Horse Games (6 page)

Things went downhill from there. By the end of the six-minute chukka, The Saddle Club girls had committed four more fouls (three of which resulted in goals for Phil’s team), three tactical errors (like throwing it through the wrong goal), and innumerable misses, near-misses, and just plain dumb mistakes.

“End of the chukka. Score: Cross County 9, Horse Wise 0.”

Stevie groaned.

“Think of it this way, Stevie,” Carole said, trying to
console her. “Because it’s our first game, we’re just playing four chukkas. We’ve finished one and it’s nine to nothing. So, probably the worst it can be when we’re done is thirty-six-zip. If we were going to play six chukkas—why, they could run the score up to fifty-four!”

“Shut up,” Stevie said. There was murder in her eyes.

Carole took her advice.

The second chukka, played by the B teams, wasn’t quite as bad. Horse Wise actually scored a goal, though it was because the ball bounced off the Cross County Center’s racquet and traveled between the goal posts. The score at the end of the second chukka was 16–1.

“Let’s go for it!” Lisa said eagerly, trying to inspire her A teammates as they returned to the field.

Stevie glared at her.

Carole would have given Lisa support, but someone caught her eye. Marie Dana and her mother were standing by the fence at the edge of the field. Could it be possible that she’d decided to try riding? Or were they just curious as they passed by? Perhaps Marie had been enticed by the showy riding Carole had done in her backyard.

Carole didn’t know which it was and it didn’t matter. The fact was that Marie was there. That was enough to inspire Carole.

“Stand back, world!” Carole announced, bounding onto the playing field.

“Begin play!” Max called out, tossing the ball to the players.

The third chukka wasn’t as bad as the first two, but it wasn’t good enough for Horse Wise to make any progress in scoring. They did make a little bit of progress in defense. Carole actually stopped two almost-certain goal shots and she was able to toss the ball more or less in 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 flat. You don’t want a horse to mistake a finger for a tasty bit of carrot.”

Marie followed Carole’s instructions. Nickel glanced at the offered hand and sniffed. Then, he picked up the carrot with his soft lips and munched. The smile on Marie’s face told Carole everything she needed to know. She might have been part of a miserable loss in polocrosse that day, but everybody was going to win this tougher—and much more important—challenge.

“Ready?” Carole asked. Marie nodded. Together, with the help of Lisa and the guidance of Mrs. Dana, they got Marie into Nickel’s saddle. It took a while to adjust the stirrups to a level that was comfortable, but Carole was patient and Marie was willing to have the fuss made. Carole sensed that Marie was just plain enjoying being on horseback and that’s what this was really all about.

Then, as they were about to begin the tour, Carole saw her father and heard him call her. The tone in his voice wasn’t happy. As soon as he spotted her, her marched toward her in his most military Marine Corps stride.

“Can you explain why it is I just saw your horse in his stall with all his tack on fully fifteen minutes after the end of the game?” he demanded.

Colonel Hanson was one of the Horse Wise parent volunteers. He took the job seriously and he was willing to help the riders learn—even when it meant speaking sharply to his daughter. There was a reason she’d left Starlight tacked up and Carole was about to explain it to her father. First, though, she introduced him to Marie. As she introduced him to Mrs. Dana, Carole remembered how interested he’d been to learn about the woman when they were at the hospital.

Carole then explained about showing Marie around, and that the tour included an untacking demonstration at Starlight’s stall.

“Okay, okay,” Colonel Hanson said. “Go on ahead. I’ll
show Mrs. Dana some things, too.” He offered Marie’s mother his arm gallantly. She took it.

“Please, call me Olivia.”

“And I’m Mitch,” he said. Off they went.

Carole, Lisa, and Marie headed for the stable. Their first stop was Starlight’s stall.

“It’s not that leaving his tack on is harmful so much as it’s not really fair,” Carole explained as she removed the saddle. “I had loosened the girth so he wasn’t uncomfortable. Still, his work is over and he deserves a real rest.”

“Do you have to do all this work just because you own the horse?” Marie asked.

Carole and Lisa laughed.

“No,” Lisa answered. “All riders at Pine Hollow have to take care of the horses they use,” she explained. “There are two main reasons. First of all, if the riders pitch in, Max doesn’t have to hire so many stablehands and he can keep the costs down. A lot of us couldn’t take lessons or belong to Horse Wise if our parents had to pay any more than they do.”

