New Rider (9 page)

I
T WAS EARLY
morning on the day of the show and most of the participants were still arriving. Since Stevie wasn’t competing, she could easily have gotten to Pine Hollow later, but she was eager to spend as much time in Phil Marsten’s company as she could.

She watched as Phil carefully unloaded his horse, Teddy, from the rusty but sturdy red-and-white trailer. “Teddy looks like he’s in good shape, but I’m not so sure about his rider,” she quipped.

Phil smiled good-naturedly. He was used to her sense of humor. In fact, he always said it was one of the things he liked the best about her. “I think I can manage to hold my own.”

“That should be good enough, since I won’t be riding today.”

“As I recall, it was me who snagged the blue ribbon the last time we competed,” he reminded her.

“I was having a bad hair day. A girl can’t do anything right on a bad hair day.”

Phil tied his horse to a rail. “Are you sure you didn’t throw yourself off Belle and bump your head in order to avoid the possibility of losing to me again?”

Stevie bristled. She truly adored Phil, but they were both extremely competitive when it came to riding. “Believe me, leaving Belle’s saddle was definitely not in my plans,” she assured him grimly.

Phil came over and took her hands. “I’m sorry, Stevie. I shouldn’t tease you about that. It’s bad enough that you got hurt at all, but I don’t even like to think about how much worse it could have been.”

Stevie was touched to see the concern on his face. He really was the sweetest guy, and the fact that he was horse-crazy made him just about perfect in her eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be as good as new in another week. You won’t have such an easy time of it at the next show.”

Phil released her and went back to work unpacking
his equipment. “You
are
a couple of blue ribbons ahead of me,” he acknowledged. “But I intend to cut down your lead today.”

“I wouldn’t go counting your chickens too soon, Phil,” she told him, helping him with his things. “After all, you still have Carole and Lisa to contend with. The other team, Sunny Meadows, also has a couple of good riders.”

Phil grinned. “Ah, the key word there is
good.
They have
good
riders, while I consider myself to be a great rider.”

Stevie studied his eyes with concern. “Oh my gosh, I think
you
may have a concussion, Phil!”

“Why would you think that?”

“At the rate your head is swelling, what else could it be?”

“Sounds like you two are off to a good start,” Carole said, approaching the duo.

“Hi, Carole,” Phil greeted her. “I was telling Stevie how I’m going to sweep the blues today.”

Carole raised her chin and gave him a challenging look. “In your dreams, Marsten. With me in the competition the best you can hope for today is a few sad seconds.”

“Make that thirds,” Lisa chimed in as she joined the group.

Phil laughed. “Looks like I’m outnumbered here, but in the ring it’s every man for himself.”

“Or woman for herself,” Lisa countered.

“Speaking of
in the ring
,” Carole said, holding up a piece of paper, “I’ve got the official order for the show.”

Everyone crowded around to see if there had had been any changes that they needed to be aware of.

“It looks like they’ve moved the jumping to later this morning and put a pleasure novice class in its place,” Stevie observed.

“Isn’t Zach signed up for that one?” Lisa asked.

Stevie nodded. “He sure is.” She felt a sudden twinge of guilt. In her excitement to see Phil, she had completely forgotten about Zach. Today was his very first show and he probably needed some help, or at least a little pep talk for the last-minute jitters all riders seem to get before entering the ring. “Has anybody seen him this morning?”

“He was in the stable a few minutes ago,” Carole told her.

“How is he?” Stevie asked.

“Cocky,” Carole said flatly.

Phil turned to Stevie. “Zach is the new rider you told me about, right?”

“That’s him.”

“Well, I’ve got everything ready for my classes,” Lisa said. “Why don’t we all go over and cheer him on?”

Phil shook his head. “No can do. I still have a lot of things to take care of.” He looked fondly at Stevie. “I’ll have to meet you later. Okay?”

Stevie smiled at him. They had this whole wonderful day to share together. “No problem,” she assured him. “I know how it is. Besides, there’s something important I have to tell Zach.”

