Secret of the Stallion (13 page)

“We’ll do our best, sir,” Nigel said.

“Your best wasn’t good enough yesterday,” Yaxley grumbled.

“Dressage isn’t Sterling’s event,” Nigel said. “He’s too spirited for it.”

“And what about today’s cross-country? What are you going to be saying to me after that?”

“I’m going to be saying that we’ve done our best, sir,” Nigel said.

“Hmph,” Yaxley remarked. Then he stomped off.

“How can you stand that?” Stevie asked Nigel when she was pretty sure Yaxley was out of earshot.

“It’s the price I pay for being able to ride a fabulous horse like Sterling. It’s not the stallion’s fault that his owner is a wretch.”

Carole rubbed her hand along the horse’s face. He responded by nodding, as if he remembered the carrot she’d brought him the night before.

“How strange to have such a dreadful man own such a
wonderful horse,” she said, smoothing the stallion’s silvery coat.

“In a way, I understand,” Nigel said. “Horses are a business for him and he sees this fellow as an investment—an expensive one. He had his hopes set on Sterling.”

“As a show horse?” Stevie asked.

“No, as a breeder. But to be a valuable breeder, the horse first has to show that he’s got the stuff of champions. Unless he does, he’ll never be a valuable stallion be cause the public will not be clamoring for his offspring. I want the horse to succeed, but I also want to succeed for Yaxley. Years ago, he was one of the first owners to let me ride his mounts in the competition ring. I owe him a lot.”

“Well, you’re giving him a lot, too,” Carole said. “And I don’t think he understands how much.”

“He doesn’t have to understand, really. It’s my job to win for him.”

“And we’ll be cheering you on, too!” Lisa said brightly.

“Where are you going to be on the course?” Nigel asked.

“Everywhere,” Stevie assured him. She pulled a course map out of her pocket and showed him how they’d all figured they could dash around the course and watch Nigel several times during his trial. “We call these checkpoints,” Stevie explained. “If we’ve got the timing right, we should be able to see you in the woods, in the swamp, and at three jumps that are near each other.”

“Plus at the finish, of course,” Carole said.

“Every time you hear cheers, it’s us,” Lisa promised.

“So good luck!” Carole said. The girls gave Nigel and Sterling final pats and hugs.

“Thanks, girls,” Nigel said. “Your support means a great deal to me—”

“And to Sterling?” Carole asked.

“And to Sterling,” Nigel assured them.

The Saddle Club had seen cross-country courses before, but they’d never seen one this rigorous. Pine Hollow sponsored a three-day event every year, but three-day events varied tremendously in their difficulty, particularly in the cross-country section. In this case, the course was expected to take each rider about fifteen minutes to complete, including a section through a hilly wooded area, one through a swampy section, and another, the easiest to watch, over a serpentine of hazardous jumps. It was expected to be exhausting to the rider and the horse. One look at the first few riders covering the course and the girls knew that these expectations were completely accurate.

“First stop: the hillside!” Stevie declared and then led the way.

“This can’t be right,” said Lisa a while later when Stevie stopped to check her map. They were standing at the base of what seemed almost like a cliff—a rocky obstacle perhaps five feet high—leading up to a path that snaked through the woods.

“No way,” Carole agreed.

Twenty minutes later, the first horse arrived. The rider, seeing what lay ahead, took a good running start, and up the horse went, scrambling up the cliff onto the trail.

“Whew!” said Carole. “I’m not sure I would have thought it was possible.”

“What number was that?” Lisa asked.

“Seven-oh-six,” Carole said.

“Two more and then Nigel.”

The next competitor appeared a little while later. As with the previous one, the rider decided that the way to get up the hill was at a gallop. The horse agreed. They reached the base of the cliff and the horse crested it in two long strides. Unfortunately, the rider didn’t make it at all. She remained on the ground below, stunned by her fall.

She shook her head to clear it. Then she tried to stand up. Her ankle collapsed under her and she fell again.

