by Kate Lattey
Too soon, we reached the end of the open space and reluctantly I brought Forbes back to a normal trot, then down to a walk. He stretched his neck down and I praised him effusively as AJ circled, regaining control of her excitable grey pony, and Katy came trotting up behind me.
“I didn’t know he could move like that!” AJ said as she circled back towards me. “He was flying! Squib could hardly keep up at a canter!”
Katy shook her head at Forbes. “I have never seen him do that before! Maybe I should sell him. I’m sensing a Grand Prix dressage career in his future,” she grinned.
“Grand Prix jumping you mean,” I contradicted her, but Katy shrugged.
“Maybe. If I can ever get him to focus. He’s good and scopey, but he’s got a stubborn streak six miles wide, and when he doesn’t want to do something, boy does he let you know about it.”
Squib barged up on Forbes’ other side, almost cannoning AJ’s leg into mine. “Squib, do you mind? She’s right. You should’ve seen him last week, when we were jumping that bounce grid.”
Katy groaned and flopped forward onto Puppet’s neck, wrapping her arms around him. The black gelding shook his head angrily, and she pulled a face. “Simmer down Puppet, I’m hugging you, not strangling you.”
“What happened?” I asked curiously, glancing between them.
“When? Oh, with the bounce?” AJ asked. “Well, we’d already jumped it a few times, and then Katy told me to put it up again for Forbes. Squib was tired and he’d done enough, so I hopped off and put it up another couple holes, but Forbes took one look at it and planted his feet, and for the next honest-to-God half an hour, would not move from that spot. No matter what Katy did, he dug his toes in and flat out refused to move.”
I suppressed a smile as I glanced at Katy, still draped along her pony’s neck. “So what’d you do?”
Katy turned her head to face me, her cheek still brushing against Puppet’s sparse mane. “Got off and left him there.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t have much choice. He wouldn’t move, and I got bored of kicking him.”
I scratched Forbes’ withers, my smile widening. “What’d he do then? Just stay standing there?”
“No.” Katy looked bitter, and she pulled herself up to a sitting position and glared over at Forbes’ bobbing head. “Followed me to the gate like butter wouldn’t melt. So I got back on and he was fine, until I turned him back towards the jump.”
“Planted his feet again?” I suggested, but AJ started laughing.
“Bucked her off!” she said happily, clearly enjoying the memory. “Straight over his head, and looked at her like I tried to warn you. Then he turned and jumped out of the arena from a trot. And their gate’s like, well over a metre high. The bounce grid wasn’t nearly that big.”
“Stubborn prat,” Katy grumbled, still glaring at Forbes. “If he’d just done what he was told, he would’ve saved himself a lot of effort.”
“It’s the principle of the thing, right Forbes?” I asked the pony, and he bobbed his head as though he was nodding. AJ laughed again, and Katy rolled her eyes.
“Don’t encourage him. Come on, let’s trot again before AJ’s arms get pulled out of their sockets.”
We were almost back at the yards when we had to pass the Maxwells’ truck. The relaxation I was feeling as I let Forbes walk along on a long rein next to AJ drained out of me as Hayley came striding down the ramp of their truck and greeted Katy with a broad smile. I felt Forbes tense up in response to my reaction, and I gave him a gentle pat, trying to make myself stay calm. Hayley hated me, and the feeling was mutual.
“Hey Katy!”
I saw a flicker of annoyance cross Katy’s face before she slowed Puppet’s walk. “Hi.”
“Having a good show?”
“It’s okay.” Katy was cagey, which was odd. She was usually quite friendly with Hayley. Not that I minded, but I doubted that it was anything to do with me, so something else must be going on. I wondered what it was.
“Saw you won the metre-twenty this morning. Good effort. And I’m glad you got your pony back. Talk about your near misses.” She grinned at Katy as AJ nudged Squib past Puppet, and I let Forbes follow. I tried not to look at Hayley as we passed, but I caught her expression out of the corner of my eye. Her initial surprise was quickly followed by the usual sneer, then horror as she realised that I wasn’t riding my own pony.
