Riding to Win

by Bonnie Bryant

  Stevie shrugged. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough.” She grinned. “Why? Getting nervous?”

  “No way,” Carole replied automatically. And she realized it was true, at least in part. She was always a little bit nervous before any show, of course. That was normal. But the thought of competing against well-known, talented, experienced riders like Garrett Shanahan didn’t scare her nearly as much as she might have expected.

  I know exactly why that is, too, she thought as she wandered down the dusty path after Stevie. It’s because I’ll be riding Samson. I may not have as much experience as some of the others, but that doesn’t matter, because I know that my horse—she paused in the thought for a moment, smiling to herself at how natural it felt to use the possessive when she was thinking about Samson—Well, he’s almost mine, anyway. And I know he can do just about anything!

  Twelve

  Lisa was as scared and worried as she’d ever been in her life. “Is she going to be okay? What do you think is wrong?” she asked Red for about the sixth time. “She was fine last week.”

  Red shook his head grimly. “Who knows?” he said. “We all know this pregnancy is risky. And we’ve had scares before. I suppose it could be nothing again, like those times.” He rubbed his ear and stared at the mare. “But this fever can’t mean anything good.”

  Lisa swallowed hard and returned her gaze to Prancer. The mare was obviously in distress. Her body glistened with a light coating of sweat, and her head drooped. How did this happen? Lisa thought. I haven’t seen her up close for a few days, but other people have. This must have happened suddenly—literally overnight. But why? What’s wrong?

  She didn’t know the answers to those questions, and it was clear that Red didn’t, either. “I wish Judy would get here,” Lisa said softly, stretching her hand over the stall door to pat Prancer. The mare’s flank shuddered at her touch, and Prancer took an awkward step away from the door, out of reach.

  Red shot Lisa a sympathetic look. “Try not to worry,” he said, though Lisa thought he looked awfully worried himself. “Judy will be here soon. She was over at the racetrack when I got through on her portable phone, but when I told her what was going on, she said she was leaving right away.”

  As if on cue, Judy Barker’s voice rang out from the direction of the entryway. “Red?” she called, sounding breathless. “Where are you?”

  “Down here!” Red called, loud enough to cause Prancer’s ears to flop uneasily toward him. “We’re with Prancer.”

  A moment later Judy appeared, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt and carrying her black medical bag. “Hi,” she greeted Red briskly. “Oh, hi, Lisa. I didn’t know you were here, too. I thought everyone had already left for that show.”

  Lisa just shook her head wordlessly. In her worry, she had almost forgotten about the horse show. When she had arrived at Pine Hollow that morning, half an hour before she was supposed to meet Callie and Scott, she had been excited about watching her friends compete and having the chance to spend some time with Alex, even though she still felt a little weird about his reaction to her college plans.

  But all that had flown out of her mind as soon as she’d reached Prancer’s stall and found Red there, looking anxious. He had made his morning rounds soon after Max and the others had departed, and that was when he’d noticed that Prancer had barely touched her breakfast. That alone was cause for worry, but the mare’s haggard appearance had prompted him to get in touch with the vet immediately, especially when he determined that Prancer was running a fever.

  As Judy opened the stall door and walked toward Prancer, crooning to the mare soothingly, Lisa crossed her fingers and tried not to panic. All she could hope was that she and Red were all worked up for nothing—that the vet would quickly diagnose something minor and innocuous and put their fears to rest.

  “Wow.” Judy let out a low whistle as she ran her hands over the mare’s neck and sides, looking her over. “How long has she looked like this?”

  Red shrugged. “She seemed okay yesterday,” he said. “I mean, it’s been a little crazy around here this week. But she’s been eating, and nobody has noticed anything odd.”

  Judy nodded, looking grim. “I haven’t seen her in almost a week myself,” she commented tensely. “I wish …” Her voice trailed off, and she turned to glance at Lisa. “Could you hand me my bag please?” she asked. “I want to see if I can figure out what’s going on here.”

