Gold Medal Rider (10 page)

By the time they caught up with him, Nigel was riding Campfire into the open square that was the start box.

“He’s facing the wrong way!” Lisa said when Nigel made no move to turn his horse.

Dorothy smiled. “Just watch.”

A timing official began counting down from ten. Nigel sat poised and ready. Campfire quivered with excitement. “Three! Two! One!” said the announcer. On “One!” Nigel whirled Campfire around. They bolted out of the box at a gallop.

“Oh,” said Lisa.

“They always start that way,” Dorothy said. “Otherwise, the horse might take off too soon. I’m going to the water complex now. I want to see how Campfire handles himself there.”

“We’re going up to that big hill,” Stevie said, pointing. “We figured out that we can see the entire end of the course from there.”

“We’d better hurry,” Carole added, catching Stevie by the arm. They waved to Dorothy and took off in the opposite direction. They made it to the top of the large hill before Nigel came into view.

“There he is!” Lisa said. Nigel’s green-and-blue shirt shone bright against the winter-brown grass. From far away both he and Campfire looked very small. The jumps still looked big. The Saddle Club held their breath as Campfire cantered up to a big ditch with a log on the edge of it and flew over it like a bird.

“That’s amazing,” Stevie said. “And Southwood’s fences
are even bigger than that!” She raised her camera and snapped a quick picture of Campfire approaching another jump.

Nigel and Campfire took the last three fences well. As they landed after the final fence, The Saddle Club ran down the hill to meet them. By the time they reached Nigel, he was already on the ground, removing Campfire’s tack.

Campfire was covered in sweat and breathing hard, but he didn’t seem distressed. Nigel, on the other hand, looked completely exhausted. His jersey was soaked with his own sweat, and when he took his helmet off his hair was sopping. He started to unbuckle Campfire’s bridle. Lisa saw his fingers tremble.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Did you hurt yourself?”

Nigel laughed. “I feel like an old man,” he said. “No, Lisa, I’m fine. I just had to work very hard to keep Campfire under control out there. He wanted to run as fast as he could. He didn’t want to listen when I asked him to slow down.”

Dorothy looked over, smiling softly. “Full of himself, was he?” she asked.

“You bet,” Nigel replied. “He’s a goer.” From the looks Dorothy and Nigel exchanged, Carole knew they weren’t displeased. Campfire had proved himself brave.

Carole still had half her soda left. She offered it to Nigel, who drained it gratefully. “What if you’d gone too fast?”
she asked. “Would you have gotten penalty points?” She knew that horses were penalized for going too slow.

“No,” Nigel said, “but we probably would have run into the fences. Horses can’t jump well when they’re going that fast. At Campfire’s level, he can go pretty slowly and still be within time. Kate, though, is going to have to gallop fast and then slow down for the fences.” He frowned. “I’m a little worried that she doesn’t know how fast she has to go. Where is Kate, anyway?”

“Looking at the fences,” Stevie answered.

“Here I am,” said Kate, walking up. “Nice job, Nigel. I saw some of it.”

Nigel thanked her. He asked if she knew the time allowed for her course.

“Of course,” Kate replied. “Five hundred seventy meters per minute. But I’ve never had to ride that fast before, so I don’t know what it feels like. Will it help if I watch some of the first advanced riders go?”

“Maybe,” Nigel said. “I can watch them with you.”

“You can borrow my watch,” Dorothy offered. “It’s got a timer, and you can use it to gauge your speed. I’ll show you how.”

“I know how,” Kate said, taking the watch from her. “I’ve just never ridden the advanced speed before.”

Kate talked a few minutes more with Dorothy, planning her round, and then walked off with Nigel, deep in conversation. Dorothy walked Campfire off to cool him down.
Suddenly The Saddle Club was alone. Kate had come and gone and not said a single word to them.

“Well,” Carole said, “I’m sure Kate would have more time to chat if she were used to all this. Picking up a last-minute ride like she did, she has a lot of things to learn right way.”

“Of course,” Stevie said. “It’s been a long time since she’s done this.”

