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fence handily. Lisa straightened up as Pepper neared the ground and felt herself slide right back into the saddle where she belonged.
    “Ten!” she told herself proudly, although in this event, there were no points for doing a good or better or even perfect jump. The idea was to get over it and stay on the horse. She’d accomplished that, too.
    The next jump was higher, but not as wide. It was a lot lower than many jumps she’d taken, but it was higher than the last one. Because of that, it seemed to loom a lot higher than she knew it was. The rule of thumb in jumping was that the horse should take off about as far from the jump as it was high. This was almost a three-foot jump. Pepper’s front feet should leave the ground about three feet from it. Lisa couldn’t help herself. Because the jump looked so high, she got prepared for it too soon. Pepper, always an obedient horse, did exactly what she asked him to do. He took off almost five feet in front of it. Fortunately, he also did what he knew he was supposed to do. He made it over the fence, but just barely. Lisa listened for the sound of a hoof hitting a wooden bar and sighed with relief when she didn’t hear it.
    “Three!” she said out loud, scoring herself harshly. In a way, though, she felt that the mistake helped her. It reminded her that she could make mistakes—even badones—and she’d have to pay attention. She’d been lucky once; she might not be lucky a second time.
    After the second jump, the trail turned uphill toward the woods. And there, right before the path entered the woods, was the third obstacle. It was a steep bank about three feet high. The horses couldn’t jump it or even go around it. They had to climb it.
    Pepper slowed to a walk and, without hesitation, began the climb. Lisa let him do the work. The only thing she had to do was stay in the saddle. To accomplish that, she leaned forward, almost to his neck. Up he went. “Ten,” she said, but she knew it was Pepper who had earned it, not her.
    The path through the woods and across the creek was a familiar one. She and Stevie and Carole had ridden it many times. On summer days, they liked to stop at the creek, take off their boots, and cool their feet. This was a hot summer day, but there was no time to stop. Pepper looked longingly at the fresh water.
    “Later,” she told him. “Do what I tell you now, and I’ll give you a whole bucketful of water when we get back to the stable.” He didn’t hesitate. He proceeded right through the shallow, but swift, water and they continued along the trail.
    There was a long straightaway ahead, and a jump coming up, Lisa knew. Max hadn’t marked the map with the jumps, but logic told her this would be where they wouldfind the first jump set up in the woods. In preparation for it, Lisa brought Pepper to a trot so she could control his canter from the start. She signaled for a canter with one foot and kept the opposite calf on him. It worked like a dream and it paid off when they rounded the bend in the trail. There, just where she’d suspected she would find it, was a two-and-a-half-foot-high jump. Lisa and Pepper sailed right over it.
    “Ten,” she told Pepper. This time, she took some of the credit for herself.
    The trail followed the contour of the hill and then descended again to the creek. Lisa let Pepper walk across it and then began cantering again. She was having such a good time with his pleasant rocking gait that she barely noticed they’d almost reached the field again. Suddenly, Pepper slowed. He’d seen something she hadn’t. He’d spotted the sharp descent and if he’d gone at it at a canter, he could have taken a serious tumble. Instead, Lisa was unprepared for the sudden change of gait and she was afraid
she
was going to take a serious tumble.
    It wasn’t easy to maintain balance when you weren’t prepared for a gait change, especially when that also meant the horse was climbing down a sharp hill. Lisa slid forward