  Lisa hoisted the black bag, which was sitting in the aisle. It was surprisingly heavy, but she hardly noticed as she passed it over the half door. All she could think about was Prancer.

  At that same moment, Carole and Stevie were making their way back to the Pine Hollow trailers. Carole checked her watch and saw that they still had plenty of time before they needed to start getting ready for their first events. “Hey, why don’t we go check out the refreshments?” she suggested, suddenly remembering that she’d only had time to gulp down half a banana that morning before leaving for the stable. “We don’t need to get down to work for half an hour at least.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Stevie agreed. “Let’s check with Denise and the others and see if they want us to bring anything back.”

  “Okay.” Carole glanced down at her watch once more, just to make sure her time calculations were right. When she looked up again, her eyes widened as she took in their home base. She had just seen that Max had returned from wherever he’d gone earlier—and he wasn’t alone.

  “Check it out!” she whispered, grabbing Stevie by the arm.

  “Ow!” Stevie protested, yanking her arm away. “What are you trying to do, cripple me right before my big Colesford debut?” She rubbed her arm, looking disgruntled.

  Carole didn’t pay any attention to her friend’s complaint. She was still staring at Max and his companion—a tall, distinguished-looking man with wavy brown hair and a flawless tweed riding coat and cuffed jodhpurs. “Do you know who Max is talking to?” she whispered excitedly. “It’s him. Garrett Shanahan!”

  Now Stevie looked interested. “Really? Wow. I didn’t know Max knew him.”

  Carole shrugged. She hadn’t known that, either, but she wasn’t particularly surprised. Max had once competed at the highest levels himself, and several well-known riders had gotten their starts at Pine Hollow, including the retired show jumper Dorothy DeSoto. Maybe Dorothy had introduced the two men at some show or other.

  As Carole and Stevie came closer, Denise spotted them and hurried over. “Did you see?” she murmured, casting a glance over at Max.

  “I know.” Carole grinned. “Mysterious Max strikes again. Who knew he had so many famous friends?” It was tempting to hang around and wait for a chance to meet the famous Garrett Shanahan, but Carole’s stomach grumbled, and she knew she’d better get some food into it before things really got started. “Hey, is everything under control around here?” she asked Denise. “Stevie and I were just going to walk over and grab a snack.”

  “Everything’s fine,” Denise assured her. “The horses have all settled down nicely, and Ben had the station wagon unpacked before we even got here. Go ahead.”

  “Can we bring you anything?” Stevie asked.

  After Denise placed her order for bottled water and onion rings, the girls moved on. They found George, who asked them to pick him up some potato chips. Finally they came to Ben, who was sitting on a stool in the shade of the trailers, polishing his boots.

  “Hi,” Carole said, realizing she’d barely spoken to Ben since that weird moment the day before. “Um, we’re making a food run. Do you want anything?”

  Ben glanced up briefly. “No,” he replied, his voice gruff. Then he returned his gaze to his work without another word.

  Stevie rolled your eyes. “You’re welcome,” she muttered under her breath.

  Carole’s face flamed, and she shot a glance at Ben, hoping he hadn’t heard. She couldn’t tell—his expression hadn’t changed a bit, but that didn’t mean much. Grabbing Stev
ie’s arm, Carole dragged her away.

  “Should we ask Max if he wants anything?” Carole asked, glancing again at the stable owner. He still seemed to be deep in conversation with Garrett Shanahan.

  Stevie shrugged. “Let’s just bring him a soda,” she suggested.

  Carole agreed, and the two of them set off once again down the long row of trailers. This time they walked straight past the stable buildings and through the gate leading to the public area of the show grounds. They were both wearing the tags Max had passed out identifying them as competitors, which meant they would have no trouble getting back past the gate again.

  The show grounds were starting to fill up with spectators, and the whole place had a carnival atmosphere. Children and dogs ran around noisily, playing in the grassy areas around the wide pathways behind the bleachers. Concession stands lined the paved paths leading from the main entrance, selling food, programs, T-shirts, hats, riding gear, balloons, and all sorts of other souvenirs and trinkets. Carole hardly knew where to look first.

