Tails, the members of The Saddle Club were best friends who loved riding.
“Equitation is another word for riding,” Lisa said. “In equitation classes at horse shows, the judges score a rider’s skills rather than those of her horse.”
“That’s right,” Max said. “To be good at equitation, a rider has to be in full control of herself and the horse. I’m going to have you practice your equitation as a big sister—little sister project for this week. At next week’s meeting, we’ll have an informal competition, complete with ribbons, to see what we’ve learned.” He waited for the excited chatter to die down, then continued. “At the end of this meeting you’ll be assigned partners to work with on your equitation. You can hold your first practice session right away. You should concentrate on flat work, with a little bit of simple jumping if you have time.”
Jasmine, May, and Corey exchanged excited glances. They liked working with the older girls in Horse Wise, especially when they were paired with members of The Saddle Club. They were nice, and they knew a lot about riding.
“This project sounds like fun,” Corey whispered. “I’ve never been in a horse show before.” She hadn’t been riding at Pine Hollow as long as her friends. May and Jasmine had taken part in several competitions against other local Pony Clubs.
“I can’t wait,” May agreed, squirming happily. “I wonder who my partner will be?”
“I hope I get Carole,” Jasmine said, as softly as she could. She glanced at Max as she spoke. She knew he hated to catch his students whispering when he was talking. Still, when there was exciting news like this to talk about, it was hard to keep quiet.
“Me too!” May whispered back. Carole Hanson, another member of The Saddle Club, was the best rider in Horse Wise.
Erin heard them. “Don’t count on it,” she whispered. “Why should you three always hog the best big sisters? I want Carole to be my partner this time.”
“Poor Carole,” May said sarcastically. Unfortunately she forgot to whisper.
Max looked over at them and frowned. “Do you have a question, May?” he asked.
“No,” May said with a weak smile. “Sorry.”
As Max continued to talk about equitation, Jasmine snuck a glance at Carole Hanson. Carole was friendly and easy to talk to, and she knew a lot about horses. Jasmine was sure she could win a blue ribbon at the competition next week if she was Carole’s partn
er. She could already picture how nice the ribbon would look on the bulletin board above the desk in her room. That was where she always hung her A-plus papers and the special awards she won at school.
Suddenly Jasmine realized she hadn’t been paying attention to what Max was saying. Even if she got Carole as a partner, she wouldn’t win the competition if she didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing. She listened carefully as Max talked about aids—signals to tell a horse what to do. He also discussed posture, mounting and dismounting, and all the other things that would be judged in an equitation class at a horse show.
“But the key word for our own little show next week is teamwork,” Max said. “That and plenty of practice will be the keys to a good performance.”
Jasmine, May, and Corey smiled at each other. They were good at teamwork. After all, that was what the Pony Tails were all about.
3 Picking Teams
Finally Max looked at his watch. “That’s it for today,” he said. “I’ll assign the teams. Then you can get together and start practicing.”
Before Max could go on, Erin raised her hand.
“Yes, Erin?” Max said.
“I’d like to be Carole Hanson’s partner,” Erin announced in the polite voice she always used when talking to adults. “Please? I just know she and I would work very well together.”
“Thanks for your enthusiasm, Erin,” Max said with a smile. “And I’m sure Carole is flattered. But I’ll be drawing the names out of a hat. That will make things fair for everyone.”
“Oh.” Erin lowered her hand and sat back, pouting just a little.
May couldn’t believe Erin’s nerve. How dare she just raise her hand and request to be paired with the best rider in the group!
“She sounded like she thought she was going to get exactly what she wanted, just because she asked,” Corey said quietly.
“I know,” May whispered. “She’s like that at school, too. The problem is, she usually gets away with it there.” The three friends were all in different third-grade classes at Willow Creek Elementary School. Erin was in May’s class. “The teachers all love her,” May added.
Corey glanced over at Max. “Shhh,” she said. “He’s getting ready to pick the names.” She crossed all the fingers on both her hands. “I hope I get someone good!”
Max was holding two hard hats, each filled with little slips of paper. He pulled a slip out of one of the hats and read it. “The first little sister is Corey Takamura,” he announced.
Corey let out a squeak of excitement and crossed her arms for an extra bit of luck. She held her breath and waited.
Max picked a slip from the other hat. “Corey, your big sister is … Lisa Atwood!”
Corey let out her breath in a big whoosh and smiled. She saw Lisa waving at her from across the room and waved back happily.
“Lucky you,” May said. They all knew that Lisa was a very good rider and a smart and patient teacher. Being paired with her was almost as good as being paired with Carole.
Max called a few more pairs as May and Jasmine waited eagerly for their own names. “Maybe we’ll end up with Carole and Stevie,” Jasmine whispered. Stevie Lake was the third member of The Saddle Club. She was another favorite of the younger girls because of her good sense of humor.
But a moment later Max announced that Stevie would be working with Jessica Adler. Jessica hadn’t been riding at Pine Hollow very long, so the Pony Tails didn’t know her well. But they liked her and were glad she had a good partner.
“May Grover!” Max called at last.
“Carole, Carole, Carole,” May chanted under her breath.
But when Max looked at the next slip of paper, he announced, “May, you’ll be working with Veronica.”
May groaned. Veronica diAngelo was a good rider, but she was also a spoiled, nasty rich girl. She never did any work around the stable if she could help it, and she hardly ever bothered to talk to the younger riders.
“Too bad,” Corey said, patting May’s arm.
