Clearwater Bay 1- Flying Changes

by Kate Lattey

  He hugs me back, tentative and unsure. “Uh, sure. Happy to do it.” I let go and he quickly releases me, then frowns and sniffs the air. “Have you been smoking?”

  I roll my eyes and go inside. He’s on my heels though and keeps on at me. “Jay? I asked you a question.”

  “I heard you,” I tell him as I fill a glass of water at the sink.

  “Well?”

  I’m so thirsty, I hadn’t realised until now. I drink a full glass and refill it. Dad is still staring at me - I can see his reflection in the window. Outside, it’s getting dark. A purple haze is hanging over our backyard, outlining the blackberry bushes against a sliver of evening sky.

  “Of course I haven’t. Do you think I’m stupid? Smoking kills, Dad.” I drain off my second glass and head up to my room. “Call me when dinner’s ready.”

  * * *

  The next day is sunny, and I’m up early and ready to go see my pony. I practically sprint down the road and dash into the farmyard to greet Finn with a handful of bread that I scavenged from the kitchen. I’m going to need to go shopping with Dad now to make sure he buys plenty of carrots and apples. Trixie’s cover has slipped badly on Finn overnight, so I quickly take it off and throw her another biscuit of hay before setting about giving her a thorough grooming. Just because the Harrisons’ ponies look a mess doesn’t mean my pony has to.

  Pip walks across the yard about half an hour later. “You’re early today,” she teases. “I wonder why that could be.”

  I laugh and she leans on the fence, rubbing Lucky’s nose as he bumps her shoulder, jealous of the attention Finn is getting.

  “What do you think of her?” I ask as I jerk the tangles out of her long mane.

  “Yeah, not bad. Bit underweight but that’s easy enough to fix. She looks well put together, and she’s very pretty.” I beam at Pip’s praise and she smiles back. “She seems to have gotten on all right overnight,” she comments. “We’ll turn her out later, but you can ride her first if you want. What’s your budget for tack?”

  I shrug. “I’m not sure yet. Dad reckons two grand is his total budget for buying a pony, let alone tack. I’ve got a bit of money saved, so I can afford a bridle, some brushes and a couple of cheap rugs, and I think my Gran can be convinced to buy me a saddle as an early birthday present or something.”

  “Good one. Well,” and she eyes Finn critically, “I was hoping she’d fit Snoopy’s old saddle, but from the shape of her I’d say there’s no chance, she’s far too narrow. I’m sure we can rustle one up for her though out of our stuff. I’ve gotta go into work this morning to pick up some feed, so if you wanna come along you can grab other gear what you need.”

  “Awesome,” I agree, running my fingers through Finn’s knotty tail. “I’m going to have to wash her, she’s so dirty.”

  “Yeah, she’s a bit of a mess,” Pip agrees. She comes into the yard and starts checking the base of Finn’s mane intently.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “Looking for lice.” At my expression, she smiles ruefully. “Wouldn’t be the first pony to arrive here with crawlies. She looks okay, but we’ll have to keep an eye on it, because they’ve got a two week hatching cycle, and if she has them then we’re going to have to keep her and Lucky in isolation while we get rid of the little buggers.”

  I cross my fingers and hold them up to Pip, who crosses hers in response. “Have you had breakfast? I’m doing bacon and eggs.”

  I grin. “That’d be great, I’m starved. I just leapt out of bed and ran down here this morning.”

  Pip laughs as we head up to the house, teasing me good-naturedly about how I’ll be in their hair constantly from now on. “There’ll be no getting rid of you. But that’s good, you can keep Alec company when I head outta here next week.”

  “Next week?” I stare at her in surprise.

  “Yeah, didn’t Alec tell you? Typical. I told him to give you the heads up. I got a job at a trekking place way up North, near Ninety Mile Beach. Taking out tourists on rides, and they’ve got a few young ponies they want me to break in. Should be fun.”

  “Yeah,” I respond quietly.

  Pip drapes an arm over my shoulder. “Aw, don’t tell me you’ll miss me all that much. It’s going to be up to you to keep my brother in line from now on. And make sure he looks after Trixie for me. Maybe you could ride her sometimes, give her a break from him.”

  I nod. “Okay.”

  She pats my shoulder. “Atta girl.” We approach the henhouse built up alongside the garage, and scrawny chickens start running in all directions. “Now, how many eggs d’you want?”

