New Rider (10 page)

“If it’s close, I bet Max will favor Lisa,” Zach said. “Must be nice having your own instructor be the judge.”

“Zach!” Carole cried indignantly. “Max would never be biased toward any rider.”

Zach had the good grace to look sheepish. “Sorry, C. You’re right. Max is a righteous dude.”

They all settled down to watch the competition. Zach stayed long enough to watch both Phil and Lisa compete, but Stevie noticed he looked bored and restless. After a while he wandered away, telling the two girls he had to get ready for his next class.

As it turned out, Phil took the blue ribbon and Lisa
snagged a close second place. Stevie and Carole hurried over to them.

“First place, huh?” Stevie said, admiring Phil’s ribbon. “I’ll probably be hearing about this for the next few weeks. Of course it goes without saying that if I had been in the class, this ribbon would be mine.”

Phil laughed. “If it goes without saying then why are you saying it?”

“Just making sure we all know where we stand,” Stevie said loftily. She turned to Lisa, who was gazing happily at her red second-place ribbon. “Good job, Lisa.”

Lisa beamed. “Thanks, Stevie. Hey, where’s Zach?”

“He’s got another class in a few minutes,” Carole told her. “Let’s go watch. Maybe he’s got himself together now.”

Stevie settled into her place next to Phil, keeping her fingers crossed that things would go better for Zach this time.

This was a simple pleasure class. The idea was when the bell sounded once, the riders were to change to the next fastest gait; when the bell rang twice, back to the next slower one.

As usual they all started at a walk. Right from
the beginning things went wrong. Zach’s riding technique was fine—in fact, Stevie thought it was better than ever—but he kept getting confused about which gait he should be in. He was clearly having trouble remembering what the bells meant, and unfortunately it was causing chaos among the other riders.

Stevie groaned as Zach missed yet another cue. “This is terrible,” she said, clutching Phil’s arm tightly. “I can hardly stand to watch.”

“I thought you said this guy was a phenomenal rider,” Phil said doubtfully.

“He is,” Lisa said. “At least he seems to be when he’s not competing.”

“If he doesn’t start concentrating, Mrs. Schoef is going to dismiss him,” Carole noted.

A few more minutes passed with Zach showing no improvement, and Carole’s prediction came true. The judge disqualified him and asked him to leave the ring.

Stevie could tell even from where she was watching that Zach was hugely upset. At first he pulled Barq to a stop and stared at the judge as if he couldn’t believe his ears. Then, instead of walking his horse quietly out of the ring, he kicked Barq into a gallop and raced angrily
to exit at the other side of the arena. He pulled up just short of the gate and flung himself out of the saddle, using the same technique he had shown off at the gymkhana.

Phil looked impressed. “Maybe this guy can ride after all.”

Stevie frowned. “Rider or not, there’s no excuse for that kind of behavior. His tantrum is a bad reflection on all the Horse Wise riders!”
Especially The Saddle Club
, she added in her mind,
because everyone knows we’ve been coaching him.

Angrily she and the others went to find Zach.

To everyone’s amazement and dismay, all they found was Barq, abandoned and cropping grass near the out gate, with his reins trailing on the ground. Zach was nowhere to be seen.

“I can’t believe Zach would leave Barq here without even tying him up,” Stevie said with disappointment.

Lisa approached the horse. “That was totally outrageous. Barq could easily have hurt himself if he’d stepped on these loose reins.” She gathered up the dangling straps.

“He’s lucky his horse didn’t run away,” Carole said. “Most animals would have, especially with all this activity going on around them.”

Stevie was appalled. Had Zach learned nothing
about his responsibilities as a rider over the last few weeks? He had put Barq in a dangerous situation and only thought of himself. “Come on. First things first, let’s put poor Barq away. Then later on I suggest we have a serious talk with one Zachary Simpson.”

T
HE
S
ADDLE
C
LUB
dutifully removed Barq’s tack and made sure he had food and water before leaving him in his stall.

Carole sighed. “I guess it’s a safe bet Zach won’t be wanting to ride anymore today.”

