Beach Ride

by Bonnie Bryant

  Stevie was so pleased by all these thoughts that her attention totally left Red O’Malley. That was why she didn’t hear him tell the riders to halt and line up. It came to Stevie’s attention only when she realized that she was circling the ring alone with her feet out of the stirrups and eight other members of the class laughing at her. Sheepishly, she drew Topside to a halt at the end of the line.

  “We’re going to try another exercise now,” Red said. Next to him there was a pile of orange cones—like the ones used on highways to redirect traffic. “I’m going to make you an obstacle course. You’re going to be moving back and forth quickly, changing directions, first at the walk, then the trot. It’s a way you can use what you’ve learned about balance, because every time you shift directions, you’re going to have to rebalance yourselves.”

  Then he began dealing out the cones. If the girls had been on skis, Stevie might have called it a slalom course. Red certainly expected them to handle a lot of turns. And then she saw that it wasn’t all exactly lateral, because he put some cavalletti on the course, too. Those were long poles that the horses would have to jump over. Red put them on low risers so they were only about six inches off the ground. Stevie thought this would be fun. Balance was important when you were on a flat course, but it was absolutely critical when you were jumping. She hoped she was going to be able to use the skills she’d been practicing.

  “Okay, begin with the start of the line,” Red said. “Lisa!”

  Lisa looked over the course carefully. There were eight sets of cones she had to navigate and then three small jumps at the end. Before she began riding, she imagined her way through the course and over all the jumps. The only tricky part was figuring out how many strides there would be between the little jumps. Her eyes told her the answer was three.

  Lisa nodded—mostly to assure herself she was ready—and then she began. She maneuvered through the pairs of cones smoothly, very much aware of the way her horse moved through the turns, as well as the way she compensated for the shifting directions, keeping her weight evenly distributed as they proceeded. That, she understood, was balance. She was doing it.

  Then there were the three little jumps. They really were just high steps for a horse, and at a walk, that was just how Barq treated them.

  “Good,” Red said. “Next!”

  Next was Alice. She and Starlight did the whole course very well and very smoothly. She was such a good rider, Lisa thought, she probably didn’t even think about turns and balance. She just did it naturally. Then Lisa watched Alice approach the three low jumps. All the confidence she’d had through the cone part of the course seemed to disappear. She leaned over to one side and glared at the small obstacles, slowing Starlight to a very cautious walk. She went over one of the poles, stopped, looked ahead, and then moved her horse forward to the next. She repeated the stop and cautious forward movement for the third.

  “Nice,” Red said, though a slight look of concern crossed his face.

  The rest of the riders completed the course as well, including Stevie. Stevie understood that it wasn’t meant to be a difficult course. It was meant only to make the rider aware of shifting for balance. She and Topside completed it without incident.

  “Now, at a rising trot,” Red said.

  Lisa led off. It was trickier at a trot, but the practice at a walk had taught her a lot. Also, Barq seemed to understand what was expected, so Lisa could concentrate on her balance and let Barq take care of his own—with a few reminders from her.

  When she finished the eight turns and approached the three poles, all the hard work was done. The only thing now was to jump the poles. Barq knew what to do. So did Lisa. She rose in the saddle and leaned forward, keeping her balance centered over the horse, and he lifted himself over each of the very low jumps. When they had finished the third, Lisa sat down in the saddle again and brought Barq to a walk, joining the end of the line.

  “Very good, Lisa,” Red said. Then he turned to Alice. “Next,” he invited her.

  Alice started Starlight trotting. She managed to get him to take the turns so smoothly that it looked as if he were flowing through the course. She never appeared to move. She was really good! Then when she finished the turns and came to the poles, she drew Starlight to a walk and went over the three poles, one at a time, much as she had the first time.

  This was odd. Stevie didn’t understand it, and neither did Lisa. Neither, apparently, did Red.

  “Good, but what happened at the poles?” Red asked Alice.

