Carole (4 page)

Plus, when we told Max our idea about introducing the horses and everything, he just nodded. “Great,” he said.
“Sounds like an excellent idea. And in return, I have a favor to ask of you three. I was thinking we could have a mounted games demonstration at the picnic.”

He explained that he’d been trying to get more students interested in signing up for Pony Club games. He thought that if we showed people how much fun the games are, more of them would want to give it a try.

So that’s why I need to think of some ideas. We already came up with a few possibilities, like a costume race and the traditional baton relay race. And of course Stevie voted for her personal favorite, the super soaker target shoot.

Mounted Games: Ideas

1. Shadow Tag: This one’s always fun and really fast-paced, which should make it fun for the audience.

2. Musical Tires: We played this a lot at one of my old stables. Just like musical chairs, except riders trot around a line of tires on the ground, and when the music stops, riders have to dismount and run to stand in one of the tires.

3. ???

I’m sure I’ll think of more ideas soon. Now that I think about it, mounted games have always been some of my absolute favorite things to do on horseback. Maybe that should be a clue in my quest for the perfect career. After all, if I end up being a riding instructor like Max, I would get to supervise that sort of thing all the time. Plus it must be really fun teaching kids (and adults, too) to love horses and riding. I think I could be really good at that. I already like talking to people about horses, and I even enjoyed helping Deborah with her
tack earlier. Of course, Max is so busy running Pine Hollow and teaching all us students that he doesn’t have much time for anything else, like competing in shows himself or training young horses (or dating eligible women, obviously—ha ha!). Seriously, though, I guess I’ll have to think about whether that kind of stuff is important to me, or if it’s more important to share what I know with new riders.

This isn’t going to be easy.
Aargh!
How do people ever decide what to do with their lives?

Okay, I’ve been thinking about ideas for games to play at the picnic, and since this is going to be such an important day, I decided we ought to have at least a couple of really special games instead of just the usual old egg-and-spoon or shadow tag or costume race stuff. Even the super soaker thing doesn’t seem quite exciting enough this time, though it might be okay to start things off with. Anyway, here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

(1) Watermelon Stomp: Since we’ll probably have watermelon at the picnic anyway, we would just have to get a few dozen extras. We’d make all the riders line up in a circle at the edge of the ring, then scatter the watermelons around in
the middle. You’d get points for every watermelon your horse stepped on and smashed. I think Max would really appreciate how challenging this one would be—after all, a rider would have to have really good control of her horse to convince it to step on the melon instead of
over
it. So it would really show off our riding skills.

(2) Zebra Race: In this one, we could set up buckets of black and white paint (nontoxic of course, Carole, so don’t have a heart attack) at one side of the ring. The riders would start at the other end, riding bareback. They would have to ride across, dismount, and paint stripes on their horses to make them look like zebras. Then they would have to lead them back across the ring to the finish line. We would have to work out some kind of scoring system that would give some points for finishing faster than the others and some for artistic merit. Maybe the audience could vote on which zebra stripes looked the most convincing or something.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’m still thinking. Naturally, we could still also play some of the old classics like musical tires or whatever. But I think my games would definitely liven things up, don’t you?

Hi, Stevie. I just got your interesting list of games for the picnic. They both sound really creative and everything, but I think they might not be quite right for
this
demonstration. After all, part of what we want to do here is convince some of the women (at least the ones who aren’t already riders) how much fun riding is. And it might be better to do that with some slightly simpler games. I mean, if these women get all dressed up in their pretty summer picnic clothes, they probably aren’t going to be too thrilled if the horses start stomping on watermelons and squirting juice and seeds all over the place. (Not to mention the whole safety issue, and what Max would say about the state of the ring afterward.) Ditto for the paint idea. That could get kind of messy, too, and we don’t want to be stuck hosing off our horses when we could be introducing Max to his future wife, do we?

Anyway, I’ve come up with a list of games that will be fun and easy to understand. Here they are:

1. Baton or Flag Relay Race: A classic, so we should probably do it, especially since it’s really easy to understand what’s going on.

2. Costume Race: Active and funny and also easy to follow.

3. Super Soaker Target Shoot: As you always say, Stevie, this one’s usually a big crowd pleaser. And if a few people in the audience get sprinkled by a few stray drops, it’s no big deal. (Unlike being sprinkled with watermelon juice or black paint, ha ha.)

What do you think? Maybe we can talk about it on the phone later and figure out a final list to give to Max.

On another topic, I’ve been thinking about all the women we’ve invited to the picnic. I know we were talking about it on the trail ride the other day, but have either of you stopped to think about just how Max is going to react when he sees them all? I mean, thirteen single women is a lot. Think about it. We have my two: Tiffani the model and my dad’s secretary, Nicole. Stevie, you invited five, right? Your teacher and her two sisters, your old baby-sitter, and the waitress from TD’s. (I still can’t believe you convinced her to take the day off and come after all!) And Carole, you came up with
six
single women from the base, plus those two married women and their husbands who overheard you talking about the picnic.

So basically, we’re talking about
a lot
of (mostly) single women. All I can say is, Max had better fall in love with one of them. Because if he doesn’t and he figures out what we’re up to, he’s going to kill us!

Don’t worry about having too many women at the picnic. The more Max has to choose from, the more likely it is that he’ll find one he likes. Right?

I’m not sure Stevie is right about “the more the merrier” stuff she wrote in that e-mail. Sometimes I think that having too many choices makes things harder, not easier. After all, there are about a million interesting careers I could have that would involve horses, and so many of them sound like stuff I could really end up loving. It won’t be easy to figure out which one is the most important to me when they all could end up being so much fun.

For instance, I just pulled out my information packet from Moose Hill Riding Camp, because I remembered we’ll be getting ready to go there just a couple of weeks from now. As I was looking through all the stuff they sent, I was getting really excited. I mean, what could be more perfect than spending an entire week out in those beautiful woods, riding every single day, having cookouts, sitting around the campfire, and seeing old friends and making new ones? Actually, just about the only thing that could be better than that would be to spend an entire summer at Moose Hill! That makes me wonder if I shouldn’t think more seriously about working someplace like that when I grow up, or maybe even managing and running it, like Barry does at Moose Hill. I’m sure his job is a lot of hard work (any job that involves horses is), but it must also be sort of like going on vacation for a living. That
could be a cool way to do the kind of stuff I was thinking about before—teaching people to appreciate horses and riding, watching kids learn how to be better horsepeople, and all that sort of thing. Plus, since most camps are only open for the summer, it would mean I would have time for competitive riding or training or whatever during the rest of the year. Sounds pretty good … Maybe I can talk to Barry and the counselors while I’m at Moose Hill. I’m sure they could give me a better idea of what their jobs are really like and whether I would like doing the same kind of thing someday.

Anyway, I’d better sign off now. I was going to sketch out a training schedule for Starlight tonight—I really want to start working more on his flexibility, and he could use some refresher lessons on gait changes. But I’m running out of time, since I promised to check in the attic for extra old clothes for the costume race at the picnic tomorrow. Stevie wants to make sure everything is absolutely perfect so that Max will be able to fall in love without worrying about anything else.
Sigh
. A matchmaker’s work is never done!