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'Good job, Katy! That was just about the best I've ever seen her do. You've obviously been working hard. Isn't jumping wonderful?' Wanda beamed at her student.

Katy nodded her head vigorously. 'Oh, yes. It's the best thing in the world. And yes, I have been working hard, but I'm not totally to thank for her progress. I couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic horse.'

Wanda smiled in agreement and signaled for Katy to join the other girls, then turned to watch Merry run the course. The girl messed up the course a little, although Xenophan was as willing as could be over the jumps. Wanda spent a moment lecturing Merry on her faults, but eventually let the nervous young woman join her friends.

Diane was still mad at Rocket, but she was gentle enough to the pony that the pair made a clean, if not beautiful, run through the course. Jane, who rode right after her upset friend, did almost as well with Whisper as Katy had done with Countess.

Once all the girls were through the course three times, Wanda instructed them to set up for the canter and circle the ring as many times as they could without stopping.

Diane ended up stopping first, then Merry, then Jane. Katy pulled Countess to a walk after circling the ring twice after everybody else had finished.

'That's not fair!' whined Diane. 'She has a better horse than we do!'

Jane agreed heartily but quickly quieted down at a nasty look from Diane. She was sensitive to her friend's moods and could have been called Diane's sidekick or right-hand man. She did everything her hero did and agreed to anything and everything with no second thoughts. Katy hoped that someday the girl would find her own life.

'I don't want to hear anything, you three. Diane, if you would do things right for Rocket, he'd behave a lot better. And Merry, your horse is almost as good as Katy's, if not better because he has had more experience. Jane, you pulled on Whisper's mouth, so she thought you were telling her to stop. Katy does everything correctly, so she has no problems. Katy waited until she had Countess set up for the canter and then asked, instead of asking immediately without any premonition.'

Wanda gave a meaningful glance around at her students, then called out an order. 'All right, pick up a rising trot across the diagonal, changing leads every time you cross the middle.'

The girls did as instructed. The rest of the lessons was drills to work while cooling out their horses. Katy was so used to this last part of the routine, which was done at the closing of every single lesson, that she had it memorized.

At the end of the lesson their teacher instructed them to ride into the middle of the ring as if they were in a show. Then she told them to dismount. They obeyed.

'This is Katy's last day with us,' the girls' riding instructor announced. 'She will be moving to Idaho in about a week.'

Diane, Merry, and Jane all turned and looked at Katy, who squirmed under their intense gaze. Although the girls had not been intentionally mean to Katy very often, they were their own little group, and Katy had never been invited to do anything with them. They had been together as a group for three years and did not welcome newcomers. Katy was positive that they didn't care a bit about her upcoming absence.

After a few more minutes of tributes, Katy left the ring with Countess and took the mare to her stall. She tied a quick release knot to the stall bar and unsaddled the horse. She wiped off the sweat and dust and set it on the rack with the saddle pad upside down on top so it could dry.  She did the same to the bridle and then hung it up, gathered Countess's grooming tools from where they had mysteriously appeared all over the floor, and headed back to groom the mare. The horse was very wet, so Katy roughed up the wet areas and led the mare around the ring to dry. After twenty minutes of such walking, she brushed away all the dried sweat and dirt and picked out the horse's hoofs.

Since the air was chilly from the rain outside, Katy covered Countess with a light stable blanket. She pulled a carrot out of her pocket and fed it bit by bit to the young horse. When it was gone, Katy sighed, dropping a kiss on the mare's nose and star as she bid farewell.

As she walked down the aisle to exit the barn, she noticed something unusual. Rocket was tied in his stall, steaming. What made the situation even stranger was that he was still fully tacked up! Frowning at Diane's way of getting her pony back, Katy entered the stall.

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