it from herself, and she was just checking that she was doing it all right. She was. It was the easiest, most natural feeling she’d ever had. She was riding, and she was riding well. Prancer was making it right for her.
The tenth jump was up ahead. Again they soared. Again the audience clapped. This time very loudly.
The course was done. Prancer drew to a halt in front of the judges’ stand and stood motionless while the judges tallied their scores. The judge in the center stood up.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “There is no point in continuing this competition. This rider, Miss Lisa Atwood, is simply the finest rider any of us has ever seen. And her horse, Prancer, defies all description. This may be just a local horse show, but you have been treated here to a performance that could take the blue even at the American Horse Show. We don’t need to see any other riders, we have our winner right here!”
The audience applauded loudly.
“Miss Atwood, Prancer, please come forward,” the judge said.
Lisa could barely believe what was happening, but she knew, as she’d never known anything before, thatshe deserved it. She and Prancer had been the best—the very best—that the judges had ever seen. She signaled Prancer to step forward to where a small red carpet had been rolled out.
The three judges approached her. The main judge held the blue ribbon for the Jumping class.
She reached up and clipped it onto Prancer’s bridle. The gesture seemed somehow familiar. Then Lisa recalled that this wasn’t the first time she’d received a blue ribbon that day. She and Prancer had already taken blues in all her other classes, too!
There was just one prize left. Would it be hers? She just had to know.
She leaned forward in her saddle to speak to the judge. The judge looked back up at her, filled with awe.
Lisa drew on her courage.
“Does this mean that I’m …?”
The judge smiled and spoke the word Lisa had been unable to utter. “Champion,” she said. “Yes, you are the champion!”
It was all so much, so fast, and so wonderful! She could barely believe it, and it was hard to think about, too, because the whole audience was standing and applauding and shouting. Waves of noise, loud sounds, filled Lisa’s ears and her whole head. They didn’t stop. They persisted and persisted. The applause and the shouts merged into an overwhelming…
Buzzzzzzz.
It was Lisa’s alarm clock.
She awoke with a start, brought back to reality with the unpleasant noise that still couldn’t erase the wonderful feeling she had just thinking back on her dream.
Lisa found that she was still clutching five pieces of white paper in her hand. Her dream had been wonderful and exciting, but it had been something more, too. It had told her what her personal goal was for Briarwood.
She picked up the pencil that was still on her bed and wrote the same word five times: “Blue.”
She put the papers in an envelope, licked it, and sealed it. She stood up and headed for the bathroom, uttering the word from her dream that was still with her: “Champion.”
She liked the sound of that.
C AROLE WAS SURROUNDED by her friends. Lisa was working on Prancer in the stall on one side of her. Stevie and Topside were on the other side. They were all grooming their horses in the temporary stalls that Briarwood had erected for the competitors. All the Juniors were in the same area. Fortunately for The Saddle Club, Veronica and Garnet had been assigned a stall two aisles away.
Carole glanced at Lisa. She was working very hard on Prancer’s grooming. The mare seemed to love the attention—as she always did—and the results were great. Prancer certainly was a beautiful horse, and her fine bloodlines showed to their best advantage with a good grooming.
On her other side, Stevie was also working hard.She chatted on and on with Topside as she groomed him. Carole tried not to listen, but it wasn’t easy.
“So the trick today, Topside, is
The tenth jump was up ahead. Again they soared. Again the audience clapped. This time very loudly.
The course was done. Prancer drew to a halt in front of the judges’ stand and stood motionless while the judges tallied their scores. The judge in the center stood up.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she said. “There is no point in continuing this competition. This rider, Miss Lisa Atwood, is simply the finest rider any of us has ever seen. And her horse, Prancer, defies all description. This may be just a local horse show, but you have been treated here to a performance that could take the blue even at the American Horse Show. We don’t need to see any other riders, we have our winner right here!”
The audience applauded loudly.
“Miss Atwood, Prancer, please come forward,” the judge said.
Lisa could barely believe what was happening, but she knew, as she’d never known anything before, thatshe deserved it. She and Prancer had been the best—the very best—that the judges had ever seen. She signaled Prancer to step forward to where a small red carpet had been rolled out.
The three judges approached her. The main judge held the blue ribbon for the Jumping class.
She reached up and clipped it onto Prancer’s bridle. The gesture seemed somehow familiar. Then Lisa recalled that this wasn’t the first time she’d received a blue ribbon that day. She and Prancer had already taken blues in all her other classes, too!
There was just one prize left. Would it be hers? She just had to know.
She leaned forward in her saddle to speak to the judge. The judge looked back up at her, filled with awe.
Lisa drew on her courage.
“Does this mean that I’m …?”
The judge smiled and spoke the word Lisa had been unable to utter. “Champion,” she said. “Yes, you are the champion!”
It was all so much, so fast, and so wonderful! She could barely believe it, and it was hard to think about, too, because the whole audience was standing and applauding and shouting. Waves of noise, loud sounds, filled Lisa’s ears and her whole head. They didn’t stop. They persisted and persisted. The applause and the shouts merged into an overwhelming…
Buzzzzzzz.
It was Lisa’s alarm clock.
She awoke with a start, brought back to reality with the unpleasant noise that still couldn’t erase the wonderful feeling she had just thinking back on her dream.
Lisa found that she was still clutching five pieces of white paper in her hand. Her dream had been wonderful and exciting, but it had been something more, too. It had told her what her personal goal was for Briarwood.
She picked up the pencil that was still on her bed and wrote the same word five times: “Blue.”
She put the papers in an envelope, licked it, and sealed it. She stood up and headed for the bathroom, uttering the word from her dream that was still with her: “Champion.”
She liked the sound of that.
C AROLE WAS SURROUNDED by her friends. Lisa was working on Prancer in the stall on one side of her. Stevie and Topside were on the other side. They were all grooming their horses in the temporary stalls that Briarwood had erected for the competitors. All the Juniors were in the same area. Fortunately for The Saddle Club, Veronica and Garnet had been assigned a stall two aisles away.
Carole glanced at Lisa. She was working very hard on Prancer’s grooming. The mare seemed to love the attention—as she always did—and the results were great. Prancer certainly was a beautiful horse, and her fine bloodlines showed to their best advantage with a good grooming.
On her other side, Stevie was also working hard.She chatted on and on with Topside as she groomed him. Carole tried not to listen, but it wasn’t easy.
“So the trick today, Topside, is
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