Corey in the Saddle
Pony Tails, Book Six
1 Just for the Animals
“Oh, how cute!” Corey Takamura cooed. She was looking at a sleeping kitten, curled up into a tiny ball. He clutched a rubber mouse toy in his paws. “Look at him, you guys,” she told her two best friends.
Jasmine James gazed at the kitten. “Aww,” she said, agreeing with Corey.
“He’s adorable,” May Grover said. “Check out the puppies.”
Corey and Jasmine looked where May was pointing. Two puppies were roughhousing, rolling around in the newspaper strips in their cage.
“All the animals are cute,” Jasmine said with a sigh.
A smile crept across Corey’s face. May and Jasmine didn’t know it, but her plan was working.
In a few minutes the three girls would be riding their ponies in a demonstration for a huge audience. Their Pony Club, Horse Wise, was trying to raise money for CARL—the County Animal Rescue League.
The girls had been getting ready for the demonstration for a long time. May and Jasmine were very nervous about riding in front of a big crowd. So Corey had decided to show them the animals from CARL. Sure enough, once May and Jasmine saw the pets in the trailer that CARL had set up at Pine Hollow Stables for the day, they forgot all about being nervous.
May crouched down to look at a baby raccoon in a cage. “Can someone adopt this raccoon, too?” she asked Corey.
Corey shook her head. “No. He’s a wild animal. CARL was just taking care of him for a while. I think most of the other animals here can be adopted today, though.”
May stared at the raccoon through the bars of the cage. He stared back at her. She made a funny face at him. He stared back at her.
“No sense of humor,” she commented.
“Maybe you just don’t know how to tell a joke in raccoon,” Jasmine said. May giggled. The raccoon scooted back in his cage, away from May.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she said.
“It’s good for him to be scared of you,” Corey reminded her. “He’s going to be released back into the wild soon.”
May thought about that. It made sense. Animals who were going to live in the wild should be afraid of humans. That way they’d be more independent and safe.
Corey knew a lot about animals. Her mother was a veterinarian whom everyone called Doc Tock. Doc Tock had her own practice, but she also did a lot of work at CARL. May thought it was fun living next door to a vet—especially since May, Jasmine, and Corey were all crazy about animals. The girls were really crazy about ponies. That was why they called themselves the Pony Tails.
“Bleeaaaaaa!”
A sudden noise startled the girls.
“What was that?” Jasmine said. They looked around to see where it had come from.
There was a cage in the corner behind the other cages. It had a lot of newspaper torn up in it. Corey peered at the cage—she couldn’t see an animal in there.
“Bleeaaaaa!”
The sound was definitely coming from the cage in the corner. Slowly the girls went over to investigate.
The Pony Tails stared at the pile of shredded newsprint. Corey watched in surprise as the paper rustled. Then a tiny black nose popped out from under the papers. It sniffed curiously. Then came a furry mouth. The tiny mouth opened and made a great big noise.
“Bleeaaaaa!”
“It’s a goat!” Corey declared. “A baby goat!”
The goat had black-and-white splotched hair and bright black eyes.
The Pony Tails watched as the small creature tried to stand up. First its little rear legs pushed upward. Then its spindly front legs began working.
“It’s so cute,” breathed Jasmine. “I bet it’s only a few weeks old.”
Corey nodded. The creature was tiny. She knew from her mother that CARL rescued and took in all kinds of animals. What had happened to this tiny goat? she wondered. He was definitely too young to be separated from his mother. Maybe he’d been orphaned.
Corey looked at the papers hanging from the goat’s cage. She was right. According to his chart, his mother had died.
“Poor little guy,” May said as she read the information. “He seems to like our company, though, doesn’t he?”
The goat was bleating softly. He ambled over to the front of the cage to get a better look at the girls.
Corey’s heart melted as she looked into his dark eyes. The goat bleated again. The soft, sad sound reminded Corey that it was important to help sick and abandoned animals. She was glad that that was what their Pony Club was doing today.
“There you are, girls!” Mrs. Reg said as she burst into the trailer. “Come on, you three—it’s almost time to mount up!”
