Stable Manners Read online

  Everybody seemed proud of what Max was saying, but there were three girls in the group who thought they understood it better than anybody else. It had been their love of horses more than anything that had made them confess their mistake. They had never regretted their honesty. Now they were downright proud of it.

  There wasn’t time to think about that much, though, because the questions continued at a rapid pace. Some of the riders made mistakes, of course. Not everybody got everything. Stevie was stumped by a two-pointer that asked what the usual angle was between the wall of a normal foot and the ground. She forgot that it was fifty degrees. Lisa was pleased that she remembered, because the question came to her when Stevie missed it and she got it right.

  Right after Lisa, Veronica was stumped by a two-pointer.

  “To which of the three straps on a saddle should the two buckles of a girth be fastened?”

  Veronica had no idea at all and her blank look said everything. In a way, it wasn’t surprising, since she never did her own girth if she could talk somebody else into doing it, but the fact was it was a pretty basic question and she should have known. In addition to that, it was right on the study sheets.

  May took the question and answered it correctly. “The two front or the first and third,” she said.

  “Good,” Max praised her.

  Carole was puzzled. Veronica’s mistakes didn’t make much sense. Veronica was a pretty good rider and should have picked up some information along the way, although people did have a tendency to forget information they didn’t use. But recently, she’d seen Veronica with study sheets. Also Veronica had seemed confident of her ability to do well in the Know-Down and that could only mean she’d been working on it. Certainly, the girl had known she couldn’t get a stable hand to do this for her! There was something very odd going on with Veronica and Carole didn’t know what it was.

  It seemed that Veronica didn’t know either, but what she did to remedy the situation was to start asking for one-point questions.

  “What should you do as you approach a horse?”

  Veronica thought for a moment. “Speak to him?”

  “Yes,” Max said.

  Her question the next time around was even easier. “How many beats are there in a canter?”

  “Three,” she answered confidently.

  “Very good!” Max said. He was being a little sarcastic, which was unlike him, but it was clear now to more than just Carole that Veronica was somehow totally unprepared for this Know-Down and nobody knew why that was. If she was so unprepared, why had she come at all?

  The answer to that question came to Carole on the next round. The person before Veronica, Adam Levine, chose a three-point question.

  “Name the parts of the mouth and head affected by a bit and the other parts of the bridle.”

  Adam grimaced. Then he took a deep breath. He obviously didn’t know the answer off the top of his head, but he was going to try.

  “The tongue, the roof of the mouth, and the nose?”

  “Good start, but not enough. Who’s up next? Veronica?”

  Veronica stood up. “The lips and corners of the mouth, the bars of the mouth, the tongue, the roof of the mouth, the poll, the chin-groove, and the nose,” she said, and she sat down.

  “Very good,” Max said. He seemed a little surprised, but pleased.

  Carole was surprised, too. There was something extremely familiar about the words she’d just heard recited flawlessly by Veronica and Carole puzzled for a minute to recall just why they were so familiar. Then it came to her. What was familiar about them was that that was one of the questions she and her friends had been studying from the question-and-answer sheet. It was also by far the toughest question Veronica had gotten right. There had to be a reason.

  Then a possible explanation came to Carole. Veronica had been studying hard. She’d been studying very hard, but she hadn’t been using the study sheets; she’d only been using the question-answer pages The Saddle Club had gotten from Colonel Hanson’s desk. The reason Veronica had seemed so confident before the Know-Down had begun was that she knew the answers to everything she’d studied, but those weren’t the questions Max was mostly asking.

  Carole wanted to think about this more, but she didn’t have time right then. The Barq team was up again and it was Cam’s turn.

  “Four points,” he said. Carole took in a little gasp of air. Four points meant it would be a very hard question. Could he do it?

  Max flipped pages. “All right,” he said. “In a dressage arena, name the letters, clockwise, starting at C.”

  Carole groaned inwardly. There was no logical pattern that she’d ever been able to determine to the points on the side of a dressage arena, identified by letter. Cam would never get this, she was sure, and the puzzled look on his face told her she was right.

  Then he spoke. “Large or small?” he asked.

  “Small. I’ll give you two extra points if you can also do large.”

  Cam did. “C, M, B, F, A, K, E, and H make up the small arena. The large is C, M, R, B, P, F, A, K, V, E, S, and H. In the small arena, the letters down the center are G, X, and D. In the large, they are G, I, X, L, and D.”

  “And I guess I have to give you another two points for doing the center letters. Nice job!”

  Everybody there was impressed and clapped for Cam. Carole was so proud of him, she could barely contain herself. She looked around the room at all her riding friends, smiling happily for her. That included almost everybody there. The one exception—the one person who wasn’t smiling—was Veronica. It was almost her turn again.

  “Veronica?” Max asked.

  “One point,” she grunted.

  “What do we call a horse who has a brown coat with black mane and tail?”

  “Bay,” she shot back.

  “Very good! And on that note, we’ll have a brief break. Take five. Juice is on the table behind you.”

  Carole stood up and turned around to get some juice. When she did so, she found herself face-to-face with Veronica diAngelo, who was glaring straight at her.

