Stable Witch (5 page)

After the three girls had stopped giggling, Lisa asked Carole and Stevie whether they’d heard the news about Horse Wise on Saturday.

“What news?” Carole inquired. “As far as I know it’s a regular Pony Club meeting.”

“Not exactly. It turns out that the judges for the schooling show are going to be there watching,” Lisa said.

“You’re kidding—really? Isn’t that illegal or something?” Stevie asked.

Lisa shrugged. “Normally, it would be kind of questionable, but since it’s only a schooling show, it doesn’t matter. They can even give us advice and help us out with problems. And it gives them a chance to get to know the lay of the land at Pine Hollow,” Lisa explained.

“I think that’s great. We’ll have two chances to ride well for them, instead of one,” Carole said optimistically. After Saturday’s Horse Wise, she was even more excited about having the judges see Starlight. She felt like a proud mother who couldn’t wait to show off how smart her baby was.

“So, how did you find out the judges were coming?” Stevie asked.

Lisa quickly filled her friends in on her early-morning jumping practice on Sunday. She had run into Max on her way out that morning. He had mentioned the judges and told her to spread the word.

Carole and Stevie both looked up from yanking on their breeches.

“Why didn’t you tell us that you were coming early to practice?” Stevie asked.

“Yeah, we could have come and practiced, too—or helped you,” Carole said.

Suddenly, Lisa realized how her revelation must sound to her friends—as if she were hiding something from them. The truth was she had wanted to come alone so she could clear her head completely from Saturday’s lesson. And she had wanted to be able to think about her goals on her own, without any interruptions, even good ones, from The Saddle Club. Lisa struggled to put her thoughts into words. “I wasn’t
trying to be secretive about it,” she said. “But I did like the idea of working on my own for a while. And besides, you guys don’t need the practice, remember?”

Carole was completely sympathetic. “Sometimes it is better to work with just your horse and no one else around. I love schooling Starlight by myself.”

“That was my plan, anyway,” Lisa continued. “It turned out to be mostly a waste of time because about fifteen minutes after I got here, who shows up but Veronica.”

“Veronica?” Carole and Stevie demanded in unison. They couldn’t have looked more surprised if Lisa had told them she had gotten straight F’s on her report card.

Lisa nodded. “Believe it or not, Veronica diAngelo was putting in extra practice time at seven in the morning.”

“Are you sure you weren’t seeing things, Lisa?” Carole asked anxiously.

“Yeah. Or maybe you were dreaming,” Stevie ventured.

“My eyesight’s fine, thank you very much, and seeing Veronica was more like a nightmare than a dream,” Lisa countered. In order to prove that the morning had really happened, she told them about how much Veronica had been showing off. “She was
so condescending that almost the whole practice was torture. Basically she told me that if I worked hard for about a hundred years I might be good enough to kiss her feet.”

The girls laughed.

“Veronica probably dreams about opportunities like that—being alone at the stable with someone she thinks wants her advice,” Carole said.

“I’m just mad that I let her get to me. It was supposed to be a morning of confidence-building,” said Lisa.

“I still don’t see why you didn’t mention it,” Stevie commented. She sounded somewhat miffed. “As a matter of fact, Carole and I can always use the practice—or at least I can. Especially with a new horse.”

Lisa knew in an instant what the slight irritation in Stevie’s voice meant: her naturally competitive instincts were coming out. She hated the thought of someone’s preparing harder for the show than she was.

Lisa decided to get right to the point. “Listen, Stevie, you know as well as I that a few extra hours of jumping is never going to make Prancer and me good enough to beat you and Belle. It’s not like you have anything to fear from me, competition-wise.”

Stevie looked surprised by Lisa’s comment. She paused before answering her. Finally she said,
“Thanks, Lisa, but to be honest, it’s not you I’m worried about,” In a nice way, Stevie explained that she knew that she was better than Lisa, just the same way she knew that Carole was better than she was. But she lived in fear at the thought of losing to Veronica. “Or not exactly fear—more like vile disgust. I just hate the idea that somebody as terrible as Veronica could be better at something than I am. I mean, she’s so bad, how could she ever be good?”