Hayley’s head swung back to Katy, her disgust clear. “Wait, what are you doing?”
Katy’s reply was unequivocal. “Being a decent human being. You?”
I breathed out. Katy being nice to me behind closed doors was one thing. Standing up to someone like Hayley in my defence was another thing entirely, and it wasn’t lost on me. Hayley responded, but I blocked her voice out as AJ pulled a face at me.
“That girl is the worst.”
Katy jogged Puppet up on the other side of me. “Sorry about that. Just ignore her,” she advised me. “We try to.”
“Thanks,” I told her, trying to make sure she realised how much I meant it.
Katy just shrugged, her attention caught by the ring as we passed it. Another horse had just refused at the second fence, sliding through the mud and scattering poles.
“Oh man, this is going to be a long afternoon. I hope Forbes is ready to tackle the mudslide!”
CHAPTER NINE
Fortunately for Katy, the previous class was taking so long to get through that they moved the Pony 1.10m into a different ring with much better surface. Their earlier exercise had clearly done the ponies good, as both Squib and Forbes jumped clear first rounds. I had an excuse to watch Forbes go this time, no longer having to surreptitiously spy on him from the sidelines, and I liked him even more now that I’d been on his back.
Squib flew around the jump off, just getting quick to the last and taking the back rail, but still clocking up a fast time. Forbes started well, but when Katy took an inside line to the planks, he objected to the close distance and had a refusal. Annoyed, Katy put her reins into one hand to give him a smack with her crop, and he threw his head up, hitting her in the face, then reared. I sucked in a sharp breath, but Katy’s mum just made a tutting noise.
“I’ve told her not to do that. He doesn’t like being told off any more than she does. He’ll toss his toys right out now, you watch.”
Deb was right. Forbes had decided that he was done for the day, and none of Katy’s cajoling or arguing with him had any effect. He simply did what he’d apparently done a few days earlier, and planted his feet squarely on the ground, refusing to move.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t the worst fault for him to have. Clearly he knew how to throw her off if he wanted to, but he didn’t. He simply told her that he had no intention of going over any more jumps, and there was nothing Katy could do to convince him otherwise.
Even after the bell rang to signify that she’d run out of time, Forbes wouldn’t move until Katy dismounted. Then, just as she’d said, he followed her to the gate like a lamb.
Katy was fuming as I stepped up next to Forbes and smoothed a hand down his damp neck.
“Do you want me to take him?”
“Yes, please. I might kill him if I have to look at him any longer.”
I pulled Forbes’ reins over his head and led him away. “You’re a brat, you know that?” I asked him. He shook his head as if to argue with my assessment of his character, and I laughed. “Good thing I like you anyway.”
I had him cooled out and sponged off when Katy came back with AJ, who’d ended up fourth despite her unfortunate rail.
“Thanks for taking care of him for me.” Katy came into Forbes’ yard and rubbed his forehead. “See what I mean about stubborn, though?”
“He’s just making it a challenge for you. Can’t have things too easy,” I said with a smile, squeezing excess water out of the sponge before running it across his back.
“I wish he wouldn’t. Nothing wrong with easy.”
I shrugged. “Beg to differ.” She looked at me curiously, so I elaborated. “My ponies are so easy to ride that it gets boring. They never do anything wrong, and I never have anything I can teach them. They’re so experienced, they know it all. I just have to keep them ticking over and give them a halfway decent ride around the course.” I dipped the sponge back into the water bucket, squeezed it out again. “That’s what I liked about Molly. She made me work a bit harder for it.”
“Yeah, she would,” Katy agreed, flipping Forbes’ forelock back behind his ears. “I was surprised that she went as well for you as she did. I thought she’d get your number straight away.”
“I can ride, you know,” I told her. “I just haven’t had to lately. Not with those two, anyway. And they’re all I’ve got now.”
