Brumby Rescue

by Soraya Nicholas

  ‘I’m afraid so,’ the man said. ‘Seems like he’s one of a couple of brumbies that escaped from the Barmah National Park a while back. He was rounded up with a few others and ended up on a nearby farm. Whoever had them started out with good intentions, and that’s where it ended.’

  ‘We’d better go meet him then,’ Mark said, tapping her on the shoulder.

  She followed, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to calm her nerves. She hadn’t been this nervous since the jump-off she’d been in with Crystal, when she’d been desperate to win the prize money and help to save Starlight Stables.

  ‘Brumbies are magnificent horses,’ said Uncle Mark quietly as they walked. ‘Humans create problems in horses, don’t ever forget that. They’re not born with problems, Pops, so whatever issues he has, we’ll solve them. But if he’s been taken in and handled wrong already, he might be more difficult than a horse straight from the wild.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked.

  ‘Because wild horses don’t fear humans. They’re curious by nature and they can be surprisingly straightforward to trust and train. But if he only associates humans with bad things because he’s been treated poorly, it will make it much harder for him to accept us.’

  Poppy’s heart sank and her feet felt like lead. But she kept her chin up. She’d wanted this horse, and now she had him. She wasn’t about to let him go to the meat man, no matter how scared she was.

  As they approached the yards, Poppy heard her new horse before she saw him. He was pawing the ground, angry or maybe just impatient. Either way she could see him through the railings and he didn’t look happy. But she could see how glossy his coat was even through the shimmer of dust resting across his back, and the way he held his head, like he was the most important creature in the world, made her so proud that she’d saved him.

  ‘He’s even more beautiful up close,’ she whispered to her uncle as she climbed the railings to get a better look at the brumby.

  ‘They have him in the cattle yard because he’d probably jump out of the horse yard,’ Uncle Mark said as he climbed up beside her. ‘When they muster brumbies out of the wild, they often drive them into cattle yards because it’s safer for them – the fences are so much taller and the brumbies won’t try and jump them.’

  Poppy leaned down, held out her hand and smiled at the horse. She swept her eyes over his muscular shoulders and rump, ignoring the fact she could see his ribs. His mane was touched with gold at the tips, bleached from the sun, but she could imagine him groomed and trimmed, all dark and glossy once he was in her care.

  ‘Hey, boy,’ she called, keeping her voice soft. ‘Come see us.’

  The brumby stared at her. His nostrils were still flared wide and he snorted out loudly, his ears pricked forward and body so tense he looked like he was carved from stone.

  ‘Do you think he’s gorgeous?’ Poppy said.

  Mark nudged his shoulder into hers. ‘Pops, he’s definitely gorgeous. But I think he’s going to be a handful.’

  As if on cue, the horse neighed loudly and stomped a hoof hard into the ground. Poppy’s fingernails dug into the wood beneath her hands and she hoped he wasn’t about to charge at her, but instead he just kept staring at her defiantly. Now that she was up close to him, she couldn’t ever imagine having the courage to climb onto his back!

  ‘I’m going to make a few calls, organise transport,’ Mark said, stepping down. ‘I’ll leave you here to bond with your new friend.’

  Poppy nodded and smiled bravely. She wanted to make friends, but she wasn’t so sure the brumby had any intention of doing the same.

  ‘You what?’ Milly screamed.

  Poppy was staring at the shocked expression on Katie’s face, which was more alarming than Milly’s outburst.

  ‘Tell me exactly what happened,’ said Katie, frowning.

  ‘Well . . .’ Poppy sighed. It had seemed so logical at the time, but given the reaction from her friends, she was wondering if it had been the stupidest thing she’d ever done.

  ‘When does he get here?’ Milly asked, eyes wide as a smile crept across her lips. ‘This is so cool.’

  ‘Cool?’ Katie asked, crossing her arms. ‘Milly, this is a wild brumby we’re talking about here!’

  ‘Um, he arrives in about an hour,’ Poppy said. ‘Aunt Sophie flipped out last night, but I didn’t hear the worst of it. Mark broke the news to her. I got glared at, then told to go to my room.’

  ‘Sounds like she was pretty mad,’ Katie said, gulping.

