English Horse (5 page)

“I
T
’
S VERY NICE
to meet you, Seattle Slew,” Tessa said, bending down to scratch the head of the purring gray cat winding its way around her legs. “I’m sorry, though, we’ll have to leave you behind now. We’re going to visit Prancer next, and she’s afraid of cats.”

Lisa grinned, pleased that Tessa had remembered this detail about the Pine Hollow stable horse she usually rode. She leaned over to pat the cat. “Actually, we usually call this one Seattle Mew,” she said. “Come on. Prancer’s stall is right around the corner.”

Tessa gave the cat one last pat, then followed. “It’s so interesting that Max names all his stable cats after famous horses,” she commented. “You might say it’s surprisingly eccentric, actually.”

Stevie raised one eyebrow and gazed at Tessa. “Oh, really?” she joked. “And this coming from someone whose family names everything in sight after characters from a bunch of musty old books?”

All four girls laughed at that, Tessa hardest of all. Her family lived on a large estate outside of London known as Dickens. The family had taken the name to heart, naming all of their horses after characters in Charles Dickens novels. For instance, during their visit the American girls had ridden horses named Copperfield, Pip, and Miss Havisham.

“Well, anyway,” Tessa went on as the girls continued toward Prancer’s stall, “someone should tell Max that if the people around here are serious about this point-to-point business, he really ought to name a few kittens after famous steeplechase horses.”

Carole chuckled. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “So far we have cats named after stars in practically every other kind of horse-related sport. There are Seattle Slew, Seabiscuit, and Eclipse for flat racing; Big Ben for show jumping …”

“Hambletonian for harness racing,” Lisa supplied.

Stevie nodded. “And don’t forget Rembrandt. She’s that pretty little black-and-white cat who’s named after the famous dressage horse.”

“Adding some steeplechase stars to the menagerie is a good idea,” Lisa told Tessa. “There’s just one problem—we don’t really know any.”

“Oh, there are plenty to choose from,” Tessa insisted. “There’s Lottery for one. He was the first to win the Grand National. Then you have Red Rum, Golden Miller, Desert Orchid, and all sorts of others.” She grinned. “I even know of at least one rather well-known American ’chaser—Flatterer. That might be a good one to start with.” She shrugged. “In fact, maybe I’ll make the suggestion to Max myself when I see him. Where is he, anyway? I can’t believe we’ve been here nearly an hour and he hasn’t turned up.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’s around somewhere,” Stevie said vaguely. She was glad they hadn’t run into Max yet. She was in no hurry to come within range of his glare again.

Luckily, just then they arrived at Prancer’s stall, distracting Tessa from any further thoughts about Max. “Oh, she’s gorgeous!” Tessa cried in admiration.

Prancer was standing at the front of her stall with her ears perked forward curiously. She let out a snort when she saw Lisa, stretching to nuzzle her pockets for treats.

“Hi there, girl,” Lisa said, giving the horse a hug. “Did you miss me yesterday? I missed you. By the way, this is our friend Tessa.”

Tessa stroked the mare’s nose. “Hello, Prancer,” she said. “You’re positively gorgeous, did you know that?”

Carole grinned. “Sure she does,” she replied on the horse’s behalf. “Lisa tells her all the time.”

“I think she likes you, Tessa,” Stevie remarked. Prancer had turned her attention away from Lisa and was snuffling curiously at Tessa’s shoulder.

“That’s no surprise, is it?” Tessa said. “You told me last night that she loves everyone under the age of twenty.”

“Almost everyone,” Stevie muttered, thinking of Veronica.

The four girls spent a few more minutes with Prancer, then moved on so that Tessa could meet the last few Pine Hollow residents. She also met several of the other young riders, who were starting to arrive for the Horse Wise meeting.

“The people here are all so lovely,” Tessa remarked as they left yet another stall. “The horses, too. You have such a variety—frisky young things like Belle and Starlight and Romeo and Derby, chubby old darling Patch and grand old Nero, all those adorable ponies, elegant Thoroughbreds like Prancer and Calypso …”

Lisa nodded. She knew there were at least two Thoroughbreds at Pine Hollow that Tessa hadn’t yet met. One of them was Danny, and Lisa, for one, had no intention of going near his stall. Veronica didn’t usually arrive early for Horse Wise—or anything else—but there was no sense in taking chances.

