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Authors: Bonnie Bryant

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BOOK: Gold Medal Rider
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“I know that,” Kate said, with a little laugh. “The most important thing is beating the person in second place.”

Nigel’s face darkened.

“That was a joke, Nigel,” Kate added hastily.

“Okay,” he said. “It just didn’t sound like one. Carole’s getting Southwood ready for the trip. Go see how she’s doing, will you?”

Nigel still looked bothered by Kate’s remark. “But it was a joke,” Kate repeated to herself. Or was it? She shook her head once abruptly, as if trying to clear her thoughts. It was a joke. Winning wasn’t everything. “No,” she said to herself again, “beating the person in second place counts for something, too.”

Here it goes
, Kate thought.
It’s starting already.
Only this time she knew what could happen. This time she could make herself be different. It didn’t have to be the way it was before.

She hurried to Southwood’s stall. Just outside his door,
drawn in the dust, were five overlapping rings. Inside, Carole was carefully wrapping Southwood’s legs in shipping bandages. “Carole, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for you to do all my work!” Kate was still worried about her conversation with Nigel, and her voice came out high and distressed.

“Don’t be silly.” Carole rose to give Kate a hug. “We’re all so happy for you. This is such a great chance for you to get back into competitive riding! And we always like to help one another—you know that. You’ve helped us with things a hundred times. Plus, we understood how important it was for you to talk to Beatrice before she left.”

“She told me a lot,” Kate agreed. She sat back on her heels. “But there’s still a lot I don’t know. Thanks for your help, Carole. Please remember, though—this isn’t a chance for me to start competing again. It’s just one event. Just one. And what are those rings in the dirt outside Southwood’s door? They look like Olympic rings.”

Carole bit her lip. “Umm—I think Stevie put those there. For Southwood—you know, because he’ll be trying for the Olympics in a few years.” She knew that Stevie had really drawn the rings for Kate, but looking at Kate’s unhappy face, Carole didn’t think her friend wanted to hear that now. She would wait until Kate was enjoying the competition before she really started talking about her being an Olympian.

When they were finished with Southwood, Kate and Carole returned to the tack room. The others were already
there, packing tack trunks with gear according to Dorothy’s giant list. “Seven bridles,” Stevie said, checking them off on the list. “Nigel, we’re only bringing two horses—Southwood and Campfire. What are the extra five for?”

Nigel chuckled. “Two horses, three phases,” he said. “The horses wear different bridles for dressage and cross-country. For show jumping they wear the same as cross-country, but we do need extras. What if something breaks?”

“What if I end up swimming in the water jump?” Kate added, sitting down with a laugh. “I’ll need a dry bridle for show jumping.”

“You won’t fall off,” Lisa assured her. Lisa knew that all riders fell off sometimes, but she didn’t think that someone with Kate’s skill would ever fall off in competition.

“Oh, I might,” Kate answered. She didn’t look at all bothered. “Eventers crash a lot. Bigger fences, faster speeds. Speaking of which, Beatrice said I could borrow her saddles and tack, but her riding clothes are too big for me. Do you have any I can borrow, Dorothy?”

Dorothy grimaced. “Not really. I so seldom get on a horse these days that I left all my old stuff on Long Island. Let me see if Karen has some extras.” She left the room.

“Karen and David are the other people that share this stable,” Nigel explained. “I’m surprised they aren’t here to pack yet. That’s their half of the tack room over there, and
I know they’re going to the horse trials. Karen’s riding two horses in your division, Kate.”

Stevie continued to pack gear into the trunks. “There’s so much stuff,” she said. “We never need this much gear for the shows around Pine Hollow—at least not the ones I’ve ridden in.”

“This is different,” Nigel agreed. “It’s not that this is more important, but it’s bigger.”

“Major-league riding,” Lisa said.

“That’s it.”

“Olympic riding,” Carole added.

“Says who?” came a deep, unfamiliar voice from the aisle. “We’re not saying the word ‘Olympic’ yet, are we? Nigel, shush them. You’ll jinx us all!” A laughing man with dark brown hair came into the room.

“This is David,” Nigel announced. He introduced the girls. “And here’s his wife, Karen.”

“And yes, you can borrow some clothes,” said Karen. She was a thin woman with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. “One of you can, anyway. Who’s Kate?”