At Stevie’s unusual phrasing, Carole and Lisa cracked up. They didn’t like to see Veronica win, either. But somehow they didn’t take her failures and successes quite as personally as Stevie. If Stevie, instead of Lisa, had run into Veronica on Sunday, she probably would have set up a course of six-foot fences and dared Veronica to jump them.

“Seriously, what do you think her chances are to beat me?” Stevie asked. In her own mind, she set the odds at about 50-50. When Veronica focused, there was no telling how well she would ride. She was a “prettier” rider than Stevie was, but she was also likely to lose her temper if one little thing went wrong. Part of the question was whether, in the judges’ minds, Stevie’s “get-the-job-done” style would compare with Veronica’s picture-perfect posing.

Before Lisa or Carole could answer, the locker room
door swung open, and Veronica herself walked in. The Saddle Club immediately stopped talking and busied themselves with changing as fast as they could.

Half an hour later the group was mounted and warming up in the outdoor ring. To their surprise, class that day was to be entirely on the flat instead of over fences. Everyone seemed relieved when Max made the announcement—the air around the barn was competitive enough without having to compare jumping skills in every lesson. Max had also decided to lighten things up by pairing the “senior” riders—students in The Saddle Club’s age group—with juniors to work on position in the saddle, one of the most important parts of equitation. The younger kids always seemed to have a good time, and their ponies were so cute that the older riders loved working with them.

Lisa was paired with May Grover, a girl whom she knew from a previous junior/senior matchup. May, a skilled rider for her age, rode a pony named Macaroni. May was so enthusiastic that Lisa always enjoyed working with her.

Once everyone was paired up, Max put them through a bunch of drills, making them critique one another. Then he let them ride on their own while he watched. The lesson proceeded without incident until
Veronica collided with her own partner and screamed at her for not looking where she was going. Little Laura Heiss, who was only six, screamed right back until she was blue in the face.

Finally, Max called a halt to the argument as well as to the class. He gave them a quick pep talk for Saturday, reminding them to treat the judges with respect.

“Do we have to look perfect, Max?” May Grover asked.

“Not perfect—but pretty close to perfect, May. I expect everyone to be well groomed,” Max replied, turning to go. “And that goes for you and your horses!” he called back over his shoulder. The Saddle Club looked at Carole and grinned. On more than one occasion, she had been known to show up with a beautifully turned-out horse, but with her own hair going every which way, smears of dirt on her face, and a hole or two in her breeches.

“Don’t worry,” Carole said tolerantly. “I promise to hose myself down before the meeting. Okay?”

May tugged on Lisa’s sleeve. “I’m not sure I can get my girth tight enough by myself,” she said. May’s was a common problem among young riders who rode ponies. The young riders weren’t as strong as the older riders, and the ponies were usually a lot fatter—and
better at bloating—than the horses. The combination could make girth tightening a real worry.

Lisa was wondering what advice she could offer when Stevie spoke up. “Don’t worry, May,” Stevie assured the girl. “I already told Jasmine James I’d get here early to help her tack up her pony, Outlaw, so I can help you, too.”

“Aren’t we the perfect Pony Clubber,” Veronica said, her voice saccharine sweet.

“Why, thank you, Veronica,” Stevie responded, pretending not to notice the sarcasm.

“Too bad brownnosing won’t help you win next weekend,” Veronica snapped.

Stevie said nothing—just glared, trying to think of something equally rude to answer with.

Turning her back to the group, Veronica began to sing “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem, in a loud voice. Stevie gritted her teeth. Everyone else probably thought Veronica was being weird, but Stevie knew that she was using the song to gloat. The girls were supposed to memorize the words to it for French class. Veronica had obviously finished her homework already and knew that that would annoy Stevie—who usually did her homework late—no end.

