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  “He means a new pump,” Stevie explained to her friends. “The old one broke. And that’s a good idea, Mike, but not very romantic for Mom and Dad. I think whatever it is should be about them, not us. Don’t you?” Michael nodded and Stevie patted him on the head. “What about dance lessons?”

  Chad shot the suggestion down quickly. “That’s okay for Mom, but Dad …” He and his brothers made faces. “A membership at the gym?”

  “They’d never have time to use it,” Alex said.

  “You’re probably right,” Chad agreed. “Maybe season passes to the hockey games?”

  It was Stevie’s turn to make a face. “Oh, Mom would love that!” she said sarcastically.

  “A puppy?” Michael suggested excitedly.

  Chad gave him a wry smile. “Sorry, sport. Nice try, though.”

  “Tickets to the ballet in Washington?”

  “Yuck.”

  “Jet Skis?”

  “Where would they use them?”

  “Matching sets of golf clubs?”

  “We could barely afford covers for their old ones.”

  The ideas came fast and furious, but none of them seemed quite right or within their financial reach. It was something of a relief when their parents called up to say it was time for bed. They decided to sleep on it and talk about it more the next day.

  That left more time for Stevie, Carole, and Lisa to talk about their upcoming meeting.

  “So, what do you suppose Max is up to?” Lisa asked. “He was so mysterious!”

  “Jet Skis!” Stevie said. Her mind was obviously still on the conversation with her brothers.

  The girls fell into a sleepy silence in the dark of Stevie’s room. The last conscious thought that danced through Stevie’s head was a vision of her parents standing in front of the house as she presented them with a giant pair of scissors to cut the huge red ribbon off their brand-new shiny Mercedes convertible. Her brothers, of course, were nowhere to be seen.

  SATURDAY MORNING WAS bright and beautiful. The Saddle Club actually managed to arrive a little early, in spite of Stevie’s being her usual disorganized self.

  Since Max had announced at the previous meeting that that day was going to be a mounted gathering, the stable was a beehive of activity. At the moment almost all the riders were in a frenzy of last-minute checks on their horses’ grooming and tack. Max was a wonderful riding teacher, and a part of what made him really good was that he cared. He could joke with the young riders about all kinds of things—except horses. When it came to riding and horse care, he was all business. He frowned severely on riders who were late or whose horses were carelessly turned out.

  “I’ve got Starlight ready to go, Stevie,” called Carole. “Do you need any help?”

  “I think I’m ready, too. Have you checked on Lisa?”

  “She’s helping one of the younger kids.” Carole watched as Stevie finished up. “Wow, you’re actually ready early. I think you may be setting a dangerous precedent here. Personally I’d never have believed it was possible. Especially today.”

  “Why?”

  “Have you forgotten that frantic search for your favorite pair of jeans this morning?”

  “I told you everything was under control,” Stevie said loftily.

  “In other words, you were lying.”

  “There’s no need to be vulgar. I have supreme confidence in my ability to arrive on time.”

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Carole chanted.

  “I refuse to sink to your level,” Stevie said, leading Belle out of her stall. “Come on, you can walk me out.”

  Carole gave a gentle tug on Starlight’s reins, falling into step beside her friend. “This is such an honor.”

  “Oh, be quiet,” Stevie giggled, bumping her friend’s shoulder with her own.

  They were both still ribbing each other when they emerged from the stable. Veronica diAngelo was outside, brushing a nonexistent piece of lint off her tailored jacket, completely self-absorbed, as usual. A couple of steps away, Corey Takamura sat on her pony, Samurai, struggling with one of her stirrups. “Excuse me, Veronica,” she asked shyly. “I think there’s something wrong with my stirrup. Could you please help me?”

  The look Veronica shot her would have chilled an ice cube. “I can’t believe how selfish you are, Corey,” she snapped, pulling a pair of riding gloves from her pocket and putting them on. “See these gloves? They’re made of the finest kid. Do you actually expect me to drop everything, walk all the way over there, and let you put your dirty old boots all over them?”

