Show Horse (13 page)

“Topside was in top form,” Stevie said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll place in this one.”

“Of course you will,” Carole said. Then, still in a teasing mood, she continued. “The only real question is which one of us, you or me, will take the blue!”

“Or me,” Cam interjected.

Carole felt a little twinge of discomfort and confusion. She had found during the course of the day that she really liked Cam. He was a good rider. He knew a lot about horses, and he was generous with his knowledge. When she’d been writing to him, his generosity had sometimes sounded like showing off, but in person that wasn’t it at all. He was just a nice person. In fact, he was more than just a nice person. It was one thing to joke with her friends about competition and blue ribbons, but was it okay to joke with Cam about it? Carole realized with a start then that her friendship with Cam might go further than a shared interest in horses. Could he, maybe, one day, be a
boyfriend?
Suddenly she was flooded with unfamiliar thoughts. If he was going to be a boyfriend, was it all right to joke and tease with him? Was it acceptable to want to beat him
in the horse show? How about actually beating him? She wasn’t sure how she felt—other than confused—and she wasn’t sure what to do. Stevie solved the immediate problem for her.

“You’ve already had your blue,” she said to Cam bluntly. “Now it’s Carole’s turn again. No horse in this ring is a better jumper than Starlight anyway.”

“She’s right,” Lisa piped in.

“Maybe,” Cam said. “But that won’t keep me from trying.”

“I certainly hope it won’t,” Carole said, gaining the confidence she needed from her friends. “See, I want to beat you fair and square!”

He laughed, recalling that he’d used those very words on Carole. Then he offered his hand. “A deal,” he said. They shook.

“Cam Nelson on Duffy!” the amplifier squeaked. It was Cam’s turn.

The three girls watched every minute of Cam’s performance, and it was very good.

“He really knows what he’s doing,” Lisa said.

“Yeah,” Carole said. Stevie thought she sounded wistful, but dismissed the thought. There was no way Carole was going to go soft and mushy when the subject was horses. Horses were Carole’s life. Then she had another thought: Was the subject horses or Cam? She glanced at Carole. The look on Carole’s face gave Stevie a hint. Something was going on!

“Duffy’s quite a horse,” Lisa said. “Cam has really
trained him very well. Look how he keeps him alert and responsive all the time.”

Carole focused on Cam’s performance. He was using the same techniques he’d recommended to her that had worked so well for her in the Pleasure class. What a nice thing it had been for him to remind her about those mini-aids. It had definitely helped her.

Cam finished his round then and returned to where the girls were waiting for him.

“You’re next,” he said to Lisa.

She was, and she was ready. Jumping a horse was different from flat riding, and Lisa hadn’t been jumping for very long. She didn’t expect to do all that well here. She certainly didn’t consider herself to be anywhere near as good as Stevie or Carole, but she did consider herself to be good enough to do her best and to make Barq do his best. That was all she asked of herself. Earlier in the day it would have been more than she could have done. Now she felt it was the right goal for herself. She gave Barq a nudge, and they began the course.

There were ten jumps, and the course involved a lot of tricky turns to navigate it correctly. It took every ounce of Lisa’s concentration. She and Barq got to a nice smooth canter, aimed straight at the first jump. She never moved her eyes from it. Then, at just the right moment, she rose in the saddle, leaned forward, gave Barq some rein, and the two of them soared over it, landing smoothly. Barq never missed a beat of his canter.

“One down, nine to go,” Lisa whispered to herself.

Barq understood. He knew what to do. He’d done it before, and he wasn’t going to let her down now. The next jump was as smooth as the first. The third jump gave them some trouble. They went over it all right, but they weren’t in the center of the jump, and Lisa was pretty sure that would cost them some points. The next two jumps were better, but after the sixth, Barq began hurrying. It was as if he could feel that this was almost over, and Lisa knew that she’d lost some of the control she had to keep in order to do well. She pulled in a little on the rein. Barq slowed down and then once again found his even pace. They completed the last three jumps successfully. They’d done well and Lisa was proud of it. She couldn’t think of a time when she’d jumped a course of obstacles any better than what she’d just done with Barq. That was what it was about. That was how a rider succeeded in a horse show. She felt good and was glad to receive the congratulations from her friends when she got back out of the ring.

Stevie’s round was very good. Again, this wasn’t Topside’s strongest class, but he was a good, solid jumper and Stevie was a good, solid rider. Topside’s previous owner, Dorothy DeSoto, had ridden him in jumping competitions, but they were usually stadium jumping, where the height of the jumps and the speed of the round were more important than style. He was better at that than at hunter jumping, where style counted for almost everything. They did well, though,
and they didn’t make any obvious faults. Stevie was convinced the judges had noticed a lot of things she never would have noticed herself. She hoped she was wrong.

And then it was Carole’s turn. She and Starlight were announced. Carole could feel the tension rise in her. She was nervous and she thought Starlight was, as well. She’d always thought this would be her best class. Starlight was a natural jumper. She was suddenly filled with doubts. Would she clutch the way Stevie had, or freeze as Lisa had? Would she slip and lose her attention and let Starlight’s attention lag? Would she…

She didn’t want to think about all the things that could go wrong, and very quickly she found that she didn’t have time to think about those things anyway. She was in the ring. It was her turn.

As things worked out, it
was
Carole’s turn. From the moment she first touched Starlight’s belly and began her canter until the final jump had been cleared, everything went even better than Carole might have dreamed. Starlight and Carole rode the whole course as one, keeping a perfectly even pace, approaching each jump straight on, rising from the ground at exactly the right distance from the jump and landing so smoothly, Carole was sure she could have carried a glass of water with her and not spilled a drop. It was simply a dream ride.