“I still can’t believe he would leave Barq alone like that,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “You’d think he didn’t care about him at all.”

Carole was still struggling to understand it herself. “Why would he do something so irresponsible?”

Stevie laughed harshly. “He’s a boy, that’s why. My brothers are always doing dumb stuff they know they’re not supposed to do, and they always have the same excuse: ‘I forgot.’ ”

An idea started to form in Carole’s mind but she couldn’t quite lock on to it.

“Hey, Carole, don’t you have another class soon?” Lisa reminded her.

Carole checked her watch. “Yikes! The hunter seat. I’ve got to go!”

Stevie frowned. “I was going to try to find Zach, but I’d definitely rather watch you.”

“What about me?” Lisa demanded. “I’m competing in the serpentine right before lunch. Don’t I count?”

“You know I wouldn’t miss it,” Stevie laughed. Then she grew more serious. “After all the work we put into that, someone might as well benefit.”

Carole led the way to Starlight’s stall to make a final check of her equipment. When she was satisfied, she pulled herself into the saddle and touched the horseshoe for luck. She was about to ride over to the ring when a thought occurred to her. “Stevie, don’t go looking for Zach,” she advised. “He’s probably not feeling too good about himself right now. We might only make things worse if we talk to him before he calms down.”

Stevie looked unconvinced. “Somebody needs to tell him he can’t act like that in a show.”

“Maybe that should come from Max,” Lisa suggested. “He is the instructor. Besides, Carole and I need a cheerleader for our classes and we’ve elected you.”

“All right,” Stevie agreed. “Anyway, this is too nice a day to let Zach’s temper tantrum ruin it.”

Carole made her way to the in gate, joining a small knot of waiting riders.

The hunter seat class consisted of a set of jumps in a figure eight. The obstacles were smaller than the ones Carole had competed over earlier, but this time she was going to have to jump them without the use of her stirrups. Points would be awarded to whoever best maintained the correct style.

Carole pushed the problems with Zach out of her mind and concentrated on the work at hand.

The first part of the course came easy, but halfway through her ride Starlight gave one of the rails a hard knock. Carole’s heart skipped a beat as she waited for it to fall, but she heard nothing and the crowd didn’t react, so she figured she’d gotten lucky. Unfortunately, the jolt had rocked her slightly out of position, and although she was quick to correct it, she knew she had probably lost a few points.

A few more jumps and her turn was complete. Overall Carole felt she had done pretty well, and when she heard Lisa and Stevie whooping at her from the sidelines, she was sure of it. Her spirits soared.

At the end of the class, Carole was pleased to accept
her red ribbon for second place. She quickly tied up Starlight and rushed to join Stevie and Phil in time to catch Lisa in the serpentine class.

“How do you think she’ll do?” Phil asked.

“Hard to say,” Carole answered. “You know how tricky flying lead changes can be.”

Phil grunted his acknowledgment.

“I worked with her and Zach on them,” Stevie told them. “Lisa thought she needed the work, but she looked really good in practice.”

“It doesn’t matter if she wins,” said Phil, “as long as she does her best.”

Stevie looked at him with affection. That sort of attitude was exactly why she liked him so much.

“Is Zach going to ride in this event like he planned?” Phil asked.

“Not likely.” Stevie snorted. “What a waste of my time that turned out to be.”

Carole was saddened to hear Stevie say that. She was about to say something when Lisa’s name was called and all thoughts of Zach were pushed from her mind.

Lisa did very well in the class. She wasn’t the fastest through the course, but she managed to keep her lead changes consistent and correct. In the end she
was rewarded with a third-place ribbon. The only downside was that snotty Veronica diAngelo had taken first.

The gang hooted and hollered their approval as they watched Lisa accept her prize, then went to meet her.

“Good job, Lisa!” cried Stevie.

“Most excellent,” Carole said, giving her a hug.

The girl beamed happily. “Thanks, guys, but I’m sure glad that’s over with!”