  Stevie turned to Carole and rolled her eyes. “Did you hear her? She’d have to take two, maybe three steps tops”—she put on her best Veronica imitation—“to come all the way over there.”

  “Not to mention the fact that she wasn’t wearing her gloves when Corey asked for help,” fumed Carole. “She just put them on so she’d have a better reason not to do anything.”

  Veronica apparently hadn’t finished with poor Corey. “If you paid better attention in class in the first place, you’d know how to fix it yourself. Maybe you’re wasting Max’s time being here.”

  Even from the barn doorway the girls could see Corey crumbling with humiliation.

  “If you really can’t figure out such a simple thing like how to adjust your own stirrup,” continued Veronica, “I suggest you find Red O’Malley. That’s what stable hands are for.”

  That was the last straw for Stevie. She sauntered casually forward with Belle in tow. “Veronica, it looks like I owe you an apology.”

  Veronica greeted her with cool, suspicious eyes. “What for?”

  “I always thought you had Red tack up your horse for you because you were lazy. But if I just heard you right, it’s because you don’t know how to do it yourself,” Stevie said. “You did tell Corey, ‘If you can’t figure out how to do a simple thing, call for the stable hand,’ didn’t you?”

  Veronica raised her chin haughtily. “I use Red for the tasks for which he is employed.”

  “I don’t think doormat is written in his job description,” Stevie replied wryly.

  Veronica glared at her and stalked away, brushing past Lisa, who had just arrived leading Prancer.

  “Uh-oh! What was that about?” Lisa wanted to know.

  Stevie just grinned and went to help Corey with her stirrup.

  “Veronica was being her usual nasty self,” Carole explained. “Stevie took her down a peg or two.”

  “Oh dear,” Lisa said, swinging easily into the saddle. She felt it was never a good idea to embarrass Veronica diAngelo, whose family was the richest in town and, in fact, held the mortgage on Pine Hollow. Veronica and Stevie had been butting heads for a long time now and so far Stevie had come out on top, but with Veronica you could never be sure how or when she might choose to get her revenge. “I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.”

  Carole also mounted up. “Sooner or later you know it will.”

  “Well, I’m hoping for later rather than sooner,” said Lisa. “Hey, Stevie, Corey, let’s go. Max is ready to begin.”

  Stevie climbed on Belle and joined them, and they rode over to meet the rest of the class assembled outside the ring.

  Max gave all the riders and horses a once-over, making adjustments here and there and handing out occasional words of advice. Finally he came to Veronica’s horse, Danny, and eyed the Thoroughbred’s glossy coat. “I have to say, Danny is looking wonderfully groomed as usual, Veronica, and your tack has obviously been extremely well cleaned and cared for.”

  Veronica gave him an ingratiating, self-congratulatory smile. “Thank you.”

  “I must remember to commend Red on his good work.”

  Veronica’s face fell. Every rider there knew that she made Red do as many of her chores as she possibly could, and Max was letting her know that she was fooling no one, least of all him.

  “All right then,” he continued briskly. “I’m going to pair you all up, one senior rider w
ith one beginner rider. When I call out your name, please move over next to your partner. The idea here is for the more knowledgeable students to try their hand at coaching. I think this will be a mutual learning experience for all.”

  Stevie was delighted at the possibilities. She had so much good advice to pass on that she hardly knew where to start! She was just as happy when her partner turned out to be Corey, and Corey seemed equally pleased by the pairing. After all, Corey and two of her friends Jasmine James and May Grover so admired The Saddle Club that they had formed their own version of it, which they called the Pony Tails.

  “Lisa,” called Max. “You’ll work with Jasmine.”

  Lisa felt her heart sink and her stomach clench at the announcement. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jasmine; on the contrary, she liked her a lot. Assuming responsibility for her schooling, however, made Lisa shake inside. What if she blew it? What if she didn’t know the answer to Jasmine’s questions, or, even worse, taught her the wrong answers? Lisa knew she had a natural talent for riding, but she also knew she was relatively new to the sport.