  “I went over them,” she answered, almost defensively.

  “Yes,” Red agreed. “You did. But you broke your gait.”

  “I don’t jump,” she said.

  “But you’re—”

  “I don’t jump,” she repeated.

  “I see,” said Red. “Next!”

  Something was strange, and both Lisa and Stevie knew it. It was one thing not to jump, but those six-inch poles were hardly a jump, and a rider with as much skill on the flat as Alice had certainly shouldn’t be spooked by a six-inch obstacle.

  If anyone else in the class had done that, Red would have stopped and taken the time to review the technique for going over small obstacles. With Alice, however, because it was so odd, and because she was really just visiting for a few classes, Red seemed reluctant to do anything.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s missing,” Stevie whispered to Lisa.

  Lisa nodded. “I tried to get her to come to jump class on Tuesday—”

  “Next!” Red barked at the next rider in line.

  “We’ve got to do something about it,” Stevie whispered.

  “Like what?” Lisa hissed back.

  “Something,” Stevie said.

  Lisa could have sworn then that she could hear wheels turning in Stevie’s head. A scheme was forming.

  WHEN CLASS WAS over, Stevie and Lisa helped Alice untack Starlight and groom him. Although the tradition at Pine Hollow was that each rider was responsible for the horse that she was riding, Stevie and Lisa felt a special obligation to Starlight since they were supposed to be taking care of him while Carole was away.

  The girls chattered about horses, riding classes, and Starlight. The one thing they didn’t chatter about was the fact that Alice had refused to go over the small obstacles. It was all Stevie could do to keep from asking about it, but she knew she and Lisa needed to talk about it first, and they would have a chance to do that soon when they went on their own trail ride.

  When the last bit of work was done for Starlight, the three of them set a time to meet for their ride the next day, and Alice waved good-bye. Her grandmother was waiting for her, she explained. Then she was gone.

  “We need to talk,” Stevie said.

  Lisa grinned. “I know. I can tell by the look in your eye that you’re up to something.”

  “But not here.” Stevie loved being mysterious.

  “Then where?”

  “On the trail.”

  There was no need to say any more. Stevie and Lisa had each brought a brown-bag lunch. They retrieved them from the old refrigerator where Max kept sodas and other drinks for his riders. The girls each took a container of fruit juice. Stevie put both their lunches in her backpack, slipped that over her shoulders, and then they brought their horses to the door of the stable. The girls mounted, touched the good-luck horseshoe for the second time that day, and aimed themselves toward the woods.

  Lisa loved trail rides. She liked classes and shows, too, but most of all she liked to ride on trails. She loved being outdoors, and something about the combination of woods and horses seemed just perfect. Their class had been in the outdoor ring, but it was one thing to be in a ring, another to be in the freedom of the woods. She took a deep breath and sighed contentedly.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?” Stevie asked.

  “Wonderful,” Lisa agreed.

  The trails behind Pine Hollow all started out in the fields, but most of them wound up in the forested area a
bout a quarter of a mile away. There were wonderful places to ride there, and dozens of trails that every Pine Hollow rider soon learned and soon learned to love.

  Stevie was in the lead. The girls walked their horses for the first quarter mile or so until they were warmed up, then they began trotting. Stevie chose a trail through the woods that wound in all different directions while it took the riders uphill and then down, leading to the creek that had given their town its name, Willow Creek.

  The winding part of the trail was great. Lisa found she could practice everything they had been working on in class.

  “Red would love our doing this!” she said to Stevie.

  “Red suggested it!” Stevie said back.

  That made sense. At Pine Hollow the instructors were always trying to find ways to connect the skills the riders worked on in one kind of riding with another kind of riding. This was a natural opportunity to do just that.

  Stevie was enjoying the ride just as much as Lisa was. The only drawback to trail riding was that when you were trotting or cantering, it was hard to talk, but she had a plan in mind. She was headed for a rock that sat by the edge of the creek. They could tie up their horses nearby and have a picnic lunch. It was still too early in the season for them to dangle their feet in the creek. It was the only thing about this trail ride that wasn’t perfect as far as Stevie was concerned.

