A Winning Gift (5 page)

Bridget laughed. “Look who's talking!”

“They pay me to be here,” Seth joked. “What's your excuse?”

Bridget smiled and shot a look at Maddie. “Oh, I'm sure that's not the
only
reason you like it here, right?”

Maddie gulped, suddenly nervous. Bridget was always friendly, so it was no surprise she'd stopped to say hello when she'd noticed Seth. But maybe she was getting a little
too
friendly. What if she said something to Seth about her ridiculous theory that Maddie liked him? “Gotta go, Seth,” she said quickly. “We were just on our way to see Cloudy.” She grabbed Bridget by the arm, trying to drag her off.

But Bridget's feet were planted in place. “Have you cleaned Cloudy's stall yet?” she asked Seth. “If not, we could take her out and, you know, groom her or whatever. So she's not in your way?”

“Thanks,” Seth said. “Actually, I already did hers, though.”

“Oh well.” Bridget shot Maddie another mischievous look. “Maybe next time.”

Okay, Maddie was really getting anxious now. Bridget could be kind of unpredictable—she was almost impossible to embarrass and found it amusing to try to embarrass her friends sometimes. Normally Maddie was pretty tough to embarrass, but she definitely didn't want Seth to get the wrong idea. Talk about awkward!

“Hey, I just had an idea,” she blurted out. “Let's ask Ms. Emerson if you can go for a ride!”

“Huh?” That distracted Bridget from Seth. “But I don't know how to ride—you know that. I've never even been on a horse before in my life!”

“I know, but it'll be fun. We can do a pony ride.”

Bridget looked dubious. “Okay, so that means I'll be closer to the ground when I fall off?”

Maddie laughed. “No. I don't just mean you'll be riding a pony, though you will be, since I figured we'd use Cloudy. A pony ride means I'll lead you around so you don't have to steer or anything. It'll be a piece of cake!”

“Yeah, you should do it,” Seth put in, still listening. “I went on a pony ride when I first started here, and it was cool.”

“Really?” Bridget smiled at him uncertainly. “Well . . .”

Maddie grabbed her arm again, and this time Bridget allowed herself to be dragged away. “Come on. Let's go ask Ms. E.”

They found the barn owner in the feed room supervising a grain delivery. When she heard Maddie's idea, she looked Bridget up and down and then nodded. “That should be fine,” she said. “Cloudy isn't on the schedule for any lessons today, so it'll be nice for her to stretch her legs. You can borrow one of the lesson helmets from the tack room, Bridget.”

The two girls headed back out into the aisle. “What did she mean, it would be nice for Cloudy to stretch her legs?” Bridget sounded nervous. “We're not going to gallop or anything, right?”

“No, she won't get to stretch them
that
much.” Maddie chuckled and led the way down the aisle to the tack room. “It's just that Solano Stables doesn't have much room for pastures and stuff, since land is so expensive around here. So the horses here don't get to spend a lot of time grazing and running around in big fields like they do in other places.”

“Oh,” Bridget said. She watched as Maddie grabbed Cloudy's saddle and bridle off their racks, along with a clean saddle pad.

“Yeah, like where my friend Haley lives, for instance,” Maddie went on as she eyed Bridget's head and then grabbed a helmet off the shelf of spares that Ms. Emerson kept for lesson students who didn't have their own. Jamming it onto Bridget's head, she nodded with satisfaction and then headed for the door, still talking. “Haley's family's farm has, like, acres and acres of pasture, since they have cows and stuff. So her pony, Wings, gets tons of turnout time. And then there's Brooke—she has a pasture in her backyard. It's not huge, but it's all for her pony, Foxy, who lives outside twenty-four-seven, pretty much.”

“Got it.” Bridget was starting to sound a little bored.

“At least we have a few decent-sized paddocks here. That's more turnout than there is at Nina's barn,” Maddie said. “She lives right in the middle of New Orleans, and her pony's boarding barn is in this big city park with practically no space for grazing at all.”

By then they'd reached Cloudy's stall. Maddie handed the saddle and bridle to Bridget, then opened the stall door. The mare was nibbling at her hay, but she lifted her head when the girls stepped inside.

