Dreams

by Linda Chapman

  Yes.

  When they had first started talking, Spirit had shown her images of the neglect and harsh treatment he’d suffered at the trekking stables he had come from, the trauma he’d felt when he had been badly beaten in his earlier days at a showing home, and his early happy life as a foal. He had listened, too, as she’d shared her past with him—the pain-filled memories of her parents, things she hadn’t wanted to talk about with anyone else. Now, although they still shared those things when they needed to, they also had a simpler daily communication as well.

  Into her head came a picture of the field behind the stables.

  You’d like to go out in the field? she guessed.

  A wave of positive energy flooded towards her. Yes.

  Ellie saw a new picture, this time of herself riding Spirit. And you’d like to be ridden?

  Only by you.

  I’ll ride you later, Ellie told him. We’ll go out in the woods with Joe and Merlin later.

  She became aware of a slight ache in her bones, particularly lower down her legs. She frowned, wondering if the feeling was coming from Spirit, but as soon as she started to focus on it, it disappeared.

  She waited to see if she felt it again but she didn’t.

  A picture of the field pushed back into her mind, this time with Spirit grazing in it in the spring sun.

  Ellie smiled. OK, I get the message. You can go out straight after breakfast. She realized time must be passing and, stepping back, she let the connection between them fade.

  As she did so, she heard doors banging on the yard and horses whinnying. She glanced at her watch. It was ten past seven. She’d lost track of time. “Oh, great,” she groaned under her breath, suddenly remembering Joe’s warning about not being late for morning feeds. “I must go,” she told Spirit. “I’ll be back with your breakfast soon.”

  Shutting his door, Ellie hurried back towards the main yard. Even though she knew she was late, she was buzzing inside. She loved talking to Spirit. In the last few weeks, she’d also been wondering if she could talk to other horses in the same way. Picasso, one of the ponies she rode for her uncle, had become scared of the horsebox and so she’d tried to speak to him. She hadn’t managed to communicate with him as she did with Spirit, but she’d felt a slight connection and was sure he’d understood what she was saying even if he hadn’t replied. Afterwards he seemed to trust her more and, with Spirit’s calming presence, she’d managed to get him into the horsebox. She’d attempted to talk to him a few more times since then, but so far he still hadn’t actually answered. She kept hoping that one day he would—it would be amazing to speak properly with other horses too.

  Maybe if I just keep trying, she thought hopefully.

  Reaching the feedroom, she found Uncle Len mixing the feeds while Joe piled up the buckets ready to take them to the pony barn. The yard was busy now. The grooms—Stuart, Helen and Sasha—had arrived and were busy refilling water buckets, and Luke, Joe’s eighteen-year-old cousin from the other side of the family who worked full time for Len, was on his way to the hay barn to get the haynets.

  Len looked up with a frown as Ellie came into the feedroom. He was a short stocky man with gray hair cropped close to his head. His eyes were the same gray-blue as Ellie’s, but far harder, like granite. “You’re late.”

  Ellie felt her temper prickle, but she controlled it. If she wanted to keep Spirit on the yard, she had to keep on the right side of her uncle. She couldn’t risk making him angry even though she hated his bullying ways. She gritted her teeth but kept her voice level. “I’m sorry. I was just with Spirit. I lost track of time.”

  Her uncle’s expression left her in no doubt that he didn’t think that a good excuse. “If that horse of yours is going to start interfering with your work…” The threat was left hanging in the air.

  “He’s not,” Ellie said quickly.

  “We did some good work with Solo this morning, Dad,” Joe broke in, trying to deflect attention from Ellie. “He joined-up and everything.”

  His distraction worked. Len snorted. “Joined-up!” He pointed the mixing stick at Joe. “You’d be far better concentrating on the show ring, not messing about with silly things like ‘joining-up.’”

  Joe didn’t reply. He simply bent his head and started to pile up buckets. Len watched him and blew out a scornful breath through his teeth. “Don’t you go getting ideas about things like that. It’s the show ring that matters. Just you remember that.”

  Ellie felt herself really struggling not to say something as Joe responded with a nod, keeping the peace as best he could. “Should Ellie and I go and give these out, Dad?”