Kate and Karen were about the same size. “This should be easy,” Karen said. “Come back to my trailer and we’ll get you suited up. Did you bring your own boots?” She put her arm around Kate’s shoulder as they walked away.

“How many horses are you taking to the trials?” Lisa asked, noticing the enormous number of tack trunks David was opening.

“Four,” he said, grunting as he tried to move a trunk from the wall. “Two each, plus Karen’s meeting a client there, so she’ll actually ride three.”

Carole shook her head. “It’s so much work just to get my own horse ready when we go to a show,” she said. “I don’t know how I’d cope with more than one.” Carole thought that she would have to learn how if she wanted to be a professional rider.

“It can be hard,” David said. “Well, ‘hard’ isn’t exactly the right word. It’s confusing at first, but once you get organized it’s just a lot of work. You just keep working, all day long.”

“For instance,” Nigel added, “if you girls hadn’t been here today, we still would have needed to exercise all our horses before we left. I would have ponied a few—that means I’d ride one while leading another—and I would have had to get up even earlier than I did to make sure they all got done.”

“Beatrice could have ridden one for you,” Lisa suggested.

David and Nigel exchanged glances. Nigel grimaced and David laughed. “I don’t know how you put up with her,” David said. “I know she can pay a lot for good horses and good training, but I still don’t see how you stand her.”

“She’s a strange case,” Nigel agreed. To The Saddle Club he explained, “Beatrice is completely dedicated to competitive riding. Her goal is to win a gold medal in the
Olympics.” Nigel shut a tack trunk and sighed. He shook his head. “She has the talent—”

“Talent schmalent,” David interrupted. “Lots of people have talent—”

“She has the talent,” Nigel repeated, “but only half the attitude.”

Stevie was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“She rides very well and works very hard at it,” Nigel explained. “She’s willing to do whatever she needs to do in order to win. She rides her horse correctly, she trains hard, and she never does anything that would hurt Southwood or make him less of an athlete. But she isn’t emotionally dedicated to the sport. Have you seen how when she’s finished riding she just hands Southwood to whoever’s available?”

Stevie nodded.

“Would you—would any of you—expect someone else to take care of your horse?”

They all shook their heads. Caring for horses was an important part of riding.

“Beatrice never takes care of Southwood,” Nigel said. “She never rides any other horses. A true champion ought to be immersed in horses—ought to think horses, breathe horses, live horses, dream horses—and Beatrice isn’t. She wants to be an Olympian. She doesn’t want to be a great rider.”

Kate came through the door. “Look at me!” she cried. She was wearing white breeches, a yellow vest, and a black shadbelly coat with long tails—formal dressage gear. “Isn’t this great?” Kate said. She spun on her heel and the tails of her coat spun around her. “Karen has two—she’s letting me use this one—and I’ve got a body protector and a jersey for cross-country, and a stock tie, and a coat for show jumping. It’s perfect!” She shook David’s hand. “You’ve got a very nice wife and I’m pleased to meet you,” she said. “Very pleased. Now I have to go take this off before I get dirt on it.”

“Put it in the truck!” Nigel called after her.

“I will!” They could hear Kate’s quick footsteps hurrying down the aisle.

“That’s the attitude you want,” David said approvingly.

“Kate’s always had a great attitude,” Lisa said warmly. “She really loves horses.”

“Nigel?” Carole asked. “Where are the Olympics after Atlanta?”

“Sydney, Australia.”

Stevie smiled. “What a nice place to visit!”

K
ATE
USED
D
OROTHY

S
bathroom to change into her normal clothes. Back in the living room, she laid her borrowed finery across the sofa. Black coat, yellow vest, string gloves. Kate touched the protective vest with her finger. She had one of her own; she had all of these clothes. She had a
dressage saddle, a cross-country saddle, a show-jumping saddle. Somewhere in the hot attic of the Bar None ranch house was a tack trunk, painted with her initials, with all the remnants of her former life inside. Her mother had a scrapbook filled with interviews and photographs of Kate from magazines.

This will be different
, she promised herself. Once she had dreamed about becoming an Olympic rider. Kate never minded the hard work, but she had learned that her own attitude turned the dream into something more like a nightmare.