“Hi there, cutie,” Bridget said. “You're not going to try to kill me, are you? Good girl!”

Maddie laughed. “Don't worry. She's great at taking care of nervous beginners. You'll be fine.”

Clipping a lead rope onto Cloudy's halter, she led the pony to the grooming area. As she attached the crossties, Seth passed by, pushing his wheelbarrow.

“So the pony ride is on?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Bridget said, yanking the helmet off her head and smoothing down her hair. “I just hope I survive!”

He laughed. “You'll do great. Maddie seems like she'd be a good teacher.”

“Hmm.” Bridget glanced at Maddie. “Yeah, Mads is good at a lot of stuff. Don't you think so?”

“Okay,” Maddie said loudly, not wanting to let that line of discussion go any further. “Let's get Cloudy groomed and tacked up now. You can brush her if you want.”

Seth wandered off as the two girls set to work getting the pony ready. A few minutes later Maddie was leading Cloudy toward the outdoor riding ring, with a progressively more nervous looking Bridget trailing along beside her.

“Are you sure this thing will work if I fall off?” she asked, fiddling with the chin strap of her borrowed helmet.

“Sure. But you won't fall.” Maddie gave Cloudy a pat. “Cloudy won't let you. This one time, a beginner was riding her in a show and lost her balance after a jump. Before she could tip off the side, Cloudy scooted over and got under her again. She was fine—ended up getting a ribbon in the class and everything.”

“Jumping?” Bridget looked alarmed. “We're not doing that today, are we?”

Maddie laughed. “No jumping, don't worry. We'll just walk around, maybe try a trot if you want.”

There was nobody in the ring, so Maddie swung open the gate and led Cloudy in. Bridget followed, carefully closing the gate behind her.

“Maybe you should ride instead,” she suggested. “I could just watch.”

“Nope, this is all you.” Maddie positioned Cloudy beside the wooden mounting block. The pony stood quietly, occasionally swishing her tail at a late-season fly.

Bridget surveyed her with anxious brown eyes. “She looks taller all of a sudden,” she said. “Did I ever mention I'm scared of heights?”

“You are not.” Maddie grinned at her. “You even went hang gliding with your grandpa once, remember? Now climb up on the mounting block. I'll make sure she stands still while you get on. Just put your right hand on the back of the saddle and grab a handful of mane with your left hand.”

“What? Grab her hair?”

“Don't worry. It won't hurt her.” Maddie forgot sometimes that not everyone knew those kinds of things. “She won't even notice. Once you're ready, put your left foot in the stirrup and swing up and over.”

Bridget took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Here goes nothing. . . .”

She was actually pretty graceful getting on, catching her weight on her hands and lowering herself carefully into the saddle instead of plopping down like most beginners did at first.

“Great job,” Maddie said. “All those years of dance classes are paying off, I guess.”

Bridget smiled tightly. “Don't let her move yet, okay?” she said, scrabbling for the reins. “I'm not ready.”

“Don't pull too hard,” Maddie warned as Bridget shortened her reins so far that Cloudy lifted her head in surprise.

“Sorry.” Bridget loosened the reins a fraction of an inch. “I want to be able to stop her if she runs away.”

“I know most people think you stop a pony with the reins, but that's not really true,” Maddie said. “I mean, yeah, most horses are trained to slow down or stop if you pull back. But if they really want to go, you can pull as hard as you can and they won't stop.”

Bridget's eyes widened in alarm. “Oh, great!” she exclaimed. “Let me off this thing!”

“No, wait, sorry,” Maddie said. “Cloudy isn't going to run away like that.”

“Are you sure?” Bridget countered. “Come to think of it, I saw her run away with you once. Why didn't I remember that before I agreed to this?”

For a second Maddie didn't know what she was talking about. Then she remembered—once when Bridget had come to watch a lesson, Cloudy had taken offense to Maddie's attempts to get her to leg yield and had jumped into a canter instead, shaking her head and being silly.

“That wasn't running away,” she said. “Anyway, she never does stuff like that with beginners. Or anyone who's nervous, even. She's really smart.” She patted the mare on the neck. “Aren't you, Cloudy?”

