Bridle Path by Bonnie Bryant

realized. His mind had been made up a long time ago. He was going to go for it.
    He circled his horse around, curving smoothly past the edge of the jump, too close, really, for the horse to get a good look and become frightened. And then, at the last minute, Nigel had the horse turn, and before the horse knew what was happening, they were headed straight for it.
    Nigel rose in his saddle, putting all his weight on his stirrups, yet keeping his legs perfectly still. He leaned forward, moved his hands forward, and signaled his horse that it was time.
    The horse didn’t have to be told twice. He rose as smoothly to jump this huge fence as he had to go over the little ones. His feet pawed ever so slightly at the air above the fence and then stretched forward, reaching for the ground, where he landed with a soft
pfffft.
    Dorothy stood up and applauded for Nigel. So did Max and Mrs. Reg. Stevie and her friends joined them. Stevie even let out a polite “Yaaaaay.”
    Nigel had scored well. It was too early to see how the other riders would do, but he was certainly in contention for a ribbon and a cash prize. Dorothy thought that was great.
    There were two more riders, then, neither of whom did very well. One missed The Joker. The next didn’t even attempt it since her horse hadn’t been able tosucceed even on the forty-point fence. Then came Camilla Wentworth on Elementary.
    The girls looked at the horse carefully and still could see no sign of anything wrong with him. His ears flicked alertly, and his eyes shot around the arena curiously. He pranced, rather than walked, into the arena while the public-address system introduced him and his rider.
    Camilla seemed a little perturbed. Elementary wasn’t being any more difficult than many of the other horses had been, but Carole and her friends knew from experience that a horse who wasn’t behaving the way that horse usually behaved could be trouble. Carole hoped that wasn’t the case here.
    Elementary took off like a shot when Camilla was ready to go over the first jump. He flew over that jump and the one that followed. But there was something wrong. Even if most of the audience didn’t know it, anyone who could see Camilla’s face knew it. Elementary was giving her trouble, a lot of it.
    Camilla wanted him to go over the forty-point jump, but he seemed bound and determined to go over the thirty. She had to flick him with her riding crop to get him to go where she wanted him to go. This was definitely bad news. It wasn’t that the riding crop hurt him. It was merely an aid to getting him todo what he was supposed to do. The problem was that he shouldn’t have needed it. In a competition situation, a seasoned horse should respond better.
    Figuring that going over the thirty-point jump was better than refusal from Elementary, Camilla allowed him to go over it and then tried to take him back over the forty-pointer. He was having none of it. She rode directly at the jump, rose in the saddle, and signaled him to jump. Instead, he stopped dead in his tracks.
    Oooooooh
, the audience said.
    Camilla turned the horse around and retreated about fifteen feet, enough space to allow him to get to his takeoff speed, and tried again. This time, instead of just stopping, Elementary bucked and then reared. He yanked his head to one side.
    Camilla did everything she could to stay on the horse, and in the end she managed to do that, but the violent yanking of the horse’s head pulled very hard at her left arm. Her right hand kept holding the reins firmly, but the left one released them completely. To the dismay of the audience, Camilla’s left arm simply dropped limply to her side.
    Everyone in the arena stood up to see what was happening and to lend support to a rider in trouble. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to change the fact that Camilla was hurt and couldn’t complete the course.
    While the audience applauded politely, Camilla rode Elementary out of the ring.
    “She was having a