Schooling Horse Read Online Free Page B

signals. Milky trotted smartly up to the fence, lifted his forelegs to jump, and then slammed them back down to the ground. Lisa barely managed to keep herself from flying over his head.
    “Good job,” Max said. “That was a nasty stop.”
    Lisa was somewhat startled by her near fall. She’d been certain that Milky was going to jump the fence. “He must be pretty nervous,” she said.
    “Peanuts,” Max said. “He jumped it three or four times for me without acting stupid. I know he can do it.”
    Lisa nodded. She rode at the wall a second time with all the more determination. She kept her weight well back in the saddle and drove Milky forward with herheels. This time, instead of stopping, Milky left the ground early, jumping the fence with such a huge leap that Lisa nearly fell off him backward.
    “Next time, grab his mane,” Max said.
    Lisa blushed. She’d been riding Milky for exactly five minutes and had already almost fallen off three times. “Okay,” she said. Unlike people, horses don’t have nerves in the roots of their hair. Grabbing the horse’s mane wouldn’t hurt it at all. “Sorry.”
    “Don’t feel bad,” Max said. “You’re doing fine with him. Ride him around for a few minutes while I give the class another course. Then you can try the wall again.”
    Lisa trotted and cantered Milky in circles. Once he tried to buck again, and once he aimed a kick at Jasmine’s pony, but when he was paying attention to Lisa he moved well. She liked his fast trot and the way he picked his head up when he cantered. She worked him for a long time, trying to get him to settle down and keeping him out of the way of the other riders in the ring. It wasn’t easy—Milky still seemed upset about something—but Lisa persevered gladly. In a few months, she’d have Milky jumping as well as Belle and Starlight.
    Carole and Stevie arrived at the stables just as Max was ready to have Lisa start jumping again. Lisa waved to them, then turned her attention back to Milky and the troublesome wall. This time Milky jumped it as calmly as if it had never bothered him before. “Good boy!” Lisa cried. She leaned forward to pat Milky’s neck. Milky put his ears back and bucked. Lisa hung off-balance for a moment,then jerked herself back into the saddle. Milky rounded the corner at a gallop.
    Lisa grinned. That fence had been so much better! She pulled on the reins to slow Milky down. “Try the white gate next,” Max said. “Is he upsetting you?”
    “No,” Lisa said. “He’s fabulous!” She turned Milky toward the white gate. Milky eyed it, sped up, then at the last moment came to a stop. Lisa popped him on the backside with her crop. Milky bunched himself together and jumped at the last possible moment, but Lisa had grabbed a double handful of mane, and she stayed in the saddle. “Good boy!” she cried.
    Carole saw Max raise a skeptical eyebrow at Lisa’s comments. She shook her head in agreement. “I don’t know that I’d call him good,” she whispered to Stevie. “Awful is more like it.”
    Stevie nodded. “He’s jumping terribly,” she said. “Do you think Lisa doesn’t notice?”
    “I think Lisa’s glad he’s jumping at all,” Carole said. “And I guess that’s saying something. I mean, he just got here and all.” Carole hated to criticize Lisa’s new horse. Not every horse could be like Starlight.
    “Yeah,” Stevie said. “You know, maybe he hasn’t had much experience. Or maybe he’s just a nervous type of horse. It might take him a while to get used to Pine Hollow.”
    “And to Lisa,” Carole agreed. It made her happy to think of a logical reason why the horse was acting poorly. In the ring now he was cantering too fast. When Lisapulled on the reins to slow him down, he put his ears back and swished his tail angrily. Carole shook her head. She really hated to sound rude, but … “Does he look like Lisa’s type of horse to you?” she asked Stevie.
    “I was just thinking that