“Those girls,” Jock said, pointing at Carole, Lisa, and Stevie, “are with us. We invited them to join us here. Kindly make room for them and allow them to enjoy the show, please.”
“And please,” added Kathy, giving Margie and Veronica a fierce glance, “kindly allow the rest of us to enjoy the show, too.”
Margie and Veronica stopped their complaints immediately. Carole, Lisa, and Stevie gave each other high fives and settled back to watch the Grand Prix. At that moment, life was sweet.
“THE BEST PART about horse shows,” said Stevie, “is going home.”
She was sitting in the backseat of the van. The Pine Hollow group had been on the road for two hours. Traffic moved smoothly, and so far, there had been no flat tires.
“Oh, no,” said Carole. “Horse shows are so much fun. Once you get over the fear,” she added as an afterthought.
“But the ride home is great,” insisted Stevie, reaching for another Oreo cookie. She had already eaten half a pack. The group had made a stop at a minimart and had loaded up on junk food for the ride home.
For the eighth time, the girls discussed the show. They talked about the horses they had seen, the riders they had met, and Samson and Starlight. Stevie and Carole showed Lisa the autographs they’d collected. Stevie had gotten some from people she didn’t even know—and she couldn’t read them. “I think this signature was from the guy running the concession stand,” she said, pointing. “I didn’t want to take a chance—he could’ve been a famous rider in disguise.”
Most of all, they gloated over the look on Veronica’s face when she had found out she’d been eliminated.
“What an ugly surprise that was,” chuckled Stevie.
“If she hadn’t been so busy preening for the judges, she might have done all right,” Lisa said soberly.
“Nah,” said Stevie. “I’m sure she would have found another way to mess it up. That,” she finished, “was the crowning moment of the show for me. That made being tack manager completely worth it.”
“You did a terrific job,” came Max’s voice from the driver’s seat. “You can be my tack manager anytime.”
“Not next time,” warned Stevie, slumping back into the seat. “Next time I’ll be on Belle.”
“Hey, Max,” said Carole. “Why was Jock Sawyer so interested in Samson? He sure asked a lot of questions about him.”
Lisa finally got up the courage to ask the question on her mind, even though she was dreading the answer. “Is he interested in Samson for the USET?”
“Easy,” said Max with a chuckle. “Jock was hinting that he would like to see Samson have a great career—courtesy of him—but I pretty much pretended not to understand him. Samson’s young yet. He can use a lot more training before he goes to the big leagues full-time. I don’t plan to sell him for a while, so he’s not going anywhere soon.”
Lisa heaved a huge sigh of relief. She had become attached to Samson in their days of training for the Macrae, and she was glad he was going to be a part of Pine Hollow for a while. Max heard her sigh and glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
“Speaking of not going anywhere for a while,” he said seriously, “I hope you stick to riding and training for big shows like the Macrae, Lisa. You did really well this weekend. I’m proud of your courage, and I’m proud that you climbed back on Samson after your fall and finished the course in such fine style.”
Effusive praise from Max was rare. Lisa turned bright red and stammered her thanks.
Stevie, to save Lisa from her embarrassment, jumped into the conversation. “Say, Max, we heard a lot about you from Kathy Colefield,” she teased. She was pleased to see the back of his neck turn red. “Guess we haven’t heard a lot about the days before you became an old married man. Mrs. Reg told us you were a real heartbreaker!”
Max’s neck turned even redder. But all he said was, “What about Mom before she met my father, Max the Second?”
“Huh?” the three girls said simultaneously in confusion.
“But Jock and I were just friends!” protested Mrs. Reg, but she, too, blushed and looked guilty.
“Honestly,” said Stevie, pretending to be appalled, “I thought you guys were horse-crazy!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bonnie Bryant is the author of more than a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tails series. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, B. B. Hiller.
Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.
Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.
Don’t miss the next exciting
Saddle Club adventure …
SIDESADDLE
Saddle Club #88
There’s a new rider at Pine Hollow Stables. Her name is Tiffani. One member of The Saddle Club in particular is having a problem dealing with the newcomer. Carole Hanson and Lisa Atwood think Tiffani’s a good rider, but Stevie Lake can’t get over her riding gear—it’s pink and covered in lace and frills. On top of that, Stevie just doesn’t like Tiffani. It doesn’t make sense, but she can’t help it. When her boyfriend flirts with the new girl, Stevie stops seeing pink and starts seeing red. And when he praises Tiffani’s riding skills, Stevie goes wild.
Suddenly she’s in competition with Tiffani and determined to win at all costs—even if it means learning to jump fences while riding sidesaddle. Stevie’s friends are convinced she’s lost her mind. But Stevie’s determined to “out-girl” Tiffani. She’s even bought a fluffy pink sweater!
Show Jumper Page 12
