The Long Ride (9 page)

“No way!” she said. “I know you're a handful, and there's no way I'm taking a chance. I'm going to touch that horseshoe before we take one more step.”

Fez pulled at the reins and pranced nervously, but he did what he was told, and Carole managed a successful swipe at the horseshoe before she and Fez entered the schooling ring.

It was early in the morning, and she had the place to herself. The only way she could get in a brief stretch of exercise for Fez that day was to do it before work. She'd been hoping to have a chance to ride Starlight, but that would have to wait until the trail ride the next day.

Carole's plan was to give Fez an easy workout for his first full day at Pine Hollow. She wanted it to be easy for both of them, since she had a full morning ahead of her, including a whole class of young riders who needed pony assignments and a meeting with the grain salesman to go over a mysterious and complicated bill. They began at a walk, and after a few times around the ring, she gave Fez a signal to trot. He was slow to respond. A well-trained champion horse like Fez should be eager to move to a more rapid gait, but he didn't seem eager to do anything she asked of him. It took three kicks and a flick of her crop to get his attention.

It was a frustrating business. Carole wondered if her annoyance with herself was affecting the way she was riding Fez and the way he was reacting to her, but she dismissed the idea. She knew how to ride. She also knew better than to take out her frustrations on a horse.

As the ride went on, she found that she had enough frustration to take out on a hundred horses. Champion though he might be, Fez was no joy to ride. She felt as if he were giving her a fight about everything. No wonder he was an endurance champion—any rider would have to have a lot of endurance to put up with this!

Carole took a deep breath and held her temper. How could she be mad at Fez? He must be terribly confused. He'd just had a long trip, which he clearly hadn't liked. He was in a new stable, surrounded by totally new horses, handled by totally new people, probably eating a new mixture of grains, exercising in an unfamiliar schooling ring. Everything had to be frightening to him. There was no reason why his rider should be frightening, too.

Carole leaned forward and gave him an affectionate pat on his neck. “Good boy,” she said. “I know you're trying, and I'll try, too. We'll do just fine together. You don't have to worry, because I'd never do anything to hurt you. I'll be gentle as can be and take good care of you.”

In thanks, Fez bucked.

Fifteen frustrating minutes later, Carole began thinking about how much fun it was going to be to assign ponies for the beginner class. That was when Stevie arrived. As far as Carole was concerned, Stevie was the proverbial knight on the white horse—only in this case, it was a good thing she arrived without a horse, because Carole was more than willing to provide one.

“Can you give me a hand here?” Carole asked.

“Sure,” Stevie said. Carole wondered briefly if she should leave Stevie in blissful ignorance and abandon her to Fez. Somehow that didn't seem fair.

She rode over to where Stevie stood by the fence and dismounted. Fez relaxed instantly, and Carole was amused to see that he was clearly as relieved to have her out of his saddle as she was to be out.

“I've done something dumb and I really need some help,” Carole confessed. “This is Fez. He's new at the stable and he's like a VIP. The owner was here yesterday. She was difficult, fussy, and moody, and she kept telling me how wonderful her last stable was. Well, you know how I am. I can't stand the idea that anybody thinks any other stable is better than Pine Hollow, and she gave the strong impression that her horse was exercised by the staff as part of his board there, so naturally—”

“Carole, you didn't!”

“Well, I guess I did,” Carole said. “I told her I'd exercise him four days a week.”

“Right, like Max is going to pay you for that?”

“Not a chance,” Carole said. “I know. It's on me. I'm going to have to deal with it, and soon. But until I do, I made a promise. Now, I've got a whole bunch of stuff to do in the office before the beginners arrive. Can you give this guy the rest of his workout?”

“I'm always happy to ride,” Stevie said.

“This may be an exception,” said Carole. “He's a real handful—as bad as his owner. The workout is simple, though. He's just got to get some kinks out. Loosen him up until he's relaxed, maybe another half hour.”

“Oh, sure,” Stevie said. “You let me take care of this boy. All he needs is a little of Stevie's special tender loving care. He'll be putty in my hands in no time.”

