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Remembering how funny the other dog trials had been, she almost wished she were going to see Dude perform. Almost.
    Stevie passed Lisa the bowl of chips. She looked up at her friend and knew Lisa was thinking the exact same thing she was. It would be great to see Christine and Dude, but Emily couldn’t ride by herself on the trails. She would have to go to the dog trials, too—and she was so excited about riding. They glanced across the table at Carole, who also seemed to be sharing their thoughts.
    “Not ride!” Stevie said. “We couldn’t not ride!”
    “Tell Christine good luck for us, please, Kate,” Lisa said, “but we were planning to spend the afternoon in the saddle.”
    Kate smiled. “She’ll be less nervous without an audience, anyway,” she said. “I know she’ll understand.”
    “Ask her to come back and ride with us,” Carole said. “She needs to meet Emily.”
    Kate agreed readily. “Don’t show Emily all the good spots until I get back.”
    “How could we?” Stevie asked. “We can’t ride fast enough to see all the good spots in one afternoon.”

T HE S ADDLE C LUB and Emily offered to clean up the kitchen so that Kate and her mother could leave. Stevie cleared the table, Emily started filling the dishwasher, and Carole and Lisa began to put the extra food away. Suddenly a thought occurred to Lisa. “They didn’t eat!” she said.
    “The honeymoon couples? Kate remembered to put their baskets out,” Carole replied.
    “No, Monica and her parents. They didn’t come to lunch. Should we make them a basket, too?”
    Carole paused from pouring leftover chips back into their bag. “I don’t know. They musthave heard the lunch bell. Wouldn’t they have come by now?”
    “Maybe they aren’t hungry,” Emily suggested. “Maybe they had lunch in the car on the way here.”
    “Or maybe they’re just getting settled,” Lisa said. “My mother always likes to unpack before she does anything.”
    “Since they’ve been here before, they’ll know where they can get food if they’re hungry,” Carole said. “I guess they probably don’t need a basket. What do you think the chances are that Monica will come riding with us this afternoon?”
    “Slim,” Lisa said. She grabbed a wet cloth and wiped the countertop down. “She doesn’t think she can do it, remember?”
    “She might change her mind and want to try,” Emily said. They all agreed that this was possible.
    When they were finished with the kitchen, they went outside and looked at the long row of bunkhouses. “That’s Monica’s, the third one down,” Lisa said, pointing. “I saw Colonel Devine and Mr. Hopkins carrying their luggage in.”
    Carole bit her lip. “Do you think we should go ask Monica to ride?” she asked. She hated to think of Monica’s being left out, but on the otherhand the girl hadn’t acted very friendly, and she didn’t know them at all. Probably she wouldn’t come with them.
    Stevie looked at the quiet bunkhouse and shook her head. “Let’s give her until tomorrow. We’ll ask her then.” They all agreed.
    They started to walk back to the barn, but before they were halfway there, Colonel Devine came out of one of the outbuildings and began to walk alongside them. “Do you all have specific plans for this afternoon?” he asked.
    “We’re riding,” said Stevie.
    He laughed. “I guessed that. I mean, do you have somewhere special you’re planning on riding?”
    “Everywhere seems special here,” Carole said. “But no, we’re saving all the extraspecial rides for when Kate and Christine can be with us.”
    Colonel Devine grinned. “Then maybe, since Kate isn’t here, you’d spend the afternoon with me. I’ve got a few new trails to show you.”
    “New trails? Cool!” said Stevie.
    Inside the barn, John proudly showed off the narrow shelves he’d built into the aisle. He’d added one near every pair of cross-ties, and he’d put them on hinges so that they could foldagainst