Riding Class by Bonnie Bryant

all the time,” Emily said as she snapped P.C. onto a set of cross-ties. Pine Hollow didn’t have a handy shelf for Emily to put her grooming tools on, but Stevie moved a hay bale over for her to use. “All the physical therapy in the world wasn’t enough to make me walk. These crutches aren’t so bad compared to using a wheelchair all the time.”
    “Is riding really that good for you?” Lisa asked. “It feels like my legs are a little stronger now that I ride, but I never really thought of riding as something you did to build muscles.” She went into Prancer’s stall and began to saddle her.
    Emily brushed P.C.’s coat hard. “Riding’s great,” she said emphatically. “The thing is, when you sit on a horse, its movement naturally causes you to kind of sway back and forth, right?”
    Lisa turned and nodded. Even when riders looked as if they were sitting perfectly still on a horse, they weren’t. They had just learned to move in harmony with the horse’s movement.
    “Well, that swaying exactly mimics the way your hip and leg muscles move when you walk,” Emily said. “Horsebackriding is the only therapy that moves your muscles in the same coordinated way as walking—and the horse does the moving for you. You don’t have to be able to move at all. Even paralyzed people get better muscle tone and flexibility. Some of the people at Free Rein have to be held on to their horses. Instructors ride double behind them and keep them upright. They don’t hold the reins or anything. Some of them have a doctor’s prescription saying they need to be on a horse for so many hours a week.”
    “I didn’t know that,” Lisa said.
    Emily moved to the other side of P.C., out of Lisa’s sight. “I’ll tell you about therapeutic riding,” she said, “you tell me about the trails. Where are we going to go?”
    The Saddle Club’s descriptions of all the interesting spots in all the trails around Pine Hollow lasted until they were ready to ride. Then came a problem none of them had thought of. Lisa, Carole, Stevie, and Emily led their horses outside the stable, since all of them knew better than to mount in the low-ceilinged aisle. Emily saw Pine Hollow’s small, square mounting block, and her face paled. “Whoops,” she whispered.
    The Saddle Club looked and realized exactly what she meant. “Could you use it if we helped you?” Stevie asked. They walked over to it and tried, but Emily couldn’t lift her foot high enough to clear the first step. Stevie and Lisa tried to help her, but the steps weren’t wide enough toaccommodate more than one person at a time, and Stevie and Lisa couldn’t push her up the steps. Carole held all four horses, who were getting nervous.
    “What if I gave you a leg up?” Stevie asked. She had often helped boost some of Pine Hollow’s smaller riders into the saddle.
    Emily shook her head. “I don’t think you could,” she said. “I can’t jump, I couldn’t help you, and I weigh too much for you to lift me all the way onto P.C.”
    “We’ll figure something out,” Stevie assured her.
    Just then the girls saw two familiar figures: Red O’Malley, Pine Hollow’s head stable hand, walking out of the stables, and Veronica, the head nuisance, pulling up in her Mercedes.
    “Let me,” Red said quietly. He picked Emily up in his arms, lifted her high, and gently set her down on P.C. Emily, her face red, began to fumble with her leg braces. “I’m sorry,” Red said, “I should have asked if you wanted those off first, shouldn’t I?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Emily said. “Thank you very much.” She looked very embarrassed. Stevie undid the second brace and hung both of them on the fence rail. Emily got her feet into the stirrups, and The Saddle Club mounted, too.
    As if mounting alone hadn’t been embarrassing enough for Emily, Veronica watched it all open-mouthed throughthe window of the Mercedes. She stared at Emily as though Emily were purple and green and riding