Puzzle: The Runaway Pony

by Belinda Rapley

  “How does that make sense?” Rosie asked, shaking her head.

  “What?” Charlie and Alice asked in unison.

  “Well, this might sound odd considering she’s got her own, but Pixie seems terrified of ponies,” Rosie said, confused. “Yet she’ll happily cycle around in the dark near the Old Forge, by herself! You’d never catch me doing that!”

  “I guess that shows how much she wants to find Phantom,” Alice said, although she did think Rosie had a point. “And she does know all the bridleways and paths around Compton Manor too, remember.”

  “Doesn’t explain why she’s so scared of ponies, though,” Rosie mumbled as Mia led them down the path leading off the dirt track which Pixie had pointed out. It quickly took them to the edge of the woods and out alongside some fields. Scout took a step to one side to avoid a root and Alice scraped her leg against a fence, her jodhpurs catching on something sharp.

  “Ow!” she cried out, making Scout shoot forward, his ears back. She pulled him up and looked across the dusky gloom into the field.

  “Hang on, guys!” Alice called. “Look at this – it’s a broken fence. Do you reckon this could be Puzzle’s field?”

  As Alice rubbed her leg the others gathered round. Mia pulled her powerful torch from her pocket and swept it slowly across the field. It was muddy and waterlogged, with a few patches of ancient-looking grass. There was a water trough, but the ground around looked marshy, as if the trough must have a leak. And they noticed that there were no other ponies in the field and no signs of hay being put out to make up for the shortage of grass. Leading to the piece of broken fencing were long, rain-filled hoof skid marks, which had dug deep into the ground and scuffed up what little grass there was.

  “It looks like a pony’s tried to jump out here,” Charlie suggested, “then skidded on the slippery ground and crashed into the fence, cracking the wood. That might fit with Puzzle’s injury.”

  “Possibly,” Mia said, uncertainly. “I guess it could be his field.”

  “If it is, it would explain why he wanted to escape,” Rosie sighed.

  “We might as well put a note up here, just in case,” Mia said. She got out one she’d been carrying round in a plastic, rainproof cover and tied it to the gate, taking the baler twine through the hole she’d made in the cover so that it was securely fixed. “All we can do now is keep Puzzle snug and well fed and hope that this might be the right field. If it is, then his owner will see our note and ring.”

  “Although if any owner kept a pony in a field like this,” Rosie grumbled, “I don’t know if I’d want him to go back to them.”

  “Either way, we’ve got signs up for Puzzle now – here and at the post office,” Charlie said, “but what do we do next about Phantom, considering this search has got us nowhere?”

  “I reckon we need to go back to the beginning,” Mia suggested. “Back to Compton Manor where he disappeared from in the first place. Someone there must have seen something.”

  “It’s getting too dark to go now,” Rosie pointed out, “but at least it’s the weekend tomorrow, so we’ll have time to ride over.”

  Alice and Mia agreed. Charlie sat quietly as the ponies trotted towards Blackberry Farm, thinking that Compton Manor was the last place she wanted to go if Sasha was going to be around. But then, if it helped solve the mystery of Phantom’s disappearing act, she’d just have to ignore Sasha and get on with the business of being a Pony Detective.

  When the girls got back they said hi to Daisy and Puzzle and put the ponies away. Each girl quickly flicked over their pony’s coat, picked out their hooves into skips and rugged them up snugly, checking their haynets and water before going to the feed room to make their dinner.

  “That’s odd,” Alice said as she opened Scout’s feed bin. She dipped the feed scoop in but the level had gone down more than she was expecting.

  “Have you taken any pony nuts for Dancer?” she asked Rosie. Both of their ponies ate the same type of nuts and sometimes they used each other’s if one of them was getting low. But Rosie shook her head, opening her own bin and frowning.

  “Even odder,” she said. “Mine have gone down too.”

  “Puzzle’s been having a small handful each evening,” Daisy said.

  “I know,” Alice replied, “but it’s still gone down more than I was expecting, even taking that into account.”

  That evening, after they’d fed and said good night to the ponies, they all began to wonder whether they had a third mystery on their hands: the case of the missing pony nuts.

