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  TROUBLE ON THE TRAIL

  Phil and his horse, Teddy, were off, trotting past a gathering of ferns and crossing a field. Phil was definitely trying to avoid Stevie.

  “All I wanted to say,” she yelled, “was—” But at this instant Teddy broke into a canter. Stevie could hear his hooves thud on the brown winter grass.

  Abruptly there was a flash of white ahead. A fawn darted across the road in front of Teddy, its tail high.

  Without warning Teddy reared, giving a whinny that sounded to Stevie like a scream. Phil’s arms were around Teddy’s neck, his knees high. Then, as Stevie watched in horror, Teddy lost his balance and fell with a thud. Phil flew off the horse and landed in the rocks beside the trail in an awkward position.…

  RL 5, 009–012

  HIGH HORSE

  A Bantam Skylark Book / April 1994

  Skylark Books is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

  “The Saddle Club” is a trademark of Bonnie Bryant Hiller. The Saddle Club design / logo, which consists of an inverted U-shaped design, a riding crop, and a riding hat is a trademark of Bantam Books.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 1994 by Bonnie Bryant Hiller.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  For information address: Bantam Books.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-82515-5

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

  v3.1

  I would like to express my special

  thanks to Helen Geraghty for her

  help in the writing of this book.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  “ONLY NINE CLAWS,” Stevie Lake muttered to her best friends, Lisa Atwood and Carole Hanson. “She’s practically defenseless.”

  Veronica diAngelo was standing in the center of the ring at Pine Hollow Stables, holding her right hand so she could look at the fingernail she’d just broken. It was a clean break, so now she had nine sharp red nails and one stump.

  “You poor thing,” Betsy Cavanaugh said to Veronica.

  Carole rolled her eyes, and Stevie looked to see if Betsy was kidding, but she wasn’t. Betsy’s face was screwed up into an expression of sympathetic woe, making Stevie realize that there were some members of Horse Wise who would do anything to get in good with snooty Veronica, even cry over her broken fingernail.

  “Maybe you could get it wrapped,” Polly Giacomin said.

  Stevie groaned. Then she immediately realized that she’d groaned louder than she should have, because all the riders in the ring were now staring at her.

  “Of course some people have no nails to lose,” Veronica said, looking at Stevie’s short nails.

  The next thing Stevie knew, everyone was staring at her fingernails. Stevie felt her face turn pink. She had no desire to have long fingernails. There was no way she could groom Topside or keep his tack clean if she was worrying about her nails. But still, right this minute, she wouldn’t mind having two-inch-long claws so she could—

  “Horse Wise, come to order,” Max Regnery said, interrupting Stevie’s thoughts. Horse Wise was a Pony Club that met Saturday mornings at Pine Hollow Stables to learn everything there was to know about horses. This morning Veronica and Peter Allman were going to give a Big Sister/Little Brother demonstration of the fine points of horse grooming.

  Max Regnery was the owner of Pine Hollow Stables and the head of Horse Wise. Right now, after listening to Veronica go on about her fingernails, his blue eyes were twinkling. Stevie realized that it was no accident he had assigned Veronica the subject of horse grooming. Max was expecting this to be an interesting morning.

  “In a minute Veronica and Peter are going to give a grooming demonstration,” Max said. “But first, there’s bad news.”

  The members of Horse Wise groaned.

  “We may not be able to go on the Mountain Trail Overnight,” Max said.

  The three members of The Saddle Club exchanged worried glances. This was bad news. Last year’s MTO, or Mountain Trail Overnight, had been absolutely wonderful. Their days had been filled with riding along the beautiful trails in the mountains of Virginia. At night they had slept out in the woods under the stars, and in the morning Max had prepared Max’s Morning Madness, a special breakfast feast. Everything about the MTO had been perfect, and the Saddle Club girls were expecting this year’s to be just as thrilling, perhaps even better.

  Carole noticed that two of the younger riders, Jackie and Amie, looked as if they were about to cry. This was going to be their first MTO, and they had been looking forward to it for months.

  “Adam Levine has a strep throat,” Max went on. “As you know, we were counting on Adam to help load the horses into the vans and supervise the temporary paddock. We can’t go on the MTO unless we can find an experienced rider to replace him.”

  “The rest of us could work extra hard,” Carole chimed in quickly. Lisa and Stevie quickly assented with nods. After all, they had originally formed The Saddle Club because they were totally horse crazy. They were willing to work all day and night if that’s what it took to go on the MTO.

  But Max shook his head. “That’s a help,” he said, “but we really need an experienced rider.”

  “Hmmmm,” Stevie said, running her hand under Topside’s mane and scratching him in a spot he particularly liked.

  “Get ready,” Lisa warned the others. Stevie was notorious for coming up with ideas that were bombshells.

  “This is possibly the best idea anyone ever had,” Stevie said.

  Lisa and Carole exchanged smiles, because Stevie always thought her ideas were brilliant.

  “Anyone with a suggestion can talk to me after class,” Max said. “Right now Veronica and Peter will give their demonstration.”

  “Peter,” Veronica demanded. “Where are you?”

