Strangers at the Stables

by Michelle Bates

  First published in 1996 by Usborne Publishing Ltd, Usborne House,

  83-85 Saffron Hill, London EC1N 8RT, England.

  www.usborne.com

  Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2003, 1996 Usborne Publishing Ltd.

  The name Usborne and the devices are the Trade Marks of Usborne Publishing Ltd.

  All rights reserved. This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or used in any way except as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or loaned or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Epub ISBN 9781409554950

  Kindle ISBN 9781409554967

  Batch no. 01488-01

  CONTENTS

  Maps

  1. Some bad news

  2. They’re off!

  3. Disaster strikes

  4. Holding the fort

  5. The newcomers

  6. Standards slip

  7. From bad to worse

  8. Startling news

  9. A chilling discovery

  10. Midnight ride

  11. Plans

  12. All is well

  More Sandy Lane Stables books

  Maps to print out

  You can print out copies of the Sandy Lane Stables maps at the Usborne Quicklinks Website. Go to www.usborne-quicklinks.com and enter the keywords 'Sandy Lane Stables'.

  1

  SOME BAD NEWS

  “If we have to close down the stables, we’ll close down the stables...”

  Rosie Edwards just caught the end of the telephone conversation going on in the tack room and looked up, startled. Nick Brooks – the owner of Sandy Lane Stables – sounded unusually tense. As she watched him run towards the cottage, her stomach turned itself in knots.

  What was going on? Surely Nick and his wife Sarah weren’t thinking of packing it all in, not when things were just starting to take off. Why would they close down Sandy Lane? Questions rang in Rosie’s head like alarm bells.

  She felt uneasy. She hadn’t been riding at Sandy Lane long, but already it was her life. It had been hard for all of her family, uprooting themselves with her father’s job, but hardest of all for Rosie – new home, new school, new friends. It wasn’t until she’d discovered Sandy Lane that she really started to feel settled. Here at the stables, she had made all of her friends, even her best friend Jess Adams. Rosie felt hot tears pricking her eyes as she remembered how awful it had been before she had known any of them.

  Rosie walked over to the cottage and glanced in through the kitchen window. Nick and Sarah were talking inside and she could just catch the tail end of what they were saying. She wouldn’t normally be seen dead eavesdropping, but this sounded serious.

  “We’ll have to discuss it with Beth immediately,” Sarah was saying, as Nick paced up and down the floor. He had his back to the window, so Rosie couldn’t catch his reply. Before Rosie even had time to step out of the way, the cottage door had been flung open and Nick hurried out. Rosie jumped back, embarrassed.

  “I didn’t see you there. Are you OK, Rosie?” he said, breathlessly.

  “Yes, fine Nick.” Rosie swallowed hard. “What time do you want us in the outdoor school?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

  “Sorry. What was that?” Nick looked up distracted.

  “I was just asking what time...” Rosie started.

  But her words were cut short as the ring of the telephone sounded around the yard and Nick rushed off to answer it.

  Rosie sighed. Deep in thought as she crossed the yard, she saw Kate and Alex Hardy, two more of the Sandy Lane regulars, sprinting up the drive...late as usual.

  “Morning, Rosie,” they called.

  “Morning,” she answered.

  On the other side of the yard, Tom Buchanan, Sandy Lane’s star rider, sprang neatly into the saddle of his horse, Chancey. It was the start of the Easter holidays and everyone was in high spirits, but Rosie didn’t feel like joining in. Putting on a brave face, she waved as she saw Jess cycle into the yard.

  “All ready for Tentenden training this morning?” Jess called.

  “Sort of,” Rosie answered flatly.

  It was their first training session in preparation for the Tentenden Team Chase, and normally any mention of the cross-country race made Rosie feel better instantly. But this morning there were more important things to think about – would there even be a team, for instance, if Sandy Lane was to close down?