  “GET those jumps down, Bex,” Sasha shouted over her shoulder as she trotted The Colonel out of one of the big indoor schools. “Er – hello! Like, today! Honestly, you’re so slow sometimes.”

  “Sorry Sasha. I thought you said earlier that you wanted me to leave them up?” Bex said, sounding confused as she hurried towards the school.

  “Whatever. Now I’m saying that I want them down,” Sasha huffed, making a face at Bex as if she were stupid, “so hurry up.”

  While Bex rushed inside to see to the jumps, Jade stood smirking at her, patting The Colonel.

  “I don’t know why you’re laughing. You should be in there helping her,” Sasha sniffed as she dismounted.

  “Oh, right, ’course,” Jade said, looking caught out.

  “Only joking,” Sasha cackled, throwing her reins at Jade. “Here, take Colly and untack him for me. Make sure you brush him over, too.”

  Jade forced a smile and led the sweating chestnut away. He was so exhausted that his back hooves scraped along the concrete, as if he was too tired and his muscles ached too much to be able to lift them properly. And he wasn’t even being given a warm down by the looks of it.

  Charlie leaned forward on Pirate and peeped around the door to the school. A whole course of massive fences had been set up inside. Sasha slid the door shut with a slam, spooking the ponies.

  “Oh, you’re back again,” she said, turning her gaze on the four girls in front of her, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Charlie. “I see your pony hasn’t grown, but it looks like you have. Anyway, what is it this time? Have you messed up your entry forms or something?”

  Mia gave a fake smile, wanting to say that her handwriting was perfectly neat, thank you very much, but she kept her cool.

  “No, we’ve come to ask you about a horse called Phantom,” she said. “He used to be stabled here, until last Saturday.”

  “Ha!” Sasha burst out, laughing meanly. “That useless black maniac? Good riddance to him. What do you want to know about him? I could tell you lots. Follow me.”

  Sasha headed off towards the empty office. Rosie, Mia and Alice followed her while Charlie happily volunteered to stay outside and hold the ponies. Sasha shoved some money into a vending machine in the corner and a can of fizzy drink crashed to the bottom. She picked it up, cracked it open and flung herself down on one of the sofas, swinging her leg casually. The other three stayed standing up, and Alice leaned back against a wall of photographs. As they were talking she glanced at the pictures and noticed one of a fine black horse with a star and a distinctive white half-blaze.

  “It’s just that Pixie…” Mia began. At the mention of her name, Sasha snorted. Mia cleared her throat and started again. “It’s just that Pixie said he went missing from here last weekend. No one’s seen him since.”

  “Really?” Sasha said, sounding bored. “I thought he would have turned up somewhere by now.”

  “Where?” Alice asked.

  “I don’t know, anywhere,” Sasha said, frowning. “Mind you, he’s a stupid, freaky horse so he’s probably wandering about in circles somewhere, scaring everyone witless. Either that or he’s finally got fed up with his useless owner and decided to get as far away as possible from her.”

  “Pixie’s not useless!” Rosie retorted before she could stop herself, going pink. “She happens to be very nice!”

  Sasha looked over at Rosie, sizing her up, before she took a big glug of d
rink. Then she leaned forward as if she meant business.

  “Listen, I don’t know what she’s told you, but I’m glad that lunatic horse isn’t here any more,” she sneered. “This is meant to be a competition yard and he couldn’t win if he was the only horse in the class. He used to spook at everything – he’d rear all the time. He was a nightmare, full stop. And Pixie couldn’t do anything with him – she was terrified. That’s not the kind of rider we want on this yard, simple.”

  “And I bet you told her that, didn’t you?” Mia said, shaking her head.

  “I tell the truth. If people don’t like it, they know where to go,” Sasha scoffed. “That nutcase horse was taking up a stable that a better horse could have had – we’ve got a waiting list of top-quality riders as long as my arm. And I don’t actually see what all the fuss is about. It doesn’t make much difference him going last weekend because he would have been chucked off the yard any day now anyway.”

  The girls looked at each other, confused. Sasha smiled.