  After breakfast we go into Ratanui, Pip telling me stories as she drives about various ponies they’ve had over the years.

  “We had one pony that had been left in a paddock and the owners had completely forgotten about her. So when we bought her we named her ‘Forgotten’. Trouble was, whenever I went anywhere on her and people asked me what her name was, they genuinely thought I didn’t remember it!”

  I get all the grooming gear I need for Finn, plus a waterproof outdoor cover and a light sheet for shows, a fluffy brown numnah, open front jumping boots and a brown leather bridle. It takes a good deal of my savings, but I have a plan to get a saddle without having to put any of my own money towards it. Last night, I sent my Gran an email and casually let her know that Dad has suggested I tap into Mum’s life insurance payout to help fund my pony. She’s holding the money in a trust fund, determined that I save it to put myself through University. I’m expecting Dad to get an irate phone call any day now, and hoping that one or the other of them will cave in and buy me a saddle.

  We head back to the farm where I groom Finn for another half hour with her new brushes before I start tacking her up. Alec is waiting to ride with me and he’s going mad with impatience, insisting that I don’t need to brush her tail out completely and that I shouldn’t bother fussing over her until she’s been vetted out. I tell him that he’s missing the point entirely. This is my pony, and I can do what I like with her. He just rolls his eyes and goes to ride Jess in the paddock while he waits.

  I’ve borrowed a loose-ring snaffle from the Harrisons’ stash, as Pip pointed out to me that there’s no point buying a bit until I’ve experimented with a few different ones and found one that Finn goes well in. I slip the bit into Finn’s mouth and lift the headpiece over her ears. Pip helps me to adjust the bridle.

  “You want the bit sitting comfortably in her mouth, not too high, not too low. They say in the Pony Club manuals to have two crinkles at the corner of your pony’s mouth, but I don’t reckon the ponies find that too comfortable. You’ve just gotta make sure it’s not so low it’s clanking on her teeth. It should just sit neatly, like that.” She buckles the cheekpiece and scrutinises the fit. “Looks good.”

  The bridle’s new leather is stiff, and it’s a bit of a struggle to get the noseband tight enough, but I manage it. I’m borrowing Dolly’s saddle which fits reasonably well, and at the last minute Pip decides to come along with us, so throws some tack onto Lucky. Alec is trotting Jess in circles in the paddock, and she’s fighting hard against him and trying to run off. He sees us mounting up and quickly canters over.

  “About bloody time. I thought you’d never be ready! Let’s go, Jess is ready to kill me if I make her do one more pointless circle.” He pats her neck and unclips the gate, keeping hold of it with his left hand as the pony walks through and pivots around it, sidling on command as he pushes it closed and waiting impatiently for him to clip it back shut.

  “She’s getting better at that,” I comment, remembering her antics the first time we’d ridden out together.

  “Practice makes perfect,” Alec grins, and Pip laughs.

  “She just knows if she didn’t do it right, he’d make her do it over and over until she does.”

  We head out of the gate, and trot along the grass verge for a way towards my place. Before we get there though, we turn right and ride up the ol
d logging road. It’s a great place to ride, because the dirt track is wide and pretty smooth, and trucks don’t use it anymore so we have the run of it, apart from the occasional trail bike. Which is almost more dangerous, because even the sound of a trail bike sends Jess into a frenzy, and she bolts like a mad thing if one gets close enough for her to see it. I certainly wouldn’t be brave enough to ride her up this trail, but Alec is Alec and he does what he wants. I can’t decide sometimes whether he’s very brave or very stupid.

  We trot along the road for a way, Finn full of energy and high spirits, but quite easy to manage and I’m feeling at home on her already. We turn a corner and Alec glances back over his shoulder. “You guys good to canter?”

  Really he’s asking me, and I resent being babysat. “I’m fine. Go!” I tell him, and he doesn’t waste time responding, pushing Jess into her quick-striding canter.

  Finn leaps after him, almost unseating me in her enthusiasm, and I hear Pip laugh behind me as I grin into the wind and let my pony’s long legs eat up the ground beneath her.

  When we get back from our ride, I decide to give Finn a bath. Alec rolls his eyes at me and my “pointless fussing”, and drags Jess out to the paddock. Moments later he’s back, sitting bareback on Trixie.

