Maddie’s Dream (4 page)

Maddie's heart raced. The girl didn't seem to notice her standing there, staring, as she led Cloudy out of the barn in the direction of the outdoor ring.

That's got to be
o
ne of the Richardson kids,
Maddie thought.

She hurried after girl and pony, emerging just in time to see the girl lead Cloudy into the ring. The blond woman—Mrs. Richardson, Maddie knew now—was sitting in the bleachers, fiddling with her smartphone. A blond girl who looked to be maybe eight or nine years old was perched beside her, while two other kids—a boy about the same age and a younger girl—chased each other around in the grass nearby.

But most of Maddie's attention was on the girl with Cloudy. Ms. Emerson was already helping her adjust her girth and stirrups.

“All right, shall we mount up?” The barn owner's voice didn't seem that loud, but it carried easily to where Maddie was standing, in the shadow of the barn overhang. “Lead Cloudy over to the block.”

“I don't need a mounting block.” The blond girl's voice was confident. “We used to get on from the ground all the
time when we had her. I could always get on, even though I was a lot shorter back then.”

“I understand. But here we always use a mounting block.” Ms. Emerson's voice was kind but firm. “It's better for the horses' backs, and better for the tack as well.”

“Oh.” The girl sounded dubious. “Okay, whatever.”

She hopped onto the block as Ms. Emerson positioned Cloudy beside it. Soon the girl was in the saddle.

“Looking good, Amber!” Mrs. Richardson called out, glancing up briefly from her phone.

The girl—Amber—didn't respond. She picked up the reins so quickly and firmly that Cloudy tossed her head and took a step backward.

“Easy with your hands,” Ms. Emerson said. “Let's start out with a walk around on the rail so you and Cloudy can get to know each other.”

“We already know each other, remember?” Amber said. She gave Cloudy a thump with both legs, sending the startled mare spurting forward at a trot.

“Walk, please,” Ms. Emerson said firmly.

Maddie guessed the command was as much for
Cloudy's benefit as the rider's. The mare was smart—she knew lots of words. Obeying the instructor's command, she slowed to a brisk walk.

“All right, let's talk about this,” Ms. Emerson said. “Keep her on a circle around me.”

Amber nodded and yanked on one rein. Maddie winced as Cloudy put her ears flat back and swished her tail, stopping short.

“Giddyup, Cloudy,” Amber ordered, giving another kick to start the mare walking again.

Cloudy jumped forward, but this time she stayed at a walk. Her head was cranked around to one side, and she didn't look happy. But she went the way the girl was pulling, walking around Ms. Emerson in a tight circle.

“Cloudy might feel a little different than you remember, Amber.” Ms. Emerson's voice was calm, much calmer than Maddie felt as she watched Amber continue to yank and kick Cloudy around the circle. “She's been working as a lesson pony for a while now, and she knows all the cues we use to ask her to do things. We call those cues the aids. Are you familiar with that term?”

Amber frowned. “Um . . .”

“She means like using your legs to make Cloudy go!” a high-pitched voice called from the bleachers.

Maddie glanced that way. The nine-year-old girl was standing by the rail now, watching the lesson intently.

“Shut up, Felicia,” Amber called.

“Language, Amber.” Mrs. Richardson looked up from her phone. “Watch it, or the lesson is over.”

“Sorry, Mom.” Amber waited until her mother looked down again, then rolled her eyes.

“Your sister is correct,” Ms. Emerson told Amber. “There are a variety of aids, broken into two categories—natural and artificial. Your leg is one of the natural aids. Can you guess what the rest might be?”

“I'm not sure.” Amber gave another yank on the rein as Cloudy started to drift out. “The other leg? No, wait—how about the reins?”

“Close. Your hands would be considered another natural aid,” Ms. Emerson replied. “Speaking of which, be careful about the way you're pulling. Try more of a gentle give-and-take motion when you want her to turn.”

Amber glanced down and loosened the reins slightly. “Are we going to trot soon?”

