Riding Class

by Bonnie Bryant

  Toot-to-da-doo! Max blew on a hunting horn as he came in the door. Toot-to-da-doo! He strode to the front of the room and unrolled a small paper banner. It read in black marker: THE FIRST ANNUAL MAX REGNERY JUNIOR HANDY HUNTER TRAIL COMPETITION! The riders read it in silence. Then Lisa raised her hand.

  “I understand ‘First Annual Max Regnery,’ ” she said. “That’s obvious. Same with ‘Trail’ and ‘Competition.’ And I understand ‘Junior,’ that’s any rider under eighteen. A ‘Hunter’ is a horse that jumps low fences with good style, the way a foxhunting horse should. But what’s a ‘handy’?”

  Max grinned. “Anyone have a guess?” he asked.

  Carole thought hard. “A horse that’s really listening to its rider is said to be in hand,” she said. “Is that sort of what it means?”

  Max nodded. “That’s right. Handy hunter classes aren’t seen very often in horse shows these days, but they used to be quite popular. They usually involved a course of fences, like a regular hunter course, but with some special instructions—for example, sometimes you had to trot over a fence instead of ride it at a canter, or halt and back up a few strides before continuing. Then there would be special obstacles, too—you might have to open a gate from horseback, ride through it, and close it again. You might have to ride your horse through water or over a bridge. The emphasis was on a horse that obeyed his rider at all times, under any circumstance, the way a true hunter should.”

  “And that’s what we’re going to do?” asked Stevie.

  “Sort of,” Max said. “I’ve changed the concept a little, because I wanted to have a single competition that would be fair to all of you. Some of you younger kids haven’t been jumping very long, for example, and it’s really not fair to put you up against, say, Carole and Starlight.”

  Carole smiled softly with pride. The younger kids looked glad that they wouldn’t be jumping against Carole, and Veronica looked annoyed that Carole had been mentioned instead of her.

  “But all of you should be able to get your horses to obey you,” Max continued. “That’s the first rule of riding, the first thing you start to learn—how to make your horse listen, and make it glad to do what you want. I don’t mean to say that obedience is easy to come by, but it’s something all of you should be working on all of the time.

  “So here are the rules,” he said, putting down his banner and picking up a notepad. “First, this is a trail competition, because I thought that would be fun. You’ll start off one at a time, like in a cross-country jumping competition, only you’ll stay on one of our usual trails.”

  Lisa grinned. So that was what Max had been doing with the tractor!

  “Second”—Max tapped his notepad—“at various spots along the trail—ten spots, in fact—there will be stations manned by a pair of judges. At each station you and your horse will have to perform a particular handy hunter-type test.

  “Third, you’re not going to know ahead of time what any of the stations are going to test. You’ll ride up, and then the judges will tell you what to do.

  “I’m emphasizing horse-and-rider teamwork,” Max continued. “Remember that. You might have to cross a creek or open and close a gate, as I already described. You might have to trot your horse over a crossrail, a small log, or some other very small fence—nothing that all of you can’t do—and you’ll be judged not on how prettily you ride or how stylishly your horse takes the fence, but on how calmly your horse approaches and negotiates the fence.

  “You might be asked to dismount and remount your horses. You might be asked to walk in and out through a gridwork of ground poles, or walk your horse backwards between a pair of straw bales.

  “Think real-life riding skills,” Max concluded. “There’ll be a prize for first place, and ribbons for the top six. Are you interested?”

  A resounding cheer answered his question. The Saddle Club exchanged excited looks. Max was right—it sounded like fun! Lisa leaned forward to whisper to Stevie and Carole, “You-know-who isn’t necessarily a shoo-in. I’ve never seen Danny walk through water.”

  Stevie grinned. “Neither have I. He walks on water, according to Veronica, but he might not go through it.” Many horses didn’t like to get their feet wet. Stevie, Carole, and Lisa had been on so many trail rides that their horses didn’t mind creek crossings at all.

  “We could beat her at this,” Carole said. “But don’t forget Max’s point—what’s important here is how well we communicate with our horses. That’s always the most important thing.”

  “That, and beating Veronica,” Emily put in. “I hope you all do!”

