Authors: Bonnie Bryant
It’s amazing how things turn out sometimes. Life is so full of surprises, good and bad, you know?
At that Pony Club rally a couple of weeks ago, we were all really worried about getting caught switching horses. But it turned out to be worth it in the end. For one thing, Stevie got to ride her horse in the rally, and our team even beat Phil’s team, just like she was hoping. And nobody said a word about her mount’s slightly blotchy bay legs, or the fact that Topside, a gelding, had suddenly turned into a mare. We (The Saddle Club and Veronica, that is) managed to distract anyone from taking too close a look at Stevie’s horse. Max was an exception, of course. He didn’t get a good look at Stevie’s
horse before we unloaded at Cross County, but during inspection, he finally noticed.
“What are you thinking?” he whispered at Stevie.
“I had to do it, Max,” Stevie whispered back urgently. “This is my last chance to ride her. I just couldn’t stand it if I missed it. I really couldn’t.”
“Don’t you think people will find out?” he asked quietly.
“Not if you don’t tell them,” she countered.
Max was silent for a moment. “Tell them what?” he said at last. Then he moved on down the row.
Anyway, after that the rally went totally our way. Stevie and No-Name were brilliant in the games. Even Max said he’d never seen a horse and rider so perfectly matched. (He said it when nobody but us could hear, of course.)
In the end, Stevie had to take No-Name over to the Webbers’ house and give her back to Chelsea. I wasn’t there—Stevie thought it was something she needed to do on her own—but I was thinking about her the whole time, wondering if she’d be okay.
For a while she wasn’t. She didn’t even come to Pine Hollow for the rest of that week. Lisa and I were really worried about her. We’d never thought anything could ever overwhelm Stevie’s naturally optimistic, happy nature. But losing No-Name … well, that seemed to do it. Her parents offered to start looking for a replacement for No-Name right away, but Stevie wasn’t interested. She said she’d rather just go back to riding Topside for the time being.
On Saturday, Lisa and I finally convinced Stevie to come
to Horse Wise. She did, but she didn’t look very happy to be there. People kept coming up and saying they were sorry about No-Name. And then something weird happened. Veronica came to add her condolences—only in addition to that, she tried to convince Stevie to buy
Garnet
from her as a replacement for No-Name! At first Stevie actually considered it, but after she realized that Garnet wasn’t a good match for her, she started to wonder about Veronica’s motives. That’s when she remembered seeing something odd—namely, Veronica talking to Chelsea Webber at the last Pony Club rally. She’d even seen Chelsea hand Veronica a piece of paper, which Veronica had dropped into Garnet’s grooming bucket. Stevie hadn’t thought much of the incident at the time because she was so focused on her plot to ride No-Name for the last time. But now that she remembered, she couldn’t help feeling curious—and, since Veronica was involved, a little suspicious.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Lisa said.
“I have no idea,” I replied. “But if Veronica put a piece of paper in Garnet’s grooming bucket, I’ll bet you an ice-cream sundae it’s still there.”
We hurried to find the bucket.
“Voilà!”
Stevie cried triumphantly, grabbing a slip of paper from inside. “Here’s the answer to the mystery.”
Lisa and I peered over her shoulder. “It looks like a reward notice,” Lisa said.
Suddenly a lot of things made sense. We realized that Veronica must have been the one who’d told the Webbers about No-Name’s weed allergy, and maybe the bone splint,
too. She wanted the thousand-dollar reward they were offering for information about their missing horse, and she’d sold Stevie out. That was the reason she’d been acting so nice to us.
Of course, knowing that didn’t really make much difference. The Webbers would have found out about No-Name’s allergy eventually anyway. Chelsea had already seen her at the rally, so it was just a matter of time. Nothing changed—except we’re once again certain that Veronica is the sneakiest, most selfish, and least trustworthy person we know. (Plus we found out later that her father’s bank problems turned out okay in the end, so the family isn’t going broke after all and Veronica’s free to go back to being her usual snobby self.)
