Free Yankee Swap by Bonnie Bryant Page A

creative,” Max announced at the beginning of Thursday afternoon’s clinic session.
    Lisa looked around the ring and smiled. Max and Red had set up a course that included some very strange-looking obstacles. There was a jump made of logs and brush, one consistingof a large pile of wooden crates, one concocted of some chairs and a couple of broom handles, and one made from old tires.
    “The point of this exercise is to get your horses accustomed to jumping anything you ask them to,” Max said. “We certainly don’t want to scare them, but they need to trust you and do what you say. There’s no way of telling what sorts of things you could run across out on the trail—or in a show ring, for that matter.”
    Lisa knew that was true. She had watched a horse show on TV a couple of weeks earlier and had been surprised at some of the jumps. There had been one shaped like a giant serpent, and one that looked like a tiny castle. Even many of the more normal-shaped fences were painted in wild colors and patterns. Max’s jumps weren’t that elaborate, but she knew they would serve the same purpose: to test the willingness of the horses to jump anything their riders wanted them to jump.
    Most of the horses in the ring, including Chip and Barq, were experienced school horses. They wouldn’t have any trouble at all with the new obstacles—they were used to dealing with all sorts of unusual situations. But when Lisa glanced over at her friends, she saw that Stevie and Carole were listening intently. Belle and Starlight were much younger and greener than most of the Pine Hollow horses, and it would be interesting to see how they would handle this challenge.
    “All right, Veronica,” Max said. “You’re up first. Pace the course, then go through it at a slow canter.”
    As Veronica began pacing off the distances between the jumps, Merrill leaned over to talk to Lisa.
    “Guess what Max told me right before class,” she whisperedexcitedly. “He and my parents have already settled on a price for Barq. That means he’ll be able to ship him soon—he’ll probably be in Maine in only a couple of weeks. Isn’t that great?”
    “Uh-huh,” Lisa lied with a gulp. There was no time to lose if The Saddle Club was going to talk Merrill out of her plan. “Um, let’s talk about it later, okay? You know Max hates it when people talk during class.”
    “Y OU WERE SUCH a good boy,” Carole said, giving Starlight a kiss on his soft nose as she finished his grooming. “You didn’t let those scary fences stop you at all, did you?” She pulled a few pieces of carrot out of her pocket and fed them to him one by one.
    Starlight deserved the treat. He had done very well. Even though Carole had felt him tensing up at each strange obstacle for the first few rounds, he had obeyed her commands and jumped them anyway. That was a tribute to Carole’s careful training, as well as to Starlight’s character.
    Polly Giacomin hadn’t fared so well. Her horse Romeo had refused several fences the first time around. With a little help from Max and a lot of patience, Polly had finally managed to get the gelding around the course, but it hadn’t been easy.
    “Hi, are you almost ready?” Stevie asked, interrupting Carole’s thoughts. She leaned on the half door of Starlight’s stall. “Lisa and Merrill are just finishing up. Mrs. Atwood will be here soon.” Lisa’s mother had agreed to drive the girls to the mall for dinner and shopping. So far, Merrill was the only one who had bought a gift for the Yankee Swap.
    “I’m ready,” Carole said, giving Starlight one final kiss before letting herself out of the stall. “How’s Belle?”
    “Perfect,” Stevie said happily. “She was great today.”
    “She sure was,” Carole said sincerely. Belle had had even less trouble with Max’s strange obstacles than Starlight had. If anything, she had almost seemed to be amused by them. Carole shook her head in wonder, thinking again how well matched