  “This is amazing,” she said. “All these people are here to watch us! Us and the horses, I mean.”

  Stevie nodded. “Let’s get a program.”

  Carole agreed eagerly. Max had posted a schedule listing the times and locations of their own classes, but it didn’t say anything about the day’s other events. Carole knew that the first competition of the show was scheduled to start in less than half an hour, even though the first Pine Hollow rider wasn’t due in the ring until almost noon.

  The girls bought a program and pored over it eagerly, planning which events they wanted to try to watch in between their own preparations. Carole smiled when a little girl passed them and squealed, spotting their tags.

  “Mommy, look!” the girl said in a loud stage whisper. “Those girls are going to be in the show!”

  “Ah, the life of a public idol,” Stevie murmured to Carole, making her laugh.

  “Speaking of public figures, I think I see a certain politician’s son and daughter right now.” Carole pointed to Scott and Callie, who each had one of Maxi Regnery’s hands. All three of them were smiling and heading toward them, dodging through the crowds.

  “Hi!” Scott called. “Hey, shouldn’t you two be off polishing your hard hats or something for your big debut?”

  Stevie was glancing past the Foresters, obviously looking for someone else. “Where’s Lisa? You didn’t forget her, did you?”

  Callie laughed. “Of course not,” she said. “She should be here soon—she decided to ride over with Red. There was some kind of problem with—”

  “Whoa!” Carole exclaimed, interrupting Callie. “I can’t believe this. That’s my history teacher over there by the pizza stand!”

  Stevie shrugged. “So what? A bunch of my teachers said they might come, too. This horse show is, like, the social event of the county.”

  “No, no.” Carole stared at Ms. Shepard, who was about thirty yards away and completely unaware of her presence. “It’s not that she’s here. It’s who she’s here with.” She pointed to the stout, balding man who had his arm tucked protectively around the history teacher’s waist. “That’s Mr. Whiteside, my algebra teacher! I had no idea the two of them were dating!”

  Stevie, Callie, and Scott shot the couple a curious glance, but Maxi clearly had no interest in inter-teacher romance. She tugged insistently on Callie’s hand. “Come on!” she cried. “You said we could go see the ponies.”

  “Okay,” Callie told the little girl. She shrugged apologetically at Carole and Stevie. “Sorry, no time to chat. We’ve got big plans, as you can see.”

  Carole grinned. She had already noticed the signs pointing the way to the area where young visitors could go for pony rides. Knowing Maxi, she would want to spend most of the day—and probably most of Callie’s and Scott’s spare cash—over there. “All right. Just don’t get so caught up with those ponies that you forget to watch our classes.”

  “We won’t,” Scott promised as Maxi started to drag him and Callie away. “We’ll be right there in the stands, cheering you on.”

  Stevie hardly seemed to notice their departure. She was standing on her tiptoes, glancing around.

  “What are you doing?” Carole asked.

  “Phil said he’d look for me every half hour by the lemonade stand,” Stevie explained. “The only trouble is, it looks like there are two lemonade stands. One right across the path there, and another one way over—”

  “Guess who!” Phil cried, appearing suddenly behind Stevie and clapping his hands over her eyes.

  Stevie spun around and threw her arms around him, planting a big kiss on his lips. “It’s about time you turned up!” she said when she came up for air.

  Carole smiled. She knew that Stevie hadn’t been able to spend much time with her boyfriend since being grounded. She figured this was a good time to give them a little privacy. “I’m going to see if I can find Dad,” she told the happy couple. “He was supposed to ride over with some friends from the neighborhood. I’ll pick up the snacks for the others and see you back at the trailers, okay?”

  “Uh-huh,” Stevie said distractedly, her arms still wrapped around Phil’s neck.

  Carole moved off, glancing again at her teachers, who were standing under the shade of an awning, munching on gooey slices of pizza. They still hadn’t spotted her, and Carole ducked behind the program booth, preferring to keep it that way.