  Almost as if she sensed her friend’s distress, Carole moved her horse up close to the new pair and smiled. “Jasmine, I hope you realize you’ve got one of the best partners in the group. Years of ballet have given Lisa really good balance, which means she’s got an excellent seat. Maybe she’ll share some of her secrets with you.”

  “Would you, Lisa?” Jasmine enthused. “That would be great! I could really use some help on that.”

  “I’d be happy to help you,” Lisa said, her confidence lifted by her friend’s praise. She smiled gratefully at Carole.

  Max was finishing up the assignments. “Okay, that should take care of it.”

  Carole looked around, confused. Max must have made some kind of mistake: She didn’t have a partner, but everyone else seemed to. Crestfallen, she realized she was the only rider left.

  Lisa must have seen the disappointment on her face. “Hey, Max, what about Carole? She didn’t get a partner.”

  “Don’t worry, Lisa, I have something special in mind for her.”

  That immediately got everyone’s attention. Especially Carole’s.

  He walked over and put a hand on Starlight’s neck, stroking the animal gently. The horse turned to snuffle him affectionately. “I want you all to think of the person you’re paired with as your Pony Partner. As our most experienced and accomplished rider, Carole is going to be everyone’s Pony Partner. That means as you work with your partners, the two of us will be available to help you with any problems or questions you may have.”

  Carole felt herself swell with pride. The fact that Max had such confidence in her skill and knowledge was a real pat on the back.

  “Let’s get to work,” he ordered.

  With that, the pairs all headed in different directions. Lisa gave Carole a grin and a big thumbs-up. Jasmine mimicked the gesture.

  Stevie rode up with Corey in tow. “Poor May,” she said, shaking her head sadly.

  Carole had been caught up in her thoughts and didn’t follow. “What’s wrong with May?”

  Stevie directed a mournful gaze toward the eight-year-old rider sitting on her shaggy yellow pony, Macaroni. “Notice who she got paired up with?”

  “Veronica,” Lisa said with sympathy. “They say if you do a bad thing in a previous life, you have to pay for it in this one.”

  “Are you saying that May was a tyrant in her last incarnation?” laughed Carole.

  Corey and Jasmine appeared a little confused by the conversation, but the other three girls had to laugh. May, whose father was a professional trainer, was one of the most talented of the young riders. She could be a bit bossy at times, but she definitely didn’t deserve Veronica for a Pony Partner.

  “Well, someone had to get Veronica,” said Stevie. “Maybe Carole, our second in command, can keep a special eye on her.”

  “I think I might just do that,” said Carole. “Good luck, you two.” They all parted company to begin their lessons.

  The rest of the morning passed in a flurry of activity. Lisa set up a series of evenly spaced ground poles, demonstrating to Jasmine the technique of riding over them without using stirrups. The exercise was designed to enhance balance and encourage an independent seat in the rider. “Remember, Jasmine, stirrups are just an aid,” she tutored. “Useful, absolutely, but a really good rider should be so balanced in the saddle that she can jump a fence without using them.”

  Carole strode up to the fence and watched Jasmine work. “How’s she doing?”

  Lisa made a so-so motion with her hand, without taking her eyes off her charge. “Try to keep your calves even with the saddle girth,” she shouted to Jasmine.

  “This work will really pay off when she starts working over raised cavalletti,” Carole said knowingly. “It was a good choice of exercise for her, Lisa.”

  As Carole moved off to help someone else, Lisa smiled with pleasure, then turned her attention back to Jasmine.

