Show Jumper (5 page)

Although Lisa applauded along with the rest, Carole’s almost perfect performance made her a little nervous. Even if this was only a practice round, it was one of the last before the show, and Lisa didn’t think it would look so great if she made a major mistake. Stevie seemed to sense her fear, because she turned and grinned understandingly at Lisa. “Big fan club,” she said. “You’ll have to take Carole’s ego down a peg or two,” she added humorously, rolling her eyes at the impossibility of Carole’s having a huge ego. Carole, as
they both knew, was incredibly modest about her riding ability. She exuded a quiet confidence when riding, but she almost never bragged about herself—although she was definitely guilty of bragging a little about Starlight because she loved him so much.

Carole and Starlight trotted over to Max for his comments. “On the third and sixth jump, you were a little rushed,” he said. “Although you want to guide Starlight toward each jump and encourage him to speed up a little to gain momentum, you got him racing toward it. He can easily lose control that way and take the obstacle badly and at the wrong angle. Light but firm pressure with hands and knees will help during those moments. Otherwise”—he paused and smiled at Carole—“I’d say you and Starlight did great. You’re both ready for the Macrae.”

Carole thanked him. She looked very pleased, and Lisa and Stevie saw her reach down and rub Starlight’s neck.

It was Lisa’s turn. Her heartbeat had gotten so fast and so loud, she felt it drumming in her ears. Before gathering up the reins, she wiped her hands on her breeches—both palms were soaking wet. She took a deep breath. She wiped her hands again. She adjusted her hat. She scratched her nose. She took another deep breath.

Then she realized what she was doing and silently laughed at herself.
I cant be this nervous—we’re not even
at the Macrae yet!
she told herself.
This is just a practice. Get a grip. Concentrate, concentrate.
Feeling herself calm down, she took up the reins.

“All right, Lisa—let’s go,” Max called out.

Despite her resolve, Lisa looked at the course and felt her heart begin hammering even faster. She couldn’t ride this course. The jumps were enormous. What was she thinking, asking to ride Samson in the Macrae? Samson deserved better than her. Samson deserved someone as experienced as Carole. No, Samson deserved a professional.

“Lisa? Is anything wrong?” she heard Stevie ask.

Suddenly Lisa sat up straighter in the saddle and took up the reins firmly. “I’m fine,” she said so loudly that Stevie and Samson both gave a little start. She looked over at Max and nodded, and he nodded back, still waiting for her to begin.
Don’t be silly
, Lisa told herself.
Max wouldn’t let you ride in the Macrae Valley Open, representing Pine Hollow Stables and Horse Wise, if he thought you were going to completely fail.
That thought didn’t sound quite right—she certainly wanted to do better than avoid a complete failure.
I mean
, she corrected herself,
Max must have confidence in you to let you ride in the Macrae. He must feel you have a chance.

She looked straight ahead at Samson’s ears, which were pricked up eagerly for her signal to start. Confidence, Lisa knew, was a huge part of jumping. Determinedly she shortened the reins and cantered Samson
in a circle. They broke out of the circle and headed for the first fence.

Samson sensed Lisa’s sudden determination and increased his speed as they approached the first fence. He rose to the fence and cleared it with feet to spare. Although it was bad form to clear the fence with a wide margin of space, since that wasted the horse’s energy, Lisa couldn’t help feeling heartened at Samson’s boldness. With a horse like this, who could
not
do well?

Samson cleared every jump with no problems. Although Starlight was a good jumper and a great all-around horse, jumping separated Samson from every other horse at Pine Hollow. He made it seem effortless, taking the obstacles as easily as if he were simply trotting around the ring.

As Lisa and Samson finished a clean round, another explosion of applause broke out among the spectators. “That’s some horse!” Lisa heard May Grover say to another rider.