  “Pixie didn’t tell you that bit, did she?” she said smugly. “Okay, well I will then. Her dad paid for Phantom’s first six months of stabling when he dropped him off here. That ran out a week before Phantom went missing. He’s been given a reminder but no one’s heard a peep from him about paying any more, not even Pixie.”

  “How do you know?” Alice asked.

  “I overheard Mum leaving him a voicemail about owing money, so I checked her file to find out for myself. I saw that payment was overdue. I had a word with Pixie, that was all. She snivelled a bit, told me about not hearing from her dad for a while, but it’s not my problem, is it?” Sasha said, leaning back in the sofa. “I just told her to find a cheaper stable somewhere else. I may have given her a helping hand by getting Jade to take the clip off Phantom’s top bolt last Friday night when no one was around. He can let himself out of the stable without it. How was I supposed to know the stupid beast would wander right out of the yard and get himself completely lost?”

  “He probably couldn’t wait to get away from here!” Rosie cried. “And, for your information, there’s only one stupid beast on this yard, and it hasn’t got four legs, it’s got two!”

  With that Rosie stormed off to the door, swung it open and marched through. Straight into the cupboard with all the brooms in. As Sasha burst out laughing, Rosie turned on her heel and marched back out, bumping straight into Alice and setting Sasha off into a fresh wave of snorting and giggling. Rosie huffed, then stomped to the other door. The right door, held open for her by Mia. The other Pony Detectives closely followed their friend back onto the yard, without a backward glance at Sasha.

  “Can you believe her?” Rosie ranted, as she climbed back into Dancer’s saddle and they trotted the ponies down the drive, away from Compton Manor.

  “So because of a prank, a valuable, hot-blooded horse is wandering about the countryside in the worst weather!” Charlie said, amazed that even someone as mean as Sasha could act so thoughtlessly.

  “Although I still think it’s a bit strange,” Mia mused. “It might be one thing to let a horse out of its stable, but why would that horse leave the yard it’s been stabled in for six months and just disappear out of the gate?”

  “Maybe he’s still on the grounds here somewhere,” Charlie suggested, looking round. It was certainly a big enough place.

  “No, Sasha’s reaction when she heard he hadn’t turned up anywhere was honest enough,” Alice said. “I think she would have smiled horribly or something if she’d seen him around here somewhere.”

  “It still doesn’t add up, though,” Mia frowned. “Pixie may not like this yard but there’d be no reason for Phantom to stray, even if he was let loose. He’s fed here.”

  “And even if he did stray,” Charlie added, “where’s he strayed to? We’ve checked all the yards around. It’s like he’s vanished into thin air.”

  Alice fished something out of her pocket. “I nearly forgot,” she said, wiping the dust off the picture with her arm and passing it to Charlie. “While Sasha was distracted by Rosie’s antics with the doors, I managed to get this from the wall.”

  “See?” Rosie cried triumphantly, still fired up. “Once again my intuition has helped us further a case!”

  “Right, Rosie, you walked into the broom cupboard on purpose,” Charlie laughed, passing the photo to Mia. “We believe you.”

  “Hang on a second,” Mia said, staring at the photo of a striking, fine black horse with a star and a distinctive white blaze which started halfway down his face. “I thought I recognised this horse when Pixie brought that first picture in but I couldn’t see his face properly, so I couldn’t be sure. Now I know it’s definitely the horse that was kept at the same competition yard as Wish. They were the top two ponies of the yard at the time and were totally best friends. They were stabled next to each other and always grazed alongside each other in the paddock.”

  “But Sasha said this one’s useless,” Charlie said, looking confused as she tapped the photo. “Are you sure it’s the same pony?”

  “Definitely,” Mia said, thinking hard. “I mean, I only saw him briefly when I went to try Wish, but it’s definitely him – he was the kind of horse that leaves an impression. I didn’t ride him because I wanted a show pony and he was one hundred per cent a jumper. He had huge scope over fences. I saw him being ridden, and he looked really difficult. I could imagine him being a handful unless you were totally confident and experienced.”