  IN ONE OF the pastures, Stevie was using her knowledge of dressage to help Corey work on her leg cues. The two girls had just finished doing serpentines in tandem at the trot. Having drawn to a halt, Stevie was trying to explain the next part of the exercise to her Pony Partner. “It’s really easy for a rider to become dependent on the reins for guiding her horse, but in dressage it’s actually the legs that control most of the horse’s movements.” She was gratified to see how focused Corey was on every word she was saying. “When used correctly to apply pressure in different spots, along with little shifts of your body weight, you can tell your horse exactly what you want him to do, while using your reins hardly at all. Now, are you ready to give it a try?”

  “I don’t know,” Corey said hesitantly. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Exactly what we’ve been doing, but this time I want you to drop your reins and just use your legs to steer Samurai around the turns.”

  The young rider looked doubtful and a little scared. “What if he spooks and bolts?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be right beside you the whole time,” Stevie reassured her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Corey smiled with more confidence, placed her reins carefully on her pony’s neck, and together they broke into a trot.

  CAROLE FOUND HERSELF almost run off her feet helping the other riders. She couldn’t count on both hands the number of times she had had to call out to the various riders, “Head up and heels down!” She’d spent time explaining why stirrups that were the right length for riding were too long for jumping, how to judge the proper spacing for trotting poles, and that the proper height for cavalletti depended on the exercise they were being used for. At the end of the hour she felt both exhilarated and exhausted.

  The only dark cloud in her day had come while she watched May schooling herself. Veronica, who should have been helping the girl, spent most of the time under a shade tree, reapplying her nail polish. Carole made it a point to give May a few bits of advice and encouragement, but it was frustrating to see the girl being ignored by the person who was supposed to be teaching her. She was tempted to tell Veronica off, but she didn’t really want to get in an argument. Besides, May was Veronica’s responsibility, not hers. Fortunately May was a talented rider, and Mac was a steady, hardworking pony. All in all they seemed to be managing fairly well by themselves.

  When Max finally called a halt to the lesson, there was a general air of satisfaction and camaraderie about the group.

  “Okay, I want you all to see to your horses, then meet me in the office,” he told them. “There’s something important I have to tell you, so don’t chitchat the time away.”

  ONLY WHEN ALL the horses and ponies had been cooled down and put away and the last of the tack had been cleaned and hung in the tack room did the entire group assemble in Max’s office. There was a good feeling in the air, a sense of satisfaction for work well done.

  Max cleared his throat and the room fell silent. �
�I want you to know that I was very pleased with everyone today. I was especially happy to see all the pairs working so well together.”

  Many Pony Partners exchanged smiles.

  “It was important for me to see just how well you worked together, because over the next two weeks you are going to spend a lot more time with each other. As some of you may already know, there is an under-twelve Pony Club rally coming up in four weeks. As always, I want my riders to be as well prepared as possible.”

  Carole, Stevie, and Lisa shared looks. They had heard this speech before. Max was known far and wide as a stickler for preparation. Both his riders and other professionals in the industry admired him for this discipline, which he imposed on himself as well as his students.

  “Some of you have competed before; for others this will be your first time out. In either case”—he eyed the younger riders sternly—“you have a lot to learn before the meet. There’s a lot more that goes into getting ready for a competition than simply riding skills. Carole, can you tell them what I’m talking about?”

  Although startled by the question, Carole knew exactly the kinds of things he was referring to. “There’s the care and preparation that goes into horse and rider to make sure they’re both in peak condition physically and mentally on the day of the competition. The horses will need special diets to compensate for the extra time they’ll have to put in. Of course, the more you ride, the more your tack will need to be carefully maintained, not to mention an extra-special cleaning the day before the show.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “You’ll need to make detailed lists of necessary items, including spare parts in case of emergencies, grooming kits, and, of course, food for your horses.”

  “Very good, Carole. I don’t think I could have said it better myself.”

  Carole flushed with pride.

  “Each of you deserves my individual attention, but there’s only so much of me to go around, so I’m assigning each of you your own personal coaches. For the next two weeks the Pony Partner you worked with today will be your guide and adviser. At the end of that time you under-twelves will compete in our very own Horse Wise Show Skills Rally.