“Maybe being partners with Veronica won’t be horrible,” Jasmine pointed out. “She is a pretty good rider.”
“I guess,” May said, looking uncertain. “But she’s a pretty bad teacher. I’ll just have to work extrahard and hope for the best.”
Most of the other pairs were assigned by the time Max called Jasmine’s name.
“Cross your fingers,” Corey urged her friend. “You might still get Carole.”
“Or I might get Simon,” Jasmine said. The only older riders left were Carole and Simon Atherton, a clumsy, nerdy boy who was a less experienced rider than most of the younger students. Jasmine watched anxiously as Max pulled another slip.
“Okay, Jasmine,” he said. “You and Carole will be partners this time.”
“Yay!” Jasmine cheered.
Erin frowned at her. “It figures,” she snapped. “You may think you have all the luck, Jasmine, but it won’t last. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Erin!” Max called. “Pay attention. You’re the last name in this hat.” He read the last slip in the other hat. “Your partner is Simon.”
Simon waved cheerfully at the younger girl. “Hi there, Erin,” he called. “Looks like I’m your big sister for the week.”
Most of the other students laughed, but Erin frowned and shot Jasmine a dirty look. “Just remember what I said, Jasmine,” she muttered. “And don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
4 Jasmine’s Celebration
When Jasmine got home from Pine Hollow that evening, she was still worrying about Erin’s threat. May and Corey had told her to forget about it, but Jasmine had hardly been able to concentrate on anything Carole had said during their first practice.
Jasmine went upstairs and down the long hall to her mother’s studio at the back of the house. Mrs. James was an artist and worked at home. Opening the door quietly, Jasmine saw that her mother was working at a table by the window. The last few rays of the setting sun came in through the skylight in the ceiling, shedding a rosy glow over the big room.
Mrs. James looked up and smiled when she heard her daughter come in. “Hello, Jasmine,” she said. “How was Pony Club today?”
“Okay,” Jasmine said. She walked over and perched on a stool near the table. Mrs. James had just finished weaving a wall hanging on her big loom. Now she was clipping off loose threads with a small pair of scissors. “That looks nice,” Jasmine said. “The colors are really pretty.”
“Thanks.” Mrs. James smiled and snipped off one more thread. Then she set her scissors down, stood, and stretched. “Whew! I didn’t realize how late it was getting,” she said. She sniffed the air. “I don’t smell any dinner cooking. That must mean your father is still in his study. I guess he got caught up in his work, too.”
Mr. and Mrs. James took turns cooking dinner for the family. Jasmine’s father worked for an environmental company. He had an office in nearby Washington, D.C. He also had a small study in the basement where he often worked on weekends. Jasmine didn’t mind that both her parents worked so hard, since it never stopped them from spending lots of time with her.
“So what’s going on at Pine Hollow?” Mrs. James asked as she and Jasmine headed downstairs to start dinner.
Jasmine shrugged. “We’re studying equitation,” she said. “We’re supposed to practice all this week, and then Max is going to give out ribbons next week at Horse Wise. Carole Hanson is my partner.”
“Isn’t that the girl who’s such a good rider?” Mrs. James said. “You must be happy about that.”
“I am, sort of,” Jasmine said slowly. “But Erin Mosley wanted to be Carole’s partner. Now she says she’s going to make me sorry I was so lucky.”
Mrs. James frowned. “That’s not very kind of her,” she said. “But you shouldn’t worry, Jasmine. There’s not much Erin can really do about it, is there?”
Jasmine shrugged again. “I’m not sure,” she muttered. “She’s pretty mean.”
“It won’t help any
one for you to be mean in return,” Mrs. James pointed out as they entered the cheerful yellow-and-blue painted kitchen. “All you can do is try to be nice.”
“I guess you’re right,” Jasmine said with a sigh. It sounded so easy when her mother said it. Mrs. James was nice to everyone—and everyone was nice to her. Maybe her method did work. “I guess I can try to be nice to Erin.”
“That’s the spirit,” her mother said with a smile. “I’m proud of you. And I don’t just mean for this, Jasmine. You’re really growing up, you know.”
“I am?” Jasmine said, taking the lettuce her mother handed her and washing it in the sink.
Mrs. James nodded. “You’re getting more independent all the time,” she said. “I think May and Corey have been a good influence. They’re both such strong girls. Pine Hollow has been good for you, too.” She walked over and patted her daughter on the shoulder. “But most of the credit goes to you, Jasmine. You’re really becoming your own person.”
Jasmine wasn’t sure why her mother was making such a big deal out of being proud of her, but she didn’t mind. “Thanks, Mom,” she said.
“I have an idea,” Mrs. James said, pausing on her way to the pantry. “Why don’t we do something to celebrate? Say, a special dinner with all your favorite foods.”
“You mean tonight?” Jasmine said doubtfully, glancing at the clock on the wall.
Mrs. James laughed. “Well, maybe not,” she agreed. “Tonight we’d better stick with something quick. How about next Saturday? That will give me time to do some shopping. I’ll make my special vegetable lasagna, and your father can bake those molasses-oatmeal cookies you like.”
“That sounds great,” Jasmine agreed. “If I win a blue ribbon, we can celebrate that, too.”
“Sure,” Mrs. James agreed. “But you don’t have to win a blue ribbon for your father and me to be proud of you. I’ve been looking for an extraspecial way to tell you that. Next week will be the perfect time.”
Pony Tails 07- Jasmine Trots Ahead Page 1
