Chapter One
In the main ring at Gardener Farm, four riders sat on their horses under a shady overhang of oak branches heavy with acorns. The Indian-summer sunshine had mellowed, turning the late afternoon light into a golden haze, but it was still warm enough for both horses and riders to be grateful for the shade. The horses stood sleepily, motionless except for the steady swishing of their tails and an occasional toss of a head. The riders, three girls and a boy, were watching a fifth rider canter down one side of the arena toward a jump.
The cantering rider was Cassidy Smith, a tall, slender girl with two wings of blond hair showing under the sides of her helmet. She was riding a big bay horse, and both the brown eyes of the horse and the green eyes of the girl were riveted on the jump ahead of them. "Three, two, one," Cassidy chanted aloud as she approached the fence. just as she said "one," she felt her Canadian Warmblood jumper, Rebound, lift his front legs and leap smartly over the crossed, yellow rails of the Swedish oxer. "Great, Cassidy thought. "We found the perfect distance to that jump.
"Good, Cassidy," Mona agreed. Mona Gardener, the owner of Gardener Farm, stood in the middle of the arena. Her short brown hair was hidden under a baseball cap, and her skinny legs were deeply tanned under her khaki cargo shorts. She took several purposeful steps in time with Rebound's strides as Cassidy cantered past her. "Now count down your strides before the stone wall," Mona instructed. Then she stopped and placed her hands on her hips in her characteristic "let's see you do it" stance.
Cassidy nodded her head once at Mona to indicate that she understood, then moved herright leg back slightly, pressing it into Rebound's side. At the same time, she shifted her left hand to guide him in a smooth turn to the wooden jump painted to look like a stone wall. She kept her eye on the jump as Rebound's strides brought her closer and closer to it. The wall itself was only about two-feet high. Mona had set two blue rails above it, raising the height to three feet, but that was still low for Cassidy and Rebound. She had ridden the shiny, dark bay gelding in the junior Jumpers at many big, Arated horse shows, where the height of the fences was usually three feet, six inches, or three feet, nine inches.
Cassidy was more advanced than the four other kids in the class, so Mona had asked her to demonstrate the exercise, which was to count down the strides before a jump. In fact, Cassidy reflected, it seemed like Mona was always asking her to go first. Sometimes Cassidy wished she wouldn't. It wasnt that she minded going first, but the way Mona was always pointing her out as a good example made her feel like she stood out from the other kids, just when she was trying her hardest to fit in.
"I want you guys to watch how Cassidy uses her eyes," Mona said to the other kids.
Cassidy barely heard the comment. She was too busy concentrating on the exercise, which was supposed to help a rider learn to judge the distance to the take-off spot before a jump. It was a familiar exercise, one she'd done many times with her old trainer down in Florida, but it was also a fun one, so today she didn't mind being the guinea pig.
When she felt she was three strides from the stone wall, Cassidy counted aloud again, "Three, two, one." On the "one," Rebound rocked back on hishaunches and neatly cleared the fence, snapping his knees right up to his chin.
"Excellent," Mona said.
Cassidy rode a few strides away from the jump, then brought Rebound to a walk. He came down willingly, but walked quickly, with his ears flicking eagerly forward and back, as if he were just waiting for Cassidy to point him at the next fence.
Cassidy laughed and patted his sleek, dark neck.
"That's it, Rebound, you jumped them all. Now it's somebody else's turn."
Rebound let out a disappointed-sounding snort, then lowered his head and relaxed into a quiet walk. Cassidy held the reins by the buckle, casually guiding the horse with one hand toward the shady spot where the other riders were waiting.
"Okay, who wants to go next?" Mona asked, looking expectantly at her students.
Dylan Becker, the only boy, spoke first. "I will," he said quickly, shortening the reins of his appendix quarter-horse, Dakota, and turning him away from the group toward the middle of the arena. "Nice riding, Cassidy," he said appreciatively as he passed her.
"Thanks," Cassidy replied, smiling with pleasure. If there was one person besides Mona whose opinion really mattered to her, it was Dylan. Cassidy had just moved to Kentucky that summer, and though she'd tried her best to be friendly, the girls had been difficult to get to know. It was Dylan who had been her first friend.
"That I was really good," Christina Reese said. Christina, twelve, was tall for her age, and just as good a rider as Cassidy, though not as experienced.
"Thanks," Cassidy said. She was glad that she and Christina were getting along much better since school had started. The two hadn't exactly hit it off when theyfirst met.
"You sure make it look easy," Melanie Graham, Christina's cousin agreed. Melanie was from New York.
She was a few months older than her cousin, but she was tiny, with short, pale blond hair and large, sad brown eyes. Cassidy had decided that she really liked Melanie, maybe because they were both newcomers ...
Joanna Campbell appears here with her six-year-old Thoroughbred, Meyersville Magic, known around the barn as CC. He's a son of Horatius out of Northwich by Timothy's Champ and is owned by Cathy Day. Formerly trained for racing, he is now being trained for eventing. Last Year he was the Maine Entry Level Champion in Combined Training.