Everybody in the audience knew it, too. Her father, Max, and Mrs. Reg stood up and clapped for her. Near
them Carole saw that Lisa’s mother was standing and clapping. Even the judges were smiling, though, of course, they weren’t clapping. That would have been very bad form.

Carole felt totally numb as Starlight drew to a proper walk to leave the ring. She didn’t even know where she was going, so it turned out to be a very good thing that Starlight thought he was ready for a good long drink of water and some hay. At least he knew where to find it!

“That was fabulous!” Stevie shrieked, leaning over from Topside to give Carole a hug.

“Totally!” Lisa agreed. She would have joined in on the hug, but it wasn’t possible physically.

“Definitely,” Cam added to Stevie and Lisa’s congratulations. “It was far and away the best.”

“Do you think so?” Carole asked. She really wasn’t sure.

“Stop digging for compliments,” Stevie said. “You’re going to have a blue ribbon to prove us all right in just a minute, so wait quietly.”

That was all right with Carole. It was all she could do anyway. She was still too exhilarated by the ride she and Starlight had taken.

There were two more riders after Carole, but the audience hardly noticed them. Everybody knew who had won the blue and who deserved it. Nobody was surprised and everyone was pleased when the judges announced their decision.

“First prize of a blue ribbon to Carole Hanson on Starlight!”

Starlight heard his name. He bounced alertly, and it was a good thing, too, because Carole almost didn’t hear the announcement.

“Go on, girl. Get your prize!” Cam said. “You won it, you deserve it.”

It was true. She had won the blue. She was only vaguely aware of the audience and the judges, and of the clapping and the cries and waves. She rode Starlight up to the judges’ stand and waited patiently as the blue ribbon for the Jumping class was pinned on her horse.

“Second prize of a red ribbon to Cam Nelson and his horse, Duffy.”

That was when Carole realized that she’d actually beaten Cam. They’d been joking about who would win, and she had won. For a second she felt bad, remembering how much she liked Cam and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. The second passed, though. She and Starlight had done a wonderful job on the course and deserved to win. Cam had been good. He deserved second place.

Then, in an instant of recognition, Carole realized she was glad she had beaten Cam. She liked him as a friend and might like him as a boyfriend, but she would never like him at all if she couldn’t feel free to be her best around him. That included joking, teasing, and trying to win. That realization was a wonderful feeling of freedom for Carole.

And then there was more good news because Stevie got third place and Lisa took the fourth-place ribbon.

When the other ribbons had been awarded and Carole had taken her victory gallop, the judges called all of the Intermediate riders into the ring on their horses. Carole wasn’t certain what was going on, but the grin on Cam’s face told her it was good.

One of the judges stood up to the microphone and began a long explanation. It took Carole and her friends a few seconds to catch the idea, but it had to do with champion and reserve champion. Carole had completely forgotten about those awards. They were intended as sort of overall recognition of the best horse and rider in the group of classes. There was a point system. At this show, championship points were earned by the top five placers in each class. First place got five points, second place four points, and so on.

Carole’s mind raced. She had two blues. That was ten points. But then, she hadn’t done well at all in Equitation and only got a fourth in Fitting and Showing.

“One of the purposes of this championship system is that it sometimes enables us to recognize a rider who does consistently well, but may only take, for example, one blue ribbon. That’s the case here today.

“We are pleased to award the championship ribbon to the rider who acquired twenty-one points, and that is Cam Nelson on Duffy!”

Cam! How wonderful. Sure, Carole had done better than he had in two classes, but he’d done well in all of
the classes, and he deserved something more than one blue ribbon. Carole thought that was just great. She and her friends and everybody in the audience clapped long and loudly for Cam as the bright multicolored ribbon was clipped onto Duffy’s bridle.

Carole started to signal Starlight to return to the stable. She could hardly wait to congratulate Cam in person. It seemed so right—

“And the reserve championship goes to the rider who acquired eighteen points, and that is Carole Hanson on Starlight!”

Me?

“Yahoo!” Stevie said.

Carole hadn’t even known there was such a thing as a reserve championship, and now she’d won it. She and Starlight accepted the ribbon, and then she and Cam were invited to ride around the ring together.

Carole couldn’t remember when she’d had such fun on such a short ride. Together they circled the ring, and then together they left the competition area for the stalls, followed by all the other Intermediate competitors.

As soon as they were inside, Carole dismounted and gave Starlight the gigantic hug that he deserved. She also took the opportunity to congratulate Cam and tell him how much she thought he deserved it.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m glad for you, too.”

Then both of them were surrounded. All the young riders seemed happy for both Carole and Cam, but none were happier for them than Lisa and Stevie.

“It’s great!” Lisa declared.

“It’s Saddle Club Power!” Stevie said, reaching up and inviting Carole and Lisa to join her in a high five—only when there were three of them, they called it a high fifteen.

“What exactly do you three do in The Saddle Club, anyway?” Cam asked.

“Haven’t I told you about our meetings?” Carole asked.

“I’ve got an idea,” Stevie said, reaching to take Starlight’s reins from Carole’s hands. “Why don’t Lisa and I untack your horses—it will be an honor to tend to the champ and the reserve champ—while you two go somewhere private and Carole can explain to Cam what The Saddle Club is.”

“Good idea,” Lisa agreed, taking Duffy’s reins. “And if, when you come back, you’ve got something cool for each of us to drink, well that will be fine, too.”

“It’s a deal,” Cam said. “Oh, but be sure to take good care of Duffy. He’s a champion, you know.”

“Don’t worry,” Lisa said. “I’m good at grooming champions—and champions-to-be!”

Cam took Carole’s hand then and led her out toward the refreshment stand. They had a lot to talk about, and Stevie and Lisa suspected it wasn’t all horses!