Before things could heat up any more between the two girls, Carole interrupted. She told Stevie to hurry
and dismount because they had things to talk about. Reluctantly, Stevie hopped off. She was visibly seething.

On their way into the stable, Lisa suggested having a quick Saddle Club meeting at T.D.’s, the local ice-cream shop where the three of them were regulars. She wanted to plan a few more extra jumping practices.

“Sorry, can’t,” Stevie said. “I just remembered that I have to go do my French homework.”

“French homework? Instead of ice-cream sundaes?” Lisa asked. She couldn’t remember the last time Stevie had passed up—well,
anything
—in order to do homework.

Stevie nodded gravely. “Yup. Until I heard Veronica singing I forgot that we’re supposed to memorize the words to ‘La Marseillaise’ for class tomorrow. Since Veronica obviously already knows one verse, I’m going to have to learn two verses so that I can be ahead of her.”

For the second time that afternoon, Lisa and Carole found themselves shaking their heads at Stevie’s competitiveness. It was incredible how far she would take things.

Stevie, however, didn’t seem to find anything strange. “You guys go ahead without me,” she told her
friends. “And about extra practice, how about tomorrow afternoon? If Veronica shows up, we can scare her off with our great equitation over fences. Okay, Lisa? Does that sound good to you?” Without waiting for an answer, Stevie strode off with Belle, mumbling to herself in French.

Lisa didn’t bother to remind her friend that scaring off Veronica wasn’t
her
personal goal for the schooling show.

O
N
S
ATURDAY MORNING
, Pine Hollow was buzzing with activity. Remembering Max’s encouragement to look smart for the judges, a number of Pony Clubbers had arrived early to do an extra-good grooming job. Max and Mrs. Reg were on hand to help out anyone who needed it. They hurried from tack room to locker room to the stalls getting ready for the judges’ arrival. Whenever anyone from the local horsey community visited Pine Hollow, the Regnerys wanted their farm in tip-top shape. It was part of what gave the stable one of the best reputations in Virginia.

On their way into the barn, Carole and Lisa met in
the driveway. Each was carrying her own pair of tall black dress boots.

“How late were you up polishing?” Lisa asked, noting the sheen on Carole’s boots.

Carole grinned sheepishly. “To be honest, these super-shiny boots are thanks to the U.S. Marine Corps. Dad did them last night so I could go to bed early,” she confessed.

Lisa sighed. “Maybe I should join the armed forces sometime so that I can learn to shine my boots that well. These just aren’t as good.”

“Nah,” Carole told her, holding the stable door as they went inside, “you wouldn’t want to do that. You wouldn’t want to waste all that time on the other stuff—like marching, saluting, bed making—”

“You’re right,” Lisa interrupted with a grin. “Forget I even mentioned it.”

Together the two girls changed and groomed Prancer and Starlight. After a while, they noticed that Stevie still hadn’t shown up. They were just about to ask Max if he had heard anything, when Stevie appeared leading Belle. Stevie was perfectly dressed, and Belle’s dark coat and her tack were practically glowing with cleanliness. Even her hooves, which Stevie had painted with hoof polish, looked smart. It was clear
from the pair’s appearance that Stevie had arrived at Pine Hollow long before Carole and Lisa had.

“So you are here, after all,” Carole remarked.

“Yeah, we thought you were going to be late, but it looks like you got the early-bird prize,” Lisa said. She was surprised that Stevie had beaten them to the stable.

“Oh, I’ve been here almost two hours,” Stevie said airily. “I promised to help some of the little kids before the meeting started.”

As if on cue, May Grover and Jasmine James ran up and gave Stevie a hug to thank her. They looked neat and ready for the event in their jodhpurs and paddock boots.

“I could never have gotten my girth tightened without you,” May said. “Thanks, Stevie.”

“Me, either,” agreed Jasmine. “You’re the best.”