“Come on,” she said. “Speaking of Thoroughbreds, you still have one very important horse to meet. And we don’t have much time left before we have to get to the meeting.”

“Topside, right?” Tessa said eagerly. “You told me so much about him yesterday I feel as though I’ve met him already. I can’t wait to see him in person!”

“We’re sure you’ll love him,” Carole assured her. “Mostly because we all do—especially Stevie.”

Stevie nodded. “I used to ride Topside most of the time before I got Belle,” she explained. “He’s fantastic. He used to belong to Dorothy DeSoto, so he’s incredibly well-trained and athletic. Besides, he’s the nicest, most cheerful horse you’d ever want to meet. He really loves to perform well for his rider.”

Lisa grinned. “But those aren’t the only reasons he’s perfect for you, Tessa,” she said. She winked at her friends. “You see, when we found out you were coming, we wanted to make you feel right at home.”

Tessa paused in the stable aisle, looking intrigued. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Does he look like Humbug?” That was the name of Tessa’s horse back home.

Carole shook her head. “Nope,” she said. “But before Max’s new horses arrived, we figured Topside was the closest thing we had to a real English horse.”

“Now I’m truly confused,” Tessa declared with a smile. “Didn’t you tell me yesterday that Topside is a blue-blooded American Thoroughbred, born and raised right here in Virginia?”

“Yep,” Stevie confirmed. “Topside is English by marriage, not by birth.”

Tessa laughed out loud. “Oh, I can’t wait to hear the explanation for this!”

Stevie grinned. “Like I said, he was once owned by Dorothy DeSoto … and Dorothy is married to Nigel Hawthorne.”

Tessa gasped. “Of course! I’d forgotten about that. And Nigel is a member of the British Equestrian Team!” She clapped her hands and laughed again. “So Topside has British in-laws. I get it!” She shook her head good-naturedly. “Now I
really
can’t wait to meet him. He and I will have
so
much to chat about!”

The four girls hurried to Topside’s stall. After the arrival of Derby and the other newcomers, Max had moved Topside to a stall just down the aisle from Danny’s. Carole gave Danny’s stall an anxious glance as the girls passed, but there was no sign of Veronica. That was no real surprise. Today’s Horse Wise meeting was unmounted, as every second meeting was, and it wasn’t like Veronica to show up early and risk being made to do stable chores.

Tessa loved Topside just as much as her friends had expected. “Oh, he’s so sweet!” she cried as the big bay gelding nuzzled her cheek. “I can’t wait to ride him.”

“You’ll get your chance soon enough.” Lisa glanced at her watch. “We have a jump class right after lunch. But now we’d better get over to the indoor ring—the Horse Wise meeting will be starting soon.”

Tessa reluctantly said good-bye to Topside, then all four
girls strolled down the aisle toward the indoor ring. As they rounded the corner, they almost ran smack into Veronica.

“Watch where you’re going,” Veronica snapped automatically. Then she noticed Tessa behind Stevie, and her usual unpleasant frown deepened. “Oh. It’s you,” she said flatly, staring at the British visitor.

Tessa returned Veronica’s surly comment with a sunny smile. “Hello, Veronica,” she said politely. “It’s marvelous to see you again. I trust you’ve been well?”

Veronica opened her mouth, then closed it again. “Um, sure,” she muttered, shooting a suspicious glance at the other girls.

“Wonderful,” Tessa said, still smiling.

Lisa couldn’t help smiling, too. She was relieved that Tessa was being so polite despite Veronica’s rudeness. That meant Veronica didn’t have any cause for complaint, which meant Veronica had no excuse to get The Saddle Club in any more trouble with Max.

“I don’t know what’s so wonderful about it,” Veronica said, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder and scowling at Tessa. “In fact, I think things are getting worse around here. I mean, Max is just letting anyone ride here now.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped in astonishment. She exchanged glances with Carole and Stevie, who also looked stunned.

Tessa wasn’t thrown. She chuckled. “Oh, Veronica,” she said. “You have such an interesting sense of humor!”

Veronica snorted. “Well, you have an interesting taste in friends,” she said sarcastically in a bad imitation of Tessa’s accent.

That was enough for Stevie. “Listen, Veronica,” she said heatedly, stepping forward with her fists clenched at her sides, “that’s enough. How dare you talk to our friend like—”

“Is there a problem here?” said a familiar voice.

