Maddie’s Dream (2 page)

The barn office was just inside the main entrance. Two of Maddie's friends were standing in front of the bulletin board by the door. Victoria and Valerie, better known as Vic and Val, were identical twins. They were also the reason Maddie had started riding. Vic had sat behind Maddie in fifth grade homeroom, and she'd spent so much time chattering about the riding lessons she and her sister had just started that Maddie had decided to give it a try—and the rest was history.

The twins both had wavy reddish-brown hair, though Val's was neatly pulled back in a ponytail while Vic's hung
loose and wild. Vic was leaning forward, writing something on a sheet of paper hanging on the board while her twin watched.

“Stop!” Maddie exclaimed in mock dismay. “Neither of you better be signing up to take Cloudy on the Snack and Swim, or there's going to be trouble.”

Vic giggled. “We wouldn't dare!”

“You don't have to worry,” Val added. “Ms. Emerson wouldn't let anyone else sign up for Cloudy. She knows you've been looking forward to this all year.”

“True,” Vic agreed cheerfully. “And she knows you and Cloudy make an awesome team.”

“We definitely do.” A pen was hanging from the sign-up sheet by a piece of baling twine. Maddie grabbed it and scrawled her name below Vic's, along with Cloudy's. “There, now it's official.”

“Cool.” Vic lifted her hand for a high five. “The Snack and Swim is going to be epic!”

Meanwhile Val checked her watch. “We should start tacking up,” she said. “Our lesson starts in thirteen minutes.”

Maddie grinned. That was Val for you—she was very precise. “Okay, see you guys in the ring.”

She ducked into the tack room beside the office to grab a brush and a hoof-pick, then took off toward Cloudy's stall. When she was a few doors away, she let out a short whistle. Immediately Cloudy's head poked out over her half door. The pony nickered, her ears up and framing the perfect white blaze running down her butterscotch-colored face.

Maddie's Pony Post friends were right—Cloudy really was the spitting image of Misty, the Chincoteague pony made world famous in the book
Misty of Chincoteague
by Marguerite Henry. That was why a local family had paid lots of money for Cloudy as a foal almost ten years ago at the annual Chincoteague wild pony auction and then spent even more to ship her all the way out to California.

Unfortunately, they hadn't really known what to do with the spunky little weanling once she got there. Over the next few years, Cloudy had grown older and wilder as the family's kids had “trained” her by trial and
(mostly) error. After getting kicked out of yet another local barn when the now eight-year-old and still unruly Cloudy had knocked down one of the barn workers, the perplexed and fed-up parents had offered to sell the pony cheap to Ms. Emerson. The barn owner had had her doubts, but she believed in giving every horse a chance. So she'd bought Cloudy and brought her to Solano Stables.

And to her surprise, Ms. Emerson had discovered that beneath the lack of discipline, the little pinto mare actually had a nice, willing temperament. A month or two of training later, Cloudy was already being used in lessons by advanced students. And a couple of months after that, Maddie—who had been intrigued with Cloudy since the mare's arrival—asked if she could give the pony a try. Ms. Emerson had been dubious, since Maddie had only been taking lessons for a few months at that point. But Maddie had talked her into it, and she and Cloudy had quickly become a great team.

Almost a year and a half later, the mare was now a reliable school horse, popular with beginners and experienced
riders alike. But Maddie was pretty sure Cloudy loved her best!

“Hey, girl,” she said, letting herself into the stall. “What's up?”

Cloudy nickered again, nudging at Maddie's arm with her soft nose. Maddie smiled and dug a peppermint horse treat out of her pocket.

“Just one for now,” she said as the pony carefully lipped the treat off her palm. “We have to hurry and get ready. Good thing you're pretty clean today.”

As she started grooming the pony, Maddie heard the twins calling her name from the aisle. She poked her head out of the stall.

“What's the matter?” she asked, noting their worried faces. That wasn't so unusual for Val—she was often worried about something or other. But Vic looked anxious too.

“We just noticed something,” Val said breathlessly. “We were looking at the lesson list to see who we're riding today . . .”

Maddie nodded. Ms. Emerson posted a list on the
bulletin board with the day's horse assignments, though Maddie never bothered to check it anymore. She always rode Cloudy.

Vic finished her twin's sentence: “. . . and we thought we were seeing things,” she said. “Because you're not assigned to ride Cloudy today—Ms. Emerson wrote you down to ride Wizard instead!”

CHAPTER

“THAT'S WEIRD,” MADDIE SAID. “CLOUDY
isn't lame or anything. Why wouldn't I be riding her? Especially with the Snack and Swim coming up so soon.” She shrugged and let herself out of the stall. “It's probably a mistake. I'll go find out.”

“Yeah, it's got to be a mistake.” Vic nodded, seeming satisfied, though Val still looked concerned.

Maddie hurried back up the aisle to the bulletin board. Sure enough, there was her name on the lesson list—with Wizard's name written beside it in Ms. Emerson's tidy handwriting.

