Horse Trade Read Online Free PDF Page A

like Delilah, and she’s going to like you.”
    Fifteen minutes later Hollie led Delilah into the outdoor ring, touching the good-luck horseshoe on her way. She got up on the block and mounted, looking eager and excited.
    Lisa kept a close eye on her friend, wanting to be as helpful to her as Hollie had been to Lisa at the beginning of rehearsals.
    Obviously, Hollie’s earlier riding lessons had stayed with her. She kept her hands low, her heels down, knees tucked in, and back straight. Most important, she was in communication with her horse, checking Delilah to make sure that she was alert and attentive. Pretty soon the two of them looked as if they’d been together forever. Seeing this, Lisa relaxed. She was more glad than ever she’d invited Hollie to Pine Hollow.
    As part of the class, Max had Carole demonstrate some “wrong” ways of jumping. One of these was “calling a cab,” when a rider held up her hand as if trying to hail a taxi. As all the riders could see, this threw Starlight off balance, making her clip the rail with her right rear hoof. Then Carole demonstrated another common error, the “suicide tilt,” leaning too far back in the saddle. At first the jump looked great because there was so little weight over Starlight’s front legs, but then the extra weight on her hindquarters prevented her hind legs from rising, so they knocked the top rail from the fence.
    Then, to show how jumping ought to be done, Carole and Starlight trotted along the edge of the ring with Carole leaning low over Starlight’s neck. Carole seemed totally relaxed as Starlight moved smoothly toward thejump. Horse and rider rose into the air and sailed over the fence. Then they came down in a perfect landing.
    “See how easy it is,” Max said, his eyes bright with pleasure. “You just have to let your horse jump.”
    Next to Lisa, Hollie muttered, “That’s like saying anyone can play Hamlet.”
    Lisa giggled. “You have a point. But Max is a great teacher. I wouldn’t have made as much progress as I have if it weren’t for him.”
    Hollie looked uncertain. “We’ll see how I do.”
    But by the time Hollie had completed the first exercise, Lisa was more than a little impressed.
    “I was watching you,” she called to her friend. “That was almost perfect form. I think you’re a natural because of all your acting experience.”
    “You mean you dink it’s because I’m faking riding?” Hollie said, and let loose with a sneeze.
    Lisa shook her head. “It’s because you have self-confidence. You don’t get tense and self-conscious. Delilah’s pretty cool, but even she gets nervous with a beginner on her back.”
    “Do you dink you could give me a dissue?” Hollie said.
    Lisa blinked, trying to figure out what Hollie had said. Then she realized that Hollie was asking for a tissue. “Sure,” Lisa said, searching in an inside pocket in her riding jacket. This proved that Hollie knew her reallywell, Lisa thought. Because all of Lisa’s jackets and coats had packets of tissues put there by Lisa’s mother. “Help yourself,” she said, passing Hollie a new pack. “Do you have a cold?”
    Hollie shook her head. “Danks, I’m edernally dateful.”
    Lisa opened her mouth, about to tell Hollie that she was “endirely delcome,” when she noticed Max looking at them with irritation. With her eyes, Lisa signaled to Hollie that there was trouble, and Hollie blew her nose as softly as possible and slipped the tissues into the pocket of her riding jacket.
    After class Lisa explained that Max didn’t like people to talk for any reason when they were at a class or at a meeting of the Pony Club. “He says concentration is the most important part of riding,” she said.
    “He sounds like my acting doach,” said Hollie with a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sneeze.
    “Hey,” Lisa said, rising from her saddle, “there’s Judy Barker. She’s the vet here at Pine Hollow.” She pointed to a woman in