  “You did that on purpose!” Veronica snarled. “You left those papers there and then you didn’t tell me when you got caught cheating, just so you could make me look bad!”

  “I—what?” Carole said.

  “Well, I’m tired of your game and I won’t play it anymore!”

  Veronica spun on her heel, marched over to Max, said something vague about a stomachache, and went home.

  “What was that all about?” Stevie asked Carole.

  “I’m not sure, but I’m working on it and I think I like it,” Carole said.

  “Anything that gets Veronica out of the room I’m in is good news,” said Stevie.

  “Especially if she’s angry at us,” added Lisa.

  “What are you three talking about?” Cam asked, handing Carole a paper cup filled with apple juice.

  “Saddle Club business,” Carole said vaguely. “We’ll fill you in later, once I’m sure I understand it.” Her mind was racing so fast that she didn’t notice how quickly the time passed.

  “Horse Wise, come to order!”

  The Know-Down began again.

  “OKAY, CAROLE, WHAT was that all about?” Stevie demanded as the five successful Know-Down players tried to figure out how they would celebrate their successes at the end of the Horse Wise meeting. May Grover was with them, so that made six. They’d all done well and were feeling almost giddy. The first success to be celebrated had to be overwhelming Veronica. If only they knew how they’d done it. Carole thought she had the answer.

  “It was when the pony got loose,” Carole said. “It had to be then. Remember?”

  The girls tried to recall what had happened that day.

  “The three of us were sitting in the empty stall next to Garnet. We didn’t really know it, but Veronica was with Garnet and she must have been listening to us quiz one another.”

  “Sure, but how did she know what was going o
n?”

  “She must have realized from what we were saying that we weren’t using the same study sheets we’d all been given. After all, she’d been studying from the sheets. She knew the format was different. She must have figured out that we had the real thing. “She knew even before we did.”

  Lisa nodded. It was becoming clear to her. “Sure!” she said. “If her father were one of the volunteers, you can bet she would have talked him into giving her a set of the actual questions. She would, naturally, think you’d do the same thing!”

  Carole looked alarmed.

  “Don’t worry,” Stevie reassured her. “Nobody else would think something like that. But how did Veronica get the sheets?”

  Carole went on. She’d figured this part out. “There we were, quizzing one another, when Nickel got loose. We all jumped up and ran after him. It probably took us about a half an hour, maybe more. I was in such a hurry to get Nickel that I forgot to put the question-and-answer sheets in my pocket. Obviously Miss Snoop spotted them, took them to Mrs. Reg’s office, used the copying machine, and put them back. When I went back to find them, I noticed that they were in a different corner of the stall, but I didn’t think anything of it. I also noticed that the stall door was open. If I’d stopped to think about it, I would have known she’d been there because she’s the only one around who always leaves doors open and gates unlatched. Anyway, that’s how the deed was done.”

  “And Veronica’s goose was cooked.” Stevie sighed contentedly. “It was wonderful!”

  “What are you three talking about?” Cam asked.

  “The fall of Miss Veronica diAngelo,” Stevie said.

  Carole wouldn’t have put it so poetically, but she had to agree. “I’ll explain it to you later,” she told Cam. “For now, trust me, it’s good news. So, in the meantime, tell me how it is that you know all the letters around a dressage arena.”

  “I’d be glad to explain it in detail,” Cam teased. “But I’d rather have you show me the trails at Pine Hollow. Didn’t you say something about taking a ride?”

  Carole smiled. She was afraid he’d forgotten. “I did,” Carole said. “And I’ve also got Max’s permission for you to take Comanche. The tack room’s this way.”

  She offered him her hand. He took it and they walked off.

  Phil cleared his throat. “Um, speaking of guided tours,” he said to Stevie. “Weren’t you going to show me the new grain shed?”

  “New grain shed?” May asked. “There isn’t a new grain shed.”

  “Well, then, the old grain shed,” he said.

  “This way,” Stevie told him, and the two of them went off together.

  “What does he want to see an old grain shed for?” May asked Lisa.

  Lisa laughed. She put her arm around May’s shoulders. “I don’t think he much cares about the grain shed at all,” she explained. “He just wants to be with Stevie for a while.”

  “Oh. Like alone?”

  “Right, like alone,” Lisa said.

  “Got it. Don’t you mind, though?”

  “Mind?” Lisa asked.

  “That your friends have got boyfriends that they’re going to be alone with?” May did have a way of cutting right to the core of something.

  Lisa thought about it for a few seconds. “Not really,” she answered truthfully. “Sometime I’ll have a boyfriend, too. But right now, I’ve got a friend and I have to ask her a favor.”

  “Go ahead,” May said. “You can leave me.” She seemed a little disappointed that Lisa was apparently going to leave her alone.

  “No, you’re the friend,” said Lisa.

  “Me? What’s the favor?”

  “I need help with something. I didn’t learn anywhere near what I should have about harnesses and carts for our project. You did all the work. I got distracted by the Know-Down, which was important, but not so important that it was okay to let you down.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, you. Anyway, will you show me how to hitch up a pony to a cart?”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you, my friend, my smart, hard-working, pony-hitching friend.”