Once, at a preliminary event, the horse that was favored to win had lost a shoe on the cross-country course and pulled up limping. Kate had been glad. Glad because of another horse’s misfortune! Glad because with that horse out she had a better chance to win.

At a different event, right before the show-jumping phase, a rider named Amy had asked her a question about the course, and Kate had deliberately given her an incorrect answer. She had lied. Amy went off course and was eliminated, and Kate won. Until that day, Amy had been one of Kate’s best friends. Since then Amy hadn’t spoken to her. No dream, not even an Olympic one, was worth destroying a friendship the way Kate had.

But this was only one event. Southwood was not her horse. She did not have to win. This would be different, she promised herself. But as she packed Karen’s clothing
into garment bags, she began to wonder just what would make this event different.

W
HILE
D
OROTHY
AND
Nigel made a last check of their lists, Drew began to load the horses onto the trailer. Drew had put in Campfire, a bright blood bay, and was just coming around the corner of the trailer when Lisa came out of the stable leading Southwood. Drew jumped, surprised, and walked straight into the corner of the trailer door.

“Oww!” he yelled, falling back. He covered his forehead with his hand. Blood dripped between his fingers.

“Are you okay?” Lisa rushed forward to help him. She tied Southwood to the door of the van and knelt beside Drew. “All I’ve got are some tissues.” She handed him a tissue from the pocket of her sweatshirt.

“Thanks.” Drew mopped the cut with it. “How bad does it look?”

Lisa inspected his forehead. “It’s bleeding a lot, but it’s just a little cut.”

“I’ll heal, then. Let’s take care of Southwood.” Together they settled the horse inside the trailer and closed the doors.

“I’m so sorry,” Lisa apologized. “I must have startled you. Wait here, I’ll get you a Band-Aid.” She hurried into the tack room, where she remembered seeing a first aid kit.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Drew said when she returned. “It was just an accident.” He took the Band-Aid from her and
smiled, a slightly lopsided smile that matched his lopsided eyebrows. “It’s kind of nice getting this chance to talk with you—I’m not very comfortable around people I don’t know. I’ve liked having you girls here today, though. You’re my little brother’s age—I bet you’d like him a lot. Especially you, Lisa. He’d like you. But he’s shy with girls, like me. Not like our older brother!”

“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” Lisa sat down on the bumper of the trailer and listened to Drew describe his large family and his hometown in Maine. He was nice, she decided. A little weird, but nice.

Kate came out of the house with her gear and the rest of The Saddle Club’s gear all neatly stowed in their duffel bags. “Is there room for these in the trailer?” she asked Drew.

Drew shook his head. “Sorry. You’ll have to stuff them in the truck.”

Kate smiled. “Lisa, it’s going to be a long drive to the horse trials with you sitting on my lap.”

K
ATE
WAS
RIGHT
. Even though Drew was staying behind to take care of the other horses, Nigel’s four-wheel drive was packed. Dorothy had explained that they were going to spend two nights in a hotel to be near the event. The girls had left their sleeping bags behind, but Dorothy’s and Nigel’s suitcases took their place. They were crammed like pickles in a jar.

The Saddle Club didn’t care. Stevie couldn’t remember when she’d been more excited about going to a show that she wasn’t actually riding in. This could be the rebirth of Kate’s great riding career.

Kate began to talk about other events. “I remember riding endurance day in the rain,” she said. “My horse hated rain. We went out to trot the roads and tracks, which is like an official warm-up in a three-day event, and I could hardly see the course markers, and the whole way through my horse kept his tail hunched and his ears flat. He
hated
it.”

“You didn’t jump cross-country in the rain, did you?” Lisa asked.

“Sure! It was impossible to see. The ground was good, though, and they spread sawdust near the jumps, and the horses wore big cleats on their shoes. Even though my horse hated rain, he loved cross-country, so he did okay. It was the first part I was afraid we weren’t going to finish. I thought I’d be the only rider in the history of the world eliminated on road and tracks.” Kate laughed. There was a sparkle in her eye that her friends had not seen before.

“Have you ever wanted to go to Australia, Kate?” Lisa asked.

“Sure,” Kate said. “Why not?” She looked puzzled when her friends laughed.

BOOK: Gold Medal Rider
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