Horse Tale (9 page)

As she hurried over to the temporary corral, Stevie didn’t notice the triumphant look that passed among her friends.

S
TEVIE GREW MORE
worried by the second as she watched Kate and Carole put their horses through some basic dressage
moves. Or, rather, as she watched Kate and Carole
try
to put their horses through some basic dressage moves.

Kate went first. Spot fought her tight rein the whole way, shaking his head and skittering sideways nervously every few steps. Kate gave up after only a few minutes.

Carole went next. Berry didn’t fight her, but he seemed confused about what he was being asked to do. Every few minutes he drifted to a stop and looked around, as if pondering what purpose there could be in trotting back and forth from one point to another.

Stevie was becoming more and more worried that Stewball wouldn’t catch on to dressage either. In fact, that tiny worry had been nagging at her since soon after she had decided to buy Stewball. She knew he was a Western horse born and bred, and she had been so excited at the thought of owning him that she hadn’t really thought about whether it was practical to try to convert him to a whole new way of doing things. No matter how much she wanted to be with him, was it fair to ask that of him?

After watching her friends’ disastrous attempts, Lisa didn’t even want to give it a try. Stevie wasn’t sure she wanted to, either, but she knew she had to. She had to know whether Stewball could do it. Her heart was in her throat as she mounted Stewball and aimed him toward the far corner of the “dressage arena” they’d marked off in the field. Taking a deep breath, she signaled for a slow trot and began to put him through an exercise she had been working on at home with Topside.

At first Stewball seemed a little perplexed by all the orders his rider was giving him. Stevie knew he had a mind of his own—and she knew that if he got it into that mind that he didn’t want to do dressage, there would be no changing it. But after a few minutes he settled down and began to respond to her commands as best he could.

Stevie felt a hundred percent better when they had finished the exercise. As she brought Stewball to a four-footed stop in the middle of the arena, she was grinning from ear to ear. “I knew he’d be a natural!” she crowed. Though Stevie would be the first to admit that Stewball was no Topside, the Western horse had caught on fast and done a creditable job in the end. Remembering how she had wanted to prove to Kate that Stewball could make it as an English horse, Stevie was sure she had just met that goal. And more important, she had convinced herself.

She dismounted and led Stewball over to where the others were sitting at the edge of the field. “Could you tell what was going on?” she asked Christine.

“Oh, yes,” Christine said. “Carole and Kate explained everything to me.”

“Good.” Stevie grinned at her friends and was a little surprised when they didn’t grin back. In fact, they looked rather distracted. She shrugged and decided they were probably just overcome with admiration for Stewball’s talents. “Obviously Stewball isn’t an expert, and it’s better if it’s done exactly right. But he did well enough to give you an idea. And before long he’ll be an old pro! After all, dressage
isn’t really that different from cutting when you think about it.”

Kate raised her eyebrows skeptically. “Oh, really? How do you figure?”

“When he’s cutting a horse or a calf out of a herd, Stewball has to be constantly on his toes, ready to change directions at the drop of a hat,” Stevie said. “In dressage a horse has to be ready to follow his rider’s instructions instantly, whether it’s to change leads or lengthen his gait or whatever.”

“I guess that makes sense, as far as it goes,” Kate agreed cautiously. “But, remember, a cutting horse does all that stuff on his own. A rider shouldn’t have to give his cutting horse any instructions at all aside from which calf or horse he wants him to cut out of the herd. In fact, in a cutting competition you can have points knocked off if the judges see you giving your horse obvious instructions.”

“That’s very different from dressage, then,” Carole commented. “In dressage a horse has to always be prepared to do exactly what the rider says, no questions asked.”

“I know all that,” Stevie said impatiently, a little annoyed that Carole and Kate seemed to find it necessary to lecture her on dressage. “I just meant that Stewball has the natural ability to do it. He hasn’t been trained yet, so obviously he’s not going to get it perfect the first time out. But he did a lot better than either of the other horses, and I think that says something about his abilities.” She turned to Christine. “So do you want to see more?”

“Uh, no,” Kate broke in. “Christine’s probably tired of dressage. Let’s show her something more exciting. How about some jumping? It won’t be easy in a Western saddle, but we can make the jumps low.”

“Sounds good to me,” Stevie agreed breezily.

A few minutes later the girls had finished constructing a jumping course in the field. They had stacked rocks and tree branches to make obstacles about eighteen inches high.

“Who wants to go first?” Kate asked.

“I’ll try it,” Lisa volunteered. She started Chocolate on the course at a trot, but it was clear from the beginning that the mare was confused about what she was being asked to do. She veered around almost every obstacle despite Lisa’s best attempts to keep her on track. The few times Lisa managed to keep Chocolate going, the mare slowed to a walk and stepped carefully over the logs.

Finally Lisa gave up and brought Chocolate back in. “I guess she’s just not cut out to be a jumper,” she said, dismounting.

“That’s okay,” Kate said, giving the mare a pat on the rump. “She has other skills. Anyway, who would expect a Western horse to do Eastern horse tricks?”

“Why don’t you and Spot give it a try, Kate?” Carole suggested. “You’re such an experienced rider that you should be able to make it through the course on a Western horse if anybody can.”

Kate and Spot did better than Lisa and Chocolate had, but not by much. Before every obstacle Spot started shaking
his head anxiously and trying to change course. Kate’s firm hand and expert riding eventually got the horse over all the jumps, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“I guess Spot has that Western horse mentality,” Kate commented when she rejoined the others. “It’s not that he
can’t
jump those obstacles. He just doesn’t see the point.”

“And by his age I bet he’s pretty stuck in his ways,” Lisa said with a nod.

“He probably is, even though he’s not really that old,” Kate said. “I mean, he’s a year or two younger than Stewball, for instance.”