  ‘Look, it just seemed like the right thing to do, and when I saw him in the yards and knew what could happen to him . . .’ Poppy gulped. It might have been crazy, but she was still happy she’d saved him, and when she’d closed her eyes the night before, he was all she’d been able to see. She doubted she’d ever forget the way he’d stormed into the yards like he was king.

  ‘So was Mrs D better about it this morning?’ Katie asked.

  Milly rolled her eyes. ‘She’ll get over it. Mrs D loves horses too much.’

  ‘Did you miss the part about him being wild?’ Poppy asked.

  ‘Come on, let’s go catch the ponies,’ Milly said, dancing on the spot impatiently. ‘We can groom them and get them ready before the truck gets here. I can’t wait to see him!’

  Poppy glanced at Katie as they walked. Milly was always thinking crazy things were good ideas, but Katie was more sensible, and right now it was Katie’s advice she needed.

  ‘Did you ever read about the old brumby musters?’ Katie asked.

  Poppy bent to give Ghost a scratch on the head when they reached the stables. They’d found the kitten months ago in the tack room as a stray, and now he was one of the gang. The cat often walked with them down to the paddocks, sitting on Poppy’s boots to stop her moving and forcing her to pat him.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘They used to ride in and rope the brumbies cowboy-style, until they banned doing this in the national parks,’ Katie said. ‘That’s why so many farm horses are brumbies, because they were captured in the wild and then broken in.’

  Poppy reached for Crystal’s halter, fingers playing across the worn fabric. Then she stopped, spinning around, looking for Ghost again.

  ‘Ghost was wild,’ she said, thinking out aloud. ‘He was completely wild, remember? He used to hiss and scratch and lose the plot, and then one day he just realised we love him and he became part of the family.’

  Milly was staring at her like she was crazy. ‘Um, yeah. We all know that, stupid.’

  ‘No, listen,’ Poppy said, getting excited now. ‘He was completely wild, just like my brumby. Now he’s as sweet as any cat.’

  Why couldn’t the brumby be the same? She totally understood why he’d been freaked out at the sale yards – she’d have been terrified of being in front of so many people too, and she wasn’t wild!

  ‘You’re right.’ Katie grinned at her. ‘We loved him and cared for him, and he slowly became tame.’

  ‘He was also a little itty-bitty kitty cat,’ Milly said, one hand on her hip as she stared at them both. ‘All he could do was hiss while we just laughed at him!’

  ‘Hey, whose side are you on?’ Poppy asked.

  ‘Yours, silly. But he’s a big horse, not a little cat.’

  ‘Come on,’ Katie said, swinging her lead rope over her shoulder. ‘Let’s go.’

  Poppy followed along behind, lost in thoughts of her brumby. If a cat could be so easily tamed, then why couldn’t a horse?

  The moment she spotted Crystal she felt her worries melt away. She’d already been down early, before the other two had arrived, to give the ponies their hay for breakfast, but seeing Crystal always made Poppy feel better. She hoped her pony didn’t think she wasn’t loved when the new horse arrived, because the last thing she wanted was for Crystal to think she wasn’t the most important thing in the world to her.

  ‘Crystal!’ she called out, watching as her mare’s head lifted from the grass.

/>   Poppy ran past her friends and quickly climbed through the fence, hurrying down to her horse. She approached more slowly once she was a few steps away, holding out her hand for Crystal to sniff before throwing her arms around the horse’s neck. She inhaled, smelling the amazing sweetness and feeling the softness of Crystal’s coat against her cheek. She kissed her neck, holding on tight. This was what she missed all week when she was back home, just being around horses.

  She slipped the halter off her shoulder and onto Crystal’s face, looping the fabric behind her ears and doing it up. She tied the end of the rope to the halter to make reins, threw them over Crystal’s head and then vaulted up onto her back, landing softly. She leaned forward and lay low, smiling to herself when Crystal went back to eating grass as if she wasn’t even sitting up there.

  ‘Pops, you coming?’ Milly called out.

  She pushed herself back up as she gathered in her rope reins. Katie and Milly were already mounted and ready to ride in.

  ‘Racing?’ Poppy asked.