“Okay.” Bridget sounded a little dubious. “Still, I don't want to totally let go of the reins. You know, just in case.”

“You don't have to,” Maddie said. “I'm just saying, you don't have to keep them quite so tight, okay?”

Leaving one hand on Cloudy's bridle—more to comfort Bridget than for any other reason, since the pony was standing quietly—she tugged at the reins until Bridget let them slide out to a reasonable length.

“Okay, now I'm going to walk her forward,” Maddie said. “Try to relax and go with the motion.”

“Easy for you to say,” Bridget muttered.

As Cloudy moved off at a slow amble, Bridget let out a squeak of alarm and hunched forward. “Sit up straight,” Maddie said.

“But I feel like I'm going to fall off!” Bridget protested.

Maddie shrugged. “You don't look like you're going to fall off.”

That was true. As Maddie had mentioned, Bridget had taken dance classes for years. Her hips were automatically following the pony's movement, even though her upper body still looked tense.

Maddie knew that if Bridget would just relax, she'd have a better time. But how could she get through to her?

Suddenly she had an idea. “Hey, remember when you were telling me about the breathing exercises you learned in that acting class you took last spring?” she said. “You said they really helped with stage fright.”

“They did,” Bridget agreed. “I used them a lot at camp last summer.”

“Okay,” Maddie said quickly, not wanting to get sidetracked by
that
particular topic—and the particular boy it was likely to bring up. “Why don't you try some of those exercises now?”

“Huh? Are you kidding?” Bridget sounded confused. “I'm riding a horse, not getting ready to go onstage.”

“Hey, how's it going out here?”

Maddie turned and saw Seth standing in the doorway watching them. He hurried forward and leaned on the ring fence.

“Hi,” Maddie greeted him, glad that Bridget was too distracted to be likely to mess around and tell him anything embarrassing. “She's a little nervous.”

“Yeah, this is totally terrifying,” Bridget called to him. “But I'm going to try some breathing exercises I learned in acting class.”

“You're an actor?” He looked impressed. “Cool!”

Bridget just smiled. Then she closed her eyes briefly. Maddie could hear her counting under her breath.

She just waited, keeping Cloudy wandering around the ring at a slow walk. They were only a little over halfway around when Bridget stopped counting.

“Hey, it worked,” she said. “I feel more relaxed already. I think I may even be getting the hang of this riding thing!”

Maddie smiled. Bridget did look more relaxed. “Maybe you just needed an audience,” she joked, nodding toward Seth. “You are an actress, after all.”

Both Bridget and Seth laughed at that. “Maybe,” Bridget agreed.

“Looking good up there!” Seth called. “Are you going to try a trot?”

“Don't pressure her,” Maddie warned him. “She's just getting the hang of walking.”

“No, he's right,” Bridget said. “I think I'm ready. Can we trot now?”

Maddie was surprised, but she had to admit that her friend looked pretty solid up there now that she'd settled down. Her body was following the motion of Cloudy's walk, and her hands had relaxed on the reins. She was sitting up straight and looking where she was going. Even Ms. Emerson would probably agree that she was ready.

“Okay,” she said. “Cloudy's trot is really smooth, but it'll probably still feel kind of weird. Just keep your heels down and try to absorb the movement in your back. If you start to bounce too much, you can stand up in the stirrups and hold on to her mane.”

“Got it.” Bridget nodded. “Let's do it.”

Maddie clucked and gave a little tug on the rein she was holding. “Trot, Cloudy,” she said. “Trrrrot!”

At the same time, she broke into a jog herself. The pony started trotting, almost surging past Maddie.

“Easy, girl,” Maddie said, tightening her grip on the rein to let Cloudy know that she didn't need to go so fast.

Then she glanced back at Bridget, a little worried that her friend might have been thrown off balance by the sudden transition. But Bridget was still in position. Not only that, but she actually appeared to be posting—rising and falling with the rhythm of the pony's gait—even though Maddie hadn't told her about that yet!

“Is this okay?” Bridget asked. “It feels right, and it sort of looks like what I've seen you do when she trots.”

“Yes.” Maddie smiled, proud of her friend. “It's totally all right. Bridget, you're a riding genius!”