Free Horse Games by Bonnie Bryant Page A

to do it right. She’d learn without any trouble. And she seemed barely to notice her pain.
    Lisa had tied Pepper up near the entrance to the out-door ring where class would take place. She helped Marie mount Patch and led the horse through the aisles of the stable.
    “First things first,” she said. “And the first thing you need to do when you ride at Pine Hollow is to touch the good-luck horseshoe.” She pointed to the horseshoe nailed by the doorway. Marie touched it as instructed. “No Pine Hollow rider has ever been seriously hurt—and remember, Stevie’s injury wasn’t serious—if she touches this first.” In spite of her assurances to Marie, she made a note to ask Stevie if, by chance, she’d forgotten to touch the horseshoe on Saturday.
    There were three spectators for the class. Stevie was there, watching, and obviously wishing she could be on a horse. Her swollen leg was still securely bandaged and her crutches were very much in evidence. In fact, Stevie seemed to be mastering the art of scooting faster than a speeding bullet with her crutches. Lisa hoped she wouldn’t hurt herself worse that way!
    The other two spectators were Marie’s mother and her physical therapist. They leaned forward eagerly at the rail. Her mother appeared worried. The physical therapist was taking notes on her clipboard.
    Class began. First, Max introduced Marie to the other riders. Then he began the instruction by working on gaits. They practiced changing gaits mostly between walking and trotting. Lisa suspected Max was taking it a little easy on the whole class because of Marie. Nobody else seemed to notice, though, and everybody benefited from the practice.
    Max then had the whole class go through a series of leg-strengthening exercises. Again, Lisa thought these were primarily for Marie’s benefit. She could feel her own muscles responding to the activities and suspected they would help all of the students.
    It was time then for a game, and the bright spring afternoon sun suggested shadow tag. Lisa glanced at Stevie. The sidelined girl’s face fell. Shadow tag was one of her favorites. She was really good at it.
    “You’re It!” Max announced, pointing to Lisa.
    The game was on. This wasn’t Lisa’s favorite game. She hated being It. She wanted to tag somebody as quickly as possible and then try to stay out of everybody’s way. She looked around. Marie wasn’t far from her. The temptation was great. After all, Marie was new at the game, new at Pine Hollow. She ought to be an easy target in shadow tag.
    Lisa and Pepper lunged at Marie’s shadow. Marie saw the attack coming. She checked her own shadow, judged Lisa’s distance, and did the only thing she could. She shifted her direction, forcing Lisa and Pepper to pass on her nonshadow side.
    Lisa groaned in frustration. The rest of the riders applauded Marie’s clever move.
    “Nice going,” Max said. Even Lisa was impressed.
    Eventually Lisa tagged Adam, who tagged Betsy, who tagged Polly, who caught Carole off guard, and she tried, once again, to tag Marie.
    Carole began to approach Marie from behind, but she hadn’t fooled Marie at all. Marie and Patch took off for the far end of the ring. Carole pursued them. Marie turned Patch to the right and circled back, cleverly keeping her shadow on the edge of the ring, almost impossible to reach. Nevertheless, Carole continued the pursuit. For a minute, it looked as if Carole would have Marie cornered, but Marie got Patch to dodge away, evading what seemed like an inevitable tag.
    Carole gave up. Since all the other riders were just standing still watching the Carole and Marie Show, it was easy for Carole to tag Adam. He accepted the tag with good grace, but informed Carole immediately that he was smarter than she was because he wasn’t going to try to go after Marie, who was obviously better at this game than any of them. He was going to go after …
    “Lisa! You’re It!” he announced.
    A few minutes later,