As we were discussing ways to get back at Veronica for her latest rottenness, Mrs. Reg called Stevie to the office for a phone call. And we never, in a million years, would have guessed who it was.
It was Chelsea Webber. And she wanted Stevie to take No-Name back!
It turns out that Chelsea had been having second thoughts. She still loves No-Name (or Punk, as she called her) a lot, but while she was missing, her parents had leased a different horse for her. And Chelsea had realized that the new horse was a better match for her than Punk had ever been. The same things that made No-Name/Punk so perfect for Stevie—her spirit, her sense of humor, her strong will—made her kind of difficult for Chelsea to handle. Plus, Chelsea admitted she’d known it was Punk that Stevie was riding at that second rally. She wasn’t fooled by the dye job.
Seeing the two of them together, she’d realized (eventually) that they were meant to be together.
I really respect her for coming to that decision. Not only did it make Stevie the happiest girl in the world, but I believe it’s the best thing for Chelsea as well. And also for No-Name.
Oh, but I’ve got to get out of the habit of calling her No-Name, because Stevie finally found the perfect name for her! Back over the holiday, before I left for Minnesota, she was coming up with all kinds of crazy possible names, like Sarouk, Tabriz, and even Princess Jasmine (which reminds me of Princess, the horse Veronica had a couple of years ago, before she got Cobalt and then Garnet—not that I reminded Stevie about that, of course! She would strangle me if she thought I was accusing her of thinking like Veronica, especially after what she did!). Anyway, I guess she was trying to come up with a name that had something to do with the Arabian part of No-Name’s bloodlines. (I think Sarouk and Tabriz have something to do with Arabian-type oriental rugs or something like that, and of course Princess Jasmine was the heroine in the movie
Aladdin.)
But eventually she realized that that wasn’t going to work. It was something Lisa said, about how No-Name was half Saddlebred and that was a breed from the American South, that finally made Stevie think of the perfect name: Belle. As in Southern Belle, those spunky, independent women of film and legend, like Scarlett O’Hara in
Gone with the Wind
. I think it suits her perfectly!
And I’m really happy that Stevie got her dream horse back. It’s the kind of perfect happy ending I always love in
books and movies. I only wish
everything
in real life could turn out that well.
Dear Diary:
Another year, another first day of school … It still feels kind of weird to be back at the same school this fall instead of getting used to a new place and new people. Of course, going back to school in the fall always feels a little strange. I already miss being able to hang out at Pine Hollow for hours every day. I wish Stevie and I went to the same school—at least then I’d have someone to talk to about horses! But at least I do have friends here at school now. More than I realized, actually. A lot of kids I didn’t see all summer came up to say hi in the halls today. That made me feel like I really do belong here, and that’s a pretty good feeling. I think it would be even harder to deal with Mom’s condition if I were starting all over again
.
Dear Diary:
A weird day today. Now that the first week is behind me, I was starting to think maybe I should get more involved with things at school. I mean, I never used to bother to join many extra-curricular activities or anything because I always knew I’d be moving away sooner or later, and usually sooner. Riding was always enough of an activity
.
But now that I’m feeling more permanent, I thought joining something would be a good way to meet more people
,
make more real friends. Plus I’d seen a sign-up sheet for an after-school dance group, and I figured that kind of exercise would be good for my riding
.
So I went to the introductory meeting after school today. It was fun. I liked most of the people I met there, including the club secretary, this girl I’ve seen around who’s a grade ahead of me. Her name is Lisa Applewood or Atglen or something like that. She seemed nice, if a little serious, while she was taking down my name and everything. And the club president, Gretchen Something-or-other, was really interested when I told her how long I’ve been riding. She doesn’t ride herself, but she knows it uses some of the same skills as dancing
.
So I was feeling pretty good when I headed home after the meeting. All that changed when I got here. Dad was just pulling into the driveway. He didn’t usually get home that early, so I knew something was wrong
.
