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  Lisa nodded. “You’re right, of course. He’s bound to be nervous and make mistakes. If things go badly, we should really make an effort to support him.”

  “Agreed,” Stevie said. “Who’s judging the class, anyway?”

  Carole opened her show schedule. “Mr. Baker.”

  All the girls knew and liked Mr. Baker, who was Phil’s riding instructor and the owner of Cross County Stables.

  Lisa pointed to the entrance to the ring. “Shhh, they’re starting.”

  Stevie watched the class with excited anticipation. At first everything went fine. Mr. Baker asked for a walk and then an extended walk. Next came a reversal of directions and a move into the trot.

  Lisa grabbed Stevie’s arm excitedly. “He turned inside on the reversal exactly like we taught him.”

  Stevie said nothing. She had noticed that Barq’s collected trot was faster than the horse’s in front of him, which meant he was quickly closing the distance between them. She waited to see what Zach would do about it.

  Zach seemed oblivious to the situation. Instead of passing the slower animal on the inside, as was acceptable, he allowed Barq to get closer and closer to the other horse’s rump.

  “Oh no,” Lisa whispered. “Zach’s riding up on the back of that other horse.”

  “Didn’t you warn him about that?” Stevie whispered back.

  “I most certainly did,” Lisa defended herself. “He must have forgotten.”

  “If he gets any closer he could get kicked,” Carole said.

  Mr. Baker called for a reversal and a canter. “Whew!” Stevie said with relief. “That should help.”

  Zach made the change in direction and gait fine, and as soon as Barq began to canter, a big grin plastered itself across his face.

  “Look at him,” Stevie laughed. “You sure can’t say he doesn’t enjoy riding.”

  Carole shook her head. “Too bad he’s on the wrong lead.”

  “What? Oh no!” Stevie wailed when she saw it was true. “Didn’t he listen to you at all?” she demanded of Lisa.

  “Me?” Lisa said, looking indignant. “Lead changes were your department, not mine.”

  Stevie slapped her forehead. “That’s right. Didn’t he listen to me at all?”

  “All right, you guys, take it easy,” Carole told them. “It’s his first class and his first show. I bet he does better as he goes along.”

  Stevie sure hoped so. “Look, Zach has Barq on the right lead now,” she said with relief. “I guess he did listen to me after all.”

  “He looks nice at the canter,” Carole admitted. “Very smooth.”

  After the riders circled a couple of times around the ring, Mr. Baker called for a walk. All the riders dutifully pulled their mounts down from the canter—all except Zach, who kept right on going around the ring.

  “What is he doing?” Lisa asked, shocked. “Isn’t he paying attention?”

  “Maybe he didn’t hear the call,” Stevie suggested anxiously.

  “You’d think he’d notice everybody else is walking,” Carole muttered.

  Zach finally slowed Barq to a walk. The incident hadn’t lasted long but Stevie feared the damage had been done.

  The class ended shortly after that. Mr. Baker called the riders to order and began handing out the ribbons. Stevie watched with a sinking heart as prize after prize was given and none of them went to Zach. Finally his name was called to accept the sixth ribbon. He had placed last in the class.

  Stevie was sure Zach would be devastated. “Come on. We’d better go talk to him.”

  “Let’s all try to think of something positive to say,” Lisa suggested.

  The Saddle Club caught up with Zach as he headed back to the stable. He was frowning and his face was flushed. It was obvious he was angry.

  “Sorry, Zach,” Stevie said gently. “That didn’t go exactly according to plan.”

  Zach spun to face them. “I can’t believe he gave me last place!” he fumed. “Didn’t that guy see how good I was at cantering? I was the best one in the ring. He must be totally blind!”

  “You did keep going after he called for a walk,” Carole reminded him gently.

  “I know. I wanted to make sure he saw how good Barq and I were.”

  Stevie could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Zach, it’s a terrible breach of etiquette to ignore the judge’s instructions.”

  “Even if you think you have a good reason to,” Lisa added.

  “I only wanted to show him that we were the best,” Zach grumbled. “That’s no reason to give me last place. That old dude obviously doesn’t like me.”