  Len grunted. “Yes and no hanging around. We’ve got a busy morning. First off, I want the two of you in the ring on Barney and Picasso—they need some jumping practice. Troy needs to be brushed over and tacked up, as well. I’ll ride him straight after you’ve schooled those ponies; he was messing about yesterday. Right—” he mixed the last feed up and thrust it at them—“get yourselves moving.”

  Ellie and Joe headed out on to the yard.

  “I don’t know how you put up with your dad sometimes!” Ellie muttered under her breath as she finally let out her anger. “He thinks he rules the world!”

  “I guess he does rule this little bit of it here on the yard.” Joe caught her eye. “There’s no point getting wound up about it, Els. Just let it go.”

  “How do you do that, though?” Ellie appealed.

  Joe smiled drily. “Practice.”

  As they walked past the end stable of the courtyard, a black horse flew at the door. They stopped and watched him toss his head angrily. It was a new show horse called Lucifer. He’d arrived the evening before. He was jet-black with just a small white star, but ever since he’d come he’d been squealing at the other horses and threatening to bite anyone who went near his stable.

  “He’s not settled in yet, has he?” said Joe.

  Ellie shook her head. “He’s beautiful though. Do you think he’ll do well in the ring?”

  “He’d better. Or there’s going to be trouble with Jeff Hallett.”

  Lucifer was owned by Jeff Hallett whose company, Equi-Glow, sponsored High Peak Stables. Equi-Glow was a horse-food manufacturer and the sponsorship was worth a lot of money because it provided the yard with free feed. It was really important that Lucifer was successful.

  “So how’s it going to work?” Ellie asked curiously. “Is Mr. Hallett going to ride Lucifer himself?”

  “No. He’s for Anna, Jeff’s daughter. She wants to go in the hack classes, but she’s in college now and so Dad will produce him and train him, and for the shows Anna can’t make, Dad’ll take him in.”

  “He’s wild,” said Ellie, looking at the black gelding who was now weaving from side to side, radiating hostility.

  Joe nodded and glanced around. “Come on. He’ll settle down soon. We’d best not hang around.”

  They went to the barn and emptied the feeds into the ponies’ mangers. Then leaving Joe to wash out the buckets, Ellie headed to the hay store to fetch the ponies’ haynets. Luke was in there with his terrier dog, Pip. Tall and dark-haired, Luke had come to live and work on the yard a year and a half ago when he had left his expensive boarding school. Ellie didn’t know much about Luke’s family life, but Joe had told her that his parents were rich, he hadn’t had the happiest of childhoods and he had spent many of his school breaks at High Peak Stables with Joe and his dad.

  “Morning,” he greeted Ellie.

  “Hi,” she said. Luke was the complete opposite of Joe—swaggering, confident, and seemed to be only interested in shows and chatting up girls. To start with he had really irritated Ellie, but at her first show a few weeks ago he’d given her some good advice and helped her get Picasso ready. He’d seemed in his element there—completely focused on the horses and loving the atmosphere. Ellie had had a brilliant time too, and since then she’d begun to feel there was more to Luke than the brazen act he put on.

/>   “So what were you and Joe doing out on the yard so early?” he asked curiously as she began to help him sort the haynets into piles, while Pip hunted for mice among the stacked-up bales of hay. “I saw you bringing Solo in.”

  She nodded. “Joe had just been joining-up with him.”

  Luke’s eyes glinted with humor. “Oh, I see—horse-whispering.”

  Ellie felt a flash of irritation. “Don’t just dismiss something when you know nothing about it! You’re as bad as Uncle Len.”

  “Me? Never,” Luke protested. “I just don’t see why you want to mess around with things like that. Len’s ways work. He’s won enough in the ring.”

  Ellie bristled. “It’s not just about winning!”

  Luke raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t it?”

  “No!”

  He gave her an amused look. “Say what you like, Ellie, but you like to win too. I know you do. I saw it at that last show we went to. And you know there’s no point doing stuff like join-up here. You’ll never convince Len to use horse-whispering ways. I mean, can you imagine him chatting to a horse before it went into the ring—what’s he going to say? ‘Come on, Picasso, I’ll give you a carrot if you do a great gallop?’”