Stevie couldn’t understand why her friends were being so downbeat about this whole demonstration. It wasn’t like them. “Lighten up, you guys, this is just for fun,” she told them. “Anyway, I’ll bet Stewball can do it. He’ll show these other horses how it’s done.”

Carole shrugged. “Well, if you want to give it a try …”

“Come on, boy, let’s go,” Stevie said to Stewball as she mounted. She signaled him to trot and aimed him at the first jump. His ears flicked forward, and as he approached the obstacle, he hesitated for just a moment. But at Stevie’s urging he picked up his pace again and took the jump perfectly. After that he seemed to understand what was going on. He cleared the course easily.

When they had finished, Stevie slowed Stewball to a walk and leaned forward in the saddle to give him a big hug. “You were terrific, Stewball!” she exclaimed. Any doubts she had had about teaching Stewball English riding skills had
vanished. She had been right in the first place. He was the smartest horse in the world, and he could learn anything.

S
OON IT BEGAN
to grow dark. The girls unsaddled and groomed the horses, then set them loose again in the makeshift corral. Together The Saddle Club began gathering dry sticks and twigs from the area around the campsite. It didn’t take them long to find enough, even with Dude running around and getting in their way.

“I guess that’s one advantage of this dry climate,” Lisa commented. “Back home in Virginia it’s usually a lot damper, so a lot of the wood you find is too damp to use.”

Christine wasn’t listening. “Look at that,” she said.

The others turned and saw what she was looking at. The sun was setting, throwing off streaks of deep red, orange, and violet. Carole, for one, was sure she had never seen such a beautiful sunset. “This place is different from home in a lot of ways,” she commented quietly.

The girls watched the sunset until it began to fade, then finished their task. Before long a campfire was crackling merrily in the fire pit. The girls settled down to roast their hot dogs (they had finally decided against bringing hamburgers, too) and to talk.

“This is so much fun,” Lisa said. “I’m glad you suggested it, Christine.”

Christine leaned back against a boulder and gazed up at
the sky, where the stars were growing brighter as the last bits of daylight faded. “I love it out here,” she said. “It’s so peaceful and free. Just us and nature.” She took a hot dog out of the package and tossed it to Dude, who gulped it down and wagged his tail gratefully.

“It’s like we’re a million miles away from everything,” Carole agreed.

“Yup,” Kate said. “Just us and our horses.”

“Speaking of horses,” Stevie began. Carole noticed that Stevie seemed to be the only one not affected by the quiet, reflective mood. “Can you believe Stewball? I mean, I have to admit I was a little worried about how he’d take to English riding, but now I can see there’ll be no problem. He’s just brilliant, isn’t he?”

“Brilliant,” Kate replied. Carole was pretty sure Stevie didn’t notice the sarcasm in Kate’s voice.

“I know,” Stevie said dreamily. “He really can do anything. He’s the perfect horse.”

The others exchanged glances. Carole was pretty sure she could see her own thoughts reflected on her friends’ faces. Maybe they had been wrong about Stewball. He really had performed very well in the English riding demonstration despite his complete lack of training. If he learned that fast, who could say that he wouldn’t make a fine show horse someday, especially with such a devoted and loving owner? And more important, who could say he wouldn’t be happy doing it?

Carole sighed and finished the last bite of her hot dog. “I’m beat,” she said. “Let’s hit the sack.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Kate, stifling a yawn. “It’s been a long and interesting day.”

Carole had a feeling Kate wasn’t talking about just the ride.

W
HEN
S
TEVIE AWOKE
, it took her a moment to remember where she was. It was pitch-black. The sound of light snoring came from nearby.

Then she remembered. She was in a tent in a Western arroyo. The snoring was coming from Carole. Stevie yawned, wondering what had awakened her. Carefully, so as not to disturb her friend, she pulled Carole’s arm out of her sleeping bag and pressed the button on her light-up digital watch. It was well past midnight.

Stevie let Carole’s arm drop and sat up. Carole moaned and rolled over but didn’t awaken. Then Stevie heard noises outside coming from the direction of the corral. Her heart began to pound. What if some kind of predator was threatening the horses? She crawled to the entrance of the tent and peeked out. The entire area was bathed in moonlight,
giving the landscape a luminous white glow as if it were covered by a thin layer of snow. It was beautiful, but eerie at the same time.

Then Stevie saw Dude dozing by the remains of the campfire, and she relaxed. If there were any dangerous animals around, she was sure the dog would have scented them and sounded the alarm. But, then, what were the horses doing? Judging by the noise they were making, they were restless, but Stevie couldn’t see them from the tent.

Just then a whinny came from the corral. “Stewball,” Stevie whispered. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she crawled back into the tent and felt around in the dark until she found her boots. She pulled them on and slipped out of the tent.

Outside, she stood up and looked around, marveling at how different everything looked in the moonlight. Dude had awakened as soon as she came out. He looked up at her and seemed to grin, his tail thumping on the ground. When Stevie headed toward the corral, the dog jumped to his feet and followed.

“Let’s just see what that crazy Stewball is doing now, huh, boy?” Stevie whispered, bending down to scratch behind Dude’s ears. As they walked past Christine’s tent and then the one Lisa and Kate were sharing, Stevie could see that the horses were milling around in the corral.

When she got closer, Stevie realized they were playing. She sat down on a boulder near the fence to watch, hoping they wouldn’t notice her presence. She held Dude beside
her, and the dog sank to his haunches, seeming to understand the need for quiet.

Stevie could tell right away that Stewball was leading the game. The silvery moonlight made the white patches on his coat glow brightly as he raced around, dodging in and out among the other horses. Stevie couldn’t tell what he was doing, but he seemed to be having fun. After watching a little longer she decided that the horses were playing some version of tag, though she couldn’t begin to figure out the rules.