“In a moment.” Ms. Emerson turned to the viewers by the bleachers. “Felicia, can you tell me the other two natural aids?”

“Seat and voice,” the younger girl piped up immediately.

“That's right.” Ms. Emerson sounded pleased and slightly surprised. She smiled at Felicia, then turned her attention back to Amber, talking to her about proper use of the aids.

I hope Amber's listening,
Maddie thought, gritting her teeth as Cloudy shook her head against the reins.
Because Cloudy doesn't look very happy about the way she's riding.

The lesson continued. Amber was obviously confident in the saddle, and after a few reminders she loosened up on the reins and stopped kicking so hard—at least most of the time. Maddie found herself wondering if this was the first real riding lesson the girl had ever had. If her siblings rode the same way, it was no wonder Cloudy had arrived at Solano Stables unschooled and confused!

Amber wasn't bad at posting the trot, though she had no idea what a diagonal was and seemed unimpressed with the whole concept of rising and sitting according to which direction she was going. Maddie guessed that meant she probably didn't know anything about proper canter leads either, though luckily Cloudy was a pro and picked it up correctly the first time in both directions.

“All right, bring her down,” Ms. Emerson said after Amber and Cloudy's second canter circuit of the ring. “Very nice. I think we'll end there.”

Amber pulled the mare to a halt. “Wait, can't we try jumping?” she asked, glancing at the pair of crossrails set up on the quarter line. “I know Cloudy knows how—my older sister and brother used to jump her over stuff all the time.”

“No, we'll leave jumping for another day,” Ms. Emerson said.

“But I know I could do it!” Amber protested.

“Another day.” The instructor's voice was firm. “I'll hold Cloudy while you dismount.”

Maddie held her breath, afraid the older girl was about to roll her eyes again. Ms. Emerson might have tolerated
that when it was aimed at Amber's mother, but Maddie knew from personal experience that the barn owner had no patience for that sort of thing being directed at herself.

Luckily for Amber, she just sighed. “Okay, fine,” she said.

“What do you say to Ms. Emerson, Amber?” Mrs. Richardson called from the bleachers as Amber swung down from the saddle.

“Thank you,” Amber said. “It was a pretty fun lesson, I guess. And Cloudy was great!”

On that point Maddie had to agree. She'd seen Cloudy give beginner lessons before. But usually the new riders were too busy trying to figure out how to keep all their body parts where they were supposed to be to bother the horse much. Maddie was surprised that Ms. Emerson hadn't put Amber on a lunge line, as she often did while teaching newbies not to yank or balance on the reins.

Ms. Emerson showed Amber how to run up her stirrups to keep them from banging on the pony's sides, then opened the gate. Felicia ran over and started chattering eagerly at the barn owner, asking all kinds of questions
about the lesson she'd just seen. Meanwhile Amber led Cloudy out of the ring, with her mother and the other two siblings trailing along behind them. Maddie couldn't resist stepping out of the shadows as the whole group moved toward her.

“Hi,” she said. “I'm Maddie. I take lessons here, too—I ride Cloudy a lot, actually.”

“Really? Cool.” Amber's smile was a little distant, probably due to the difference in their ages, but she sounded friendly enough. “Cloudy's awesome, isn't she?”

“It's nice to meet you, Maddie,” Mrs. Richardson added with a smile. “You must be a good rider—I can't imagine our Cloudy would be doing so well otherwise.”

Maddie winced at that term—“our Cloudy.”
She's not yours!
she wanted to yell.
Not anymore.

Instead she just said, “Thanks. Cloudy's taught me a lot.” She reached out to stroke the mare's nose. Cloudy nickered and nudged her, clearly hoping for a treat, but Amber pulled the pony's head away.

“We actually used to own Cloudy, you know.” Amber waved vaguely in the direction of her family. “I helped my
older sister and brother put the basics on her when she was young.” She gave the mare a pat on the neck. “Guess we did a pretty good job, huh? 'Cause look at her now!”