“I wouldn’t kick either of them off my truck,” Katy replied.
“I’m not really complaining,” I said quickly, trying not to sound ungrateful. “I love them, but…”
“But sometimes it’s nice to have a challenge. I get it.” Katy looked thoughtful as Forbes lipped at her open palm. “I guess I’m so used to having naughty ones and young ones that when I get to ride the made ponies like Molly and Lucas, it’s a nice change. But if all of my ponies were like that, I can see how it would get a bit boring after a while.” Forbes nipped at her hand, and she flicked him on the nose. “Hey now, you. Don’t make me even madder than I already am at you.” But they were just words. I could tell that she wasn’t holding a grudge. “You should get something young then, something naughty. Give yourself something to work towards.”
“That’s the plan,” I said, then caught myself. That was the plan. But I was leaving.
Wasn’t I?
“Move over! You’re taking up all the space.”
“Uh, Katy. You’re like three inches wide, you don’t need any more space. I’m already shoving Susannah into the hay bales.”
I smiled as I wriggled over to try and give Katy more room. It hadn’t taken AJ long to get our sleeping quarters arranged again. I’d set up my sleeping bag and pillow next to hers, still pinching myself that they were really prepared to do this. Although it had quickly become clear to me that, for AJ at least, this was an excuse for a pseudo-camping trip rather than a serious stake-out. She was convinced that whoever the perpetrator was at Feilding, they wouldn’t dare try again. Especially with us sleeping so close by. But Katy was more wary, and so was I.
I’d taped up the buckles and straps on my ponies’ rugs to make them more difficult to remove, and had checked the water buckets several times. The ponies hadn’t been left supervised since we got here, but so far we hadn’t noticed any suspicious behaviour. After shaking out and refilling their haynets one final time, I’d crawled into my sleeping bag in the yard next to Skip. I still wasn’t planning to sleep, but I felt better just being out here.
Katy echoed my sentiments. “Who’s taking first watch?”
AJ’s sleeping bag rustled as she rolled onto her side. “I’m planning on taking first sleep. And middle sleep, and last sleep.”
“Some help you are,” I told her.
“I’ll wake up if anything happens,” AJ assured me, but Katy snorted.
“Small chance of that. You’d sleep through an earthquake.”
“Because earthquakes aren’t noisy,” AJ countered. “Anyone can sleep through an earthquake.”
“Depends on how big they are,” I said. “I hope you’d hear it if the building started falling down around us. But don’t worry about it. I’m planning on staying awake, so you guys can sleep whenever you want.”
“We said we’d stand watch with you, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Katy said determinedly. “AJ likes early mornings anyway, so she can have the last shift.”
AJ gasped. “Who says I like early mornings? That is an outright lie.”
Their bickering made me smile, and I turned over onto my back and stared up at the dusty beams under the covered yards. It was a calm, still night, but it was cooling down fast. I breathed out, watching my breath turn into mist.
“It’s too early to go to sleep yet anyway,” AJ said. “Let’s play a game.”
“I’m not playing Truth or Dare with you again,” Katy said immediately. “Not after last time.”
Curious, I propped myself up onto an elbow and asked what had happened last time. They looked at each other and giggled, then both shook their heads.
“Sorry. Some things have to stay between us,” Katy said. “We could play Truth, but I’m not letting AJ dare me to do anything ever again.”
“It wasn’t even that big of a deal! My brothers dare me to do way dumber stuff than that, and I always do it.”
“Yeah, well. Big brothers are dumb.”
“Tell me about it,” I agreed, wanting to be part of the conversation. I could hardly see Katy in the dim light, but I could feel her pulling back from me a little bit. AJ turned her head to look at me, curious.
“We love them anyway though, right?”
I wondered how much she knew. Katy must have filled her in. There was no way she’d have left any of that story untold. But I nodded.
“Hard not to. Even when they do really, really stupid things.”
“Horrible things.” Katy’s voice was guarded, and I nodded.
