Horse Sense Read Online Free Page B

exactly sure how? A Hula-Hoop! Say, your dad has all kinds of fifties stuff. Do you think he has a Hula-Hoop somewhere?”
    “I’ll ask him,” Carole said without enthusiasm. “But I don’t remember seeing anything like that. Oh, he’s at the door now. Gotta go. I want to tell him about the foal.”
    “Don’t forget to ask about the Hula-Hoop, huh?” Stevie reminded her.
    “Uh, sure,” Carole said, but she didn’t sound sure, and that irritated Stevie. “Bye.”
    Stevie stared at her phone for a while after she’d hung up. It had been a peculiarly unsatisfying phone call from her best friend. Well, one of her best friends. She picked up the phone to call Lisa.
    A FEW BLOCKS away, Lisa was grinning with pride. She leaned back, lifting the front legs of her chair off the floor. She held a sheaf of papers filled with her tidy handwriting in front of her. The job was almost complete now. She only had to type the rules on her mother’s computer and she’d be able to make as many copies as she needed.
    She had decided to make five rules for each section of the rule book. The rule book itself began with the statement of purpose. That had taken her the most time. It read: “The purpose of The Saddle Club is to increase the knowledge and enjoyment of horseback riding for its members.” For a while, she’d thought of just putting, “The purpose of The Saddle Club is threefold: horses, horses, and horses,” but that seemed silly. Anyway, once she knew what her purpose was, the rules were easy.
    Regular meetings would be held once a week, on Thursdays from three to five o’clock. Members had to come to meetings, but if they couldn’t, they could miss up to one a month. If they missed any more, they’d have to pay fines of one dollar per missed meeting. If they missed three in a row, they could be voted out by other members. If they were late to meetings, they’d be fined twenty-five cents for each quarter hour they were late. Meetings would follow the standard
Rules of Order
.
    Officers would be elected by the members. There would be a president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer.
    Lisa figured Carole would be the president because she was the best rider. Stevie would be the vice president because she was the next-best rider and she was too disorganized to be the secretary-treasurer. Lisa herself would be the secretary-treasurer.
    There were eight more pages of rules, including sections on projects, new members, and dues, all neatly detailing every aspect of The Saddle Club. Lisa had spent a lot of time on the section on projects, since one of the things members had to do was to help others in the Club. After all, the Club had been formed when she and Carole had pitched in to help Stevie with her math project for school.
    She was very proud of what she’d done. She was sure Carole and Stevie would be, too. In fact, she was about to call one of them when the phone rang. It was Stevie calling her.
    “Oh, I was just going to call you,” Lisa said.
    “I wanted to tell you what Max said to me,” Stevie explained. “He wants
me
to plan a gymkhana for every afternoon of the three-day event next month. Can you believe it?”
    “What’s a gymkhana?” Lisa asked. Stevie explained about the games and races she was working on.
    “Oh, like relay races, huh? I know a neat race you can do carrying an egg in a spoon. I bet that would be fun on a horse.”
    “That’s the oldest race in the book,” Stevie said. “I want to come up with some new things. This time it’s going to be more fun than ever. That’s why Max asked
me
to do it. See, he knows he can count on me to be outrageous.”
    “I guess that’s true,” Lisa agreed, but she really didn’t see anything wrong with carrying an egg in a spoon. It certainly wouldn’t be easy on a horse. “Well, I’ve been busy, too,” Lisa said, trying to change the subject to one more to her liking. “I’ve been working on a Saddle Club project.”
    “Is there