  Max saw to it that all the trails around Pine Hollow were kept clear and safe for the riders, but he couldn’t always keep up with nature on that score. Today, for instance, Stevie spotted a small tree trunk that had fallen across the trail. It wasn’t a problem. In fact, it was just a great opportunity for an unexpected jump. She waved to Lisa to make sure she’d seen it as well, and then, when she knew Lisa would know what to do, she signaled Topside to canter across the smooth ground between where they were and the tree. Topside was only too happy to oblige. It wasn’t much of a jump—less than two feet—but jumping at any height was fun for Stevie. Topside seemed to agree. The two of them flew over the obstacle and landed smoothly. Stevie kept Topside going for a few more feet and then drew him to a halt and turned to watch her friend. When you were jumping it was very important that somebody else was watching. Lisa had watched her from behind. Now Stevie watched Lisa from ahead.

  “Oh, that was great!” Lisa said. “It’s like Red planned some more practice for us on this trail and laid that thing there just for us.”

  “Not likely,” Stevie said. “But whatever happened, I’m glad. Going over natural jumps like that reminds me of the fox hunt. Remember?”

  Lisa did. They’d had a wonderful time fox hunting. The big difference between a fox hunt and a trail ride was that with a fox hunt, the riders weren’t even following trails. That could be wild!

  The girls walked their horses then for a while, because they were approaching the creek and they wanted the horses to have a chance to cool down before they stopped for lunch.

  Lisa drew Barq up alongside Stevie and Topside so that they could talk as the horses walked. She was still feeling exhilarated from the jump and couldn’t stop wondering about Alice’s reluctance to do it in class.

  “I wonder if Alice has ever even tried to jump,” Lisa mused, “or if she’s had a bad experience with it. Maybe she’s just afraid. Some people have fears that don’t make any sense, you know.”

  “Like my fear of exams?” Stevie said.

  “Not exactly. Your fear of exams isn’t irrational. See, if you don’t keep up with your homework and if you don’t pay attention in class—” There was an impish look on Lisa’s face.

  “Spare me! I’m on vacation,” Stevie said, laughing.

  “Sure, but anyway, it’s not the same thing as it is with Alice. Somehow, for some reason, she’s convinced that she shouldn’t jump. I wonder if it could be connected with her family situation—like maybe she’s afraid of what’s happening with her parents and that makes her afraid of other things, too, like jumping?”

  Stevie thought about this for a minute. “Maybe,” she said. “It’s a little bit like what happens when I get angry at one of my brothers. Suddenly I’m angry at all of them.”

  Lisa knew this was true. Stevie had three brothers, and it seemed that she was always at war with at least one of them. Also, Stevie spent so much time getting into trouble that the rest of her time seemed to be spent avoiding her parents because of the hot water she was already in.

  “Actually,” Stevie went on, “my family is very important to me. I’ve been trying to think how I would feel if my parents were fighting all the time and were talking about getting a divorce. To tell you the truth, it’s the scariest thought I’ve ever had. I …”

  Stevie’s voice faltered as she contemplated what it would be like to be in Alice’s position. She tried to go on, but it was hard. The ideas were so big and so awful, she couldn’t even get her mind around them.

  “I just don’t know,” Stevie said finally, knowing she hadn’t said at all what she felt.

  “Me, neither,” said Lisa. “But I know it’s upsetting Alice, and I’d like to be able to help her. She’s so nice.”

  “And such a good rider,” Stevie added.

  The girls drew their horses to a halt then and dismounted. They’d reached the creek, and they were ready for their picnic. The girls each snapped a lead rope onto their bridles and secured the lead ropes around the large branch of a tree by the creek, close enough to the water so the horses could have a cooling drink.