  The Horse Wise meeting continued with Meg and Jasmine’s presentation. The whole group trooped out of the office to watch Jasmine wrap her pony’s legs while Meg explained why and how polo wraps are used. Then the whole group trooped back in.

  Trooping was not easy for Emily. Looking at her, Lisa realized that Emily was getting tired. Lisa was almost glad when the meeting was over.

  “Stevie,” Max said as Horse Wise filed out the door. The Saddle Club and Emily were waiting for the crowd to clear so that it would be easier for Emily to maneuver. “I haven’t met your friend yet. Is this Emily? How was the trail ride?”

  “Fantastic!” they answered as one. They stood talking to Max for a few minutes. By the time they left the office, Veronica had already taken Danny to the riding ring just outside the stable doors.

  “Wow!” Emily stopped and stared at Danny. “He really is a nice horse, isn’t he?” She and The Saddle Club walked out to the edge of the ring.

  Veronica was making Danny walk forward, back, forward, back. She turned him on the haunches and on the forehand, then began a serpentine at a canter, with flying changes of lead. Veronica was concentrating hard. The Saddle Club felt despondent. Clearly, Veronica was out to win the handy hunter competition.

  “That’s a beautiful horse!” Emily said to her. “You’re really riding him well—look how nicely he’s bending!”

  The Saddle Club was a little surprised that Emily would praise Veronica. None of them would have, even though Emily’s compliments were true.

  Veronica brought Danny to a square halt. “Thank you,” she said, looking down at Emily with a smug expression. “I’m so glad you could see him. You know, this is what real riding is all about.”

  Stevie moved closer to Emily. “Let’s go,” she whispered. “She isn’t going to change.”

  Veronica either didn’t hear or pretended not to. “You might want to come watch us compete next weekend,” she continued. “It’ll all be real riding—a lot different from those pony rides they take you on at Free Rein.”

  Emily flushed red. “I ride,” she said.

  Veronica smiled. “I’m sure you do,” she said. “You should try to come next weekend. Then maybe you’d understand.”

  “Come on,” Stevie whispered fiercely, her hand on Emily’s elbow. “Don’t listen to anything she says.”

  Emily nodded and turned back to the stable, but The Saddle Club could see that their friend’s eyes were full of tears.

  THE SADDLE CLUB and Emily retreated to the stable, united by their hatred of Veronica. “I know you were trying to be nice to her,” Carole said, “and I think that’s really admirable, especially considering how rude she was to you earlier. But trust me, it isn’t worth the effort. She’s so sure she’s right that she’ll never change.”

  Emily slumped onto a hay bale and pulled her arms out of her crutches. She wiped at her eyes. “I just wish she hadn’t said that about my riding. I really do ride.”

  “We know.” Stevie sat down on the hay bale next to her friend.

  Lisa reached into her pocket. “The only cure I know for Veronica’s kind of poison is chocolate,” she said. “Hot fudge. I’ve got ten bucks my grandma sent me for Valentine’s Day. Can I treat you all to a hot fudge sundae?” The Saddle Club looked at one another, then at Emily. “Emily?” Lisa asked.

  Emily looked up, and the bitter look in her eyes
surprised them. “Even kids with C.P. like hot fudge,” she said.

  “Oh, no,” Lisa said, in genuine alarm, “that’s not what I meant at all. The ice cream store—TD’s—is about half a mile from here. Do you think you can walk that far?”

  Emily gave a short laugh. Her expression brightened, but barely. “I guess my stupid wheelchair is good for something,” she said. “Let’s go!”

  The Saddle Club took turns pushing Emily in her wheelchair along the shoulder of the road. They were a little surprised at how difficult it was. The wheelchair rolled easily enough, and on smooth ground any one of them could push it one-handed, but on gravel and dirt the wheels caught and it became much more unwieldy. They had to dodge discarded soda cans and potholes, and they couldn’t walk along the grass the way they usually did. When they reached the edge of Willow Creek and the sidewalks started, they had trouble getting Emily’s wheelchair over the steep curb. The trip to TD’s seemed to take much longer than usual.

