Driving Team (2 page)

“I don’t know if any of you are aware of this, but in two weeks we’re going to have a joint meeting with the Cross County Pony Club.”

A murmur of anticipation rippled through the riders. Lisa and Carole grinned at Stevie, whose boyfriend, Phil Marsten, was a member of Cross County. Even though they were equally good riders, there was nothing either of them liked better than competing in some aspect of horsemanship. Their competition was friendly, but Stevie was always looking for an opportunity to show off what she considered her superior riding skills. Phil seemed to have similar notions about his own skills.

“And so”—Max frowned briefly at The Saddle Club girls and cleared his throat—“in honor of all this driving rain that’s pelting our barn today, we’re going to do projects on driving horses. That’ll be the program we present for our meeting with the Cross County club.”

“You mean driving horses to shows and trail rides?”
May Grover asked from her spot beside the filing cabinet.

“No,” Max explained. “I mean driving horses themselves. Horses pulling wagons and chariots and sulkies.”

“Sulkies?” Brittany Lynn piped up. “What’s a sulky?”

“That’s what Veronica is most of the time,” whispered Stevie. Lisa and Carole tried to squelch their giggles.

“Well, that’s what I’m hoping we’ll find out,” said Max. “Driving is a horse sport all by itself—very different from jumping or dressage.” Max looked at the riders crowded into his office. “Have I got any volunteers to make reports at the joint meeting?”

Stevie’s hand shot up first. There was no way she was going to let an opportunity like this pass by. Max might let her do some special, wonderful report that Phil would remember for the rest of his life! Lisa and Carole raised their hands, too, as did some of the other riders. Soon one of Veronica’s manicured hands was waving in the air as well.

“Good.” Max beamed. “I’m glad you’re excited about this. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s see how I can pair you up, now.” He studied the volunteers for a moment and scratched his chin.

“Okay. Lisa Atwood and Carole Hanson, why don’t you two work together on a ten-minute report called
‘Driving Through History’? That way we can find out what sulkies are.”

“Sure, Max,” replied Lisa. “Sounds like fun.”

“Polly Giacomin and Anna McWhirter, why don’t you two give us a ten-minute report on driving tack? There’s all sorts of special equipment you need to drive a team of horses.”

“Okay.” Polly scribbled something in a small notebook and moved over to sit beside Anna.

Stevie’s arm grew tired as Max assigned the other reports, until finally only her hand and Veronica’s were left waving in the air. It was then that Max looked at her and smiled.

“Stevie Lake,” he said, his blue eyes twinkling. “I’ve got something special for you. In honor of the, uh, let’s call it friendship, you and Veronica have struck up this morning, I’d like you two to train your horses to pull the Pine Hollow wagon. Girls, you’ll have two weeks to turn those saddle horses into a team and give a demonstration for the Cross County Pony Club!”

Stevie couldn’t believe her ears. Did Max actually believe that she and Veronica were
friends
? Were they going to have to train their horses together? For a demonstration that
Phil
was going to be watching? She shook her head. Maybe she’d misunderstood. She raised her hand again.

“Max, did I hear you correctly? You want Veronica and me to turn Danny and Belle into a driving team? And give a demonstration at the joint meeting with Cross County?”

Max grinned and nodded. “You’ve only got two weeks to get them working together. It’ll involve a lot of teamwork and cooperation. Assuming that this rain stops, meet me at the back paddock at four this afternoon, and I’ll help you get started.”

Carole and Lisa glanced at each other as Stevie buried her face in her hands with a groan. Both of them knew that turning Belle and Danny into a smooth working team was going to be a lot easier than turning Stevie and Veronica into one!

“A
NY QUESTIONS
?” M
AX
looked over the group at the end of the meeting. “Okay, then. Let’s go tack up. We’ll have a flat class in the indoor ring in twenty minutes.”

For a moment, as everyone got up and scurried out of the room around her, Stevie just sat on the floor.

“Stevie, are you all right?” Carole leaned over and looked worriedly at her friend.

“I think I must be in shock,” Stevie answered. “Can you imagine two whole weeks of working side by side with Veronica?”