“What’s that?” Lisa asked.

“The correct way to accept a ribbon.”

Carole looked doubtful. “What makes you so sure he’s going to win any?”

“Because none of you is riding in his classes,” she replied. “I’ll meet you in a couple of minutes.”

T
HE GIRLS FOUND
a good spot on the fence from which to view Zach’s first class. It was a beginner’s pleasure class and Stevie had high expectations. The contestants entered the ring.

“There are only half a dozen competitors including Zach,” Lisa observed. “Most of them younger.”

“After all we’ve taught him, this should be cake,” Stevie said gleefully.

“You know, age doesn’t always denote ability,” Carole warned them.

“What are you talking about?” Stevie demanded. “Zach is a natural. Everybody says so. Even Max.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that once or twice,” Carole said dryly. “I’m only saying some of those younger riders have been studying a lot longer than Zach. This is his first show, so maybe we shouldn’t get our hopes too high.”

Lisa nodded. “You’re right, of course. He’s bound to be nervous and make mistakes. If things go badly, we should really make an effort to support him.”

“Agreed,” Stevie said. “Who’s judging the class, anyway?”

Carole opened her show schedule. “Mr. Baker.”

All the girls knew and liked Mr. Baker, who was Phil’s riding instructor and the owner of Cross County Stables.

Lisa pointed to the entrance to the ring. “Shhh, they’re starting.”

Stevie watched the class with excited anticipation. At first everything went fine. Mr. Baker
asked for a walk and then an extended walk. Next came a reversal of directions and a move into the trot.

Lisa grabbed Stevie’s arm excitedly. “He turned inside on the reversal exactly like we taught him.”

Stevie said nothing. She had noticed that Barq’s collected trot was faster than the horse’s in front of him, which meant he was quickly closing the distance between them. She waited to see what Zach would do about it.

Zach seemed oblivious to the situation. Instead of passing the slower animal on the inside, as was acceptable, he allowed Barq to get closer and closer to the other horse’s rump.

“Oh no,” Lisa whispered. “Zach’s riding up on the back of that other horse.”

“Didn’t you warn him about that?” Stevie whispered back.

“I most certainly did,” Lisa defended herself. “He must have forgotten.”

“If he gets any closer he could get kicked,” Carole said.

Mr. Baker called for a reversal and a canter. “Whew!” Stevie said with relief. “That should help.”

Zach made the change in direction and gait fine,
and as soon as Barq began to canter, a big grin plastered itself across his face.

“Look at him,” Stevie laughed. “You sure can’t say he doesn’t enjoy riding.”

Carole shook her head. “Too bad he’s on the wrong lead.”

“What? Oh no!” Stevie wailed when she saw it was true. “Didn’t he listen to you at all?” she demanded of Lisa.

“Me?” Lisa said, looking indignant. “Lead changes were your department, not mine.”

Stevie slapped her forehead. “That’s right. Didn’t he listen to
me
at all?”

“All right, you guys, take it easy,” Carole told them. “It’s his first class and his first show. I bet he does better as he goes along.”

Stevie sure hoped so. “Look, Zach has Barq on the right lead now,” she said with relief. “I guess he did listen to me after all.”

“He looks nice at the canter,” Carole admitted. “Very smooth.”

After the riders circled a couple of times around the ring, Mr. Baker called for a walk. All the riders dutifully pulled their mounts down from the canter—all except Zach, who kept right on going around the ring.

“What is he doing?” Lisa asked, shocked. “Isn’t he paying attention?”

“Maybe he didn’t hear the call,” Stevie suggested anxiously.

“You’d think he’d notice everybody else is walking,” Carole muttered.

Zach finally slowed Barq to a walk. The incident hadn’t lasted long but Stevie feared the damage had been done.