  Milly laughed. ‘You bet!’

  ‘First one to the gate,’ Katie yelled out.

  Poppy pressed her legs to Crystal’s side, grinning when she started to trot then burst into a canter. They should have warmed them up first, but it was only a quick burst of speed and Poppy wasn’t about to let Milly beat her!

  They raced for the gate, cantering fast and all coming to a screeching halt at the same time. Crystal shied to the left as she fought to stop fast enough and Poppy grabbed a handful of mane as she fought not to slip straight off the other side. She loved riding bareback, but with their sleek summer coats starting to come through as the weather warmed up, they were slippery.

  ‘I won!’ a triumphant Milly cried out.

  ‘You did not,’ Katie argued.

  Poppy opened her mouth to protest, ready to call Milly out, when an unfamiliar rumbling sounded out. She slipped a hand down to stroke Crystal, reassuring the horse shifting beneath her, eyes locked on the truck that had appeared at the top of the driveway.

  ‘He’s here,’ she announced numbly.

  ‘How do you feel?’ Aunt Sophie asked as they stood shoulder to shoulder outside the yards.

  Poppy grimaced when she heard a loud thump from inside the truck. She knew it was the brumby kicking and she suddenly remembered how determined he’d been to kick the gate down at the sale yards.

  ‘I’m really sorry,’ she mumbled. After everything her aunt had done for her, she hated the fact that she’d done something to upset her.

  ‘Look, I would have probably done the same thing, and I certainly would have at your age,’ Sophie said, her smile reassuring Poppy. ‘I have to warn you that whatever we do with him isn’t going to be easy, but if you develop a bond with a wild horse, you’ll have a friend for life. And I’m here to help every step of the way.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Poppy sighed, jumping when another loud kick sounded out. ‘And I’ll do anything you need me to – extra mucking out, grooming, riding, you name it. I know it’ll cost you to have another horse on the property.’

  Aunt Sophie laughed. ‘We can work out a way for you to pay me back later. It’s Mark who’s going to have to make it up to me first!’

  Poppy felt even worse that Uncle Mark was in trouble for helping her, even though she knew her aunt was joking. She didn’t see them argue often, and they both loved animals. Uncle Mark was the most awesome vet around, and during bush fire season he’d even had a wildlife rescue hospital set up in the garage.

  Poppy froze when the driver climbed up and opened the back of the truck. There was a moment’s silence, then the gelding came flying down the wooden chute and into the yard, a blur of darkness. Poppy pressed herself against the timber, watching him, eyes fixed on the arrogant way he held his head like he owned the world.

  ‘He’s gorgeous, Poppy,’ Aunt Sophie said, beckoning for her to climb up and over into the yard with her. ‘Absolutely gorgeous.’

  Poppy’s heart was pounding, legs shaky, as she climbed and landed with a thud beside Sophie on the other side. She heard Uncle Mark talking to the driver before the truck rumbled off, caught a glimpse of Milly and Katie leaning over the top of the railings, but she stayed focused on the brumby. Just like the first time she’d seen him, he took her breath away.

  ‘Poppy, wild horses are different to domesticated ones. This guy has had some experience around humans, but we have to presume that he’s been either unhandled or not treated well, given how nervous he is.’

  Aunt Sophie held out her hand to stop Poppy from moving closer, even though she had no intention of doing so. The horse had his ears back, glaring at them. A shudder ran through her body. He looked plain mean right now – at the yards he’d been defiant and proud, majestic even, but now it was like he wanted to charge anyone or anything that came near him.

  ‘Is he scared?’ she asked. ‘Is that why he looks so angry?’

  ‘Yes,’ Sophie said. ‘He’s uncertain. He’s probably grown up in a mob, surrounded by other horses. In these groups they learn who to respect and who to look to for leadership.’

  Poppy folded her arms across her chest. ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘We slowly earn his trust, and you need to show him that you’re the leader. That he can trust you and that you’ll keep him safe, just like the lead mare or the stallion would do in the wild.’ Aunt Sophie sighed. ‘A horse never forgets being frightened, and it’s up to you to teach him that he doesn’t have to fight back if he’s scared.’

  ‘Me?’ Poppy stared at Aunt Sophie.