  Carole frowned. “Judging isn’t personal, Zach, and I’ve never heard anyone accuse Mr. Baker of being biased before.”

  “There’s always a first time,” he said grimly. “Lots of those other kids made mistakes. It’s not like I was the only one.”

  Stevie was concerned by his attitude. Instead of learning a lesson from the experience, Zach was letting it make him bitter. Apparently he thought losing was anybody’s fault but his own. A big mistake. She considered pointing this out but then decided not to; he still had more classes to compete in and she wanted to help him focus on them in a positive manner. “Yes, there were other kids messing up,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “Maybe Mr. Baker didn’t happen to see them when they did it. He hasn’t got eyes in back of his head.”

  Zach seemed to brighten at that. “Yeah. You’re right, Stevie, I didn’t think of that. You know what they say: Timing in life is everything. I was unlucky, that’s all. You guys wait till the next class. I’m going for gold!”

  “Blue,” Lisa said.

  “Huh?”

  “The first-place ribbon is blue,” she told him.

  Zach smiled. “Whatever. This time it’s got my name on it for sure!”

  Later in the morning, Stevie, Lisa, Phil, and Zach cheered Carole on from the sidelines as she competed in the jumping class. Watching her friend soar gracefully over the barriers made Stevie itch to get back in the saddle. Not being able to ride was killing her, and, worse, she still had another week to go.

  “That looks really fun,” Zach said enthusiastically. “I’ve got to get in on that.”

  “You can,” Lisa assured him. “But you’ve got to conquer the basics first.”

  Zach made a face. “I hate all this technical stuff. Seems like a waste of time to me.”

  “You have to walk before you can run,” Stevie reminded him.

  Zach grinned. “If you can already run, why bother to walk at all?”

  Stevie shook her head and focused on the ring. Carole had done an excellent job, not only going clean but doing it with impeccable style. At the end of the class she was the only one to have completed the course with no faults, which meant that she wouldn’t even have to compete in a jump-off. She had won first place hands down.

  The group hooted and hollered as Carole graciously accepted her ribbon, then rushed to congratulate her.

  “Nice riding, Carole,” Phil told her. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  “That’s for sure!” Stevie told him with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Hey, I’ve got a dressage class in a few minutes. What about my morale?” he mockingly complained. “You’re supposed to be rooting for me!”

  Stevie punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Don’t be silly, you do enough of that for both of us.”

  “We’d better get going, Phil,” said Lisa, who was riding in the same class. “The event is scheduled to start soon.”

  As the two of them headed off to get their horses, Stevie returned to her place at the rail, but this time with Carole and Zach beside her.

  “So, who are you going to cheer for?” Zach asked.

  Stevie was torn. “My boyfriend and one of my very best friends in the world going head to head … Hmmm … I think I’ll hope for the best for both of them and be grateful I’m not in Max’s shoes today.”

  “If it’s
close, I bet Max will favor Lisa,” Zach said. “Must be nice having your own instructor be the judge.”

  “Zach!” Carole cried indignantly. “Max would never be biased toward any rider.”

  Zach had the good grace to look sheepish. “Sorry, C. You’re right. Max is a righteous dude.”

  They all settled down to watch the competition. Zach stayed long enough to watch both Phil and Lisa compete, but Stevie noticed he looked bored and restless. After a while he wandered away, telling the two girls he had to get ready for his next class.

  As it turned out, Phil took the blue ribbon and Lisa snagged a close second place. Stevie and Carole hurried over to them.

  “First place, huh?” Stevie said, admiring Phil’s ribbon. “I’ll probably be hearing about this for the next few weeks. Of course it goes without saying that if I had been in the class, this ribbon would be mine.”

  Phil laughed. “If it goes without saying then why are you saying it?”

  “Just making sure we all know where we stand,” Stevie said loftily. She turned to Lisa, who was gazing happily at her red second-place ribbon. “Good job, Lisa.”

  Lisa beamed. “Thanks, Stevie. Hey, where’s Zach?”