Lisa stooped to pick up the water bucket Dorothy had brought out for Campfire. “I’m not so sure,” she said, a trifle unhappily. “I think maybe top-level riding really does take this kind of huge commitment from the riders. If Kate did this all the time, it would matter an awful lot to her, so I think she would still be this intense. And Dorothy said this was easy, compared to other events.”

They began to walk slowly back to the stables, each lost in her own thoughts.

“Being intense is one thing,” Stevie said. “I mean, Kate was almost rude to Dorothy back there, but I know she didn’t mean to be. On the other hand, she was rude to Karen on purpose. That wasn’t right.”

“Kate has a long time before the Olympics. She can work on her attitude, too,” suggested Carole. “The Olympics—just think about it! They’re a dream come true. A trip to the Olympics would be worth almost anything.”

“Of course it would be,” Lisa said. “But Kate’s going to have to work really hard.”

“We can help her,” Stevie said firmly. “We’ll be her Olympic support crew. Right now, we can start by getting Southwood ready for cross-country.”

In his stall, Southwood was munching hay. He seemed excited but happy, and he nickered when he saw them.

“You know,” Stevie said as they put Southwood’s halter on and tied him in the aisle, “before we were comparing Kate’s riding to Beatrice’s, but I think it’s obvious that Kate’s a much better horsewoman than Beatrice. She took her time warming Southwood up for dressage this morning, and she spent a long time taking care of him afterward. Kate’s not like Beatrice. Kate really cares about her horses.”

“Nigel said that Beatrice’s biggest problem was her attitude,” Lisa pointed out. “Kate’s attitude toward Southwood is great. She loves doing everything with horses. Imagine Beatrice riding bareback the way Kate does at the ranch! The only thing Kate needs to work on is her attitude toward other riders, and I know we can help her with that!”

Carole began to brush the dust off Southwood’s gleaming coat. “It’s going to be so exciting when Kate goes to the Olympics!” she said. “I can hardly wait! Do you think we’ll be able to go?”

“We could help groom,” Stevie said. “I bet Kate would let us.”

“I’m just sure she’ll make it,” Lisa said. “She’s almost a perfect horsewoman.” Lisa grinned. “We should start saving for our tickets, don’t you think?”

Stevie caught on right away. “Our plane tickets to Sydney, Australia? I think we should fly first-class!”

C
AROLE
WATCHED
AS
Kate and Southwood waited in the start box. Kate’s mouth was set in a tense grim line. Southwood’s nostrils quivered with excitement. “Three!” the starter called. Kate sat forward slightly and Carole saw her legs tighten against Southwood’s sides. “Two!” Southwood tossed his head. “One!” Kate and Southwood whirled in a single movement and galloped onto the course.

“Go, Kate!” Carole screamed. She clutched Stevie’s and Lisa’s arms. They watched Southwood take the first fence of the advanced course. Kate had called it easy, but it was nearly four feet high! Southwood cleared it effortlessly, flicking his tail in the air as he jumped.

As soon as he landed safely, the girls started to run
toward the hill from which they’d watched Nigel’s ride. “Hey!” Nigel called. “You can’t see Kate’s course well from there. Follow me, I know a good spot!” They turned and hurried to catch up with him and Dorothy.

From their new vantage point they could see three jumps. Not bad, Carole decided, considering that the course was more than four miles long.

The first jump was a broken bridge—a wooden structure jutting out into space. As Kate approached, Lisa could hardly bear to watch. This fence seemed worse to her than all the others.

Kate didn’t hesitate at all. Nor did Southwood. They galloped down the slope to the bridge, trotted across the wooden span, then leaped off the end of it into open air. It was nearly six feet down. They landed galloping. Through the viewfinder of her camera Stevie saw Kate’s hand go up briefly to stroke Southwood’s neck.

“Oh my,” Lisa whispered with pride.

The second fence was shaped like a giant picnic table. “That looks bigger than the one we have in our backyard at home,” Stevie said.

“It should,” Nigel replied. “It’s eight feet wide at the bottom.”

“They won’t go all the way over it, will they?” Carole asked. “Can Southwood land on top and jump off?”

“He could,” Dorothy said. “The fence is strong enough, if he tries to.”

