Blue Ribbon Summer by Catherine Hapka

Author:Catherine Hapka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

CHAPTER

7

BROOKE AWOKE WITH A START the next morning when a bird burst into enthusiastic song right outside the bunkhouse window. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and glanced around. The other beds were empty—Paige’s neatly made, Livi’s a complete mess, and Hannah’s somewhere in between. Brooke checked her watch and saw that she was late for breakfast.

“Thanks for waking me, guys,” she muttered as she climbed out of bed.

She dressed quickly, not bothering to shower, and rushed to the main house. There was barely time to choke down half a piece of toast and a few gulps of orange juice before Robin was shooing them off to the barn for their morning lesson.

As she pulled Foxy out of her stall, Brooke was feeling rushed and sleepy and generally out of sorts. The pony seemed to pick up on her mood, spooking at the click of the crosstie being clipped on and generally being antsy and difficult all during grooming and tacking.

Robin wasn’t in the ring yet when the girls entered. The other three mounted their horses, barely pausing in their conversation as they did so.

Finally it was Brooke’s turn at the mounting block. But Foxy stepped to the side before her rider could put her foot in the stirrup. Brooke climbed down and led her around for another try, but the pony did the same thing.

“Quit it, would you?” Brooke exclaimed, yanking on the reins to try to stop Foxy from moving off a third time.

“Easy, Brooke.” Robin had hurried into the ring at that very moment. “It won’t help to lose patience with her. Here, let’s try it again. . . .”

“Thanks.” Brooke noticed that a man had also appeared and was leaning on the rail, watching. He was around Robin’s age or maybe a little younger, tall and well-groomed in khaki pants and a polo shirt.

Robin noticed her looking. “Brooke, that’s Preston,” she said. “He’ll be helping out with some of our activities this week. Preston, this is Brooke Rhodes.”

“Hello, Brooke,” Preston said with a brief smile.

“Hi.” Brooke felt self-conscious with the man watching, but with Robin holding Foxy’s head, the mare finally stood still long enough for Brooke to mount.

However, the lesson only went downhill from there.

“Quiet legs, Brooke,” Robin called from the center of the ring as Foxy jumped into a canter when Brooke was trying to get her to trot in a circle. “But Foxy is bending better today—nice work.”

Brooke hardly heard the compliment. Foxy had just spurted forward again, even though Brooke was sure she hadn’t moved her legs at all.

“Watch it!” Livi exclaimed, pulling her horse to a halt just in time to avoid a collision.

“Sorry,” Brooke muttered, wrestling Foxy into a circle to slow her down. But the mare didn’t settle until they started some gymnastic exercises over low jumps, which Foxy actually seemed to enjoy. By then, however, Brooke’s own mood had soured beyond repair.

“Nice riding, everyone,” Robin said after the girls had all gone through the exercise for the third or fourth time.

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