The class ended shortly after that. Mr. Baker called the riders to order and began handing out the ribbons. Stevie watched with a sinking heart as prize after prize was given and none of them went to Zach. Finally his name was called to accept the sixth ribbon. He had placed last in the class.

Stevie was sure Zach would be devastated. “Come on. We’d better go talk to him.”

“Let’s all try to think of something positive to say,” Lisa suggested.

The Saddle Club caught up with Zach as he headed back to the stable. He was frowning and his face was flushed. It was obvious he was angry.

“Sorry, Zach,” Stevie said gently. “That didn’t go exactly according to plan.”

Zach spun to face them. “I can’t believe he gave me last place!” he fumed. “Didn’t that guy see how good I
was at cantering? I was the best one in the ring. He must be totally blind!”

“You did keep going after he called for a walk,” Carole reminded him gently.

“I know. I wanted to make sure he saw how good Barq and I were.”

Stevie could hardly believe what she was hearing. “Zach, it’s a terrible breach of etiquette to ignore the judge’s instructions.”

“Even if you think you have a good reason to,” Lisa added.

“I only wanted to show him that we were the best,” Zach grumbled. “That’s no reason to give me last place. That old dude obviously doesn’t like me.”

Carole frowned. “Judging isn’t personal, Zach, and I’ve never heard anyone accuse Mr. Baker of being biased before.”

“There’s always a first time,” he said grimly. “Lots of those other kids made mistakes. It’s not like I was the only one.”

Stevie was concerned by his attitude. Instead of learning a lesson from the experience, Zach was letting it make him bitter. Apparently he thought losing was anybody’s fault but his own. A big mistake. She considered pointing this out but then decided not to; he still had more classes to compete in and she wanted
to help him focus on them in a positive manner. “Yes, there were other kids messing up,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “Maybe Mr. Baker didn’t happen to see them when they did it. He hasn’t got eyes in back of his head.”

Zach seemed to brighten at that. “Yeah. You’re right, Stevie, I didn’t think of that. You know what they say: Timing in life is everything. I was unlucky, that’s all. You guys wait till the next class. I’m going for gold!”

“Blue,” Lisa said.

“Huh?”

“The first-place ribbon is blue,” she told him.

Zach smiled. “Whatever. This time it’s got my name on it for sure!”

Later in the morning, Stevie, Lisa, Phil, and Zach cheered Carole on from the sidelines as she competed in the jumping class. Watching her friend soar gracefully over the barriers made Stevie itch to get back in the saddle. Not being able to ride was killing her, and, worse, she still had another week to go.

“That looks really fun,” Zach said enthusiastically. “I’ve got to get in on that.”

“You can,” Lisa assured him. “But you’ve got to conquer the basics first.”

Zach made a face. “I hate all this technical stuff. Seems like a waste of time to me.”

“You have to walk before you can run,” Stevie reminded him.

Zach grinned. “If you can already run, why bother to walk at all?”

Stevie shook her head and focused on the ring. Carole had done an excellent job, not only going clean but doing it with impeccable style. At the end of the class she was the only one to have completed the course with no faults, which meant that she wouldn’t even have to compete in a jump-off. She had won first place hands down.

The group hooted and hollered as Carole graciously accepted her ribbon, then rushed to congratulate her.

“Nice riding, Carole,” Phil told her. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“That’s for sure!” Stevie told him with a twinkle in her eye.

“Hey, I’ve got a dressage class in a few minutes. What about my morale?” he mockingly complained. “You’re supposed to be rooting for me!”

Stevie punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Don’t be silly, you do enough of that for both of us.”

“We’d better get going, Phil,” said Lisa, who was riding in the same class. “The event is scheduled to start soon.”

As the two of them headed off to get their horses, Stevie returned to her place at the rail, but this time with Carole and Zach beside her.

“So, who are you going to cheer for?” Zach asked.

Stevie was torn. “My boyfriend and one of my very best friends in the world going head to head … Hmmm … I think I’ll hope for the best for both of them and be grateful I’m not in Max’s shoes today.”