  Peter Allman stepped forward. He wasn’t the youngest member of Horse Wise—Amie and Jackie were six, a year younger—but he was the shortest and, at the moment, the most miserable. As Veronica spoke, his ears turned bright pink. Stevie wondered why Max had assigned this poor, defenseless kid to be Veronica’s younger brother. But then, Max had his mysterious ways, and he never did anything without a plan.

  “First, we’ll tether Garnet,” Veronica said in a loud voice. She gestured at her Arabian, who stood patiently waiting for her grooming. Garnet was a beautiful horse, alert, with a small head and big dark eyes. In The Saddle Club’s opinion, Veronica didn’t appreciate Garnet nearly as much as the horse deserved.

  “Please tether Garnet, Peter,” Veronica commanded.

  Peter’s ears got even redder, but he took the lead rope and tied it to a post in the paddock fence.

  “Aren’t we forge
tting something, Peter?” Veronica said.

  “She didn’t give the poor kid a chance,” Stevie murmured.

  Peter reached into the grooming-kit bucket and pulled out another lead rope. He clipped one end to the opposite side of Garnet’s halter and then tied the other end of the rope to a post.

  “Does anyone know why we use a double tether?” Veronica asked.

  Peter opened his mouth, about to answer, but before he could get the words out, Betsy Cavanaugh said, “For extra security. So the horse can’t drift.”

  “Very good, Betsy,” Veronica said. “And now for the next step. Peter, get the dandy brush.” Peter picked the largest brush from the kit bucket.

  “I suppose you can reach Garnet’s fetlocks, Peter,” Veronica said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Peter turned even redder, because this was a reminder of how short he was. He put his left hand on Garnet’s shoulder to warn her that he was about to touch her leg. Then he leaned down and brushed Garnet’s right front hoof and leg with the dandy brush.

  “Very good, Peter,” Veronica said. “Now you can do the same with Garnet’s other three legs.”

  “Like Peter doesn’t know how many legs a horse has,” Lisa said. She couldn’t help it. Veronica was being such a pain. When Amie and Jackie heard her remark, they fell into a fit of giggles.

  Peter cleaned Garnet’s left rear leg and moved to the other side of the horse, so that now only Peter’s legs and feet could be seen.

  “I don’t mind the Big Sister/Little Brother program,” Veronica said, looking at Peter’s skinny legs on the other side of Garnet, “but do little brothers have to be so little?”

  This time Betsy Cavanaugh and Polly Giacomin broke up, as if this were the wittiest thing that anyone had ever said.

  Peter came out from behind Garnet and put the brush into the bucket.

  “Body brush and currycomb,” Veronica said.

  Peter pulled a smaller brush and a currycomb from the pail and handed the brush to Veronica.

  “Why do we use the body brush?” Veronica asked, sounding more like a teacher than a thirteen-year-old girl.

  “To get rid of scurf,” Betsy said.

  “Very good, Betsy,” Veronica said. “And, for our younger riders, what is scurf?”

  “Horse dandruff,” Betsy said.

  “And why would we want to get rid of horse dandruff?”

  Stevie couldn’t resist.

  “So the horses can get more dates,” she said. Amie and Jackie exploded with laughter.

  “Stevie,” Max warned.

  Veronica shot Stevie a nasty look.

  “I will now use the body brush,” she announced imperiously.

  It’s a first! Stevie wanted to say, but she bit her tongue.

  Veronica ran the brush down Garnet’s gleaming chestnut neck, but almost at once there was trouble. Veronica stopped, muttering to herself and fussing with her fingernails.

  “Now we see why serious riders don’t have long fingernails,” Carole whispered. The long red nails of Veronica’s left hand were snagged in Garnet’s mane.

  Veronica worked her nails loose and handed the body brush to Peter, who cleaned it with the currycomb.

  “Water brush,” Veronica snapped. Peter handed her a small, damp brush and she went to work on Garnet’s mane.

  A few minutes later she handed it back to the boy.

  “Peter, brush the tail,” she said.

  “You don’t catch Veronica diAngelo doing tails,” Carole commented.

  “Oh dear no,” Lisa said. “Too vulgar.”

  Max glanced over at the girls, deliberately placing a finger over his lips.

  Peter let the dark chestnut hair of Garnet’s tail fall through his fingers as he brushed it. Garnet nodded her head and nickered with pleasure. The horse was definitely wasted on Veronica.

  While Peter finished grooming Garnet, Stevie watched impatiently. Usually she loved Pony Club meetings, especially the mounted ones, but she couldn’t wait for today’s to be over. She was dying to tell her friends the wonderful idea she’d come up with to save the MTO. She’d decided to ask Max if her boyfriend Phil Marsten could come along. Phil was a member of another Pony Club called Cross County. Recently he had been with Pony Wise on a mock hunt, and Max knew that he was a skilled and experienced rider. It was perfect, Stevie mused. Max would get another rider; and she and Phil would have a great time.

  Suddenly Stevie’s head was filled with pictures of her and Phil on the MTO. They were riding side by side at dawn in a windswept meadow. Stevie could smell the wet earth, feel a cool mountain breeze.… She closed her eyes.

