Rocking Horse Read Online Free PDF Page B

elbows.
    Lisa, suddenly concerned with how Prancer would handle the footing, climbed up on the bank, too. Meg offered her a hand. To Lisa’s relief, the top of the bank was solid and well-drained, nearly dry. Stevie made some other rude comment to Veronica, and in the back of her mind Lisa thought Stevie was starting to get out of hand. The front of her mind, however, was still occupied with the course. She didn’t say anything to her friend.
    At the water complex, a gently flowing stream with a few low jumps on either side, Stevie asked Veronica if she didn’t feel like taking a swim. “Might wash the mud off your hands,” she said.
    Veronica looked up, and for a moment Carole thought she saw total comprehension in Veronica’s eyes. But the other girl just answered innocently, “Idon’t know what you’re talking about, Stevie Lake, but you’re starting to get on my nerves.”
    “And mine!” boomed Max. “Really, Stevie, if you’d spend half as much time studying the course as you do making jokes, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Veronica’s planned for this competition, and she’s been a help to everyone. Furthermore, her conduct, unlike yours, has shown real Pony Club spirit.”
    Stevie, her face burning red, was silent. She was embarrassed to have Max yell at her, but beyond that, she was so furious she couldn’t speak for a moment. Max nodded at her, then began walking toward the next jump. “It’s spirit, all right,” she whispered. “Creating all the trouble you can for other teams, that’s real spirit—real
Veronica
spirit.”
    “What are you
talking
about?” Meg asked again.
    “Don’t pay her any attention,” Veronica said, lifting her nose into the air. “It wasn’t my fault Belle got mud in her tail,” she said to Stevie. “Maybe you ought to spend a little less time assigning blame to other people and a little more time taking care of your poor horse.”
    “
My poor horse!
What about you, who always lets everyone else take care of Danny?” Stevie was so upset she leaned right into Veronica’s face. Veronica stepped backward to the edge of the stream.
    “Really!” Carole added, rushing to Stevie’s defense.“You didn’t even know how to wrap Danny’s legs—or else you were too lazy to do it.”
    “I ought to push you right into the stream! How’d you like a bath?” Stevie said.
    “Stevie!” Max roared. “Carole! Veronica! All of you girls,
I am ashamed!
”
    Stevie dropped her arms to her sides. Carole went still. Only Veronica continued to speak. “I don’t know what they’re talking about,” she told Max.
    “Unfortunately,” Max said, “I do. But that’s irrelevant to the current situation. Hear this, all of you: Any rider who says anything—I mean
anything
—during the rest of this walk not directly connected to this course and how it should be ridden will be expelled from this event and suspended from Horse Wise. Don’t test me to see if I mean it. I don’t want to hear a single word until we get back to the stabling area and you six are on your own again. Understood?”
    “Yes, Max,” they all mumbled. Lisa had never seen him so furious. Max didn’t often lose his temper, but when he did, it took him a while to find it again. They were all very quiet for the rest of the course walk. Even when the last jump turned out to be another coop, Stevie only patted it sadly and said nothing.
    Back at the stalls, Carole grabbed Stevie’s arm andhustled her into their tack room before she could get another shot at Veronica. “Not a word,” she said. “Not to Veronica, Meg, or Betsy, for the rest of the weekend, from any of us. I was never so embarrassed, Stevie. Max shouldn’t have had to talk to us like that.”
    Stevie hung her head. She sat down on her tack trunk and looked up at Carole. “I know,” she said. “But this is going to be an awful day. There are too many coops out there. Belle’s going to be eliminated, and then we won’t