Show Horse (10 page)

There was a ten-minute break then while the riders tacked up their horses and prepared for the first riding class of the day, Equitation. Lisa didn’t move.

She was still sitting there, staring out of the loft window, when the horses reentered the ring, this time under mount.

“Riders, a rising trot please, clockwise,” the judge instructed them.

On signal from their riders, the horses began trotting instantly, and, in turn, the riders began posting with the two-beat gait. Lisa’s eyes followed Stevie on Topside. Her form seemed almost perfect. Stevie’s lower legs remained nearly motionless, while her upper legs easily lifted her ever so slightly out of the saddle. Her forearms remained in a straight line with
the reins to Topside’s mouth. But her shoulders seemed a little stiff. Stevie should relax them, Lisa told herself. If she were riding, if she were in the ring with Prancer, she’d be able to do it. She’d make it look right. Prancer could do it better than Topside. She was sure. If only…

S
TEVIE RELAXED HER
shoulders. She’d been holding them too stiffly, and it wasn’t right for a rising trot. It wasn’t right for any gait, actually. It was important for a rider to look relaxed. Topside was doing everything right; now Stevie had to do as well as her horse was doing.

“Now change directions at the half school,” the judge instructed the riders. She pointed to Stevie, meaning she was supposed to be the first rider to do it. She got a third of the way along the side of the ring, about eight on a clock face, put mild pressure on Topside with her outside leg, moved her inside hand ever so slightly to instruct Topside with the rein, and found the horse doing exactly what she wanted him to do. Halfway across the ring on the diagonal, Stevie sat for
two beats of the trot, changing her posting diagonal, and then resumed a normal rising trot.

Perfect, she told herself, and she was right.

She smiled proudly. It wasn’t a hard thing to do. She’d done it hundreds of times, only she’d never done it in a show before, in front of a crowd and in front of judges. Her experience told her that often the things that seemed the simplest turned out to be the hardest in a stressful situation. This was certainly stress. She’d known Topside would do the right thing. It was Stevie she’d been worried about. However, she’d come through for herself, and she felt good about it.

“And now canter, beginning at the A,” the judge instructed. The ring was marked with the letters of the alphabet for dressage. A was at the center of the far end. The riders had to maintain a trot until they got there, and then they were to begin their canter. Stevie watched while several of the riders’ horses burst into a canter well before they reached A. The problem was that the horses had heard the word and followed the oral instruction of the judge instead of the instructions from their riders. That was really bad form. When a few of the horses started cantering, all the rest of them wanted to as well. Horses were naturally competitive animals and always wanted to keep up with, and pass, the horse in front of them. The judges watched keenly.

Topside behaved beautifully. He waited patiently for Stevie to give him his instructions, maintaining an
even trot while they circled the ring until point A. Stevie then moved her outside leg behind Topside’s girth, touched his belly gently with her foot, and relaxed while he moved into his lilting canter. She noticed the judge nod approval. She kept her own smile to a minimum.

Starlight was having a hard time, and, as a result, so was Carole. Carole had known this would be the most difficult class for Starlight. He was a great horse, but details were not his strong point. From the day she’d gotten Starlight, Carole had been working on his training, knowing that he would have to develop better manners if he was ever going to be a champion. He’d learned an awful lot and was much better than he had been. He wasn’t perfect yet, though, and this was hard for him. The minute another horse started cantering, Starlight wanted to canter, too. Carole held him back, but it wasn’t easy, and the judges noticed. It was as if she could feel their eyes, missing nothing. They seemed to be even tougher than Max!

Where was Max? Carole looked around, wondering if he was watching. And where was Mrs. Reg? She was sure they were both in the audience, unless…

Starlight tugged at the reins. He was ready to go, but Carole wasn’t. She turned all her attention to her horse and looked straight ahead, just as she should have been doing when her mind had wandered. She couldn’t let her mind wander any more than she could let her eyes wander. Horses seemed to be able to sense a change of balance when a rider’s head turned, and
they were likely to begin to turn themselves when that happened. It took Carole just a second to get both herself and Starlight back on track. But it was a second that she was sure the judges had noticed. She was determined to do better.

She and Starlight began her canter. As the judges seemed to notice everything that went wrong, Carole hoped they noticed everything that went right. Starlight’s canter was the most unbelievably smooth, rocking gait in the world. Carole was sure she could spend her entire life riding Starlight at a canter. She felt the utter joy of it as they rounded the ring together. The smile on her face must have been noticed by a judge, then, because, though she
was
looking straight ahead, she could see the judge smiling back at her.

The judges began giving the riders more instructions. The horses made an S-curve down the center of the ring at a walk, and then at a sitting trot. Carole knew that she and Starlight were doing better than they had at first, but she wasn’t sure they were doing well enough. Stevie, on the other hand, was doing beautifully.

Everything was working right for Stevie and Topside. From the very first moment in the ring, Topside had simply done everything Stevie could possibly have asked of him. He was a champion, and he was making her look good. Since Stevie didn’t have to worry about her horse, she could focus on herself. She tried to remember everything she had to do, and then she did it. She found herself enjoying every minute of it.

It was coming to an end, though. The judges had the riders bring their horses to a walk and asked them to continue walking while they made their decisions. It didn’t take long. There was just no question about who had earned the blue. It was Stevie Lake on Topside.

Even though Stevie had been certain they’d done a great job, she was still surprised when she heard her name called. It was impossible, wasn’t it? There were fourteen other riders here, and they were all good, weren’t they? Was she really the best?

“Go on!” Carole whispered to her. “You deserve it!”

If Carole said so, it had to be true. Stevie turned Topside over to the judges’ stand and watched with pride as the judge clipped the bright blue ribbon onto Topside’s bridle.