  “Which Pixie isn’t,” Alice added. “And that’s kind of what Sasha was saying, although she put it in a much meaner way.”

  “Pixie doesn’t strike me as the competitive type.” Rosie frowned. “So I don’t get why she bought Phantom in the first place.”

  “We may find the answer to that question at Clover Hill,” Mia suggested, pulling out the map from her pocket. “It’s a bit of a trek, but I reckon it’ll be worth it, just in case.”

  “I RECOGNISE that pony!” Mrs Millar, the owner of Clover Hill Stables, boomed as she walked bow-legged towards the gate with a huge smile, her grey hair pulled back into a hairnet beneath her velvet riding hat. “Wish Me Luck! How’s she doing? She looks a picture! What a lovely surprise!”

  Mrs Millar gave Wish a hearty slap on the rump, startling the mare, who dipped her back end, her ears out sideways. Then, Mrs Millar turned to Mia and gave her a crushing hug before asking them to come on in, sizing up and appraising the ponies as she spoke.

  The girls dismounted and led their ponies into the small, weathered but tidy yard. A couple of the helpers recognised Wish and ran over to say hello, wanting to hear all about her. Mia was happy to update them, listing the highlights of her winning sequence since buying the palomino a year and a half ago.

  After the helpers had patted and fussed over Wish, saying how nice it was to see her and Mia, they jogged back to their hectic round of preparing the horses on the yard for exercise. When the helpers had ridden out on two of them, Mrs Millar asked the girls to walk with her as she got her next horse, a flighty three-year-old, ready to lunge.

  “Mrs Millar… Do you remember a horse you had on the yard called Faraway Phantom?” Mia asked, pulling the photo out of her pocket. She stood back as the horse in the stable squealed, his ears pricked while Mrs Millar calmly and coolly busied around him.

  Mrs Millar’s eyes lit up. “Of course I do! Young horse, quirky to sit on, had a difficult background before I got him, but a real superstar over a fence.”

  Mia nodded and the other girls grinned at each other, realising they’d made the right decision to come to this yard.

  “Went to Compton Manor quite recently,” Mrs Millar said, pausing for a second and looking at the girls. “He’s not for sale again already, is he? I had him here for another year after you bought Wish, you know. He wouldn’t have suited everyone. I only sold him, what, must be six months ago now.”

  “No, he’s not for sale,” Mia explained, “but he’s escaped from Compton Manor, a
nd we, well, we were hoping he might have somehow made his way back here, considering he knew the place.”

  Mrs Millar shook her head, a look of concern on her face.

  “Good thought,” she agreed, “but sadly not. Well, I’ll certainly keep my eye out for the poor chap, and give you a ring if I see him. I hope he’s going to be okay if he’s wandering about in this weather. He’s a light-conditioned horse, easily unsettled and always worrying his weight off at the best of times.”

  The girls looked at each other: that was exactly what they’d feared.

  “What did you think about Pixie, the girl who bought him?” Charlie asked. “How did she get on when she tried Phantom?”

  Mrs Millar shook her head. “Didn’t see the girl – Pixie, did you say her name was? Yes, I remember that now. No, her father came, nice enough chap but not really horsey. Said he wanted a top competition horse for his daughter, said that money was no object, he wanted the best. Said the horse would be going to Compton Manor, where his daughter would be able to have lots of lessons from experienced competition riders, and they’d promised to help her with whichever horse he bought.” Mrs Millar paused to tuck a strap into its keeper on the horse’s bridle.

  “I wouldn’t normally have sold a horse without seeing the rider”, she continued, “but I’d called Compton Manor myself and spoken to Mrs Compton. She’d assured me that her daughter, who was in charge of the Under 16s yard, would personally look after Pixie and would report any problems straight to her. I offered to come over and give Pixie lessons myself, but Mrs Compton said that they’d take care of everything. I was convinced, and Pixie’s father said his daughter was a very good little rider, anyway.”

  The girls exchanged glances, thinking that he’d clearly exaggerated a bit.

  Mrs Millar opened the stable door and the girls stood back as the youngster bounced out of his stable on his toes, skittering sideways. The girls followed at a distance.