  “He’s got another class in a few minutes,” Carole told her. “Let’s go watch. Maybe he’s got himself together now.”

  Stevie settled into her place next to Phil, keeping her fingers crossed that things would go better for Zach this time.

  This was a simple pleasure class. The idea was when the bell sounded once, the riders were to change to the next fastest gait; when the bell rang twice, back to the next slower one.

  As usual they all started at a walk. Right from the beginning things went wrong. Zach’s riding technique was fine—in fact, Stevie thought it was better than ever—but he kept getting confused about which gait he should be in. He was clearly having trouble remembering what the bells meant, and unfortunately it was causing chaos among the other riders.

  Stevie groaned as Zach missed yet another cue. “This is terrible,” she said, clutching Phil’s arm tightly. “I can hardly stand to watch.”

  “I thought you said this guy was a phenomenal rider,” Phil said doubtfully.

  “He is,” Lisa said. “At least he seems to be when he’s not competing.”

  “If he doesn’t start concentrating, Mrs. Schoef is going to dismiss him,” Carole noted.

  A few more minutes passed with Zach showing no improvement, and Carole’s prediction came true. The judge disqualified him and asked him to leave the ring.

  Stevie could tell even from where she was watching that Zach was hugely upset. At first he pulled Barq to a stop and stared at the judge as if he couldn’t believe his ears. Then, instead of walking his horse quietly out of the ring, he kicked Barq into a gallop and raced angrily to exit at the other side of the arena. He pulled up just short of the gate and flung himself out of the saddle, using the same technique he had shown off at the gymkhana.

  Phil looked impressed. “Maybe this guy can ride after all.”

  Stevie frowned. “Rider or not, there’s no excuse for that kind of behavior. His tantrum is a bad reflection on all the Horse Wise riders!” Especially The Saddle Club, she added in her mind, because everyone knows we’ve been coaching him.

  Angrily she and the others went to find Zach.

  To everyone’s amazement and dismay, all they found was Barq, abandoned and cropping grass near the out gate, with his reins trailing on the ground. Zach was nowhere to be seen.

  “I can’t believe Zach would leave Barq here without even tying him up,” Stevie said with disappointment.

  Lisa approached the horse. “That was totally outrageous. Barq could easily have hurt himself if he’d stepped on these loose reins.” She gathered up the dangling straps.

  “He’s lucky his horse didn’t run away,” Carole said. “Most animals would have, especially with all this activity going on around them.”

  Stevie was appalled. Had Zach learned nothing about his responsibilities as a rider over the last few weeks? He had put Barq in a dangerous situation and only thought of himself. “Come on. First things first, let’s put poor Barq away. Then later on I suggest we have a serious talk with one Zachary Simpson.”

  THE SADDLE CLUB dutifully removed Barq’s tack and made sure he had food and water before leaving him in his stall.

  Carole sighed. “I guess it’s a safe bet Zach won’t be wanting to ride anymore today.”

  “I still can’t believe he would leave Barq alone like that,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “You’d think he didn’t care about him at all.”

  Carole was still struggling to understand it herself. “Why would he do something so irresponsible?”

  Stevie laughed harshly. “He’s a boy, that’s why. My brothers are always doing dumb stuff they know they’re not supposed to do, and they always have the same excuse: ‘I forgot.’ ”

  An idea started to form in Carole’s mind but she couldn’t quite lock on to it.

  “Hey, Carole, don’t you have another class soon?” Lisa reminded her.

  Carole checked her watch. “Yikes! The hunter seat. I’ve got to go!”

  Stevie frowned. “I was going to try to find Zach, but I’d definitely rather watch you.”

  “What about me?” Lisa demanded. “I’m competing in the serpentine right before lunch. Don’t I count?”

  “You know I wouldn’t miss it,” Stevie laughed. Then she grew more serious. “After all the work we put into that, someone might as well benefit.”

  Carole led the way to Starlight’s stall to make a final check of her equipment. When she was satisfied, she pulled herself into the saddle and touched the horseshoe for luck. She was about to ride over to the ring when a thought occurred to her. “Stevie, don’t go looking for Zach,” she advised. “He’s probably not feeling too good about himself right now. We might only make things worse if we talk to him before he calms down.”