  She’d only gone a few steps when she saw her father. He was talking to a couple of friends, but when he saw Carole coming toward him, he left them and came to meet her with a big smile on his face. “How’s my favorite champion-to-be daughter?” he asked.

  “Great. Isn’t this cool?” Carole waved an arm to indicate the noisy, exciting scene surrounding them. “It seems like everybody in the world is here.” She grinned. “Even my two lovebird teachers.”

  “What?”

  Carole crooked a finger at her father, gesturing for him to come over to where he could peek around the side of the program booth. “Look over there,” she said. “See that woman with the brown hair and blue shirt? That’s Ms. Shepard, my history teacher. And the guy she’s with is my math teacher, Mr. Whiteside. I didn’t even know they knew each other!” She smiled fondly at the teachers, especially Ms. Shepard. She was feeling especially warm toward her because she had handed back that week’s history test the day before, and Carole had received an A. It almost made her forget about that other test all those weeks ago.

  “Ah.” Colonel Hanson smiled and ruffled Carole’s dark curls. “Well, I guess that just goes to show that anything can happen at a horse show, huh?”

  Carole knew he was just goofing around, but she nodded. “Definitely,” she agreed wholeheartedly. “And that reminds me. I’ve got to get going, or I know one thing that will certainly be happening soon—namely, Max chewing me out for being late!”

  Saying good-bye to her father, she hurried toward the nearest food tent to pick up the snacks before heading back to the stable area.

  Lisa willed herself to remain calm as she watched Judy snap her bag shut. She thought she would burst if the vet didn’t tell them something soon. Judy had hardly said a word since beginning her examination.

  As she left the stall, the vet’s face looked pinched and grave. Lisa wasn’t sure she dared ask for the diagnosis. Fortunately, Red spoke up. “Well?” he asked quietly. “How is she?”

  “I won’t lie to you. Things don’t look very good, I’m afraid.” The vet spoke slowly, forming each word carefully and deliberately. “From what I can determine, it seems that one of the foals has died inside of Prancer, probably over the past couple of days. Since we didn’t notice and take action right away, she’s gone septic. The infection appears to have spread quickly.”

  Lisa’s mind reeled. “But you can stop it, right?” she asked. “You can give her some medicine or something and stop the infection. Make her better.”

  Judy heaved a deep breath. “I’ll do what
I can, of course,” she told Lisa somberly. “Prancer has always been strong and healthy. It’s possible she’ll pull through.”

  “And the other foal?” Red asked.

  Judy shook her head. “There’s no telling,” she said grimly. “As I said, things don’t look very good right now. But at the moment the second foal is still alive.”

  Lisa hated the pessimistic tone in Judy’s voice, hated the thought that Prancer might lose both her foals after coming so far. As for Prancer herself … Lisa didn’t dare think too hard about that. Prancer had to pull through. That was all there was to it.

  Lisa entered the stall and walked up to Prancer, who stood listlessly, her head drooping. As she stroked the mare’s head, trying to comfort her as best she could, she was vaguely aware that Red and Judy were talking in the aisle, discussing whether to try to reach Max at the show grounds. But Lisa wasn’t paying much attention to them. All she could focus on was Prancer. She had known all along that this pregnancy could be dangerous for the mare. But until now, she had faced that fact only in her nightmares.

  Now she was afraid that her worst nightmares might be coming true.

  Thirteen

  From the moment she and Samson stepped into the ring for their first round, Carole knew she’d been right to expect this to be a day she would always remember. When she’d warmed up Samson a little earlier, she had instantly sensed that he was at his very best that day. And Carole was convinced that Samson’s very best was just about invincible.

  Just as important, Carole felt confident that she had a handle on the course, which was challenging but not unreasonable. Before the event, she had walked it with the other competitors, doing her best not to let herself get distracted by all the famous faces around her. She knew she would have plenty of time to ask for autographs later if she wanted to. For the moment, though, they all had a job to do—herself as much as Garrett Shanahan or any of the others.