Horseshoe by Bonnie Bryant Read Free Book Online Page B

jerk of his head.What was that all about? she wondered. She had her answer a moment later, when Mrs. Reg, Max’s mother and Pine Hollow’s stable manager, came out of the office looking grim.
    “Veronica,” she called sharply, “come here.”
    Veronica tossed her head and rode Garnet to the side of the ring. No one ever disobeyed Mrs. Reg.
    “I have something that needs doing in the stable,” she said, “and since you’re not part of the drill, I want you to do it. Come inside. You can rejoin the lesson when drill practice is over.”
    Veronica dismounted and sulkily led Garnet inside. The drill team members looked at one another with undisguised relief. Stevie, bending down over Belle’s neck, got a good look inside the stable door. Mrs. Reg was handing Veronica a pitchfork and pointing inexorably toward a row of stalls.
    “She’s going to clean stalls!” Stevie cried with glee. Muffled laughter went around the group—except, Carole noticed, for Jessica, who still seemed too upset to laugh.
    “All right, Miss Lake,” Max said, but didn’t bother to hide his smile. “All of you, let’s try it once more from the top. And concentrate!”
    With Veronica gone, practice went much more smoothly. After two times through without music,Max turned on the tape recorder. With music, the drill went even better. Max had selected different music to accompany each section of the drill, and since the music always matched the movement, it made the drill easier to remember. It also, thought Stevie, made it easier to ride smoothly—the music seemed to inspire both the riders and the horses to move in a rhythm, as if they were dancing. I’m dancing with my horse, she thought, and giggled.
    Carole was concerned. Though there was no denying that practice went much better without Veronica, she was worried about the effect Veronica had had on Jessica.
    Carole was sure that Jessica had been about to correctly lengthen Penny’s stride when Veronica got in her way. Now Jessica didn’t seem able to do it again—Carole could see her trying, but her rhythm was always off. Either she kicked Penny the way she used to and Penny shortened her stride, or she threw her hands forward too much and Penny cantered, or she didn’t give with her hands at all and Penny’s trot didn’t change.
    No matter what, Jessica managed to cross over in the right order, but the differences in pace or gait were noticeable—and would be noticeable, Carole realized, even to people who didn’t ride, like the peoplewho would be watching the drill. Carole knew that this was a very small flaw in a complicated drill, but she also knew that Jessica would feel bad if she didn’t get it right.
    After class Carole hurried to settle Starlight so that she could talk to Jessica. “Can I help you?” she asked, going into Penny’s stall. This time, she noticed, Jessica had Penny tied securely in the corner.
    “Okay,” said Jessica. “If you want to.” Carole helped her lift the saddle from Penny’s back. “I don’t know why you want to,” she continued. “If I had a horse as beautiful as Starlight, I’d spend all of my time taking care of
him
.”
    Carole set the saddle down outside the stall and brought the grooming bucket in. She handed Jessica a brush and they began working on opposite sides of Penny. “You’re right, I love taking care of Starlight,” she said. “But I didn’t come down here to help you take care of Penny. I came down here to see how you were.”
    “Oh.”
    “You looked really upset today, and I didn’t think you should be,” Carole continued. “It was wrong of Veronica to pull out in front of you like that, but you shouldn’t take it personally. She’s like that toward everyone.”
    “No,” Jessica replied. “She’s mad at me. I know why.”
    “You do?” Carole felt confused. “Why?”
    “Because I messed up so much on Saturday. I wasn’t listening well enough, and Veronica was trying to tell me what to do, and I