  “Well, sure,” May said. “Now?”

  “When better?”

  “Okay.” May shrugged and led the way to where the harness was stored.

  The girls took the harness off its hooks and laid it out on the floor. May began methodically naming all the parts and explaining them as she went. Lisa listened very carefully. This time she was actually learning it.

  At the point when May got to the parts of the harness that actually hitched the pony to the cart, the door to the storeroom opened and Max walked in.

  “What are you two up to?” he asked.

  “It’s the Big Sis/Little Sis project, Max, don’t you remember?” May asked him.

  “Well, more like a Little Sis/Big Sis project,” Lisa said, and then Max understood. He smiled and left them alone.

  May finished her explanation and the two girls put the harness back up on its hooks. Lisa knew that she would need to spend a little more time studying before she could remember all the names of all the parts of the harness, but she also knew she’d learned the basics from May and could take it from there by herself. And she would, too.

  The two of them left the room. May’s mother was picking her up in a few minutes and she had to get her bag from the locker area first. She turned to go left to the locker area. Lisa turned right.

  “Where are you going?” May asked.

  “To check on the mare,” Lisa said. “Want to say hello?”

  “Sure,” May agreed.

  Together, the two of them walked over to the stall. Lisa expected to hear more of the agitated stomping of the excited mare, but there was only quiet rustling. The mare stood calmly. Lisa was glad she was more relaxed now.

  As they neared the stall, Lisa noticed another noise, sort of a snorting and thumping, but it wasn’t coming from the mare. It was coming from a brand-new foal! There, standing next to her mother, was a little filly with a shiny brown coat and a little brush for a tail.

  “Oh!” May said, her voice filled with wonder. Lisa thought that was just the right reaction and couldn’t have said it better herself. The two of them gazed at the perfect baby horse.

  In time they were joined by a quiet, admiring circle of young riders.

  Max came and stood with them, too. “There’s something very special about a newborn foal, and no matter how many times I’ve seen it, it’s always special.”

  “It’s a new start,” Lisa agreed. “A whole new life, with no past, a whole new promise.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “That’s just what it is. A promise. And I think that’s what this filly should be named, too. Welcome to the world, Promise,” he said.

  When the other riders had gone, picked up by their parents or walking home on their own, Lisa remained by the foal and the mare, watching with wonder. She was struck by the liveliness of the foal and the calmness of the mare and that reminded her of the agitated state of the mare over the last few weeks. That, in turn, reminded her of her certainty that the foal was going to arrive two weeks earlier when she’d first noticed the mare’s edginess. Then the mare had been edgy this morning, too, and this morning it apparently had meant that the mare was about to foal.

  So what was the difference? Lisa didn’t know the answer and doubted she was going to learn it watching the baby playing now. She did remember that Judy had seemed certain two weeks ago that the foal wasn’t going to arrive for about two weeks and Judy had been right. Maybe the only thing Lisa could learn about this was that sometimes other people knew better than she did and she’d be smart to pay attention. Maybe that wasn’t a bad lesson.

  IT HAD BEEN a perfect day as far as the Saddle Club girls were concerned. The whole day was spent at Pine Hollow working with, riding, and learning about horses. By the time dusk came and Phil and Cam had gone home, Lisa, Stevie, and Carole were all nicely tired and content.

  “I thi
nk it’s time for a Saddle Club meeting,” Carole said.

  “TD’s?” Stevie asked. They hadn’t been to their favorite ice cream parlor in a while.

  “No, I don’t want to leave here, yet,” said Lisa. “Let’s go sit on the hillside overlooking the paddocks.”

  It sounded to the girls like the perfect way to end the perfect day.

  The three of them sat down together.

  “Did you and Cam have a nice ride?” Lisa asked.

  “Oh, yes,” Carole said. “It was great. I showed him my favorite path through the woods—”

  “To the creek?” Carole nodded. “Did you sit on the rock and soak your feet?”

  “We sat on the rock. It’s still too cold for foot soaking. More like foot chilling! It was just awfully nice to be able to share a place I love with a friend. What did you do while we were riding?”

  Lisa told her about working on the harness and hitching with May. Because Stevie and Carole were her friends, they knew they didn’t have to make any comments about what a good idea that was. They just plain understood.

  “Max asked me to be a Big Sis at the next meeting,” Stevie said.

  “You’re supposed to teach somebody mischief?” Lisa teased. Everybody knew that mischief was Stevie’s strongest subject.

  “Nope. We’re supposed to bone up on nutrition and feeding schedules. Things like that.”

  “Who’s your Little Sis?”

  “Make that ‘Bro,’ ” said Stevie. “It’s Craig Watson—you know that weird little boy who is always making trouble in class, talking and joking?”

  Carole and Lisa thought that was a good description of Craig. It also seemed like a fairly apt description of somebody else they knew. “Birds of a feather!” Carole declared.

  “Right,” Stevie agreed. “We’ll never learn anything!”

  Lisa didn’t agree. “You could be surprised by how much you learn when you’re supposed to be the teacher.”

  “We’ll see,” said Stevie.