  Stevie looked unconvinced. “Somebody needs to tell him he can’t act like that in a show.”

  “Maybe that should come from Max,” Lisa suggested. “He is the instructor. Besides, Carole and I need a cheerleader for our classes and we’ve elected you.”

  “All right,” Stevie agreed. “Anyway, this is too nice a day to let Zach’s temper tantrum ruin it.”

  Carole made her way to the in gate, joining a small knot of waiting riders.

  The hunter seat class consisted of a set of jumps in a figure eight. The obstacles were smaller than the ones Carole had competed over earlier, but this time she was going to have to jump them without the use of her stirrups. Points would be awarded to whoever best maintained the correct style.

  Carole pushed the problems with Zach out of her mind and concentrated on the work at hand.

  The first part of the course came easy, but halfway through her ride Starlight gave one of the rails a hard knock. Carole’s heart skipped a beat as she waited for it to fall, but she heard nothing and the crowd didn’t react, so she figured she’d gotten lucky. Unfortunately, the jolt had rocked her slightly out of position, and although she was quick to correct it, she knew she had probably lost a few points.

  A few more jumps and her turn was complete. Overall Carole felt she had done pretty well, and when she heard Lisa and Stevie whooping at her from the sidelines, she was sure of it. Her spirits soared.

  At the end of the class, Carole was pleased to accept her red ribbon for second place. She quickly tied up Starlight and rushed to join Stevie and Phil in time to catch Lisa in the serpentine class.

  “How do you think she’ll do?” Phil asked.

  “Hard to say,” Carole answered. “You know how tricky flying lead changes can be.”

  Phil grunted his acknowledgment.

  “I worked with her and Zach on them,” Stevie told them. “Lisa thought she needed the work, but she looked really good in practice.”

  “It doesn’t matter if she wins,” said Phil, “as long as she does
her best.”

  Stevie looked at him with affection. That sort of attitude was exactly why she liked him so much.

  “Is Zach going to ride in this event like he planned?” Phil asked.

  “Not likely.” Stevie snorted. “What a waste of my time that turned out to be.”

  Carole was saddened to hear Stevie say that. She was about to say something when Lisa’s name was called and all thoughts of Zach were pushed from her mind.

  Lisa did very well in the class. She wasn’t the fastest through the course, but she managed to keep her lead changes consistent and correct. In the end she was rewarded with a third-place ribbon. The only downside was that snotty Veronica diAngelo had taken first.

  The gang hooted and hollered their approval as they watched Lisa accept her prize, then went to meet her.

  “Good job, Lisa!” cried Stevie.

  “Most excellent,” Carole said, giving her a hug.

  The girl beamed happily. “Thanks, guys, but I’m sure glad that’s over with!”

  “Of course you are,” crowed Veronica, who was passing by. “After all, no one wants to revel in their failures.” She caressed the blue ribbon on Danny’s bridle meaningfully.

  “Look Veronica—” started Carole, but she was interrupted by a loud gong. Mrs. Reg was calling everyone to the main house for a barbecue. Carole bit her tongue. “Come on, guys, that’s lunch.”

  Veronica waved a hand at their group as though shooing them away. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from the trough,” she sneered; and with an obnoxious laugh and a flip of her long, glossy black hair, she moved off into the crowd of riders and horses.

  Stevie glared at her. “I suppose that’s her way of saying she won’t be staying for lunch.”

  “I, for one, hope it is,” Phil said, putting a comforting hand on Stevie’s shoulder. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but she sure puts me off my feed.”

  “Don’t you think we should go and see if we can help out?” Lisa suggested.

  “Good idea,” Stevie agreed. “We’ve got a lot of hungry riders to feed around here.”

  “I’ll pitch in, too,” Phil offered.

  “Negative,” Stevie told him firmly. “You’re our guest today. Go hang out with your friends until we’re ready to serve, then we’ll join you.”