  “See, you don’t know anything about it!” Ellie said hotly. “Horse-whispering isn’t about actually whispering to horses. It’s about listening to them, reading their body language and—”

  She broke off as she saw Luke’s broad grin. “Gotcha!”

  Ellie let out an exclamation of annoyance. Of course Luke knew perfectly well what horse-whispering was about even if he chose not to try it. He had just been winding her up, refusing to take things seriously as always. “Oh, you…” She swung around angrily to pick up three haynets to take to the ponies. As she did so, she caught her foot in a long piece of bale string. She would have gone flying if Luke hadn’t stepped forward and grabbed her just in time. He steadied her.

  “Have a good trip?” he inquired.

  Ellie flushed and pulled her arm away, embarrassed. Just then, a pretty girl with straightened blonde hair and lashings of dark eyeliner came in. It was Sasha, the junior groom on the yard, and Luke’s girlfriend for the last four weeks.

  “There you are,” she said to Luke. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

  “Sorry, babe. I was just…” Luke glanced at Ellie and grinned. “Just helping Ellie out.”

  Sasha immediately gave Ellie a suspicious, narrow-eyed look.

  Oh, puh–lease! Ellie thought, almost laughing out loud at the thought she would be anything like Sasha and fawn all over Luke for his attention.

  “I’m taking these to the ponies.” Ignoring the older girl’s death-ray stare, she grabbed as many haynets as she could carry.

  “Watch your step, Ellie!” Luke called innocently as she left the hay store.

  Ellie had to bite back her laugh. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d made her smile—his ego wouldn’t be able to cope! Shaking her head, she carried the haynets down the yard.

  Chapter Three

  THE MORNING PASSED IN a bustle of activity as the horses were groomed and exercised, and the stables mucked out. As well as Luke, the three grooms worked full-time on the yard: Stuart, an ex-jockey in his forties, was the yard manager; Helen, his girlfriend, was the senior groom; and Sasha was the junior groom. Ellie and Joe helped whenever they weren’t at school. The Easter holidays had just started, so Ellie knew they could expect to be on the yard from dawn until dusk, often longer.

  Len’s standards were exacting. He never failed to let anyone know if a horse they brought out to be ridden was in a state below his expectations. The yard was swept twice a day, tack cleaned every time it was used, stables bedded down with thick beds of clean straw or shavings, and the feed and water buckets always scrubbed. Anyone who cut corners or was caught not working would be shouted or even sworn at. Len was tireless himself and he wouldn’t tolerate laziness or slackness.

  Despite her uncle’s brusqueness and temper, Ellie enjoyed working on such a professional yard. It was hard work but exciting, and the horses were amazing to ride. Len had made no secret of the fact he hoped for a stellar year from his show team. Ellie would ride the smaller ponies and Joe the larger ponies, while Luke rode the Intermediates and riding horses and Len the hunters and hacks. As well as Len’s own horses and ponies, there were the liveries he produced for clients and took to shows. The aim was to get as many horses and ponies as possible qualified for the two big shows in the season—the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead in July, and the Horse of the Year show in October which everyone called HOYS. Everything was focused towards that—and to winning once they got there.

  “Do you still want to go out for a ride at lunchtime?” Joe asked Ellie as they fetched brooms to sweep the yard later that morning.

  “Definitely.” It was a lovely day and Ellie was really looking forward to just ambling along on Spirit, chatting to Joe. Spirit and Merlin were great friends too. She knew they’d like to be out together.

  She and Joe went to the muck heap and began sweeping up the loose straw. Helen and Sasha were riding out on Hereward and Oscar, two of the hunters, and Stuart was lunging Milly, one of the ponies Ellie rode, in the circular ring. Luke was in the main schooling ring nearby, helping Len with Troy, a young working hunter, who was refusing to jump.

  Ellie watched while she swept. Troy was a gentle giant of a horse and usually very willing to please, but today he had his ears back. Every time Len turned him towards a jump he stopped dead and ran backwards, despite Len swearing at him and digging in his spurs.