“Thanks,” Carole said, handing her the reins. “But don't forget to touch the horseshoe.”

Before Stevie could ask for any more information, Carole had headed for the office.

It only took a few minutes for Stevie to see what Carole was talking about. This horse was a handful. There were some horses it would be wonderful to exercise, but this guy—what was his name?—was going to take more than a little getting used to.

Walk, trot, canter. He did them all, but he balked and fussed. She didn't like to use her crop on an unfamiliar horse, but when she did, he didn't pay any more attention to her. She decided to use a gentle hand while she and the horse got used to one another. It meant generally letting him have his way, but it also meant they weren't fighting all the time, and at the very least it meant that he got the exercise he needed, even if he didn't get the discipline routine training required. Tomorrow would be another day.

When she'd finished putting him through his paces—or, more accurately, letting him put himself through whatever paces he wanted to go through—she dismounted and walked him around the ring to cool him down. They'd need to be out of the ring before the beginner class started.

The second time around the ring, she noticed that she was being watched. It was Callie, the girl she'd met last night. Stevie walked over to her.

“Welcome to Pine Hollow!” she said.

“Well, thank you,” said Callie. “You're riding early this morning.”

“I'm doing someone a favor,” Stevie said as she dismounted. “This horse belongs to some difficult VIP who has just started here, and my friend was trying to soothe some ruffled feathers, so she offered to exercise him for the owner—”

Something was wrong, and Stevie knew it before she could stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth.

“I guess that would make me the difficult VIP with the ruffled feathers,” Callie said.

“Oh, no, I'm sure there's a mistake here,” Stevie said, but she knew the mistake was hers. “I probably totally misunderstood. Anyway, I've been riding this horse and he's a handful, so I guess what my friend meant was that the horse is difficult. I just wasn't listening too carefully because the horse is so, um, well, he's a beauty, but he
is
hard to handle. Didn't you say he was a new horse for you?” There had to be some way to deflect the conversation into a safer zone.

“We're renting him with an option to buy. Fez has been winning endurance ribbons all over the place. I'm sure he's feisty. I know he gave that girl—Carole?—trouble yesterday when he got off the van. But I rode him before we signed his papers and he's good—that is, if you know how to handle him.”

“I guess I have some learning to do,” Stevie said, still trying to recover from one of the most embarrassing situations she'd ever created. “But I'm about done with his exercise. I think he's loosened up, and he won't be so difficult tomorrow.

“I'm sure you're right,” Callie said. “I have to go now—unless you need me to do something with Fez?”

“No, no, I'll take care of him,” Stevie said. “I'd like the chance to get to know this champ a little better. Grooming is a good way to make friends. Um, how was the pizza?”

“The—? Oh, right, the pizza. Last night. It was fine. Thanks. Well, see you sometime.”

“Tomorrow,” Stevie said. “Remember the trail ride?”

“You sure? This isn't just something nice to do for a hard-to-handle VIP?”

“No, I'm sure. And it'll be good for Fez here,” Stevie said. “He'll love to spend some time in the woods. It'll feel like home to him.”

“Right,” said Callie. “Tomorrow. Bye.”

“Bye,” said Stevie. She leaned against the fence and watched Callie walk back to the car that was waiting for her. Stevie thought she had never in her life been so glad to have a conversation end. She'd liked Callie from the moment she'd met her the night before, and she thought Callie liked her. This was someone she could be friends with, and any friend of Stevie's was bound to be a friend of Carole's and Lisa's. Well, that was a great way to begin a friendship! She'd insulted Callie and betrayed Carole's confidence.

Fez broke into her unhappy thoughts by nipping at her shoulder.

“I guess I deserve that,” Stevie told the horse. “That and more. Think you could kick me a few times? Throw me when we go over a fence? Whatever you do, it wouldn't hurt as much as what I've done to myself, that's for sure.”

Fez just stared at her silently. “All right, then I'll groom you. If I work hard enough, maybe it'll make me forget what I just said to skewer my best friend. Shall we give it a try?”