“Yeah.” I felt a lump fill my throat, and struggled to swallow around it. “He’s really sorry about that.”
“Hey, don’t apologise to me,” Katy replied. Her voice had turned cold, and I could feel the tension rippling between us. Somehow I’d known it would come to this. She’d been so nice all day, acting like a friend. And I’d wanted it to be real so badly that I’d fallen for it – again.
“Can we talk about something else?” AJ suggested, but Katy wasn’t done.
“So you really didn’t know?”
I shook my head. “Of course not. Why does everyone think that?”
“Well.” Katy sat up, pulling her knees up towards her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “You were always so dead-set on winning. Everyone used to say there was nothing you wouldn’t do. So you can’t blame us for jumping to conclusions when it happened. And as it turned out, we were almost right.”
I wished she hadn’t felt the need to dredge it all up. “So I deserve this, is that what you’re saying?”
AJ sat up too now. “Of course that’s not what she’s saying,” she told me, putting a hand on my arm before glaring at Katy. “She’s going to shut up and change the subject now.”
“No, we can talk about it if that’s what she really wants.” I was getting angry, and I fought my emotions, trying to stay civil. “You think I knew that my brother did those things to Marley’s pony, but I didn’t. You think if I didn’t know, that I must have suspected. But I didn’t. I swear to God. It never even crossed my mind. Call me naïve, but I never in a million years would’ve thought he’d do something like that. Yes, my family likes to win. Yes, my dad would yell at me if I didn’t, and tell me that he didn’t want to keep throwing his money away if I wasn’t going to make the expense worthwhile.”
I took a breath, looked over Katy’s shoulder as I spoke at the outline of our huge truck. “I’ve never ridden for fun. I’ve only ever competed, and if I wasn’t successful then it was either my fault or the ponies’ fault. It wasn’t so bad when Pete was riding, because he took most of the pressure, but once he left home it was all on me. And it was hard, and I hated it but I wanted to do well because I wanted my parents to be proud of me. And Pete did what he did because he wanted our parents to back off and give me an easier time of it. It was stupid and he did it the worst way possible, and I’m still mad at him for it. But he regrets it more than anything, so yeah, I forgave him. He’s my brother, even if my parents tried to disown him. You know that, right? You know they made him leave the country because they were so ashamed of him? They threw him out because he did something they didn’t like, and yes it was a big thing but they’re his parents!”
I could feel my throat closing up again, and I fought to keep my voice level. “They sent him away and pretended he’d never existed. Just like they get rid of my ponies if they don’t win all the time. I wanted to buy Molly because I knew she was difficult to ride, and it made me feel better about myself when she went well for me. But your parents came to us and said they would buy her if we let her go. Dad didn’t want to, he was livid, but I talked him around. I let her go. I didn’t want to, but I didn’t do it for me. I did it for you, Katy. So that you’d be happy. And I don’t regret it, because as much as I liked riding Molly, it made me feel better to do something nice for someone else. Like I was making amends, in a way.”
I wanted to stop talking. I’d already said far too much. But the words wouldn’t stop flowing. “I’ve spent the past two years trying to make up for my brother’s stupid mistakes, but nobody seems to be willing to let me put it past me. So, think whatever you want. It doesn’t matter anymore, anyway.”
“What do you mean?” AJ looked concerned, her head tilted to the side as she watched me. Katy’s eyes were fixed on the ground. She couldn’t even look at me. I wished I hadn’t said anything, but it was too late to take it back.
“Nothing.”
AJ wasn’t letting it go. “Why doesn’t it matter?”
“Because I’m leaving.” Katy’s eyes snapped back up to my face as I spoke, and she looked shocked. “We’re moving to South Africa next week.”
AJ gasped out loud. “What? What about your ponies?”
I shrugged. I’d been trying not to think about them. “Dad will sell them.” I sniffed. “They’ll find good homes.”
“It seems a bit of an extreme reaction,” Katy said quietly. “Is it really that bad?”