  “Stevie!” It was Max. “How do you evaluate this demonstration? Is something missing?”

  “Unh,” Stevie said, blinking. “Veronica’s fingernail?”

  A few riders tittered, but this time Max was really annoyed. “Does anybody know?” He turned to Peter. “Do you?”

  Peter’s face turned redder, but he nodded.

  “What?”

  “We didn’t pick Garnet’s hooves,” Peter said in a voice so soft that it was hard to hear. “We should have started with the hoof pick.”

  In spite of Max’s annoyance at her for missing the answer, Stevie grinned. Veronica had been barking orders so fast that she hadn’t given Peter a chance to make a single suggestion. Peter must have realized from the start that Veronica was making a mistake, but he’d been afraid to tell her. Stevie loved it—the little brother was showing up the big sister.

  “That’s right,” Max said, giving the young rider an encouraging nod. “The first step in grooming is to clean your horse’s hooves. A pebble caught between shoe and hoof can cause serious injury.” Veronica’s face turned beet-red. Not too long ago she hadn’t been able to ride Garnet for two weeks for this very reason. She’d neglected to clean her horse’s hooves properly.

  Max turned to Veronica. “Teamwork goes both ways. Peter knew you’d forgotten the hoof pick, but you didn’t give him a chance to say so. Now that we’ve got the Big Sister/Little Brother demonstrations underway, I’m going to start rating each one.”

  Lisa remembered back to the first demonstration. She had been a big sister to May, one of the younger riders. The demonstration had been a disaster because Lisa had been so bossy. She was glad Max hadn’t rated it.

  “I’m going to give this Big Sister/Little Brother team a rating of two out of a possible five, which means it needs improvement,” Max said.

  Stevie sighed with pleasure—not that she wished any harm to Peter. But on the other hand—

  “And Stevie Lake’s listening gets a rating of minus one out of a possible five.”

  Stevie felt herself flush. Max was joking, but he’d made his point.

  “Thanks a lot,” Veronica said, looking at Peter as if the whole thing were his fault.

  “Veronica, you just learned something important,” Max said. “In Big Sister/Little Brother projects both members of the team are equally important.”

  Veronica looked as if she thought this was complete nonsense. Peter, on the other hand, took a deep breath and stood up straight.

  “Horse Wise dismissed,” Max said.

  Stevie headed straight for Max.

  “I think I’ve got someone for the MTO,” she said eagerly. “What about Phil Marsten? He’s an experienced rider. He’s good at loading horses. And he knows Silverado State Park because he lives near there.”

  “Phil would be fine,” Max said, looking pleased. “I was impressed with him on the hunt. The only thing is, I have to know definitely whether he can come.”

  “Believe me, Phil will be on the MTO,” Stevie quickly reassured him. If she knew Phil, there was no way he’d turn down the chance to ride for two days in the glorious mountains of Virginia.

  Max grinned, his weathered skin crinkling. “When you say it that way, Stevie, I know it will happen.”

  Things are looking good, Stevie thought, as she started to lead Topside, the horse
she always rode, back to the stable.

  “Hey, Stevie.”

  She jumped. It was Joe Novick. With his curly brown hair and dark brown eyes, Joe was universally regarded as the cutest male member of Horse Wise. Amie and Jackie had crushes on him. Veronica and her friends were always inviting him to parties. And the three girls in The Saddle Club thought he was a really nice guy and wondered why he didn’t have a girlfriend.

  “I was thinking,” Joe began when he caught up to her. “I can help on the MTO. I know I’m not an expert, but maybe you could give me some pointers about the things I don’t know a lot about.”

  “You’re doing great,” Stevie reassured him. “You don’t need my help.”

  Joe shook his head. “Would you believe I don’t know how to pick hooves? I was standing there saying to myself that Peter Allman knows how to pick hooves and I don’t.”

  “No problem!” Stevie said.

  Joe broke into a grin. Joe was always handsome, but when he grinned, he was really handsome. “Then, you’ll show me?”

  “Better,” Stevie said. “Next weekend you’re going to have the opportunity of sharing a tent with one of the world’s great riders. You remember Phil Marsten from the mock fox hunt?”

  For some reason Joe didn’t look as pleased as she’d expected. “Yeah,” he said. “I remember him.”

  “He can teach you all kinds of things,” Stevie went on eagerly. “He’s a great hoof picker.”

  “I can hardly wait,” Joe commented drily. “Can’t you—”

  “See you later, Joe,” Stevie interrupted, suddenly catching sight of Lisa and Carole leading their horses, Comanche and Starlight, inside the stable. “Hey, wait up, you guys! I have some fabulous news.” She took off after her friends.

  When Stevie reached Carole and Lisa, Carole gestured toward the spot where Stevie and Joe had been standing. “What was that?” she asked. “Has Handsome Joe finally gotten interested in a girl?”

  Stevie laughed. “You’re way off, Carole. He wants me to help him learn to pick hooves.”

  “Oh, right.” Carole giggled.

  Then, as Stevie filled them in on her plan to invite Phil on the MTO, Carole and Lisa exchanged looks. It was pretty obvious that Joe had a crush on Stevie.