  Stevie climbed the rock by the creek. Lisa joined her there. It took only a few minutes to fish the lunch bags out of Stevie’s backpack, and their picnic began.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Stevie said.

  “Good!” Lisa teased.

  “About Alice,” Stevie continued.

  “Should we bring her here tomorrow when we go on our trail ride?” Lisa asked.

  “Yes, I think so,” Stevie agreed. “It’s such a pretty place, even in this cool weather, that it always makes me feel better. It will probably have the same effect on her.”

  “Good idea.”

  “And I think we should bring her the same way we came,” said Stevie more slowly, indicating that each word had some weight.

  “The same way? But there’s that—”

  Tree, Lisa thought. There was a tree across the trail. She suddenly realized what Stevie was up to. It was the scheme Stevie had been working on before only now it was complete—and it was great! The trunk was a two-foot-high obstacle that any well-trained horse would simply jump over. An experienced rider would have no more trouble with it than she would with a six-inch-high-pole. “You want Alice to have to jump the tree!” Lisa exclaimed.

  “It’s going to be perfect,” said Stevie. “It’ll just be there. I’ll be in front so she won’t be able to see it until I’ve been over it, and I’ll just be a few feet in front of her. Starlight’s a wonderful horse. He’s the best jumper in the stable. He won’t be able to resist it, no matter what Alice says, especially if she doesn’t have much warning.”

  “And I’ll be behind her,” said Lisa thoughtfully. “So in case anything does happen, I’ll be right there. She’s such a good rider, she’s sure to react naturally to the jump, and she’ll go over it smooth as glass.”

  “With some help from Starlight,” said Stevie sensibly. “I wouldn’t trust any other horse to do this, you know.”

  “I know. He’s the perfect choice. Then, can you see it?” Lisa’s mind began soaring with the possibilities. “Alice is sure to realize how silly she’s been about jumping—that it’s really a lot of fun and not dangerous. It’s like we’re opening up a whole new world of possibilities for her on horseback. She’s going to love it!”

  “It won’t exactly make up for the fact that her parents are splitting,” Stevie added.

  “But it will give her something else to think about,” Lisa concluded.

  “That’s important, too. When something bad is going on that you can’t do anything about, you sh
ould have something good to distract you.”

  “And by the time she leaves here, she’s going to be a super jumper!” Lisa felt warm and happy, and she knew Stevie felt the same way. It was great to think that they had a friend who had a problem and they could do something about it. That was what The Saddle Club did best, wasn’t it? Now all they had to do was make sure that they did it right.

  “We’ve got work to do,” Lisa declared.

  “Like what?”

  “We’ve got to get back to where that tree is and make sure that it’s not too visible from far ahead on the trail and that it’s as low as we can make it so it will be totally safe for Alice. We have to make it so Starlight has lots of warning and Alice only has a little—just enough.”

  Stevie agreed. The girls finished their sandwiches and juice and spent the rest of the afternoon doctoring the “jump” to make it perfect for Alice. By the time they returned to Pine Hollow, they were totally satisfied with their work and so happy about what was going to happen tomorrow that they didn’t even mind the scowl they got from Max, who reminded them that they’d been due back at the stable sometime earlier.

  “We were doing you a favor, Max,” Stevie assured him. “A tree had fallen across the creek trail, and we couldn’t just leave it where it was.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Max said, changing his tune completely. “Another rider told me about that tree. I was going to go out later today and move it.”

  “No need to,” Stevie said quickly. “We moved it to a much safer place. And we’ll be going out on that trail tomorrow. We’ll check it again for you.”

  Lisa almost gagged. What Stevie said was true, of course, but what Max heard was something else altogether. They had moved the tree. They’d moved it so it would be more of a surprise for Alice, and they’d made it lower to the ground so it would be a safer jump, and they’d covered parts of it with leaves to camouflage it.

  “Thanks, girls,” Max said. “You could have just reminded me, and I would have done the work myself. I appreciate your help, though.”