Carole shook her head. “Actually, I can’t. I don’t think I have the patience.”

Stevie wrinkled her nose. “And you think I do?”

“I guess Max thinks you have something,” Carole said with a shrug.

“I think I have incredibly bad luck,” complained Stevie. “And everything could have been so great, too. I mean, I could have done a super report and really impressed Phil. We haven’t seen each other in weeks. It would have been nice to show him something that I had put a lot of effort into.”

“Stevie, don’t you mean
show off
something you’d put a lot of effort into?” Lisa teased gently.

“Well, maybe I do tend to show off a teeny bit in front of Phil,” Stevie admitted.

“Oh, this might not be so bad, Stevie,” Carole said. “If anybody can pull something fantastic out of the hat with Veronica, it’s you.”

“Maybe I could just shove Veronica back into the hat,” grumbled Stevie. “That would be fantastic enough for me.”

“Look,” said Carole. “Just don’t think about any of this right now. Let’s go tack up the horses. We haven’t seen them since last Wednesday’s class!”

“You’re right,” said Stevie, hopping to her feet. “I’m losing sight of what counts here. Being with Belle is far more important than worrying about Veronica.”

They hurried back down one of the long stable corridors. Carole’s gelding, Starlight, was stabled next to
Stevie’s mare, Belle, and both horses’ heads were poked expectantly out of their stalls.

“Belle!” Stevie cried. “How I’ve missed you!” She reached up and gave the pretty bay mare a delicious scratch behind the ears.

“Starlight!” Carole echoed Stevie’s sentiments as her horse gave a soft nicker. She hugged him gently around the neck, pressing her cheek against his soft brown hair. “Hi, big guy!” she whispered. “I’ve missed you!”

“I’m going to get Prancer,” Lisa called. “I’ll cross-tie her up here so we can talk.”

“Okay,” said Stevie and Carole as they hurried into the tack room to get their saddles and grooming supplies. By the time they got back, Lisa already had Prancer tied just a few feet away.

“Look,” she called as Prancer nuzzled Starlight’s ear. “I think even the horses have missed being with each other.”

“I know they’ve missed riding,” said Carole. “It’s too bad we can’t go for a trail ride after class.”

“I know,” said Stevie. “If we did, though, we’d probably all come down with rhino-newmo-whatever-it-is.”

“Rhinopneumonitis,” corrected Carole. “And you’re right. We probably would. Anyway, Lisa and I ought to start thinking about our report on the history of driving.”

The girls began to brush their horses. Carole curried
dried mud from Starlight’s withers while Lisa picked out Prancer’s hooves. Stevie worked in silence, brushing Belle’s thick coat of winter hair. The idea of working with Veronica was hard enough to think about; talking about it would only make it worse. She decided to concentrate on Belle and just listen to all the plans her friends were making.

“We could go over to the library and see what kinds of books they have on driving,” Lisa was saying. “And we could start from the very first drivers known to man.”

“Right,” replied Carole. “Like Helios, the Greek god who drove his chariot across the sky every day, pulling the sun with it.”

Lisa smoothed a saddle pad on Prancer’s back. “Then we could just come down through history: the old Roman chariots and the Russian troikas and the hospital wagons that rescued the wounded soldiers in the Civil War.”

“And the twenty-mule-team wagons that helped settle the West.” Carole cinched up Starlight’s saddle. “And the old coaches that were early versions of buses. And sulkies, and …”

Lisa nodded. “There’s tons of material out there. We just have to figure out how to cram it all into a ten-minute report.”

“Want to stop by the library after class?” Carole asked.

“Sure,” said Lisa. “It might take us two weeks just to figure out what we want to say.”

Just then they heard a sad sigh from the other side of Belle.

“Stevie?” Carole asked. “Is that you?”

“Yes,” Stevie replied glumly. “I’m just listening to what a great time you guys are going to have working on your project while I’ll be stuck here with You-Know-Who.”

“Oh, Stevie, maybe it won’t be so bad.” Lisa adjusted the bit in Prancer’s mouth. “Maybe she really has changed for the better. Maybe she’ll come early in grubby clothes to work on the driving project.”