She was out of the race and the competition. An official retrieved her horse while a medic helped her off the course and into an ambulance.

It was a sobering scene that prepared them for what was to come. The next horse refused the obstacle repeatedly, and he and his rider were eliminated.

Then came Nigel. Lisa and Stevie held their breath as they watched Nigel. Carole didn’t take her eyes off Sterling. The horse’s muscles shivered with anticipation. His nostrils flared. His gait changed from an easy canter to a tearing gallop. His head came forward, chin jutting almost
determinedly. His ears lay back. His tail flicked. He was ready. He never hesitated as he approached the cliff and he simply flew upward, landing smoothly on the ground above. Nigel beamed with pride.

“Yoweeeee!” Stevie cried out. Carole and Lisa joined her in cheering on their favorite rider. Nigel and Sterling were magnificent. And then they were gone, dashing along the course to their next obstacle.

Stevie checked her map. Their next checkpoint was on the other side of the hill. The girls ran around the hill as quickly as they could, arriving at the swampy area just in time to see the white stallion sloshing through the water at a raging clip.

The girls had to hurry to get to their next checkpoint so that they could watch Sterling jump.

It took them several minutes to make it back to the jump serpentine. By then they were tired from jogging, taking shortcuts across the course. The horses and riders had gone the long way at a gallop most of the time and had to be near exhaustion. And then they had to jump. The girls couldn’t wait to see how Nigel and Sterling did.

Just as they found a perch where they could view three of the jumps on the course, horses started thundering through one at a time. The horse before 706 arrived, splattering mud everywhere.

“This isn’t a neat and tidy event, is it?” Lisa asked, removing a gob of mud from her forehead.

“No, it’s pure rough-and-tumble,” Carole said, grinning with excitement.

The first jump they could see appeared to be a regular white fence. However, on the far side of it was a small pool of water. The horses would land in the water and then scramble up out of the pool.

“That’s one way of getting the mud off,” said Stevie, wiping splashed water off her course map.

By the time they’d dried themselves off, horse number 706 was ready to soak them again. They’d gotten smarter, however, and were now standing back a few feet. It was a good thing, because 706 was a magnificent jumper and soared right over the fence. His splash was tremendous. Apparently the rider was unaware of the water; she shrieked in surprise. The horse, however, was unflappable. He just kept on going.

“That’s a great horse,” said Carole.

“Not a bad rider,” Stevie said.

“What a pair!” Lisa said, smiling to herself. She was feeling wonderful. There she was with her two best friends, watching beautiful horses do seemingly impossible things. It was a nearly perfect combination. Only one thing could make it better.

“Here comes Nigel!” Stevie announced.

A look at Sterling made the girls realize that number 706 had been merely a horse. Sterling was a magnificent steed.

Nigel approached the jump at a smooth speed and at
just the right instant signaled Sterling to jump. The stallion flicked his tail, rose in the air, and soared over the jump. He flew so well and so far that he landed on the other side of the water. He never splashed a drop.

“That ought to keep Yaxley happy!” Stevie said.

“Yeah,” said Carole.

Minutes later Sterling and Nigel reappeared, ready for the next jump in their view.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen jumping like that,” Carole said, watching him take the next jump. Sterling made it over, but he stumbled as he landed. Clearly he was getting tired. He refused the third jump once, but flew right over it on the next try. And then it was time for the girls to race to the finish line.

The last part of the course was open and flat except for a final triple combination of jumps right before the finish line. The Saddle Club found Max, Mrs. Reg, Veronica, and Tessa waiting for them. Tessa winked as The Saddle Club arrived in the stands. Stevie knew the signal. It meant she had the pyrite. The three girls joined their group and waited for Nigel and Sterling’s finish.

“Where have you been?” Veronica asked.

“Out on the course watching Nigel,” Carole said. “How’s he doing?” Max asked.

“Brilliantly,” Lisa told him.