“Of course you are,” crowed Veronica, who was passing by. “After all, no one wants to revel in their failures.” She caressed the blue ribbon on Danny’s bridle meaningfully.

“Look Veronica—” started Carole, but she was interrupted by a loud gong. Mrs. Reg was calling everyone to the main house for a barbecue. Carole bit her tongue. “Come on, guys, that’s lunch.”

Veronica waved a hand at their group as though shooing them away. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from the trough,” she sneered; and with an obnoxious laugh and a flip of her long, glossy black hair, she moved off into the crowd of riders and horses.

Stevie glared at her. “I suppose that’s her way of saying she won’t be staying for lunch.”

“I, for one, hope it is,” Phil said, putting a comforting
hand on Stevie’s shoulder. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but she sure puts me off my feed.”

“Don’t you think we should go and see if we can help out?” Lisa suggested.

“Good idea,” Stevie agreed. “We’ve got a lot of hungry riders to feed around here.”

“I’ll pitch in, too,” Phil offered.

“Negative,” Stevie told him firmly. “You’re our guest today. Go hang out with your friends until we’re ready to serve, then we’ll join you.”

Phil shrugged. “Okay, see you at lunch!” He quickly headed off.

Stevie crossed her arms on her chest. “Can you believe that?” she said indignantly. “He didn’t even try to insist.”

Lisa shook her head resignedly. “Avoiding work. It’s got to be a boy thing.”

That did it. Carole had a sudden insight into what was going on with Zachary Simpson. She wanted to share her revelation with the others, but it would have to wait. Right now, The Saddle Club was urgently needed to play host to the other Pony Clubs, and there was no way they could get out of it like Phil just had.

A
FTER ALL THE
guest riders had departed and most of the chores were finished, the three girls slipped up to the hayloft to talk over the events of the day.

“I’m exhausted,” Stevie declared, throwing herself down on a convenient hay bale.

“You can say that again,” Lisa agreed from where she, too, had collapsed.

Carole stretched her stiff back and wriggled her tired toes. “Do you think Mrs. Reg saw us come up here?”

“I don’t think so,” Stevie said. “Besides, it’s not like we haven’t earned a break. I’ve never washed so many dishes in my life. Not to mention set tables, carried food …”

Lisa took over. “Peeled vegetables, grated cheese, poured drinks …”

“Swept up, emptied the trash, cleaned out the barbecue pit…,” Carole added.

For a moment the three of them were silent.

“What a great day!” Stevie burst out with a wide grin.

“The best,” Carole laughed.

“I love days like this,” Lisa declared happily.

The Saddle Club looked at each other contentedly.

“The only bad thing about today was that I won’t be able to see Phil again for a while,” Stevie sighed wistfully. “I wish he didn’t live so far away.”

Lisa frowned. “Actually that wasn’t the only bad thing about today. Zach didn’t exactly hold up well under pressure.”

“He made us look like bad teachers,” Stevie said, starting to fume. “I don’t think he used anything we taught him over the last two weeks.”

“In one ear and out the other,” Lisa agreed. “We gave him all that time and attention so that he could do well in his first show, and what does he do? He runs off in a snit without even taking care of his horse!”

“He acted like a rank amateur,” Stevie declared.

“A jerk!” exclaimed Lisa.

Carole listened to her friends without saying anything. She understood they were severely disappointed and needed to let their frustrations out. After a bit more grousing, however, she decided to speak up. “Actually, I think I know exactly what his problem is.”

They both stopped talking and stared at her.

“You do?” Lisa asked.

Carole nodded.

“So tell,” Stevie demanded.

Carole shrugged. “He acted like a typical boy.”

“He is a boy!” Stevie cried. “That’s no excuse!”

“You’re right,” Carole said. “It’s not an excuse but it is an explanation.”

Her friends looked puzzled.

Carole squirmed on her hay bale. “First, I think you should know …” She sighed. “I’ve been a little jealous
of Zach and all the attention he’s been getting around here. It seemed like even you two wanted to spend more time with
him
than me.”