Stevie tightened Belle’s girth. “Yeah. And the moon’s made of green cheese, and there’s a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.”

Lisa shrugged. “I know Veronica’s changing might be far-fetched, but it’s not absolutely, totally impossible.”

Stevie sighed again. “But I don’t want to spend ten minutes with that creepy girl, much less two weeks. Plus, I’ll actually have to try to cooperate with her!” Stevie shook her head. “The only time I ever have any fun with Veronica is when I insult her!”

Lisa laughed. “Well, I guess the next two weeks are just going to be a real challenge for you.”

Carole snapped on her hard hat. “Stevie, Veronica probably messed up her manicure so badly this morning that she’ll beg off doing any more work for the next two weeks. You won’t have to put up with her at all.”

“Right!” cried Lisa. “You’ll be free to do the whole project yourself!”

Stevie’s honey blond hair seemed to stand on end. “That’s the good news? I get to train two saddle horses to drive as a team and put on a demonstration in front of Phil all by myself? In two weeks?”

Carole frowned. “Well, okay, maybe that’s not such good news, but look at it this way: It might be the best thing in the world if Veronica doesn’t show up. Agreed, she’s a rotten human being, but she’s got a wonderful horse. Danny’s a smart, willing animal, and training him should be a piece of cake. You’ll be the star of the whole show, and Phil will be there to see it all!”

Stevie buckled Belle’s chin strap, then grinned. “You know, you might be right. It would be hard, training two horses all alone, but if I could pull it off, it would be spectacular!”

“Why don’t we just concentrate on having a spectacular flat class now, Stevie?” said Lisa. “Then we can all three think about the Veronica problem afterward.”

“Okay,” Stevie replied, once again smiling as she led Belle toward the indoor ring.

T
HE INDOOR RING
had been cleared of all jumps and cavalletti, and most of the Horse Wise riders were waiting for class to begin. When Stevie saw that Veronica was at one end of the ring talking to Polly and Betsy, she led Belle to the opposite end. Lisa and Carole followed.

“How come we’re going over here?” Lisa asked.

“I don’t want to ride too close to Veronica,” replied Stevie. “Some of my dirt samples might accidentally rub off on her.”

Carole glanced over her shoulder. “At least she’s not riding in her cashmere sweater,” she giggled.

“That means she’s changed clothes three times already this morning, and it’s not even ten o’clock.” Lisa shook her head. “That must be some kind of record.”

Suddenly the girls heard a loud clap. Max strode to the center of the ring. “Okay, everybody. Mount and warm up for about five minutes. Then we’re going to do some exercises in pairs.”

“What’s this thing with pairs Max has today?” Stevie asked as she climbed up on Belle. “Why can’t we work as trios?”

“Beats me,” Carole replied. “Maybe this is Max’s Promote Harmony by Riding in Pairs campaign.”

“Well, I’m all for that,” said Stevie. She glanced at Veronica. “Only some of us need to become distinctly more harmonious.”

The girls started walking their horses slowly around the ring, building up to an extended walk and finally a slow trot. It felt good to get their stiff riding muscles limbered up, and by the time Max had clapped his hands again, all the horses and riders were ready for the lesson. Even Stevie felt good. All problems, she decided, looked smaller from the back of a horse.

“Okay.” Max walked to the center of the ring. “Today we’re going to work on some fairly simple exercises, but we’re going to work on them in close pairs, side by side. It’s important that you and the person you’re teamed up with work together and cue your horses into making these gait changes smoothly and at the same time. Understand?”

When everyone nodded, Max continued. “Okay. Let’s choose partners. Everyone who’s working with someone on a driving project, just pair up with your partner. Everybody else team up with the rider behind you.”

For a moment everyone scrambled to get a partner. Lisa and Carole trotted to the side of the ring, happy to be teamed up, but Stevie gulped as she tried hard to
remember what she’d just decided about problems looking smaller from the back of a horse. Veronica diAngelo and Danny were walking straight toward her and Belle.