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  Also Available in the Rosenburg Riding Stables Series:

  Antonia, the Horse Whisperer

  Original edition © 2012 Coppenrath Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Münster, Germany.

  Original title: Reiterhof Rosenburg: Antonia großes Turnier (ISBN 978-3-8157-5119-0). All rights reserved.

  First English-language edition published by Sky Pony Press, 2014.

  English Translation Copyright © 2014 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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  Manufactured in China, April 2014

  This product conforms to CPSIA 2008

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Zöller, Elisabeth, 1945- author.

  [Antonias grosses Turnier. English]

  Antonia and the big competition / Elisabeth Zöller & Brigitte Kolloch ; illustrated by Betina Gotzen-Beek ; translated from the German by Connie Stradling Morby. -- First English-language edition.

  pages cm. -- (Rosenburg Riding Stables; volume 2)

  Originally published in German by Coppenrath F in 2012 under title: Antonias grosses Turnier.

  Summary: As the youngest rider in her first show-jumping competition, ten-year-old Antonia struggles to overcome her fear.

  ISBN 978-1-62873-597-0 (hardback)

  [1. Horses--Fiction. 2. Horse shows--Fiction. 3. Fear--Fiction.] I. Kolloch, Brigitte, author. II. Gotzen-Beek, Betina, illustrator. III. Morby, Connie Stradling, translator. IV. Title.

  PZ7.Z74Ak 2014

  [Fic]--dc23

  2014002135

  ISBN: 978-1-62873-597-0

  Cover art by Betina Gotzen-Beek

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62873-946-6

  Horse Currying

  Antonia was looking into her school bag again to see if she had packed everything she needed for the day when Karen, the kind-hearted soul of the Rosenburg household, called from the kitchen: “Breakfast! Caroline, Antonia, hurry up, please! It’s getting late!”

  Antonia jumped down the stairs. Her two favorite horses, Elfin Dance and Snow White, were waiting, after all.

  Twenty minutes later, when she bounded into the row of stalls, her father had already finished giving out the feed.

  “Good morning, Papa,” said Antonia, giving her father a big kiss.

  “Hello, Antonia. Did you sleep well?”

  Antonia nodded and took the grooming kit from the ground.

  “Elfin Dance! Snow White!”

  The two horses were standing next to each other in their stalls; Elfin Dance, her long-legged chestnut gelding with the stripe, and Snow White, her gray horse.

  The two horses really couldn’t have been any more different, she thought. Just like every morning during the last six weeks since Elfin Dance had come to their stables, a broad smile crept across Antonia’s face. She stroked their necks and backs and ran her hand tenderly through their manes; first Snow White’s and then Elfin Dance’s. Snow White snorted softly, as if she were trying to call Antonia’s name. Her nostrils snuggled into Antonia’s hand.

  Elfin Dance, on the other hand, whinnied energetically and pranced impatiently in place. “Let’s go. When are you going to get here?” he seemed to be saying.

  Antonia put halters on both of them and led them out.

  “Come, Snow White. Elfin Dance, don’t push like that. We’re going right to the grooming area.”

  The morning sun was already sending down its luminous rays, bathing the farm in bright light. Antonia tied Elfin Dance and Snow White next to each other on the hooks on the barn wall. Elfin Dance’s coat glistened like polished wood in the sun. Even though Snow White’s coat stood up shaggily in a few places, she was the more good-natured of the two. Antonia began the grooming with her. She brushed the horse’s head and neck and then went over her back. Snow White enjoyed it so much that she snorted softly.

  “This evening, my love, we’ll go for a ride again with Leona and Caroline. I’m so glad that your leg is better after the accident.”

  Then Elfin Dance piped up, requesting Antonia’s attention. “And you, you wild thing, weren’t we lucky that Mr. Bonhumeur left you and Asseem with us here at the farm. When I think about that thunderstorm that almost ruined everything, I still get butterflies in my stomach! Mr. Bonhumeur wanted to take you right back to France.”