“Congratulations,” the judge said. “Topside is a great horse, and you’re a fine rider.”

“Thank you,” Stevie said, shaking the woman’s hand. Then she rode a few feet away and waited while the rest of the ribbons were given out. Carole’s friend, Cam, whom Stevie had met between classes, took second place. That seemed fair. He was an awfully good rider, and his horse, Duffy, was very well trained and responsive. Starlight had been giving Carole trouble, and the judges obviously noticed it, because Carole got only fifth place. Veronica got a seventh-place ribbon. Stevie noticed her glaring at it with displeasure just before the judges told Stevie she could take Topside
off on a victory gallop. It was a wonderful moment. While all the other riders stood still on their horses out of respect for the blue-ribbon winner, Stevie turned Topside to her right and let him go. He swept around the ring joyously, feeling the admiration of the crowd. Stevie spotted Max and Mrs. Reg in the front row of the audience. They waved at her proudly. She nodded politely, deciding it wouldn’t be polite to wave back. It would be like showing off, though the victory gallop itself was the biggest show-off of all. Stevie loved every second of it. She drew her horse to a halt back near the judges and next to Carole, who offered her hand for a high five. That didn’t feel like showing off. That felt like being congratulated by her best friend. It was wonderful! And then Stevie got to lead the class back out of the ring.

Carole was thrilled for Stevie, who definitely had deserved the blue ribbon in that class, but she was disappointed for herself. It wasn’t so much that she’d wanted to beat Stevie. She had just wanted Starlight to do better in Equitation than he’d done. She scowled at Starlight. Was it really his fault, though? she asked herself. Training a horse was a long and arduous task. And now she understood from what had happened that she had a lot more work to do. She was pretty sure she could do it. She hoped she could do a lot of it before Briarwood next year, if she got asked back.

“What happened?” a voice asked. Carole turned around and found herself looking at Cam. His concern
seemed genuine. “It seemed to me that you and Starlight were doing great, especially when he got to cantering.”

“He lost his train of thought,” Carole said truthfully. “I guess I did, too. And the judges noticed.”

“It’s like Murphy’s Law,” Cam said. “If something can go wrong, it will. At horse shows it works like this: If something goes wrong, even for a split second, that’s when the judges will be looking.”

Carole smiled and nodded agreement. “Well, for most of the class, Starlight was great—”

“It seemed to me that his rider was as great as he was,” Cam interrupted.

“Thanks, but I goofed, too. I just got lax for a few seconds, and by the time I noticed, the judge had noticed. I have to find a way to keep Starlight focused at all times.”

“That’s when I use mini-aids,” Cam said.

Carole knew quite well that aids referred to the means a rider has of signaling the horse, specifically legs (and feet), hands (on the reins), and riding crop. She didn’t know what Cam meant by mini-aids, though.

“It’s sort of signaling the horse, but not really. You move the reins just a teeny little bit, alternating from side to side, or you touch his belly with your heels, ever so slightly. It’s a way of saying, ‘Hey, I’m here and I’m in charge, remember me?’ ”

“Of course,” Carole said. “I’ve used that technique. It usually makes a horse much more alert and responsive.
I should have thought of it while we were in the ring. In fact, I should probably train Starlight to use something like that on me so my mind doesn’t wander, either!”

Cam smiled. “Sure,” he said. “Just teach him to give you a little kick every now and then, huh?”

A picture flashed through Carole’s mind of Starlight hiking up a hind leg and tapping her gently. It made her laugh. Cam laughed as well.

“Thanks,” she said.

“I’m glad to help. I wish I could have helped before the class began.”

“Don’t worry,” Carole said. “Stevie deserved her blue for that one. My turn is coming up.”

“Oh, you think so?” Cam asked. “And what about me?”

There was a twinkle in his eye, but Carole wasn’t entirely sure he was joking. She was pretty sure he was challenging her. “Are you going to be sorry you gave me such a good hint?” she teased.

“Not at all,” he said. “I think it’s good for us to be on equal ground. When I beat you, I want it to be fair and square.”

“Beat me? Did I hear you say
beat
me? You actually think you’re going to win in the Pleasure class?”

Cam was working on a good comeback when Stevie arrived. “Hi, guys,” she said, looking back and forth quickly between them as if trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

“Hey, congratulations, Stevie,” Cam said, offering his hand.

Stevie shook it. “Has either of you seen Lisa?” she asked.

“No,” Carole said. “The last I saw of her, she was storming out of the ring yanking at Prancer’s lead as she went. Have you seen Prancer?”

“Sure, Prancer is in her stall, munching away on some hay I just gave her. Apparently Lisa was too upset to think about Prancer’s food and water. I took care of it.”

“I can’t blame her,” Cam said. “She seemed upset even before her horse kicked the judge. I couldn’t tell what was going on.”

“Neither could we,” Stevie said. Cam gave her an odd look. Carole filled him in on how Prancer came to be at Pine Hollow.

“She definitely needs more training before she’s ready to be in a horse show,” Carole said.

“Lisa?” Cam asked.

“No, not Lisa. Prancer. She’s a retired racehorse, not a show horse. Yet.”

“She’s beautiful,” Cam said.

“Agreed, but that’s not enough,” Stevie observed. All three of them knew that was true.

Then the public-address system kicked on again.

“The Intermediate Pleasure class will commence in ten minutes. Ten minutes. All riders must be mounted and in the East ring in five minutes.
Five Minutes!
”

“Let’s go!” Stevie said.

“And may the best man win,” Cam said, looking at Carole significantly.

“Woman,” Carole and Stevie corrected him in a single voice.

“Person?” he suggested sheepishly.

“Woman,” they said again.