“Well, we did see Sterling refuse a jump, but he made it the next try,” said Carole.

“That can happen on a cross-country course like this,” Max said.

“Here he comes!” Stevie announced, spotting the speeding silvery horse.

The actions of the horse and rider were so smooth as they cantered that Nigel and Sterling seemed to flow across the final mile of the course rather than ride it. No matter how tired the horse was, his motion appeared effortless. Carole hoped that would be true of the final jumps as well.

Then the pair entered the ring where the course ended. Sterling didn’t hesitate at the final triple jump. His pace never slowed. He attacked the obstacle with courage. His feet ticked the first of the jumps, but it stayed up. He knocked the second one down but managed the third one without trouble. Then, clearly near exhaustion, they crossed the finish line.

Nigel’s personal cheering section rose to its feet and clapped as loudly as they could while the rider drew to a halt and bowed to the judges’ box. He then tipped his hat to the Pine Hollow group.

Lisa looked up at the scoreboard where Nigel’s score was posted. A cross-country event such as this was scored for time and faults. As long as a rider came in within the prescribed time, there were no time faults. In general, the time allowance was intended to be sufficient. Most riders who weren’t making egregious mistakes would make it within the time limit. So the more important factor became
faults earned along the course. Faults would be given if a horse refused a jump, if the rider took him off the course, if the horse or the rider or both fell, and for many other things. Because of the length and difficulty of the course, it was virtually impossible for a rider to have a clear round with no faults.

Nigel hadn’t had a clear round because of Sterling’s refusal and knocking one jump down, but he’d had a pretty good round and his fans were proud of him.

“He’s in second place!” Lisa said, looking up at the board.

“But it’s early in the day,” Carole reminded her. There are a lot of other riders yet to come.”

“Still, I bet Yaxley will be happy with these results,” Lisa said.

“He should be,” Max said.

“He should have been happy yesterday, too, but he wasn’t,” Stevie told Max.

“Well, I was happy with the way my group performed yesterday,” Max said. “And I’ll be happy today, too,
if
everybody is ready on time.” Max looked at his watch. It was a clear sign that it was definitely time to get to work grooming and tacking up.

“Race you to the stables!” Stevie said. The Saddle Club ran off. Veronica followed them at a leisurely walk.

“A
LL RIGHT, EVERYBODY
ready?”

They all were. Sixteen Pony Club riders were set for the next round of games.

“Then
smile
!” the woman commanded brightly before she opened the gate to let them into the ring.

Lisa, Stevie, Carole, and Veronica all smiled confidently. They had a lot to smile about—they were in first place. When Lisa thought back on that moment later, she realized it was probably the last time that afternoon that she’d smiled.

Nothing went right for the team from the moment the first handkerchief dropped until the final points were awarded. It wasn’t any one person’s fault, either. They were all making terrible mistakes.

Stevie got mixed up and carried the batons both ways instead of handing them off to Carole in the first race. That earned the team a fourth place. In the second race, it was Lisa’s turn to blow it. She and Pip circled the pole in the wrong direction and had to go back and circle it again. That moved them from first to third in the race. In the third race, Stevie dropped her egg three times. That wouldn’t have been so bad, because all the teams dropped their eggs. It was hard to hold an egg in a spoon on horseback. The really bad part was when Carole dropped it and Miss Havisham stepped on it. When Carole dismounted to fetch the egg, it was scrambled. Third place.

The team was drawing attention from the crowd, who wanted to see what kind of awful mistake they would make in the final race. The crowd was not disappointed. In the fourth race, it was Veronica’s turn to goof. She spilled an entire bucket of water, mostly on herself. At first there were just titters from the audience. Then, as Veronica tried to refill the bucket from the spigot, Nickleby got into the act. Apparently all that running and racing had made him thirsty, because as quickly as Veronica filled the bucket, he emptied it. When she bent to pick it up, he’d drained it nearly dry. The audience began laughing out loud.