Lisa whirled and saw Max standing in the doorway to the indoor ring with his arms folded over his chest. Mrs. Pennington was standing beside him. The old woman had a slightly bemused expression on her face. Max just looked suspicious.

Lisa gulped. “No, no problem at all, Max,” she assured him hastily.

Stevie had clamped her mouth shut as soon as she realized Max was nearby. She nodded. “We’re fine,” she said. “We were just—uh—asking Veronica if she knew what today’s meeting was about.”

Veronica smirked, but she didn’t say anything.

Max still looked suspicious. “Come outside and you’ll find out,” he said dryly. “We’re meeting in the outdoor ring today.” Then he saw Tessa. “Oh, hello there!” he greeted her, smiling for the first time. “Welcome to Pine Hollow.”

As he introduced Tessa to Mrs. Pennington, Lisa leaned toward Carole and Stevie. “That was a close one,” she murmured.

Stevie nodded and cast a glance at Veronica, who was heading outside. “She’s going to be trouble,” she said grimly. “I can smell it.”

I
T TURNED OUT
that Mrs. Pennington was the guest speaker at the Horse Wise meeting. She was there to talk about her current sport, carriage driving.

“Like so many equine sports, driving began as a very practical pursuit,” the elderly woman explained to the crowd of Pony Clubbers gathered around Pine Hollow’s large outdoor ring. “After all, before the invention of the motor, all transportation depended on animals, especially the horse. Horses pulled fire engines, public carriages, carts that carried coal and wood and other goods, even funeral hearses. They helped with plowing and other farmwork, towed barges and trams, and carried the mail.”

Carole nodded. She had read quite a bit about the hard work horses had done in the service of humankind. While she could hardly imagine a life that didn’t center around horses, she knew that to many other people in the modern world, the noble animals were a novelty. But it wasn’t so long ago that nearly everyone had had daily contact with working horses.

Mrs. Pennington went on to talk more about public and private coaching in the old days, as well as modern driving sports such as international driving trials, driven dressage tests, marathons, and obstacle competitions. It was very interesting, especially since so much of the information
was new to most of the riders. Carole sometimes thought it was amazing that she could learn so much about horses and still find out there were all sorts of things she didn’t know.

When Mrs. Pennington had finished speaking, Max stepped forward. “And now we have a very special treat,” he said with a smile. “As some of you may already know, Mrs. Pennington will be boarding one of her driving teams here with us while her own stable is being renovated. They just arrived this morning, and Mrs. Pennington has graciously agreed to give us a demonstration.”

“Cool!” Carole whispered.

Lisa nodded, glancing at Tessa to make sure she wasn’t listening to her. “I guess this means we didn’t scare her off from boarding here.”

“Great!” Stevie added. “That means Max has no reason to be mad at us.”

Lisa snorted. “Oh yeah?” she whispered. “Tell that to Max!”

Their conversation ceased when Miles Pennington appeared around the corner of the building. He was leading a pair of burly, glistening, perfectly matched bay horses. They were wearing a plain black leather harness, which was hitched to Max’s pony cart. The cart looked even smaller than it really was behind the powerful hindquarters of the huge bays.

“I only wish my own carts and buggies had arrived in
time for this demonstration,” Mrs. Pennington told the group apologetically. “But I’m afraid they aren’t being shipped down from Pennsylvania for another week or so. We’ll just have to make do.”

Miles led the horses forward into the ring, then helped his grandmother into the cart. She picked up the reins, holding both pairs expertly in her left hand. In her right hand she held a long, slender whip, which she flicked lightly to guide her horses as they broke into a brisk trot.

“I’d like to introduce my team,” the woman announced, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the cart wheels. The horses trotted around the ring in perfect harmony. “That’s Hodge on the left, and his brother Podge on the right.”

Max spoke up with a smile. “Can anyone guess what breed Hodge and Podge are?”

Carole studied the two big geldings for a moment. Hodge and Podge were both a little over sixteen hands tall, solid and muscular. Each horse had a large, handsome head with a hawklike profile. They were a deep, solid bay color, with black legs, thick black manes and tails and not a speck of white to be seen on them anywhere.

Carole raised her hand.

“Yes, Carole?” Max nodded at her.

“They look like Cleveland Bays,” Carole said.

Mrs. Pennington pulled her team to a stop. She glanced at Carole, looking pleased. “That’s right, young lady,” she confirmed. “Now I’ve got another question for
the group. Does anyone know where the Cleveland Bay breed originated?”