Lisa waved at Max and the audience with a relieved grin. Despite the number of hours she and Samson had spent on jump courses recently, she was always happy when the course was behind them and Samson had put in yet another terrific effort. To her astonishment, Max was clapping along with the rest of the spectators and grinning. If Lisa hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that the expression on Max’s face was almost one of glee. He seemed unable to contain his excitement
that Pine Hollow—his own stable—had produced such a stellar jumper. “Good job!” he called out, almost shouting the words. Then he seemed to realize that he had just made an uncharacteristic display of emotion for a riding performance. He turned a little red and quickly called for Stevie to jump the course.

Stevie started Belle over the obstacles, but from the start it was clear that her concentration wasn’t as sharp as it would have been if she herself had been training for the Macrae. She laughed as she and Belle knocked down poles on the first two jumps. Stevie turned the mistakes into a performance. She shook her head ruefully and then clowned around a little, pretending that she was sleepy and had just gotten out of bed and Belle just
happened
to be jumping a course. She slumped in the saddle, yawned a few times, and faked rubbing her eyes.

Red motioned for Stevie to stop. Grinning widely—Stevie could be irresistibly funny—he lowered the fences, and Stevie finished the rest of the course in a lazy, relaxed style. Although Max shook his head with almost as much disapproval as he’d shown approval at Samson’s performance, everyone noticed that he had a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Goofing off on a regular basis could teach a horse bad habits, but Stevie’s occasional antics undeniably provided comic relief, especially during the recent stresses, and didn’t disrupt Belle’s normal training and exercise. With
Stevie, it was usually all or nothing—she was either hypercompetitive or ultra lazy. Carole and Lisa had often witnessed her fretting over a dressage competition and vowing to beat the other entrants, but they had just as often seen her put on performances like this one.

Watching Stevie finish the course and take an elaborate bow from the saddle, Lisa couldn’t help wishing for a moment that she could be like her friend and take a break now and again from trying so hard. Although Stevie sometimes got into fights with her brothers or got frustrated when she couldn’t see her boyfriend, Phil, enough, she never dwelled on things the way Lisa did. All Lisa’s life—at school or taking part in the many lessons that her mother had signed her up for—she had strived for perfection. She worried over her grades, which were usually straight As; she worried over her ballet classes; and she even worried about silly things like embroidery.

Today, however, Lisa couldn’t think depressing thoughts for long. The exhilaration from her first practice round was just too wonderful. Riding Samson, who jumped so easily and gracefully, was like dancing with a great partner. She was ready to jump the course again, right then, with none of the butterflies or sweaty palms from the first round, Lisa was surprised, however, that Max hadn’t given her more precise criticisms after her round.
But after all
, she told herself,
what could be wrong
with Samson’s jumping? And how could I do better than a clean round?

Max let Carole and Lisa try the course two more times, with Stevie good-naturedly retiring from practice to watch. Both times, Starlight and Samson jumped clean again. Then Max called the jumping to a halt and beckoned Carole, Lisa, and Stevie over with a pleased smile. “We can’t risk making the horses sore two days before the show,” he said. “Good job today. Let’s do some trotting, and then you can cool them down. Remember, no jumping tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll check over all the equipment, make sure that all the tack is clean, and pack up the van. I’ve asked other Horse Wise members to pitch in and help us out with the equipment check and cleaning, but I expect,” he said, looking sternly at all three, “to see a certain three riders logging in major hours in the tack room today and tomorrow.”

Under ordinary circumstances, The Saddle Club would have emitted at least a token groan about the prospect of cleaning tack for hours. Although they realized that the chore was necessary, tack required a lot of elbow grease and patience to keep it in good condition. With the Macrae only two days away, however, the three girls didn’t even make a face. They cheerfully agreed with Max and started trotting the horses around the ring.