For the first time that day, Fez behaved perfectly. He followed Stevie's slightest signal to return to the stable and stood absolutely still while she groomed him.

The work wasn't enough to distract her, though. All she could think of was how much she'd been looking forward to going on the trail ride with Carole and Lisa. This would be their last trail ride together for months, until Lisa got back from California.

And now she had two little things she had to share with Carole. First she had to confess that she'd told Callie that Carole thought she was difficult, and then she had to tell Carole that she'd had the foresight to invite the aforementioned difficult rider along on their trail ride!

No
, Stevie told herself. It wasn't even nine o'clock in the morning and she'd already made enough terrible mistakes for a week, much less a day. Confessing to Carole was almost certainly going to lead to at least one more mistake. That could wait.

NINE

Carole was on the phone when Stevie stuck her head into the office the next morning at quarter of nine. Stevie had arrived early so that she'd have a chance to talk to Carole and let her know she'd invited Callie along.

Stevie waved to get Carole's attention.

“No, of course we're having the class, Mrs. Van Buren,” Carole said into the phone. “It's just that Max will be teaching it instead of—um, yes, he's a good instructor—Well, he owns the place. He's taught for years. He was practically born on a—Mrs. Van Buren—”

Carole's eyes rolled up to the ceiling. Obviously she was having a difficult phone conversation with somebody who
(a)
wasn't listening and
(b)
wouldn't have understood what she was hearing even if she had been listening. Carole circled her ear with her finger to indicate her feelings about Mrs. Van Buren's sanity. Stevie nodded.

Finally Carole convinced Mrs. Van Buren that Max would be a worthy instructor for her first lesson. She cradled the phone. “The whole world has gone crazy,” she told Stevie.

“Well, since we're on the subject,” Stevie said, recognizing a chance to segue when she heard one. “There's something—”

Four little girls shoved past Stevie and planted themselves in front of Carole's desk.

“Erin said you said she could ride Patch today,” one of them began.

“But you told me Max said the one who did the best in the relay races could have Patch this week, but Erin didn't do best, even though her team won. Sophie was the best and she doesn't want Patch, she wants to ride Penny, so Caitlin should get Patch, but she told Max I kicked Peso too hard, but that's not true, so she shouldn't be able to ride Patch—”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Carole said, putting her hands over her ears. “The pony assignments are posted in the tack room. No changes will be made. Period. Nobody's riding Patch because he's got a swollen ankle and I know you didn't kick Peso and there's only fifteen minutes until class starts so what are you doing here?”

The little girls fled.

“Uh, speaking of difficult, well, I mean, fussy riders—” Stevie began.

The phone rang. Carole answered it and then listened intently. “No, Mr. Burns. I am sure that what we ordered was oats and not pellets. We have pellets left, so we wouldn't—” She covered the mouthpiece and looked at Stevie. “I spent half an hour with this man yesterday and today he wants to go over it all again—Uh, yes, Mr. Burns. I have a copy of the purchase order. I gave it to you yesterday.… Yes, sure, I'll fax you another copy, but in the meantime, Mr. Burns—Mr. Burns?” She hung up the phone. “That man is impossible!” she said.

“Well, yes, some people are,” said Stevie. “Look, there's something I need to talk to you about.”

“Thank heavens we'll have time to talk on the trail ride. This place is a zoo; I can't wait for the peace and quiet of the woods. Could you tack up Starlight for me?”

“Of course,” Stevie said. “But before then, Carole, you should know—”

The phone rang again. “Yes, Mr. Burns. Well, I'm glad you found it.… No, Mr. Burns, that's not this order, you're looking at the purchase order from last month.” Carole put her hand over the mouthpiece and spoke with Stevie while Mr. Burns droned on. “I'll see you in the stable as soon as I can get away from here. Okay?”

“Okay,” Stevie agreed. It wasn't okay, but she knew she couldn't do anything about it right then.

Lisa was giving Prancer a quick brushing when Stevie returned with Belle's tack. The two of them worked side by side, chatting about the commotion around them while they tacked up their horses.