Horse Power by Bonnie Bryant

of her!
    “There goes the bandanna!” Carole shouted, and Chad was on his way.
    The costume game went smoothly for the Clubs, but it also went smoothly for the Diamonds. The Hearts and the Spades were trying their best, but they couldn’t keep up with the leaders. When time permitted, the Clubs watched the other teams. It was clearthat the Hearts and the Spades just hadn’t put enough time in on practice. They made too many little mistakes, which wouldn’t have happened if they were more familiar with the games. So, though Max had made all the teams pretty equal as far as riding ability went, when it came down to it, practice was what counted. Practice and a little bit of luck.
    In the costume race, the luck went more toward the Diamonds than the Clubs. Chad accidentally ripped a hole in the leg of the clown costume when he put it on, and each of the girls stuck a leg into the hole when
she
put it on. It cost them precious seconds—enough of them that they came in second to the Diamonds. Spades came in third and Hearts, last. The Club and Diamond teams were now tied.
    The third race was a disaster for the Clubs. It was a chain race, in which two riders rode side by side, holding a chain between them, weaving back and forth around the poles. For some reason, Penny suddenly decided she didn’t want to have anything to do with Half Dollar. Try as Lisa and Chad did, they could barely get the ponies to stay close enough to each other so they could hold the chain. They had to start over twice. By then, the Hearts had won the race and the Diamonds had come in second. The Clubs were lucky to take third, and that meant that the Diamonds were one point ahead of them. They had to beat the Diamonds in the fourth race just to stay even for the day.
    The fourth event was the squirt-gun race. It was Chad’s best race, but none of the girls had ever been very good at it. Lisa was practically shaking with excitement, or nervousness. She wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. Anything that made her shake was going to have a bad effect on her target shooting.
    “Breathe deeply through your nose and out slowly through your mouth,” Carole suggested to all her teammates. “It calms you and helps you focus.”
    “Will it help me aim?” Lisa asked.
    “I’m not sure,” Carole said. “But it’s got to be better for you than sitting there shaking in your saddle!”
    Lisa laughed, releasing tension. It felt really good. After all, these were just games, and games were for having
fun
.
    “Okay, I’m ready,” she announced, lining up Penny behind Half Dollar. At the far end of the ring, Kate and Red were setting up the pistol targets, cardboard cutouts set on easels. Each rider would have a separate squirt gun, with a different color dye in it. That way, there would be no arguments about who had or who had not hit the target.
    The final target was balanced on an easel by the fourth pole. The teams were to ride to the line ten feet from the target and shoot. Mrs. Reg lifted her bandanna in the air and released it. It floated lazily toward the ground, landing gently, silently—in great contrast to the sudden and thunderous response from the four leadoff poniés on each of the teams.
    Half Dollar, now accustomed to Chad’s sudden starts, leapt from the starting line, galloped to the shooting line, and halted promptly. Without hesitation, Chad raised his right arm, took aim, and fired. Bull’s-eye! Green dye smeared all over the target. Half Dollar made a U-turn and returned Chad to the starting line well ahead of the other three teams’ first riders. The Clubs were ahead.
    As soon as Chad crossed the line, Lisa started Penny moving. The pony followed her lead and got to the shooting line quickly. Lisa checked and found that Penny’s forelegs were over the line. That would be an automatic foul. She pulled firmly on the reins until Penny stepped back behind the line. Then, looking nervously at the squirt gun in her right hand,