  The day Nick had announced that she, Tom, Charlie and Jess would make up the team, had been one of the most important days of Rosie’s life. She would be devastated if they couldn’t enter now. Pulling back the bolt to Pepper’s stable, she determined to put it out of her mind and stepped inside. Absent-mindedly, she ran the body brush over the pony’s shoulder. Before she knew it, someone had crept up behind her and...

  “BOO!”

  Jess pounced on her.

  Rosie nearly jumped out of her skin as Jess collapsed into fits of laughter.

  “Jess, you frightened the life out of me,” Rosie said crossly. “Can’t you take anything seriously?”

  “Like what?” Jess asked, munching on a mouthful of apple.

  “Well, if I tell you something...something awful,” Rosie continued. Immediately, Jess looked concerned.

  “Go on then. Spill the beans. Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  And in a moment Rosie had blurted everything out...about the telephone call, Nick and Sarah’s worried faces, her fears of the stables being closed down...

  “What do you think it can mean, Jess?” Rosie asked at the end of it. “It sounds as though they’re going to pack it all in.”

  “They wouldn’t do that,” Jess said quickly. “Nick and Sarah would never leave Sandy Lane. Besides, they’d tell us about it first, wouldn’t they? Are you sure you heard things right?”

  “Of course I did.” Rosie shrugged her shoulders.

  “Well, maybe Charlie knows something about it,” Jess said, and quickly she called their friend over. “Charlie, Charlie.”

  Charlie Marshall looked up from where he was sweeping the yard and ambled over. He listened carefully to what Rosie had to say, but he didn’t seem to think it could be serious either.

  “Tell her it’s nonsense then,” Jess begged, “or we’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “It’s nonsense,” Charlie began. “But that doesn’t mean...”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s not true?” Rosie said frostily. “Why doesn’t anyone ever believe me? It was like that time at Christmas when I tried to tell Charlie there wasn’t any school the next day and he went in anyway,” Rosie finished.

  “Well, I admitted I was wrong then, didn’t I?” Charlie said humbly. “I thought you were joking. Nobody told me the boiler had broken down and I was the one who looked stupid turning up at an empty school. It’s not that we don’t believe you, Rosie. It’s just that it seems so unlikely. I know Sandy Lane’s had its rough patches, but it’s come through all that. Nick and Sarah have been doing so well lately, and they’d hardly have taken on a new stable girl if they were about to close down the stables, would they?”

  Rosie looked unconvinced. “But don’t you see, Charlie,” she said in
frustration, “I don’t think this is something they’ve been planning. I think it’s something awful that’s just happened!”

  “I give up with you two,” Charlie groaned. “Stop panicking. Nick will tell us everything in good time. There’s work to do. I’m going to tack up Napoleon.”

  “Yes, come on Rosie,” said Jess. “We’d better get a move on if we’re going to get our horses ready.”

  “Look, here’s Nick right now,” said Charlie, seeing Nick stride across the yard. “Let’s ask him what’s going on.”

  “No...no don’t do that,” Rosie said urgently. “It’ll look as though I was listening in on them.”

  “Well, you were weren’t you?” Charlie said grinning.

  Rosie shot him a filthy look. “I don’t want Nick to know that,” she whispered, in an annoyed voice.

  “Fair enough,” Charlie said. And before he had a chance to say anything anyway, Nick began talking.

  “I’ll be taking the training session at eleven,” he called, “and I need to see everybody in the tack room at twelve. Can you spread the word? I’ve got some important news...news that’s going to affect all of you, I’m afraid. And if you see Beth, can you tell her to come and find me at the cottage?”

  “See,” said Rosie as Nick hurried off. “I told you. Sandy Lane’s going to be shut down.”

  “Oh, come on Rosie,” groaned Charlie. “Stop being so dramatic.”

  “Well, I think we ought to tell the others what Rosie’s heard anyway,” said Jess. Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “It’s only fair that everyone knows,” she continued.

  Charlie nodded. “OK then. I suppose you’re right.”