  Mr. Bonhumeur was a horse enthusiast from France. Maria, Antonia’s aunt—who had a feeling for outstanding horses and a practiced eye—had bought several horses for him at auction. For a few weeks he had been having two of them train at the Rosenburg farm. One of them was Asseem. He was to be trained by Antonia’s older sister, Caroline, with the help of Mr. Sonnenfeld, the riding instructor at the farm. The other horse was Elfin Dance. Mr. Bonhumeur had been so impressed with Antonia’s calm and loving way with Elfin Dance that he had insisted that she train him with the best riding instructor in the area, Mr. Hegemann.

  “For my little girl and my prized horse, only the best training,” he had specified in a thick French accent. “Then my Elfin Dance stays here on Rosenburg Farm.”

  Antonia got a finishing brush for cleaning and smoothing the horses’ coats and gave Elfin Dance’s back an encouraging pat with the flat of her hand.

  “Our lessons with Mr. Hegemann are really fun for me.” She looked into Elfin Dance’s eyes. “Sometimes I think we’ll do it all. I can hardly wait for this afternoon’s lesson.”

  Just then Mr. Sonnenfeld passed by. “Hi, Antonia. Wow, you’re here with your horses so early every morning.”

  “Good morning, Mr. Sonnenfeld. That goes without saying.” She gave Snow White and Elfin Dance a nudge.

  “Yes, but you do it all before school,” he said appreciatively.

  “School! Oh crud! I completely forgot! We’re having a vocabulary test today!” Why was that just crossing her mind now? “I’d better get a move on.”

  “If you’d said that yesterday afternoon, I could have quizzed you on your vocabulary,” said Mr. Sonnenfeld.

  “At least I know what ‘horse’ means! And that’s the most important vocabulary word of all!” Antonia smiled. “It’s really exciting: fifth grade, new school, and new teachers. I’m glad that Leona sits next to me, because I don’t know any of the other kids in the class very well. Leona is really the best friend ever.”

  And even though she still did want to study her vocabulary, she kept chatting, and Mr. Sonnenfeld listened. “English with Mrs. Warner is great, but math with the math codfish is even more fun.” Then Antonia took carrots out of her pocket and gave them to both horses. “That’s what we call Mr. Fischbach because he has such a wide mouth—like a cod.” She giggled.

  “That’s not nice,” said Mr. Sonnenfeld.

  “He doesn’t know,” answered Antonia. “But do you know what Leona and I really have trouble with? The huge building! You can’t imagine it; our indoor riding arena could get swallowed up insi
de it. We’re always getting lost. So, I really need to get going now. Bye, Mr. Sonnenfeld.”

  “Bye, Antonia. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your vocabulary test.”

  Antonia took Snow White and Elfin Dance back to their stalls and said good-bye to both of them. She was just about to run into the kitchen when Mr. Sonnenfeld stopped her again. “Can you help this afternoon with currying and storing the hay? Felix is still sick. Caroline and John are helping out, too.”

  “Sure,” called Antonia. She ran to the breakfast table and gulped her bread and jam under Karen’s disapproving eye.

  “Child, you have to eat a sensible breakfast, not always so rushed and on the way to the bus.”

  But Antonia didn’t hear her because she was already hurrying along the road to the bus stop.

  The bus was approaching her stop.

  “Hello, Leona!” she called and flopped into the empty seat next to her friend. “Can you quiz me on the vocabulary words? And then I’ll quiz you . . .”

  “Hey, little girl! Are you still trying not to fall off your horse?” rang out a voice from the back of the bus. Alina! Alina Senger! What was she doing on the bus?

  “I haven’t seen you at a competition in a long time. Have you given up competing?” Alina sneered.

  But Antonia had won the last summer competition ahead of Alina. She probably couldn’t stand it. Antonia turned around slowly; Alina was sitting there with her friends, grinning nastily right in Antonia’s face.

  “What’s with that?” asked Leona.

