“What is wrong with you all?” Esther said, swooping in to scoop the poop, produce the bridle and give Ethan a spray bottle of magic manure remover. “It’s just a show like any other.”
But it hadn’t just been a show like any other when she’d drilled us yesterday and when we finally arrived with the trailer in tow, it didn’t look like just another show either. It was packed. There were horses and ponies and kids everywhere.
“This is going to suck,” I mumbled.
And as Esther pulled the trailer into a spot in the back corner of the property and I saw Jess leading a gleaming Stardust over to the barn, I knew that I was right. It was going to suck royally, especially as Bluebird was going to have to spend the entire show tied to the trailer.
He whinnied forlornly as everyone else led their horses off to the barn.
“You only have yourself to blame,” I told him. “If you’d go into a stall like a normal pony then you wouldn’t be tied out here in the dark.”
I hung his hay net and he stuck his face in it and sighed.
There was hot coffee in a flask in the truck and I poured myself a steaming mug and pulled out a ham sandwich from the cooler. It was going to be a long day and I hadn’t had any breakfast. Besides, Mom didn’t let me drink coffee so the only chance I got was at horse shows where we needed all the caffeine we could get to keep going. I shivered in the damp darkness as the liquid warmed my insides.
Other girls unloaded their horses and led them up to the barn. It was kind of fun to sit there as the sun slowly started to break over the horizon and watch other people without them knowing. Everyone looked nervous. This was a big show and a big deal. Trainers yelled at their students and horses, feeding off their energy, were acting up. One dark bay got away from the girl who was unloading him. He stood for a moment, looking shell shocked, before taking off in the direction of the barn and his friends.
“Loose horse,” she screamed as she ran after him.
“You’d better not do that to me,” I told Bluebird. “I know you’re an escape artist and all but this is not the time or the place. Got it?”
He didn’t answer but his ears flicked back and forth so I knew he heard me.
Ethan appeared a while later with my number and a prize list.
“It’s like a zoo in there,” he groaned. “Kids are fighting and screaming at their horses. I already got yelled at because I stepped on someone’s saddle pad. You’re lucky. It’s so quiet back here.”
“So bring Wendell back and tie him here with Bluebird,” I suggested.
“I wish I could but I don’t think he’d like that very much. He’s not used to it like Bluebird is.”
And I knew he was right but I felt a little sad as I watched him walk back to the barn.
By the time Mickey appeared, I’d already groomed Bluebird and braided his mane and tail.
“Nice job,” she said. “But why the red ribbon?” She pointed to the tiny red ribbon I’d tied in the top of Bluebird’s tail. “He’s not a kicker, is he?”
“No,” I said. “But I don’t want Jess crowding him again. I want her to think twice because maybe this time he’ll kick the snot out of her pony.”
“Nice move,” she said.
“I thought so,” I grinned.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Horse shows were what we all worked for. It was a chance to prove how good we were and how much time and effort we’d put into our horses. It was also a time when everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. Sometimes shows are just jinxed like that and the Harmony Horse Park show was one of those times.
It all started with Faith. It was sort of to be expected. After all, it was the kid’s first show and she’d had stars in her eyes since arriving. She also had a big brother who won all his short stirrup classes when he was younger so she had big shoes to fill. Too big. She fell off. Twice. She came out of the ring in tears and smacked Princess on the neck when the pony tried to nudge her with her nose. For once it hadn’t been the demonic pony’s fault. Princess actually liked Faith and went better for her than any of the other kids I’d seen ride her. Faith just wasn’t used to being in a ring full of pushy kids all vying for the attention of the judges. She lost control.
Esther saw what happened and grabbed her little arm, whipping her around so that she was out of earshot of everyone else.
“I hate this pony,” Faith wailed.
I didn’t hear what Esther said but as she talked quietly into Faith’s ear I watched her little face turn red and then white. She nodded solemnly.
“Sorry,” she finally said.
“Buck up kid,” Ethan slapped her on the back. “There is always another show.”
And he was right. Except there wouldn’t be for me if I didn’t qualify for the next challenge show.
In keeping with what Faith had started, Mickey fell off too. But unlike Faith, she was horsewoman enough to admit her own mistake.
“I blew it,” she said as she came out of the ring. “I interfered with him again.”
By now I was starting to get worried. Faith had started a dangerous trend that we didn’t seem to be able to shake.
“I think I’m going to go and check on Bluebird,” I said.
“I’ll go,” Faith cried. She had dried her tears and was trying to make amends. She’d already picked all the horses stalls twice.
“No, really. It’s fine,” I said.
“Please,” she begged.
“She’ll be okay,” Ethan said.
And because I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t trust his sister, I said that it was fine, even though the funny feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that it was not. But just at that moment Jess came striding down the aisle, her groupies following behind her like a pack of sad puppies.
“Hope you brought your seat belt,” she said. “Is that what your Swedish meatball teaches you? How to fall off?”