“The other reason,” Carole continued for Lisa, “is that Max believes horseback riding doesn’t begin when you climb in the saddle and finish when you dismount. Horseback riding is really horse care and stable management, too. As far as he’s concerned, you aren’t learning to ride a horse if all you’re ever doing is riding. You need to understand much more about the horse than that.

And the more you know about your horse when you’re out of the saddle, the better off you’ll both be when you’re in it. See?”

“I do see,” Marie said. “And you really like to do all this stuff?” she asked, watching as Carole cleaned out some accumulated manure.

“Well …” Carole relented. “There are some things I like to do better than others!”

“Don’t worry,” Lisa said. “That stuff doesn’t take much time. The thing that I keep in mind is that it’s all about horses. Come on, while Carole finishes up. All she has left to do now is get fresh water and hay for Starlight. I’ll introduce you to some of our other horses.”

Lisa took the lead rope and walked Nickel slowly along the aisle of the stable.

“This is Topside,” she began. “Our friend Stevie usually rides him, but he’s a championship show horse and really too valuable for polocrosse, although she used him in a few practices. She was riding a chestnut named Comanche today. Now, here’s Pepper. He’s the horse I usually ride. And this is Patch—”

They paused at each stall while Lisa made the introductions. Most of the Horse Wise riders had finished their untacking and grooming. The horses were relaxing, munching contentedly on fresh hay and watching Lisa, Marie, and Nickel as they made their way through the stable.

“… and this is Garnet. This is another boarder
horse, like Starlight. She belongs to Veronica diAngelo, as you can tell by the initials on her blanket.”

“Beautiful!” Marie said.

Garnet stuck her head out over the top of her door. Instinctively, Marie reached out to scratch her forehead and rub her cheek. Garnet nodded affectionately.

“Boy, is she friendly!” Marie said, pleased by the mare’s response.

Lisa tried to think how to describe the situation. Veronica diAngelo was a spoiled rich girl who had found more ways to get other people to do her work than Lisa would have thought possible. It was hard to imagine ignoring the needs of a beautiful, valuable horse like Garnet, but Veronica managed it. “She is friendly, but it’s more like the horse is starved for love,” Lisa explained. “Her owner thinks of her as a fashion accessory.”

“Oh,” Marie said. “How awful.”

They met up with Carole in the tack room. Carole and Lisa then pointed out the riders’ locker area, Mrs. Reg’s office, the feed room, and the indoor ring. “We only ride in there when it’s really cold or raining. Outdoors is nicer,” Lisa explained.

“You can say that again,” Marie said. “I’ve hardly been allowed to be outdoors for the last few months. I was surprised at how much I missed it.”

“Well,” Carole continued, “outdoors, we’ve got the schooling ring, the game field, where today’s polocrosse—uh,
um—” she couldn’t think of the right word. “Game” seemed much too tame.

“Debacle?” Lisa suggested.

“Maybe,” Carole said. She turned to Marie. “Lisa is a straight-A student,” she explained. “Sometimes she likes to use twenty-five-cent words. Anyway, if
debacle
means ‘humiliating defeat,’ then it’s the right word.”

“That’s what it means,” Lisa said. “And Marie can note, for the record, that sometimes you use Marine Corps terms—like ‘humiliating defeat.’ ”

Carole pretended to be insulted by the dig. “Why, how could you? The Marine Corps never uses the term ‘humiliating defeat’—unless, of course, they are talking about something other than the Marine Corps. ‘Retreat,’ maybe. ‘Advancing to the rear,’ more likely.”

They were still discussing terms like
rout
,
Waterloo
,
drubbing
,
licking
, and
thrashing
when the tour group arrived at the scene of the crime.

It was nearly abandoned now. All the Cross County riders had loaded their horses onto their vans and gone home to celebrate. The Horse Wise Pony Clubbers had dispersed as quickly, but without anything to celebrate. Max and the parent volunteers were having a meeting. The only sight on the playing field was Stevie Lake and Comanche. They were practicing polocrosse.

Using her racquet, Stevie tossed the ball into midfield. Then, she kicked Comanche into a fast canter and approached
the ball, trying to pick it up as she whizzed past it. She swung hard at it—and missed. She rode well past the ball, then turned Comanche around and tried it again. She rode even faster. Comanche did just what Stevie told him to do, and Stevie did the best she knew how, but it wasn’t good enough. This time, although she was able to touch the ball with her racquet, she still didn’t manage to pick it up.