Champion Horse Read Free

and Blue and me on day three. But Melinda’s classes came on Wednesday, at eight and eight-thirty, Ellen’s were at nine and nine-forty-five, and I would have to be on Blue by eleven. We took Blue Tuesday afternoon, and found him a stall in the show barns, which were temporary canvas buildings set up in the polo field. Once I’d started riding him again after my broken arm had healed, we had taken him back to the stables twice for lessons with Jane. He seemed comfortable, but after all, he’d lived there for several months before I got him. The temporary stall had a bale of straw in it, which I spread around while Mom held Blue. Then I tacked him up and went out to have a lesson with Jane in the arena where we would be showing. We didn’t jump very much, just walked, trotted, and cantered around, looking at the other horses, the tents, the jumps, the grooms, and cars and trucks going from place to place. I did a lot of stepping over and coming under, and this seemed to calm him. We left him at about six, with plenty of hay to eat, two full buckets of water, and him wearing one of his blankets because it was damp and chilly. Jane said she would check on him before leaving for the night.
    Rodney Lemon was helping me with Gallant Man, but I was on my own with Blue – the show fees for the stall and the classes were pretty expensive, and since Blue had cost me all of $5.60 and Dad wasn’t charging me for board or hay, he thought it would be a good lesson in money management for me to pay for the show out of what I had earned teaching Ellen, Melinda and Barbie during the spring and summer. I had decided that I didn’t want to pay Rodney to do what I could do myself; when I got up at four on Wednesday morning, I regretted that. Even so, I was pretty proud of how I looked, which was just like all the other riders – well-fitting tall black boots, canary (that’s yellow) breeches, a clean white shirt, a black coat, black gloves, a stock, and my hard hat. Jane had loaned me the stock and helped me find the jacket and the breeches – she knew all sorts of college girls who had given up riding and were willing to sell their old clothes. I got the jacket for ten dollars and the breeches for twelve, about two weeks’ worth of lessons. Even with the boots and the entry fees, I still had over a hundred dollars in my account at the bank, whether or not Dad permitted me to spend it.
    I could not help looking around for Sophia Rosebury, whose outfits were always perfect and whose boots, Jane said, were custom made, but of course she would not be there on a Wednesday. Both of her horses were champions, and her horse Onyx, whom we used to call Black George when we owned him, was probably going to be Horse of the Year at these shows – he hardly ever lost, and I had to admit that it was because in addition to the fact that he loved to jump and was very easy to ride, Sophia hardly ever made a mistake. She was not a nice girl – for one thing, she never smiled – but she rode perfectly, as far as I could tell, and I watched her whenever I could. I sometimes wondered if she knew who I was or remembered that she had bought my horse, but I didn’t say anything.
    I checked on Blue and gave him some more hay, then went to the barns, where Melinda, of course, was waiting for me. She was standing with Rodney and Gallant Man, and Rodney had plaited both the pony’s mane and his tail, putting little red bows on every plait; they looked wonderful against Gallant Man’s sparkling dapples. Melinda was frowning, with a straight line going right down between her eyebrows, and as soon as she saw me she said in a serious voice, ‘Hi, Abby. I’ve decided that it is best if I don’t do this. It really is for the best.’
    I cleared my throat and pretended that I was considering her opinion. Then I said, ‘Well, Melinda, why don’t you get on Gallant Man, since he looks so great with the red plaits, and we’ll talk about it. We can walk over to