  Worse, Emily seemed very depressed. She hardly spoke, even when they asked her questions. A gloomy silence descended on them all.

  Stevie felt horrible. It had been her idea to ask Emily to come to Pine Hollow! She really wanted Emily to have a nice time, and now it seemed that Veronica was spoiling everything. Stevie wished she could say something to make Emily feel better. She wished she had a super-death ray to blow Veronica off the face of the planet.

  At TD’s they sat at a table instead of their usual booth so that Emily could pull her chair right up to it. Emily looked around the ice cream parlor with more interest than she had shown on the way there. “Cool place,” she said appreciatively. “What’s that smell?”

  “They bake their own chocolate-chunk brownies,” Stevie said. “I’m going to have a brownie sundae, with pistachio ice cream, strawberry sauce, peanuts, and a maraschino cherry.”

  Lisa and Carole watched to see how Emily would react to this. Stevie was famous for her strange ice cream concoctions. Neither Lisa nor Carole understood how Stevie could eat them, but she always did. Emily raised her eyebrow, as if thinking about Stevie’s order, but she didn’t say anything.

  Their usual waitress came up to their table and nodded in a friendlier-than-usual fashion. Lisa and Carole ordered hot fudge sundaes. Stevie ordered a brownie and pistachio sundae, just as she’d described.

  “I’ll have a brownie sundae, too,” Emily announced. “Only I’ll have mine with lemon sherbet, caramel sauce, and some of those neon Gummi Bears sprinkled on top. Oh, and a maraschino cherry.”

  Stevie’s jaw dropped open. Carole and Lisa stared. The waitress stopped smiling. “Another one!” she muttered to herself, and stalked away.

  “What?” Emily asked. “What’d I do?”

  Stevie snapped her jaw shut. “Nothing,” she said. “I knew we had a lot in common.”

  The waitress brought them glasses of water. Lisa played with the paper wrapper on her straw. “Emily,” she said tentatively, “we’re sorry about Veronica. We’re sorry anything had to happen today to make you feel uncomfortable.”

  “We really wanted you to have a nice time,” Carole added. “We wouldn’t have invited you otherwise.”

  Emily smiled ruefully. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m not upset with you guys. And I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry I sulked. I was sulking.

  “I’m used to walking slower than everybody else,” she continued, “and I’m used to crutches and wheelchairs, and curbs that are too high—none of that bothers me too much. But I can’t get used to attitudes like Veronica’s. Plus, what she said really hurt.” Emily leaned forward. “There are a lot of things I can’t do,” she said emphatically, “but I know I can ride. Really ride.” The waitress brought their sundaes, and Emily leaned back so that hers could be set in front of her. “I’ll get even with her,” she concluded when the waitress had gone.

  “How?” Stevie’s ears perked up. Getting even was her specialty.

  “Don’t get mad, get even,” Emily said. “That’s what my father always taught me, ever since I was a little kid. He doesn’t mean that I should actually get revenge on anybody, he just means I should work really hard, so that I know the person who insulted me isn’t right.”

  Emily took a big brownie–lemon sherbet–and–caramel sauce bite. Carole tried not to look.

  “Like, instead of believing Veronica,” Emily continued, “what I’ll do is focus on how well I can ride. I’ll work harder in my lessons, and I’ll concentrate on how much I can learn if I keep trying. I’ll think about what I can do, instead of what I can’t.”

  “We-ell,” said Stevie, considering, “that sounds fine, but I think revenge would be nice, too.”

  Emily took another bite. “I totally agree,” she said around a mouthful of brownie.

  Carole started laughing. “You two really are birds of a feather!”

  Lisa scraped her spoon around the rim of her dish to catch some drips of hot fudge. “What kind of revenge?” she asked practically.

  “What if we stick a pin in Veronica’s saddle?” Stevie suggested. “When she goes to mount, it’ll stick her right in the—”

  “Not negative revenge,” Emily objected. “Positive.”

  “Like showing Veronica how well you can ride,” said Lisa.

  “Like showing everyone how well you can ride,” said Stevie.

  Carole laid down her spoon and spoke very softly. “Like riding in the handy hunter competition.”

  Emily beamed. Lisa let out a long sigh.