After cooling the horses down, Carole, Lisa, and
Stevie took them into the stable and gave each of them an extra-special grooming—Carole and Lisa because of the Macrae and Stevie because Belle loved the feeling of the currycomb. Whenever Stevie groomed her, the mare stood very still and at times even closed her eyes, nickering in pleasure. “Maybe I’m scratching an itch that she can’t reach,” said Stevie, shaking dust out of the currycomb and starting on Belle’s hindquarters.

Using a metal mane comb, Lisa carefully pulled strands out of Samson’s mane to make it more even. She then began smoothing the hairs with a water brush. “Well, it’s not like horses can just reach up with their hooves and scratch their backs,” she said.

“True, but they can always scratch their backs against a tree, right?” said Stevie. “Don’t bears do that?”

“I only hope that if there comes a moment when Starlight scratches his back against a tree, I’m not on him!” said Carole, grinning.

Laughing and chattering, the group finished grooming the horses and then fed and watered them. “TD’s?” Stevie suggested when they had finished. TD’s was the ice cream parlor where The Saddle Club often went after a day at the stables.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Ms. Tack Manager?” asked Carole.

Stevie looked blank for a second, then snapped her
fingers. “Oh, right, cleaning the tack. Darn. The growling in my stomach completely erased my memory. We’ll put in a couple of hours and then go, okay?”

“I have an apple in my locker to tide you over,” offered Carole. Stevie’s appetite never ceased to amaze her or Lisa, nor did the crazy concoctions she ordered from TD’s. Stevie could eat enormous amounts of food, and if her parents would let her get away with it, she would eat things like cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner—and not gain a single ounce.

“Thanks,” Stevie said. “That should be just enough until I order my sundae. I’m considering peanut butter ice cream with pineapple sauce and coconut.” Carole and Lisa wrinkled their noses and groaned.

On their way to the tack room, The Saddle Club passed a group of younger riders, all of whom had watched the day’s lesson. The Saddle Club was well liked by the younger riders at Pine Hollow, and Carole often got asked for advice about riding and horses. She was known not only as the most experienced rider, but also as the person most willing to dispense information.

Today, however, the younger riders didn’t seem interested in Carole and instead focused their attention on Lisa. “Lisa, do you think I can ride Samson? Just once, please?” begged May Grover.

“How about me?” chimed in Jasmine James, May’s good friend.

Momentarily confused by the attention, Lisa said, “Well, Samson really belongs to Max, so I guess you’ll have to ask—”

“Do you think you can teach me more about jumping?” interrupted Dawn Mooreland, a beginning rider who had just joined Horse Wise.

“Yeah, how fast do you want to be going when you make the turns between the jumps?” asked May.

Lisa’s cheeks flushed pink. She was embarrassed by all the attention, but she was undeniably flattered by it, too. As long as she had been at Pine Hollow, no one had ever sought her out for advice about riding like this. Lisa had joined Horse Wise with minimal riding experience, but with frequent riding lessons, a lot of practice, and, of course, help from her fellow Saddle Club members, she had progressed very quickly.

One of Max’s most important rules at Pine Hollow was that before a horse show, riders had to write down their goals for the show. He tended to frown upon riders who insisted that they wanted “to win the blue ribbon,” even though Stevie, who could be pretty competitive, was hard to discourage in that area.

Lisa had written down her goals for the Macrae as soon as she knew she and Samson were to compete, and she had wisely kept them modest. “Gain experience in competing in shows like the Macrae,” she had written.

Now, surrounded by a bunch of younger riders
clamoring for her advice, Lisa began to feel even more optimistic about her chances in the Macrae. Maybe she had a better chance than she’d thought to win the junior jumping division. Maybe she wasn’t so far behind Carole, after all. And maybe what she lacked in experience, Samson would more than make up for with his incredible jumping talent.

“Well,” she began confidently, in a style completely unlike her usual one, “when I ride Samson toward the first jump, I usually hold the reins like this.” She demonstrated her grip for the younger riders, who hung on every word.

Stevie looked at Carole, raised one eyebrow, and grinned. Was this the Lisa they knew?