“We’re coming,” May told the older woman. “We’re just talking to the animals.”
Mrs. Regnery was the stable manager at Pine Hollow. That was the stable where the Pony Tails took riding lessons and had Pony Club meetings. Everybody called her Mrs. Reg.
The girls said good-bye to the tiny goat and the other animals. “We have to tack up our ponies now,” Jasmine told them.
As the girls followed Mrs. Reg back to the stable, Corey looked up at the people in the stands. What a huge crowd, she thought. All these people had come to see the drill demonstration!
“Thanks for bringing us to the CARL trailer, Corey,” Jasmine said. “After seeing those animals, I can’t wait to ride.”
“Me either,” added May.
“Hurry up, girls,” Mrs. Reg urged them again. “Thirty minutes till showtime.”
“The Pony Tails will be ready,” May promised.
The three girls separated and raced for their ponies’ stalls.
As Corey turned the corner near Samurai’s stall, her heart was thumping. She’d never seen such a big audience at Pine Hollow.
Jasmine and May were much calmer now.
But Corey was a nervous wreck!
2 The Drill Demonstration
The Pony Tails’ ponies were very different from one another—just like their three owners. May’s pony, Macaroni, was sweet and well-behaved. Outlaw, Jasmine’s pony, could be mischievous and stubborn. Corey had gotten Samurai last year, right before her parents’ divorce. Having Sam had helped Corey a lot then, and she still loved to ride and train her pony.
Corey’s mother said training a pony was a long, hard job that required patience. So far, Corey thought, that was certainly true. Sam was a wonderful pony, but he also had an independent streak and sometimes liked to cause trouble.
As Corey approached his stall, Sam greeted her with a loud nicker. “Hi, boy,” she said. She stroked the white blaze on his nose. It was crescent-shaped, like a samurai sword, which was how Sam had gotten his name.
Moving slowly, Corey began tacking him up. Sam hated this part of riding. Corey always tried to make it easier on him. She placed the saddle on his back and spoke softly. As she talked, Corey could feel butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
“You have to be good today, Sam,” she said. Corey pictured the tiny goat and all the other animals in the trailer. They all needed the Pony Club’s help. “The CARL animals are depending on us, you know. So is everyone in Horse Wise.”
Sam didn’t seem to care. As Corey put on his tack, he blew air out through his nose. He tossed his head impatiently.
“Calm down, boy,” she said. She was starting to get worried.
Sam’s not going to act up today, she told herself. There are too many people out there watching. He wouldn’t dare ruin the show.
Today’s demonstration was a drill. That meant that the riders and horses marched in formation. It also meant that even a tiny mistake would be noticed. That was especially true of the small drill demonstration. Max had chosen six riders to do a special performance. Corey was one of those riders.
Corey knew the worst thing to do was let Sam know she was nervous. Horses and ponies are very sensitive. Sam would sense her feelings and become nervous himself.
Corey tightened his girth and began to go over the movements of the drill in her head.
“Stay still, Sam!” Corey commanded as her restless pony kept moving around in his stall.
First we march out two by two, she thought. And then we …
Then we what? Suddenly Corey’s mind went blank. What came next? Two by two, and then what?
Nearby, May was tacking up Macaroni. As usual the shaggy yellow pony stood patiently while his rider prepared him. Macaroni wasn’t like Samurai, who was now pawing the ground.
“May?” Corey called out in a shaky voice. “What’s our first move?”
May grinned at her. “Corey! Are you still testing me?” she asked. “Don’t worry, I’m not nervous anymore. Like we told you, seeing the animals from CARL really helped. Now I just want to go out there and do the best job I can.”
Corey turned to Jasmine. Her friend was adjusting Outlaw’s stirrups. “Do you remember our first move after we enter the ring?” she asked.
“Did you really think I’d forget the big circle?” Jasmine called back. “That’s my favorite part of the demonstration.”
Corey sighed. Of course, their first move was the big circle. She’d done it hundreds of times. And then came the figure eights, and then …
Sam just wouldn’t stay still. As Corey turned back to him, anger surged through her. She was having enough trouble remembering the drill. The last thing she needed just then was a stubborn, naughty pony.