  “That’s it!” Stevie said. “That’s perfect!”

  “I’d love to,” said Emily. “Wow, would that be cool.”

  “It’d show Veronica,” Lisa said.

  “Particularly,” Carole added, “if dear P.C. beats Danny.”

  “I don’t care about that,” Emily said quickly. “I probably won’t even be able to place, but just finishing—just trying, even—that would be like a victory. It would be a victory to me.”

  The four girls finished their sundaes in silence, thinking hard.

  “Do you think I can do it?” Emily asked at last.

  “Of course,” Stevie said promptly. Lisa and Carole nodded.

  “We’ll help,” Carole offered.

  “Whatever help is necessary,” Lisa said, and they all smiled. On their trail ride, they had told Emily about The Saddle Club and its rules.

  “We’ve got a whole week until the competition,” Stevie said. “That’s ages, compared with how much time I’ve had to plan other things.”

  “I ride every day at Free Rein. I’ll be able to spend a lot of time practicing.”

  “We’ll come there and help you get P.C. ready,” Carole said. “We can set up some obstacles in the ring like the ones Max described.”

  “Maybe you can bring P.C. to Pine Hollow next Friday and take another trail ride,” Lisa suggested. “We know Max’ll let you do that, and we’ll ask him about the handy right away.”

  “No,” said Stevie. The other three looked at her. “No, Lisa, not right away. We’re not going to go back to Pine Hollow and say, ‘Max, Veronica was mean to Emily, so she’s going to ride in the handy.’ Think about how that will sound.”

  Lisa grimaced. “You’re right,” she said. “Max won’t really understand. He’ll think we’re just—”

  “Whining,” Stevie concluded. “Going off half-cocked. Remember, I’ve got a lifetime’s experience dealing with three brothers and sibling warfare. What we need to do is work on our own until we’re all the way ready. Then we’ll tell Max.”

  “I’ll wait to tell my mother, too,” Emily said, agreeing with Stevie. “She’s not as into revenge as my father is.”

  STEVIE’S PARENTS WERE lawyers, so they had conference calling on their home phone. Stevie used it later that night to call the rest of The Saddle Club and Emily all at once.

  “Time to talk strategy,” Stevie said. “Let’s think about what Max said we’d need to do at the stations on the trail. Then we can think
about how to teach P.C.”

  “He said he wasn’t going to tell us exactly what the stations were,” Emily said.

  “Yes.” Lisa thought hard. “But Max is fair, and he wants us to listen to him, so what he says is usually important. He gives out a lot of hints. The stations probably won’t be exactly like what he said, but if we know how to do what he said, we should be in good shape.”

  “P.C. really felt comfortable on the trail,” Emily offered.

  “He looked comfortable,” Carole agreed.

  “Practically Comatose,” continued Emily. The Saddle Club laughed.

  “If you come over on Friday, we can practice creek crossings,” Carole said. “But he didn’t seem spooked by being near the stream today.”

  “He wasn’t. I don’t think that walking backward or forward through any kind of obstacle is going to bother him, either. We do a lot of that at Free Rein already, and he’s used to having all kinds of crazy stuff around him. I mean, there’s even a basketball hoop in the arena. It’s the jumping that’s worrying me.”

  “Can you hold your two-point position at a trot?” Carole asked. Stevie snorted. Sometimes Carole already sounded like a riding instructor.

  “Yeah, if I grab mane,” Emily said. “Remember? I did it in the ring when you were watching me. That’s how P.C. and I warm up.”

  “Then you’ll be able to jump okay,” Carole assured her. “It’s only going to be a single fence, and the hardest part about jumping is putting all the fences in a course together. Plus, whatever you might jump has to be small enough for the little kids to clear it easily on their ponies, and P.C.’s a pretty good-sized horse. He’ll probably even be able to step over the fence. All we’ll have to do is teach him to get to the other side.”

  “We can do that,” Emily said. “He learns fast.”

  “How about opening a gate?” Stevie asked.

  “Will I be allowed to use my crop?”

  “Sure,” Stevie said. “I use mine when I open a gate from horseback. It isn’t hard. I’ll show you.”