“That’s what I’d do,” Stevie said. Nigel grinned. Kate and Southwood galloped toward the table. This time, instead of slowing him, Kate let him gallop on. They cleared the table in one fluid, massive leap.

“Oh my!” Lisa said again, this time feeling her heart in her throat.

“Wow!” Stevie cried.

“Go, Kate!”

The third jump was made of both logs and hedges, and it led into a wood. After Kate and Southwood soared over it, they were hidden from The Saddle Club’s sight. The girls stared at the fence for a moment after Kate was gone. She was marvelous.

“Olympic material, all the way,” Stevie said slowly. Lisa and Carole nodded.

“What’s that?” Dorothy asked. She turned toward them with a puzzled smile. Nigel also looked curious.

“We were thinking how great it would be if Kate bought Southwood,” Lisa explained. “She could take Beatrice’s place and train him for the Olympics.”

“I see,” Dorothy said. She nodded her head as if she understood.

“Kate could do it, don’t you think?” asked Lisa.

Dorothy looked at Nigel. He put a thoughtful hand to his chin. “We’d better start walking back,” he suggested. “We want to be there when Kate comes in.

“Dorothy told me about Beatrice,” Nigel continued. “In fact, right before Kate started I went to the show office and called Saint Croix for an update. Beatrice’s surgery went well, and they do expect her to recover fully in time. However, everyone, including Beatrice, her family, and me, doubts that she’ll return to riding. So yes, if Kate wants to buy Southwood, I imagine that she could. If Kate wants to be a top rider again, she could work toward that, too. Did she say she wants to?”

“We haven’t asked her yet,” Lisa admitted. “But Kate and Southwood make such a fabulous pair—they’re both so talented—we’re sure they could do it!”

“A horse like Southwood is very expensive,” Dorothy commented. “Training is expensive, too.”

“We know that,” Stevie said. “But maybe Kate’s parents could sell some of their other horses and get Southwood instead. I bet they would.”

“Kate wouldn’t be able to live at the Bar None,” Nigel said. “She’d be too far away from other horse trainers and from the events she’d need to compete at.”

“We talked about that, too, while Kate was heading down to the start,” Carole said. “We figure she could come live with me and my dad and train at Pine Hollow the way you did, Dorothy.”

Dorothy smiled. “Max is a great trainer, but after I reached a certain point I needed to learn from people who
only did eventing,” she said. “I think it would be the same for Kate. However, she could move in with me and Nigel. She could live with us, work for us, and train with us.”

“That’d be perfect!” Carole said. The others agreed. If they were lucky, they’d be able to visit Kate a lot. She wouldn’t be so far away.

“Of course, Kate still has school,” Nigel commented. “She’d have to work with Southwood, and at the barn, several hours a day, study at night, and go to events on weekends. It would be hard.”

“She doesn’t mind hard work,” Lisa said. “You know that.”

“She’d have to give up all the fun things she does on the ranch, as well as everything else in her normal life,” Nigel said. “She’d have to be thoroughly devoted to riding. Of course, many people are—some of them even younger than Kate.”

“Even the most talented and dedicated riders don’t necessarily make the Olympic team,” Dorothy added. “You have to have the right horse at the right time. If you or your horse gets injured, or if your horse is too old or too young, or you just have a bad year, you won’t make it. I think if Kate wants to make riding her life, Nigel and I are all for it, but I don’t think the Olympics should be her only goal.”

Carole frowned. “It was Beatrice’s only goal.” They stopped and watched another competitor gallop past before
ducking under the ropes that marked the course. The finish line was in sight. Kate would be there soon.

“Exactly.” Nigel smiled. “And what did you all think of Beatrice?”

The Saddle Club was silent for a moment. “Kate is nothing like Beatrice,” Stevie said hotly.

“No,” Dorothy agreed, in a gentle voice. “She’s not.”

“Plenty of riders have talent,” Nigel said, “even Kate’s level of talent, but not too many have the sort of drive that it takes to be a champion. An Olympic rider needs to be everything at the same time—talented, dedicated, hardworking, and lucky.” He laughed a short laugh. “Maybe that’s why there aren’t so many of them.”