  Rosie grimaced as Charlie and Jess disappeared. It wouldn’t take long for the news to go round.

  “Whatever are we to do Pepper?” she asked the little black and white pony as she gave his coat a quick going over with the body brush.

  “Talking to yourself Rosie?” Beth’s smiling face appeared over the door of Pepper’s stable.

  “There you are, Beth. Nick’s been looking for you,” Rosie said. “He wants you to meet him at the cottage with Sarah.”

  “Sounds serious. Hope I’m not about to get the sack!” Beth smiled.

  Rosie felt quite uncomfortable. Beth was the new stable girl. She hadn’t been at Sandy Lane long, but she had fitted in straight away. Rosie had been worried when Nick had told them he was employing someone to help out...worried that she would try to take over. But as soon as Rosie had met Beth, she knew she needn’t have worried, Beth wasn’t like that. She was more like a friend really. She was kind, not bossy at all, and absolutely brilliant with the horses. Rosie couldn’t help liking her.

  Making her way across the yard, Rosie collected Pepper’s saddle from the tack room. Word of her news must have got round already, for her friends were looking very gloomy. Anxious to escape another postmortem of Nick’s words, Rosie hurried back to Pepper’s stable. She patted Pepper’s shoulder and tacked him up, leading him over to join the others. Tom, Charlie and Jess were already making their way down to the outdoor school.

  “All here?” Nick called distractedly as he opened the gate and let everyone in.

  “I want everyone to start by mounting and dismounting properly on both sides,” he called. “Then start walking around. I’ll let you know when I want you to trot on. I’d like to see some turns on the forehand from a halt, rising trot on each diagonal and cantering on a named leg. Are you all ready for that?”

  “OK,” he went on when no one answered. “Tom, you take the lead.”

  Tom led the way around the perimeter of the school and Rosie brought up the rear. She was trying desperately to keep her mind on her riding. But Pepper was fidgeting and she knew she wasn’t really concentrating. She looked across at the others. Charlie was frowning and didn’t seem able to get Napoleon to respond and Storm Cloud was napping with Jess.

  “Come on everyone,” Nick called. “Pay attention.”

  “One two, one two, one two,” Rosie chanted, trying to stop Pepper from trotting into the back of Chancey.

  After twenty minutes of loosening up their horses, Nick didn’t look terribly impressed.

  “I think everyone’s blundered through those exercises enough for now. Let’s try some jumping.”

  Rosie looked anxiously at the course laid out in front of them. The jumps weren’t that high, but she felt all jittery.

  “All ready?” Nick called out. “Charlie, do you want to start and show us how it’s done?”

  “Sure,” said Charlie, and with a flourish of his whip, he turned Napoleon to the first. Rosie held her breath. They were going very fast as they flew over the brush and cantered on to the stile. They soared over the next two fences in swift succession, but Charlie wasn’t going to jump clear. As he turned Napoleon to the gate, the little bay firmly refused, and although Charlie turned him three times, he still couldn’t get him to jump it.

  “Try him over the parallel bars to relax him,” Nick called, and quickly Napoleon went on to clear them.

  Rosie watched grimly as Tom took a turn at the course and knocked down two jumps. And Jess did no better, knocking down three.

  “My turn,” she muttered to herself, trying to focus her attention on the course ahead of her, as Nick called her forward. She gritted her teeth and kicked Pepper on for the brush. But her mind was elsewhere, and although she jumped clear, she knew it had been a plodding round.

  “That’s enough for one day,” Nick said at the end of the session. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you lot. I haven’t seen such laborious riding in a long time. You’ll have to work harder if you’re going to be ready for Tentenden – it’s only four weeks away. And don’t forget – everyone’s to meet me in the tack room in five minutes time.” He turned on his heel as he spoke and strode out of the school.

  Gloomily, Rosie led the way back to the yard, taking Pepper to his stable. She was furious with herself. She hated riding badly in front of Nick.