“You should know,” Ethan said. “I’ve seen you take your fair share of spills.”
Jess turned a little red. “When you get bored of playing in the kiddie pool,” she told him. “Come back and hang with the winners. You know you’ll always be welcome.”
She stormed off before I could remind her that she was the one who actually broke a jump pole with her body at the last show.
“What is her deal?” I fumed.
“She used to be nice once upon a time,” he said.
“I very much doubt that,” I said.
“Want to help me touch up Wendell?” he slipped into the stall.
“No, I’d better go and check on your sister. I have a bad feeling.”
“Alright,” he said. “But Faith is a good kid really. She just had a lot of pressure on her today. My parents told her that if she did well then they’d consider letting her have her own pony. I thought her head was going to explode. That’s all she’s been going on about since you rescued Bluebird. She wants her own pony more than anything in the whole world. In fact, she doesn’t even want any pony. She wants your pony.”
Ethan’s words still hung in the air as I ran out of the barn. She didn’t want any pony. She wanted my pony. I ducked between horses and trailers and people warming up, trying not to let the panic show but as I got to the horse trailer my heart stopped. There was no Faith and no Bluebird. They’d both disappeared.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“This can’t be happening,” I kept saying. “This can’t be happening. I should have gone to check on him myself. No, you know what? I shouldn’t have left him alone in the first place. It was stupid and wrong and I’m an idiot.”
“Stop,” Esther broke through my rambling.
We were all standing by the trailer in disbelief.
“I can’t believe that little brat stole your pony,” Mickey said.
“Hey,” Ethan said. “She’s not a brat. She’s my sister.”
“That doesn’t make her not a brat,” Mickey said, putting her hands on her hips. “You saw how she was when she did badly in
her classes. Now this? She’s a brat if I ever saw one.”
Ethan crossed his arms angrily, ready and willing to defend his sister but we didn’t have time for that. Each second that Faith was out there with Bluebird was another second that one or both of them could get hurt.
“”Where do you think she could have taken him?” I asked.
“Well they can’t have gone far. Let’s spread out and look for them. I’ve already notified the show officials,” Esther said. “This is so embarrassing.”
I knew she was mad because it reflected badly on her as a trainer. I didn’t think Faith would be coming to any more shows any time soon. She’d blown it big time.
“My class is in fifteen minutes,” Ethan said. “I’m seventh to go.”
“You better go and warm up then,” Esther said. “And Ethan,” she called out after him. “You’d better not let me down like your sister.”
He didn’t answer. He was probably thinking what a mistake it was to defect to Sand Hill and planning how he could bribe Andre to take him back and right now I didn’t even care.
“Where should we look?” Mickey asked.
The show was in full swing. Crackling announcements rolled out telling riders to report to the ring and there was a sea of people and horses. I jumped up onto the wheel well of the trailer and shielded my eyes from the sun, trying to spot an eight year old with a chestnut pony. It was hopeless. Half the horses and ponies there were chestnut. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
“You go up by the ring,” Esther pointed to Mickey. “Emily, you take the back side and I’m going to see about getting them to put out an announcement for Faith and Bluebird to report to the steward’s at once.”
I ran through the crowd, dodging lunging horses and people trying to braid. It seemed that due to the Blizzard Challenge, the show was well above capacity and Bluebird wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a stall. In fact, I stumbled across Jess at her trailer just as I was about to head back.
“She won’t stand still,” Jess whined as a startled Stardust swung back and forth from the rope she was tied to the trailer with.
“I’ll help you if you like,” Amber said, stroking the pony’s sweaty neck.
“Fine. You do it then.”
Jess threw down her brush and walked off. Amber stared after her for a moment and then started to groom the pony, her brush trailing in soft strokes down the pretty roan hair.
“Amber?” I said softly, not wanting to startle her.
She looked up and for a moment I thought I saw tears in her eyes but then they were gone, blinked back and replaced by a flat face.
“What do you want?” she said but she didn’t sound angry, more resigned. “I could get into trouble for talking to you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, even though it felt stupid to apologize just for talking to someone. “Bluebird is missing. He was tied to the trailer and now he’s gone. Have you seen him?”
“No,” she said.
“Do you know anything about where he might be?”
“No,” she said again but this time I didn’t believe her.
I stepped closer, patting the roan pony’s neck.
“I know you don’t have anything to do with this,” I said. “And I know you’ll get in awful trouble if you help me but a pony and a little girl could get hurt.”
“Jess will kill me,” she shook her head. “You don’t know what she’s like.”
“Trust me, I do,” I said.
“Trust me, you don’t,” she said sadly.
It was weird to stand there looking at Amber, so similar in features to Jess and yet so different. It was like good and bad. The dark side and the light. I felt bad for her, having to live with someone so awful but I felt worse for Bluebird. I had to find him before something bad happened.
“Please help me,” I begged.
She leaned in closer over the back of Stardust.