  Antonia just rolled her eyes. “You know Alina Senger! She’s such a pain. Just because she’s twelve, she thinks she can do everything better—ride faster and jump farther and higher. But I won last time. Nah, she always has an excuse in store. Either her horse had a bad day or she was blinded by the sun.”

  But Antonia suspected that now Alina would be making her life at school difficult, too.

  Hard Training

  After eating lunch in the kitchen, Antonia and Caroline helped Mr. Sonnenfeld; then Antonia got Elfin Dance out of the stall and saddled him.

  “Hello, my beauty. Do you think we’ll make it through the hurdles again today?” she asked.

  Yesterday they hadn’t been bad; it was only on the last hurdle that they had needed three approaches. The closer the riding lesson got, the more excited Antonia became.

  At exactly three o’clock, she was standing in the indoor riding arena with Elfin Dance, greeting Mr. Hegemann warmly. It was still something special to get lessons from such a well-known riding instructor. When Antonia thought back to their first riding lesson, she had to smile. After all, not only did Mr. Hegemann have a reputation for being an outstanding riding instructor, but he was also known for his strictness and discipline. At the same time, he gave all riders and horses their freedom. For him, a great intimacy between the two was the basis for every riding success. He usually trained the best-known dressage and jumper riders!

  “Be honest! Trust yourself! You’ll accomplish what you want.” That’s what Mr. Hegemann’s lessons were based on. Under his guidance, Antonia was proud to sit up straight in the saddle, to stride out the show jumping course carefully, or to do a good jump.

  By now Antonia liked Mr. Hegemann so much that Caroline and Leona often teased her by saying, “You’re in love with him!”

  Antonia would blush and just yell, “Nonsense! You two are crazy! He’s just a great teacher . . .”

  Mr. Hegemann’s voice made her snap out of her daydream. “Let him walk on a long rein,” he requested.

  Antonia let Elfin Dance warm up.

  How easily he ran!

  “Trot.”

  Antonia sat down in the saddle and let Elfin Dance trot. She moved up and down with the motion of the horse to take the strain off his back.

  “Great,” Mr. Hegemann praised. “Antonia, you stand in the stirrups so lightly. Elfin Dance is loosened up nicely. You have to trust him; you can’t be afraid.”

  “I’m not afraid, Mr. Hegemann,” Antonia laughed.

  “No, when you ride Elfin Dance, you certainly aren’t afraid. But you want to jump. And for that, mutual trust is the most important thing of all,” Mr. Hegemann said.

  “Now, go backwards, please, even if Elfin Dance doesn’t like it. He has to trust you as well and do what you ask him to do,” Mr. Hegemann instructed.

  Elfin Dance obeyed, even though he didn’t really like going backwards.

  Finally they fell into a gallop.

  “Wonderful!” Antonia praised him.

  Mr. Hegemann had set up a show jumping course outside with five hurdles about two feet high. Antonia had to clear each of these now in a curve in three, four, and five strides. Would she get the hang of shifting her weight today?

  Antonia started the course. Powerfully and confidently Elfin Dance took each hurdle, and he managed the curves easily.

  Now, it was time for the takeoff again! She held her back as straight as possible, letting her hands go forward so that Elfin Dance could stretch out his neck and take off with force.

  But this time the upper pole fell down.

  “Not so bad, Elfin Dance. At the next hurdle it’ll go better. Just keep going,” Antonia encouraged him.

  They galloped to the next hurdle. Elfin Dance took off, his forehand went up, and at the same time he pushed his nose forward. Antonia extended her arms and stood in the stirrups.

  Her sight was directed ahead toward the goal so she could land successfully and then keep moving forward. This time the pole stayed put.

  “Excellent job, Antonia and Elfin Dance!” Mr. Hegemann beamed. Antonia hummed, pleased with the praise.

  “That’s enough for today. I’d like to discuss something else with you, Antonia.”

