She had spent the evening writing down a few more things she had thought of to work on. Her new list was sort of an expansion of what she had put down as her goal for the schooling show. When the alarm rang at five after six, she could hardly wait to get over to Pine Hollow and put her intentions into practice. It was exciting being at the stable so early—6:45, to be exact. It felt as if she were going to a horse show and had come to braid or put a final shine on her tack. Even Prancer seemed to sense the specialness of the occasion. When Lisa led her out to the cross ties to groom her, she swiveled her ears back and forth, all attention. Lisa went about her brushing happily, whistling and chatting to Prancer. Yesterday’s bad lesson seemed ages ago. Just as she was thinking how nice and peaceful Pine Hollow was in the early morning, Lisa heard a loud screech of brakes outside in the driveway. Prancer jumped, startled by the noise. “Maybe somebody else had the same idea we did,”