“Weird,” Maddie murmured. Ms. Emerson didn't
usually make mistakes like that. She was the most capable and practical person Maddie knew. Even the barn owner's short brown hair seemed designed for maximum efficiency!

Maddie heard voices outside the main doors. As she glanced over, Ms. Emerson stepped into view, accompanied by a tall, lanky blond woman Maddie had never seen before. The woman looked a little older than Maddie's mom; she was dressed in shorts, sandals, and a sleeveless polo shirt, with a pair of sunglasses perched on her head. She looked tanned, fit, and sporty, like many of the women at the country club where Maddie and her brothers took swimming lessons.

“. . . and this is the main barn,” Ms. Emerson was saying.

“Lovely.” The woman glanced around and smiled. “It's very tidy, isn't it?”

Maddie was dying to rush right over and ask the barn owner about the lesson list. But she didn't dare interrupt, and not only because Ms. Emerson would probably be annoyed. Maddie's military mom had done her
best to instill good manners in all four of her children, and that early training usually overrode Maddie's natural impulsiveness. Usually. Though in this case, Maddie was tempted to make an exception. . . .

As Ms. Emerson led the other woman toward the office, the two of them started chatting about lesson prices and available times. Maddie figured the blond woman was just another lesson mom signing her kids up for riding. It wouldn't be a big deal to break in and ask Ms. Emerson about Cloudy, would it?

Just then Ms. Emerson noticed Maddie. “Madison,” she said in her no-nonsense voice. “Why are you just standing there? Don't you have a lesson in”—she checked her watch—“less than ten minutes?”

“Um, that's what I wanted to ask you about,” Maddie said. “I saw that you put me on the list next to Wizard—”

The stable owner cut her off briskly. “That's right. And the last time I saw him, he had a big manure stain on his shoulder. So you'd better do some fast grooming.”

Maddie bit her lip. “Um, but what about Cloudy? I just thought—”

Once again the stable owner didn't let her finish. “Cloudy is doing a private lesson later,” she said. “Today you're assigned to ride Wizard.”

Maddie nodded. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind, even with adults. But she didn't quite dare question Ms. Emerson further when the riding teacher used that tone of voice. Besides, Ms. Emerson wasn't paying attention to her anymore. She was busy ushering the blond woman into the office.

Maddie's head was spinning as she hurried back to Cloudy's stall to collect her grooming tools. “Sorry, girl,” she said, giving the mare a pat. “Guess I won't be riding you today after all.”

She couldn't help being disappointed. Maddie loved all horses and ponies, but she and Cloudy had clicked in a special way that hadn't happened with any of the others.

Back out in the aisle, Maddie had to stop for a second to remember where her assigned mount's stall was. Wizard was a fat gray pony with a perpetually tousled mane and a placid temperament. Maddie had ridden him a few times when she was first starting out, and occasionally one of the twins still
drew his name for a lesson. But most of the time Ms. Emerson saved him for timid riders or brand-new beginners.

Wizard was eating hay in his stall when Maddie peeked in. As soon as she saw him, she let out a groan. Ms. Emerson hadn't been kidding about that manure stain!

“Get ready, boy,” she warned the pony as she let herself into his stall. “This is going to be the world's fastest grooming.”

Less than ten minutes later, Maddie was leading Wizard into the stable's outdoor arena, a large, sandy oval with shade trees lining one long side and a set of bleachers along the other. Beyond the bleachers, hills undulated toward the bright blue sky, some of them striped with a vineyard's orderly rows of grapevines. But Maddie didn't look in that direction—instead, she glanced at the far end of the ring, past which the land sloped down to the start of the public trail leading through acres of irrigated fields and eventually to a local park. That was where the Snack & Swim ride would take place. She couldn't wait!

The twins were over near the mounting block. Val was
tightening her mount's girth, while Vic played with her pony's long forelock. Maddie led Wizard toward them.

“Wow.” Vic's eyes widened as she glanced up. “It's so weird to see you with a different horse!”

“I know, right?” Maddie glanced at Wizard, who was plodding along sleepily behind her. She'd managed to get most of the manure stain off, though his shoulder still had a slight greenish tinge. “I haven't ridden Wiz in forever.”

Val looped her reins over her arm and tightened the chin strap of her helmet. “You haven't ridden anyone but Cloudy in forever,” she said.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Maddie glanced at the gate, surprised that Ms. Emerson wasn't there yet. “I mean, there've been a couple of times when she had an abscess or a snotty nose or something.”

“And then there was the time she missed a whole week's worth of lessons when that car company leased her to be in their TV commercial, remember?” Vic said.

Maddie nodded. “But I knew about that ahead of time.”

“So what's going on? Is Cloudy sick or something?” Val looked worried.

“No,” Maddie replied. “Ms. Emerson said she's doing a private lesson later. I didn't get to ask her about it, though, because she was giving some lady a tour, and—”