Horse Play Read online

  The whole thing was absolutely astonishing and beautiful. Although the demonstration lasted about ten minutes, it seemed to be over in a flash.

  When the applause had died down and the audience stood up to leave, Stevie walked back to the stable area, led by her friends, almost in a trance. “Thirty-two separate exercises! Can you believe it? She’s wonderful!”

  “Yeah, but I never made a horse talk!” Dorothy teased.

  “Oh, that was just a trick!” Stevie said, embarrassed that Dorothy had overheard her.

  “But it was a clever one,” Dorothy said, overtaking the girls from the rear. “And, besides, Max tells me you’re showing a lot of promise in dressage, and you must know that a lot of that is just tricks, too.”

  “Sure, but dressage ‘tricks,’ as you call them, are hard tricks,” Stevie said. “With Comanche, when you want him to talk, all you’ve got to do is to tickle him under his chin!”

  “And then think of what you want him to say,” Dorothy reminded her. “It was very entertaining—and the only time I’ve ever known a riding demonstration to be funny.”

  Stevie smiled. She was pleased by Dorothy’s attention, and, for once, she didn’t know what to say.

  “This has been great!” Carole said, coming to Stevie’s aid. “It was neat of you to come visit us. I wish we could see you ride some more.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t stay, Carole. I’d love to spend more time with you girls. But I’ve got to get back to New York now. The American Horse Show is coming up soon and I’ve got work to do before that. See, my old teacher, Max, has high expectations of me, so I’ve got to be in top form.”

  “I’m sure you’ll win all kinds of ribbons in the show,” Carole said. “You always do, don’t you?”

  “I’ve been lucky,” Dorothy said, smiling. “Hard to tell how long my kind of luck runs. In the meantime, you girls keep working. You’ve got a wonderful start—and there’s no better teacher, anywhere, you know?”

  “We know,” Lisa said. “We just don’t want him to know.”

  “Know what?” Max asked, returning from the ring where he’d been greeting the stable’s guests.

  “Oh, nothing, Max,” Dorothy said airily. “It’s just one of your old students comparing notes with your new ones.”

  The four students, old and new, exchanged smiles.

  Max knew better than to ask again. “Dorothy, I think you ought to untack your horse now,” he said.

  “Chores,” Dorothy said. “Even after all these years, he’s still bossing me around!”

  The girls laughed. “See, the silly season,” Stevie whispered.

  “That’s just Max,” Carole said aloud.

  “I wouldn’t want him to change,” Dorothy said.

  “Not much,” Stevie said, wiggling her eyebrows.

  Max and Dorothy turned to the task of untacking her horse and putting him back in the horse trailer.

  The girls still had some work to do with their own horses. They’d planned a Saddle Club stop at TD’s before going to Carole’s house for their sleepover. They scurriec around the stalls, untacking and grooming their horses, then rushed to get their knapsacks in the locker area. They were all anxious to get going.

  There was an awful lot to talk about!

  About the Author

  Bonnie Bryant is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including the Saddle Club series, the Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tales series.