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straw for Stevie. She sauntered casually forward with Belle in tow. “Veronica, it looks like I owe you an apology.”
    Veronica greeted her with cool, suspicious eyes. “What for?”
    “I always thought you had Red tack up your horse for you because you were lazy. But if I just heard you right, it’s because you don’t know how to do it yourself,” Stevie said. “You did tell Corey, ‘If you can’t figure out how to do a simple thing, call for the stable hand,’ didn’t you?”
    Veronica raised her chin haughtily. “I use Red for the tasks for which he is employed.”
    “I don’t think
doormat
is written in his job description,” Stevie replied wryly.
    Veronica glared at her and stalked away, brushing past Lisa, who had just arrived leading Prancer.
    “Uh-oh! What was that about?” Lisa wanted to know.
    Stevie just grinned and went to help Corey with her stirrup.
    “Veronica was being her usual nasty self,” Carole explained. “Stevie took her down a peg or two.”
    “Oh dear,” Lisa said, swinging easily into the saddle. She felt it was never a good idea to embarrass Veronica diAngelo, whose family was the richest in town and, in fact, held the mortgage on Pine Hollow. Veronica and Stevie had been butting heads for a long time now and so far Stevie had come out on top, but with Veronica you could never be sure how or when she might choose to get her revenge. “I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us.”
    Carole also mounted up. “Sooner or later you know it will.”
    “Well, I’m hoping for later rather than sooner,” said Lisa. “Hey, Stevie, Corey, let’s go. Max is ready to begin.”
    Stevie climbed on Belle and joined them, and they rode over to meet the rest of the class assembled outside the ring.
    Max gave all the riders and horses a once-over, making adjustments here and there and handing out occasional words of advice. Finally he came to Veronica’s horse, Danny, and eyed the Thoroughbred’s glossy coat. “I have to say, Danny is looking wonderfully groomed as usual, Veronica, and your tack has obviously been extremely well cleaned and cared for.”
    Veronica gave him an ingratiating, self-congratulatory smile. “Thank you.”
    “I must remember to commend Red on his good work.”
    Veronica’s face fell. Every rider there knew that she made Red do as many of her chores as she possibly could, and Max was letting her know that she was fooling no one, least of all him.
    “All right then,” he continued briskly. “I’m going to pair you all up, one senior rider with one beginner rider. When I call out your name, please move over next to your partner. The idea here is for the more knowledgeable students to try their hand at coaching. I think this will be a mutual learning experience for all.”
    Stevie was delighted at the possibilities. She had so much good advice to pass on that she hardly knew where to start! She was just as happy when her partner turned out to be Corey, and Corey seemedequally pleased by the pairing. After all, Corey and two of her friends Jasmine James and May Grover so admired The Saddle Club that they had formed their own version of it, which they called the Pony Tails.
    “Lisa,” called Max. “You’ll work with Jasmine.”
    Lisa felt her heart sink and her stomach clench at the announcement. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Jasmine; on the contrary, she liked her a lot. Assuming responsibility for her schooling, however, made Lisa shake inside. What if she blew it? What if she didn’t know the answer to Jasmine’s questions, or, even worse, taught her the wrong answers? Lisa knew she had a natural talent for riding, but she also knew she was relatively new to the sport.
    Almost as if she sensed her friend’s distress, Carole moved her horse up close to the new pair and smiled. “Jasmine, I hope you realize you’ve got one of the best partners in the group. Years of ballet have given Lisa really good balance, which means she’s got an