“I don’t really know if she did anything or not,” she said. “But I heard her laughing and telling Andre how stupid it was to leave your pony tied to the trailer all alone like that. She said that anyone could just walk over and steal him or set him loose.”
“And that’s just what she did,” I said.
“I don’t know,” Amber replied. “Andre told her she should concentrate less on sabotaging the competition and more on winning on her own merits. She didn’t like that very much.”
“I bet she didn’t,” I said.
“You’d better go,” she said. “Before Jess comes back.”
“Right. Well, thanks anyway,” I said. “If you see him, please let me know.”
“I will,” she said but I wasn’t so sure. Jess had a powerful hold over her sister and even I knew that blood came before water every time.
I walked and I searched but it was starting to feel kind of hopeless. I seemed to spend half my life looking for Bluebird. He needed some kind of tracking device on him or something. As it was, I wasn’t going to let him out of my sight at a show ever again.
I was just turning back when I caught a glimpse of a white nose that looked awfully familiar and there he was, standing next to Faith, eating an ice cream. She had the cone pushed up to his mouth and his fat pink tongue was lapping up the icy treat like it was a pile of juicy alfalfa.
“What on earth do you think you are doing?” I yelled, running over and snatching the lead rope from her hands.
“He was hungry,” Faith said, taking a lick from the same ice cream that Bluebird had just been slobbering all over.
“Are you insane?” I yelled at her.
“No,” she shrugged. “Besides, I saved him from that horrible girl with the scrunched up face.”
“What do you mean you saved him?” I asked, no longer yelling.
On the walk back to the trailer Faith told me everything. She was hanging out with Bluebird, upset because of how she rode and feeling guilty because of how she treated Princess.
“I didn’t mean to get mad,” she said. “I just wanted to prove how good I was.”
I’d uttered those same words myself not so long ago and now there was a lame horse recovering in the barn because of it so it was hard to be mad at the kid for wanting the same thing we all did. If we didn’t care about proving ourselves, then none of us would be showing in the first place.
“I overheard her telling Andre that it was dumb to leave Bluebird alone and that someone could set him loose. Then later she came back and told me to scram.”
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I told her to get lost,” Faith said.
“Nice,” I grinned.
“She didn’t like that very much,” Faith said. “She left but I knew she’d be back so I untied Bluebird and I was going to come and find you guys but I saw the ice cream and I was hungry and then you found me so everything worked out okay, didn’t it?”
I looked at her face, all flushed red with the thrill of having done something great.
“Next time, you come and tell one of us, okay?” I said. “Bluebird could have got away from you and got hurt or he could have trampled you and you could have got hurt. Ponies can be unpredictable sometimes, especially at shows.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“It’s okay,” I said.
Esther was less forgiving than I was and Faith was sent back to her parents in floods of tears. Poor Esther looked like she was about to blow her top so after the dust cleared I tacked up Bluebird and went off to warm up for my class. Luckily he didn’t seem any the worse for wear from his ice cream eating adventure.
“You found him!” It was Ethan, cooling Wendell down on a loose rein.
“Yeah,” I said. “I guess I owe you an apology. Your sister saved the day, well kind of.”
I told Ethan the whole story, leaving out the part where Amber had confided in me. I didn’t want to break her confidence and have Jess find out that she’d ratted her out. After all, it felt good to have someone in the enemy camp w
ho was kind of on my side.
“How did you do?” I pointed at Wendell.
“Second,” he grinned.
“Nice,” I said.
“So is the ice cream monster ready to qualify for the next leg of the challenge?”
“I hope so,” I said.
Bluebird felt lazy beneath me after his little adventure. I hoped that Faith hadn’t just ruined my chance to get through this class and place. I moved him off into a corner and was trying to rouse him into a canter when Jess came galloping by.
“Need a crop?” she yelled, brandishing hers at Bluebird.
He took off like a firecracker and it took three rounds of the warm up ring before I could calm him down and get him to listen to me again. But now his ears were pricked and he was prancing beneath me.
Esther appeared and had us take the warm up jump a couple of times and true to form Bluebird barreled over it like his butt was on fire.
“I think Jess just did us a favor,” I told him.
He skittered sideways as Jess and Stardust took the warm up jump and sent the top rail clattering to the ground.
“Maybe it’s not going to be so bad after all.”
CHAPTER NINE
The course was easy but my hands were sweaty. All I kept thinking was that I wished I’d worn my gloves but it was too late now. Uncle Carl had appeared at the last minute without my mother, though that was hardly a surprise. He was watching now as everyone else was, with baited breath as we barreled round the course.
It was one of those times when you got to the end of the jumps and you couldn’t really recall how you jumped them at all. They were a flash of yellow and reds all blurred together and as I pulled Bluebird to a walk after the jump off round, the crowd cheered. We’d been clean. I just hoped that we’d been fast enough.
“Get out of my way,” Jess snapped as she came into the ring.
Winter Blues (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 3) Page 4