  Ellie frowned. Troy’s bay coat was dark with sweat. “There’s something wrong with him,” she said suddenly.

  “What do you mean?” Joe asked, stopping sweeping to look at the horse.

  Ellie couldn’t explain it, but it was as if she could feel the pain pulsing off Troy. She’d always been able to sense animals’ emotions and feelings, and since she’d started talking to Spirit that ability had grown stronger. “He’s in pain.” She saw Joe give her a strange look. “I imagine,” she added hastily. “Dad always said that horses usually only play up if they’re hurting or scared.”

  Joe nodded thoughtfully. “My books say that too.”

  Luke picked up a long lunge whip and cracked it behind the horse’s back legs. Even though Ellie knew Luke had just cracked the whip in the air and it hadn’t touched the horse, she still flinched. Troy leaped forward at the sharp sound.

  “Get him across the back legs as I come up to the fence this time!” Len ordered.

  Ellie couldn’t bear it. Troy was in pain. She could feel it. They shouldn’t be hitting him to force him to jump. She started forward impulsively. “No!”

  “Ellie!” Joe grabbed her arm in alarm. “What are you doing?”

  She struggled against him wildly. “They mustn’t hit him! There’s something wrong!”

  “You don’t know that for sure. Anyway, Dad’s not going to stop just because you say!” Joe saw her face. “Think of Spirit, Els. If you make Dad really mad, he might say you can’t keep him here any more. Then what will you do? There’s nowhere close enough you could cycle or walk to. You’ve got to be sensible!”

  Every bone in Ellie’s body wanted to stop what was happening in the ring, but she knew what Joe was saying was right. Whether she liked it or not, her uncle had a hold on her. She looked back at the ring, completely torn.

  “I hate it too,” Joe told her more quietly, still holding her arm. “You know I do, but we can’t do anything about it. We just can’t.”

  Troy was slowing down as he approached the jump. “Now!” Len’s angry voice allowed no argument. “Get him!”

  Luke caught the bay across the back legs with the cord of the whip. Troy leaped forward and this time jumped. He cleared the fences and came around again. His eyes rolled fearfully as he saw Luke with the whip but he jumped without hesitation.

  When he had jumped the fences th
ree times, Len brought the horse back to a trot. He patted Troy’s neck. “Well, we got there in the end. Stubborn bastard.” He let the horse walk around on a loose rein to cool off.

  Luke came in from the menage. Ellie glared at him as he passed.

  “What?” he said, seeing her look.

  “You shouldn’t have hit Troy like that,” she said accusingly.

  Luke frowned. “It worked.”

  “But you didn’t stop to think why he wasn’t jumping. There might be something wrong with him!”

  “Len checked though. He’s not lame, his mouth’s fine. There was no reason for him to be acting up like that.”

  But Ellie wasn’t appeased. She knew what she’d felt when she’d looked at Troy. “There is something wrong. I’m just sure there is. I bet you didn’t look hard enough.”

  Luke rolled his eyes. “Give me strength. I suppose you’d have had a little chat with him and then it would all have been OK?”

  “Don’t be stupid!” Ellie glared at him, not in the mood for joking now.

  “Ellie,” Joe put in. “Luke didn’t have a choice. He was only doing what Dad said. He couldn’t have done anything else.”

  Ellie turned on him angrily. “You said you thought there was something wrong with Troy too and you certainly don’t believe that’s how horses should be treated. Don’t take his side!”

  “It’s not about taking sides,” Joe protested. “I’m just saying Luke had to do what Dad told him.”

  Ellie looked from one to the other and then, with an angry exclamation, she walked away.

  “Hormones,” she heard Luke say knowingly to Joe.

  It took all her self-control not to go back and slap him. She reached the courtyard and then took a breath. What should she do? Really she should carry on sweeping but she wasn’t going back to the muck heap while Luke was still there. Instead she went to the field and brought Spirit in.

  He saw her opening the gate and came trotting over, ears pricked. As he reached her, Ellie felt a rush of relief. Being with Spirit always made her feel calmer. She stroked his ears and cheekbones, letting her upset over the argument with Luke fade away.