  ‘He’s your horse, Poppy. I’ll do what I can to help you, but this is your project.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘If you’re not prepared to put in the work with him, then we will have no choice but to sell him.’

  Poppy shook her head quickly. ‘No.’ He was a wild horse, but he was her responsibility. She ran her eyes over him and wished he didn’t look so angry. ‘Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.’

  Sophie’s smile made Poppy relax. If her aunt believed in her, then why couldn’t she do it?

  ‘First things first, I want only you in here. Your friends can watch, but this is about you bonding with him.’

  Poppy nodded. ‘Okay.’

  ‘You have to wear your helmet whenever you’re in here, because he’ll be unpredictable. There are absolutely no exceptions to that rule, Poppy. Your mum trusts that I’ll keep you safe, and I mean to keep my word.’

  ‘Check,’ Poppy agreed. ‘But what exactly will I be doing in here?’

  ‘I suggest you find a book to read,’ Aunt Sophie said with a laugh. ‘It could take a while for him to approach you, and I want you sitting on a bucket in the middle, ignoring him completely, until he’s ready to come to you on his own terms.’

  Poppy looked at her in surprise. ‘So I just sit there and do nothing?’

  ‘Exactly. And while you’re at it, you can think up a name for him.’

  Sophie turned around and climbed out, but Poppy stayed put for a moment, staring at her new horse. His body was lean, much leaner than the horses she was used to, and his ribs protruded slightly, but he was definitely beautiful. Bigger than Crystal but not by much, and his markings were striking. Beneath the dust were three white socks which perfectly matched the wide white blaze on his face that stretched all the way down to the tip of his nose. Her fingers itched to pick up a brush and groom him, to stroke his forelock and whisper to him how happy he’d be at Starlight, but she couldn’t. This wasn’t just any new horse, this was a wild horse, and she needed to remember that.

  ‘Can I feed him?’ she called out to Sophie.

  ‘You sure can. Give him water only for starters, then throw in some hay and a few handfuls of grass in an hour or so. We don’t know how long he’s been in transit, and I don’t want him getting colic.’

  Poppy looked at him one last time, trying to ignore the nasty glare he gave her, before climbing out and walking over to her friends.

  ‘So what do you t
hink?’ she asked.

  Milly jumped down first, eyes wide. ‘He’s awesome in a wild, I’m-glad-he’s-not-mine kind of way.’

  Katie landed with a thud beside her. ‘I love him, Poppy. He’s gorgeous. I just hope he loves you back and knows what you’ve done for him.’

  Poppy groaned. What had she got herself into? But she did have all school holidays to show him that he could trust her. The others were leaving the next day and weren’t coming back until the following weekend. Katie and Milly only had the last week of the holidays at Starlight, but Poppy was staying for two weeks. Two whole glorious weeks.

  Surely that was long enough to win his trust and prove to everyone that she’d done the right thing?

  Poppy sat on the rails of the yard and stared at the brumby. It had been three days since he’d arrived, and he looked more unhappy now than ever. Why wasn’t he eating anything? Was he so miserable at Starlight that he was on a hunger strike?

  Early mornings were her favourite time of day, and she shut her eyes, listening to the birds calling and squawking. The air was cool on her arms and she tugged the sleeves of her hoodie down, snuggling into her favourite top.

  The brumby hadn’t moved and she reluctantly climbed down. She had stopped to see him first, but now she had to feed out hay to the other horses.

  She walked to the barn, filled a barrow with hay, and pushed it down to the paddocks.

  ‘Hey, girl,’ she called out to Crystal. The pony lifted her head and nickered. ‘At least you love me.’

  She let herself in and put hay in three piles for Crystal, Joe and Cody, stopping to pat the other two before sighing and leaning in to Crystal. Then a thought struck her. Maybe if she tried showing the brumby how much Crystal trusted her, he’d realise that he could do the same?

  ‘See you soon,’ she said to Crystal, hurrying off to give the other horses their hay. Once she was done she raced back to the stables, fed Jupiter and Prince and checked their water, then went into the tack shed. She was breathless as she stopped and collected Crystal’s halter and lead rope, plus her grooming box.