Horse Games by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online

the direction of her teammates. Her teammates were more or less able to track down her throws successfully and even managed to pass the ball between themselves a few times, though not as many times as the Cross County players. They managed to do it more often and better. They even managed to score, six times.
    “Twenty-two to one!” Max announced at the end of the chukka.
    “Gee, next time, maybe we should opt for four-minute chukkas,” Stevie said angrily.
    Carole barely heard her. As she rode toward the edge of the playing field, she saw that Marie was walking away—headed for her car. Carole couldn’t let her just leave. She had to talk to her!
    Carole handed Starlight’s reins to one surprised Pony Clubber and ran after Marie.
    “Hey, don’t go!” Carole called to her. “Wait! I want to talk to you!”
    Mrs. Dana paused and waved to Carole. Marie didn’t turn around. She just moved slowly, awkwardly, toward her car.

“I T ’ S OKAY ,” C AROLE said, catching up to Marie. “I know how bad we were. You don’t need to be embarrassed by it. You won’t have to say anything nice to me about our play—not even the goal I made for the other team.”
    Marie laughed in spite of herself. “It’s not that,” she said.
    “I was joking,” Carole said. “That’s the first time we ever played the game. It won’t be so awful next time.”
    There was a twinkle in Marie’s eyes. “If they’ve agreed to play with you again, it must be to bolster their confidence. I can see their schedule now: Lose one. Play one against Horse Wise. Lose one. Play one against Horse Wise.”
    “Very funny,” Carole said. And it
was
kind of funny.
    “But the good news is that you’re here. Are you going to take lessons? Let me introduce you to Max …”
    Marie seemed uncomfortable then—as if she wasn’t ready to talk or decide. “We were just passing by,” she began. “Mom saw you guys riding. I thought it would be okay if we watched. That’s all.” She turned to finish her walk toward the car.
    “But that means you haven’t paid the entry fee yet, then, have you?”
    “Entry fee?” Marie asked. “You mean there was a charge for watching
that
game?”
    “Well, sure,” Carole told her. “The charge is that all curious onlookers have to have the grand tour of the whole stable. You’ve got time now, don’t you?”
    For a second, Marie just stared at Carole.
    “All right. You win,” Marie said. “But I’m a really slow walker these days. This could take a while and I might get tired.”
    The last thing Carole wanted was to have Marie decide she was too tired to finish the grand tour. Then Carole realized she could kill two birds with one stone. She could make sure Marie wouldn’t get tired, and she could tempt her with some horseback-riding experience. “You know, we don’t have any wheelchairs around here, but we do have a way of getting people around without walking. Why don’t you wait here for just a few minutes …”
    Carole was gone before Marie could protest or change her mind. First, Carole fetched Starlight to park him in his stall until she could untack him. Then, she had a brief word with Max, who agreed with her plan, only because he trusted her judgment, he told her. Then she found Lisa, enlisted her help, and put her plan in action. Then minutes after she’d left Marie, she and Lisa returned, leading Nickel. Nickel was one of Pine Hollow’s ponies. He was small enough to be easy to mount, even for somebody with weak legs, and he was gentle enough for anybody to ride, even somebody who wouldn’t be able to control him well.
    “I’d like to introduce you to Pine Hollow’s answer to barrier free. His name is Nickel.”
    The steel-gray pony looked curiously at Marie. Carole gave Marie a carrot to give to Nickel.
    “It’s a good way to break the ice,” she explained. Then she showed her how to feed it to Nickel. “Put the carrot on your hand and hold it out to him with your fingers