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Carole sank on to the bench and covered her face with her hands, groaning.
    “Hey, Carole, it’s okay,” said Lisa. “It’s just Veronica. Who cares what she thinks?”
    “Yeah,” agreed Stevie. “We know you would never play favorites, and so does everyone else in the stable. That’s one of the reasons Max picked you.”
    Carole was grateful for her friends’ loyalty, but the thought of Veronica and Betsy running around blabbing to everyone what she had said filled her with dismay. Maybe she should resign the judging position.
    Stevie knelt in front of her. “You’re going to be the best judge ever. Veronica is jealous and will do anything to make you look bad, you know that.”
    “Yeah,” agreed Lisa. “But she’s going to have to work a lot harder than this to do it.”
    “And we all know how Veronica feels about hard work!” laughed Stevie.
    Carole mustered a weak smile.
    “Hey,” said Lisa, jumping to her feet. “I promised Jasmine I would show her some of the finer points of mucking out a stall. I gotta get moving.”
    “I didn’t realize there were finer points to shoveling horse manure,” Carole said.
    “Then you’ll just have to stop by and see a professional at work,” Lisa answered grandly.
    “Corey needs me, too,” said Stevie, moving toward the door. “After all, I do hold the fate of the finest equestrienne in the world in the palm of my hand.” She paused for a moment. “How about a Saddle Club meeting at TD’s later?” TD’s was their name for the Tastee Delight Ice Cream Parlor, the site of many of their get-togethers.
    “Sounds great,” said Lisa.
    “Count me in,” said Carole, pulling herself together.
    With that, the others left her alone. Her thoughts returned to the scene with Veronica. How could she have been so careless? She’d have to be more cautious in the future, watch every move and word, so that absolutely no one, including Veronica diAngelo, could accuse her of being the least bit biased toward her friends or against anyone else.
    Right then, however, the best thing for her to do was to get to work and see what was going on around the stable. She took a moment to organize her grading papers and left the locker area. As she made her rounds she found herself trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, still self-conscious about what Veronica and Betsy might have told everybody. She got a few sharp looks but in general everyone seemed too busy to pay much attention to her. Or were they ignoring her intentionally?
    This is ridiculous
, she finally told herself.
I have a job to do and I’m not going to get it done this way
. She moved on with new purpose. Rounding a corner, she was in time to watch Stevie instructing Corey on the best way to use a hoof pick. She leaned against the stall door to better observe the procedure.
    “… and when you’re sure it’s all clean and healthy, you gently put his foot back on the floor and give him a pat on the neck to tell him how good a pony he’s been.”
    “I think you covered all the important points, Stevie,” Carole said, as she scribbled on her notepad. “I know you’ve been cleaning hooves forever, but Corey may want to run her hand down Samurai’s leg a little slower, to signal him that she wants to pick up his foot. That would help to build up his trust.”
    Stevie seemed to consider her words, then nodded thoughtfully. “You may be right. Belle and I are so used to each other, she almost seems to know what I want before I ask her. I forgot Corey and Samurai might still have some bonding to do. Thanks for the reminder.”
    “No problem.” She almost added,
You guys are going to do great
, then thought better of it. “See you later.”
    Not long after, she came across Lisa and Jasmine, who were getting ready to feed Outlaw. “Stable horses like eating,” Lisa was saying, “not only because it tastes good, but it breaks up the boredom of having to stand around most of the day. But remember, he needs