Maddie forced a smile. “Um, yeah. Cloudy's great.”

Mrs. Richardson glanced at her smartphone, looking distracted. “Yes, we heard through the grapevine that Cloudy ended up being one of this stable's most reliable lesson horses. Now that the younger kids are showing an interest in riding, we decided to look into buying her back.” She glanced at the youngest girl and the boy, who appeared to be squabbling over a rock they were kicking around on the path behind them. “Frank! Baby!” she added sharply. “Cut it out!”

She hurried off toward the kids. Left alone with Amber, Maddie shot the older girl a sidelong look. “So, um, you're getting back into riding?” she asked.

“Sort of.” Cloudy had drifted to a stop and stretched her head toward a patch of weeds. Amber tugged on the reins to get her moving again. “It's mostly Felicia, though. She took a lesson at her friend's barn, and now she's horse crazy.” She rolled her eyes. “Never stops blabbing about it, actually. She was only like six or seven when we sold
Cloudy, so she never got to ride much back then. Especially since Cloudy was a total brat at our last barn. Nobody but Raina—that's my older sister—could even handle her most of the time, so Mom and Dad kept the younger ones away. That's why they sold her when Raina went to college.”

Maddie winced, flashing back again to how spoiled and willful Cloudy had been during her first few days at Solano Stables. “Oh, really?” she said, afraid that if she said anything else, she'd end up telling Amber that it was her family's fault that Cloudy had ended up that way.

“Uh-huh. Raina says the barn owner there didn't know what she was doing. She fed Cloudy this really cheap sweet feed, and it made her nuts.”

Maddie bit her lip, hearing her mother's voice in her head saying,
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

“Um, okay . . . ,” she mumbled.

Just then Ms. Emerson and Felicia caught up to them. “Why don't you take Cloudy back to her stall,” the barn owner told Amber. “Do you remember how to untack?”

“I know how!” Felicia piped in brightly.

Amber shot her sister a slightly sour look. “Don't worry,
I've got it.” She gave another tug on the reins. “Come on, Cloudy. Let's go.”

They disappeared into the barn, with Felicia right behind them. Maddie was about to follow when Ms. Emerson put a hand on her arm.

“Hold up a second, Maddie.” The barn owner glanced at Mrs. Richardson, but the woman was still busy scolding her two younger kids back by the ring. “I want to talk to you—I hope you're not too upset about this Cloudy situation.”

Of course I'm upset!
Maddie wanted to shout. Instead, she just nodded and waited to see what Ms. Emerson would say next.

“I want you to understand, this is all very preliminary at this point,” Ms. Emerson went on. “The Richardsons haven't decided they definitely want to buy Cloudy back. They're just exploring the idea. I've agreed to give the kids a few lessons to let them test the waters.”

“Oh,” Maddie choked out. That didn't sound very preliminary to her. Once Amber and Felicia rode Cloudy a few times, how could they help falling in love with her? Especially
Felicia, if she was as horse crazy as her sister said.

Ms. Emerson was watching her carefully. “I mean it, Maddie,” she said. “You shouldn't panic or assume Cloudy will be leaving us.”

“Okay.” Maddie wasn't sure what else to say. Then she remembered something. “Um, the Snack and Swim—”

“Oh yes, I meant to mention that.” Ms. Emerson smiled. “You don't have to worry. Cloudy will definitely be here for the big ride next weekend, and nobody will ride her except you that day. I promise.”

Maddie nodded. Ms. Emerson never made promises she couldn't keep.

Still, that didn't make her feel much better. Okay, so she'd get to ride Cloudy for the Snack & Swim. What about after that? What if the Richardsons did decide to buy their pony back and take her away?

What would Maddie do if she lost Cloudy?

“Ew, what's this doing on my bed?”

Maddie glanced up from her desk. Tillie was glaring at her from her half of the room, holding Maddie's soccer
shirt between one thumb and forefinger as if it might be some kind of potential biohazard.