  Impatiently, she fumbled with Pepper’s girth as she tried to undo the buckle. “More haste, less speed,” she muttered under her breath. “And you can take that look off your face too, Pepper,” she snapped, closing the stable door behind her. “I’ll be back later to sponge you down.”

  She knew she should really do it straight away but the news in the tack room simply couldn’t wait. Slinging the saddle across her arm, she hurried inside and hung the saddle up on its peg before she sat down. Nick looked serious as he sat leaning against the desk, his arms folded in front of him.

  “Are we all here now?” he asked.

  Rosie looked round at the expectant faces. Tom was there and Charlie too. Even Alex and Kate had managed to turn up on time. This was important news after all. Jess gave Rosie a ‘don’t worry’ kind of look as she shifted uneasily in her seat.

  “I’ll come straight to the point,” said Nick. “Sarah and I have had some rather bad news.”

  Rosie’s heart skipped a beat. She sat rooted to the spot. This was it, he was going to tell them it was all over for Sandy Lane.

  Nick glanced across at his wife and took a deep breath before he went on. “I’m afraid we’ve had some bad news. Sarah’s dad in America has been taken ill. He’s had a heart attack and been rushed into hospital.”

  The news was greeted by low mutterings, followed by an embarrassed silence.

  “He’s all right,” Nick went on. “But he needs time to recover. He’s going to be in hospital for a while and, in the meantime, we’ve agreed to go and run his stud farm for him in Kentucky.”

  Rosie felt a wave of relief flood through her. So Sandy Lane wasn’t closing down forever. Then, almost immediately, she felt terrible. How could she have been so selfish? Sarah’s father was ill, and all she could think about was the future of her beloved stables.

  “We’ve asked Beth to take charge of Sandy Lane while we’re away,” Nick went on. “At the moment we’ll be gone for three weeks, but obviously we’ll
get back sooner if we can. Beth’s going to come and live at the cottage until we get back. And I was rather hoping that you lot might offer to help out. It is the start of the Easter holidays after all. And I’d feel a lot happier knowing you were giving Beth a hand down here. What do you say?”

  “Of course we’ll help out, Nick,” said Tom, taking charge of the situation. “There’s no question of that, is there?” He turned to look at the others. His friends all nodded in swift agreement.

  “When are you going?” Tom asked, turning back to face Nick.

  “Well,” Nick sighed heavily. “We’ve managed to get flights for Monday morning which doesn’t give us long to get everything organized – just two days.” His voice tailed off as Sarah started to speak.

  “You’ll have to bear with us. There’s going to be a lot to sort out before we go. It’s going to be a tough few days for everyone.” She smiled weakly.

  “We should be back in time for the Tentenden Team Chase, but Beth has agreed to continue with the training,” Nick continued. “I’ll set up a programme with her before I go. I’m sure everything will be fine, but I’ll leave you our number in America, as well as a contact number of a friend of mine in case of emergency.” Nick smiled anxiously. “I’m sure you won’t need them. You should be fine with Beth in charge.”

  Not knowing what else to say, Rosie and her friends trooped out of the tack room and tried to busy themselves around the yard.

  2

  THEY’RE OFF

  Sarah wasn’t wrong in saying it would be a tough few days for them all. There was so much to organize. Rotas had to be drawn up for mucking-out, feeding and grooming. Lessons and hacks had to be decided upon. Routines had to be established. In the end it was decided that it would be easier if the regulars were responsible for two horses each and, while Beth would take all private lessons, the regulars could lead hacks.

  Eventually, Monday morning arrived. By nine, the last of the bags were squashed into a taxi and Nick and Sarah climbed in. They were off.

  “I’ve pinned the phone numbers on the tack room notice board,” Nick called out of the window. “We’ll ring when we get there, but don’t panic if you don’t hear much from us, we’re going to be very busy. Anyway, you’ll be fine with Beth in charge.”