  Curious about what Mr. Hegemann wanted from her, Antonia, singing softly, led Elfin Dance to the grooming area. She’d also picked that up from Mr. Hegemann—singing and humming to the horse. That was good for breathing. But above all, cheerful songs brought pep and a good mood to both her and the horse, so that afterwards Antonia greeted everyone she bounded into with a laugh.

  If only her mother could see her now, Antonia thought sometimes, she would be so delighted! But her mother was no longer alive. She had died in an accident when Antonia was three.

  Antonia felt impatient waiting for Mr. Hegemann to approach her. With a curious feeling of anticipation in her stomach, Antonia unsaddled Elfin Dance and rubbed him dry.

  Finally Mr. Hegemann walked up to her. “Antonia, we’ve been training now for six weeks, and I think you’ve made great progress. Certainly you’ve read that in ten days the Great Riding and Jumping Tournament is being held in Tostedt. Do you feel confident enough to compete riding Elfin Dance? You’ll ride in L class.”

  “I’m in L?” Antonia asked. She had to stop for breath first and then looked wide-eyed at Mr. Hegemann. That meant jumps between three-and-a-half and four feet! She also knew that the competition in Tostedt was one of the most challenging of the season. Suddenly her heart was pounding.

  “Do you really think Elfin Dance and I can manage a competition like that? I’m only ten years old after all,” she babbled.

  “Yes, I think so,” Mr. Hegemann answered with an encouraging smile. “Otherwise I wouldn’t ask you. Besides, I have a reputation I could lose!” Then he laughed. “You see,” he continued, “you’re eligible to enter because you already have the class three and four qualification levels. Of course, we don’t have much time, but your father agrees that we can put in a few additional hours over the weekend. For Elfin Dance, it’ll be the very first competition of his life! But I already have an idea about how we can get him used to the competition atmosphere. What do you think about having various noises coming over the loudspeaker in the indoor riding arena during our next lesson?”

  “You mean music and voices talking? People cheering and clapping?” Antonia asked. “I read about that kind of training method once in the horse magazine.”
/>   “That’s it exactly. I’m sure that’s the best way to get him ready. But can you manage all of this along with school, Antonia?”

  She didn’t give it a second thought. After all, she was getting along fine in her new school.

  “That’s pretty daring of you,” she said, smiling at Mr. Hegemann. “You’re taking a big chance on me.” Antonia blushed and felt quite proud.

  Mr. Hegemann gave her shoulder an encouraging pat. Then he said good-bye and left.

  “What do you say?” Antonia asked Elfin Dance. She still had doubts. But if Mr. Hegemann thought she could handle the competition, then she would believe so, too.

  Just then, Leona zoomed onto the farm on her bike. As she braked, gravel flew on all sides. Antonia ran up to her and, before Leona could say anything, Antonia burst out, “Get this! Mr. Hegemann just asked me if I’d like to enter the Great Riding and Jumping Tournament.”

  Leona’s eyes widened. “Wow,” she shouted, “that’s awesome! I’ve always said, with Elfin Dance, you’ll be the best show jumping rider in the world. Cool!” And she grabbed her friend and danced around the farm with her, Leona with her short-cropped blonde hair and freckled snub nose and Antonia with her long, flying hair.

  “Now, let’s get our homework done quickly so we can go for a ride!” shouted Leona.

  It was always fun to do homework with Leona.

  “Who can work out the problems the fastest?” Antonia shouted, and they got going for all they were worth. At first, half of their answers were wrong, but they’d had a lot of fun. And after Leona had corrected Antonia’s homework and Antonia had corrected Leona’s, finally their answers were right. They quizzed each other on vocabulary and read each other their essays.

  “Finished! On to the horses!” Leona announced, and the girls dashed to the stable.

  They could see through the window that Caroline was coming to the stable also.

  Caroline saddled Asseem, Leona got Thunder out of the stall, and Antonia rode her mare Snow White.

  Fortunately, the mare’s leg was well-healed after a tendon tear; she just would never be able to jump again. But Antonia was happy enough that she could take her out for a ride on a regular basis. After all, Snow White had been her first important horse.