I ran over to find out what was going on. “Don’t worry, Carole,” Dad said as he climbed out of the car. “Everything’s under control. We just had a little scare, that’s all. Your mother’s back in the hospital—they want to keep her tonight for observation.”
Yeah, right. This time everything’s under control. But what about next time? What if something really major happens and they don’t even bother to let me know until it’s too late?
Well, I’m not taking any chances. When Dad went upstairs, I picked up the phone. Pulling out the members’ phone list Gretchen gave me at the meeting, I dialed
Gretchen’s number, but it was busy. I didn’t want to put this off, so I tried Lisa, the secretary
.
“Hi,” I said when she answered. “This is Carole Hanson. Remember? The new girl from the meeting today?”
“Oh, sure!” she said. “How are you? Did you have fun today?”
“Sure.” I twisted the phone cord around my finger. “Um, but I have to drop out of the club.”
“What? But you just joined!”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry. It’s just—Well, I can’t do it. Sorry.”
“Okay.” Lisa sounded confused and maybe a little annoyed. “I’ll take you off the list, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Thanks.”
I hung up, feeling kind of bad. It would have been fun to be in the dance club. It would have been nice to become friends with people like Gretchen and Lisa and the others, instead of making them think I was some weirdo who drops out of things the same day she signs up
.
But it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters right now is being there for Mom. She’s my top priority now. My only priority. Other people will just have to deal with that
.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Every time I open this book I end up writing stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with riding. So this time I’m going to concentrate on what
this journal is supposed to be about—starting with some news Max gave us on Saturday after our Horse Wise meeting.
“I’ve always wanted to open up Pine Hollow to the local riding community and hold a schooling show here,” he told us. “So I’ve decided that two weekends from now is the perfect time for the First Annual Pine Hollow Invitational Schooling Show.”
Isn’t that great? I mean, a schooling show is like the best of both worlds. You get to compete for real, with real judges and real horse show classes, but you don’t have to go through all the efforts of getting ready for real. You don’t have to bathe, braid, polish tack, and all the rest of it. And with the show being at Pine Hollow, we won’t even have to get up early to trailer over!
Max went on to explain that he planned to invite a few other Pony Clubs to send riders, though all the competition will be individual. “The show will consist entirely of jumping classes in three divisions,” he said. “Can anyone explain the difference?”
I raised my hand. “In jumper classes, they judge how fast and clean you jump. In hunter classes, they judge the horse’s form. And in equitation, they judge the rider’s form.”
“Precisely,” Max said. He raised his eyebrows. “Now, can anyone guess which classes I want all of you to ride in?”
“Hmmm … Equitation?” Lisa said, pretending she had to think hard about it. We all know that Max is more of a stickler for good equitation than any other aspect of riding.
She was right, of course. We’ll all be going in Junior Equitation
Over Fences. Max also asked us to write down our goals, like he does before every show.
I thought about it for a few minutes, and this is what I came up with:
My goal is for Starlight and me to enjoy ourselves, and for Starlight to get more exposure to competition, and for me to be able to keep him quiet in the ring and not let him speed up at the end of the course
.
As I finished, I heard Lisa asking Veronica if she was going to write anything down. It seems that Veronica had simply shoved her sheet in her pocket.
“No,” Veronica retorted, “I’m not, as a matter of fact. I’m going to give Max a blank piece of paper, if you must know. Because I’m going to
blank out
all the other riders. Get it? I’m going to win, no matter what it takes.” Then she strode off.
That’s typical Veronica bluster, I guess. She and Garnet had had some trouble in class that day—which was almost totally Veronica’s fault, of course. She’s a pretty good rider when she tries to be, but she’s so lazy that she makes a lot more mistakes than she should, and she relies on poor Garnet to pick up the slack. She won’t be able to get away with that in the equitation classes, though!
But apparently she’s doing her best to live up to her boast. Today, as we were getting changed in the locker room for our usual Tuesday lesson, Lisa asked Stevie and me if we’d heard the news about this Saturday’s Horse Wise meeting.
“What news?” I asked. “As far as I know it’s going to be a regular meeting.”