  “Forget your saddle?” I tease and he turns to grin at me.

  “Nah, just can’t be bothered. Besides, it’s Trix. She’s safe as houses. I’d have to be a real munter to fall off her. Or ride like Natalie,” and he does a wonderful imitation of her, jamming his heels down to the floor, sitting bolt upright and clenching his fists on the reins, his whole body rigid and tense. Trixie sidles underneath him, wondering what he’s playing at, and Alec pulls a petulant face.

  “Trixieee,” he whines. “Dooon’t. Oh my God, behave yourself! Muuuuum!”

  I play along, being Natalie’s mother. “Sit up straight! Put your heels down!” Alec obeys my orders, further upsetting Trixie with his re-enactment. Remembering our last time out at Pony Club, I add “That’s a pushbutton pony. This isn’t rocket science!”

  Trixie has a white spot on her withers from an old saddle sore, and Alec starts jabbing it with his finger. “I am pushing the button! I think it’s broken!”

  I crack up laughing, unable to continue with the joke as Trixie shoots forward, indignant at Alec’s incessant prodding on her back. Alec relaxes into his usual riding position, with his shoulders slumped and lower leg sliding forward, and Trixie huffs with relief and walks out the gate.

  I hose Finn down, and she protests a bit, moving around and putting her ears back at me. I work quickly, worried that Liam will show up and see me having trouble. The last thing I need is his help again. I manage to get my pony suitably wet, and then start with the shampoo. I scrub and scrub, and Finn seems to be enjoying the massage. That is until I get to a spot under her belly, back towards her flanks. She lashes out at me with a hind leg and I barely get out of the way in time. As it is, her kick glances off my thigh. I step back and take a deep breath, knowing that it’s going to leave a bruise.

  “Hey!” I tell her off. “Don’t do that.”

  I move back towards that spot, and she tries it again. I know what Alec’s advice would be, and smack her on her quarters, hard. She swings away from me and wrinkles her nostrils, ears flat back. I take a breath, and regroup. Be nice, I tell myself. You want her to like you. I look Finn in the eye and make a deal.

  “Okay. I won’t wash you there. This time. Seeing as we’re so new to each other.” I move on to the top of her rump and she relaxes slightly, still viewing me with some concern. That’s a battle for another day, I decide. I get the hose out again to start rinsing her off.

  Half an hour later I’m the proud owner of a shiny, clean pony. I look at Finn, her copper coat shining in the sun and her tail neatly trimmed off, and I’m well pleased with my accomplishment. Only her long straggly mane is left to deal to now. Pip wanders across the yard leading Dolly and I call out to her.

  “Can you show me how to pull Finn’s mane?” She nods and comes over to me.

  “Sure. You shouldn’t have washed it if you wanted to pull it though.” I grin at her, figuring that she’s teasing me about it being a waste of shampoo, but she’s serious. “Manes are practically impossible to pull if they’re too clean,” she explains. “Too slippery. You can do it in a few days though, when it’s a bit grubby again.”

  Another thing I didn’t know, and now I’m stuck with a shaggy looking pony for the rest of the week. I want her to look perfect, so that I can send a photo to Becky and my friends back home and make them horribly jealous.

  “But while I’m here, I’ll show you how on Doll,” she offers, tying the mare up outside Finn’s yard. Finn pins her ears and lunges at the smaller pony, who jumps backwards in fright and snaps the twine she’s tied to. Pip quickly grabs her before she runs off, and moves her along out of Finn’s reach.

  “Friendly, your pony,” she teases me as I chide Finn.

  Once Pip’s found a pulling comb – no mean feat in the woolshed’s chaotic jumble – she shows me how to pull a mane. She takes a small bundle of Dolly’s mane, teases most of it up, then wraps the remaining strands around the comb and yanks it out in one swift motion. Dolly’s eyes nearly pop out of her head and she shakes her head and neck furiously.

  “She doesn’t seem to like it much,” I tell Pip.

  “Would you?” Pip replies. “Not that it hurts them. Not much anyway. It’s not like me ripping a handful of your hair out. Some ponies fall asleep while you do this, but others act like you’re sticking pins into their eyes.”

  Alec comes riding back into the yard, his reins slack on Trixie’s neck.

  “Oh, helloooo,” he mocks in a falsetto voice. “I was wondering if you could do something with my pony’s mane, it’s absolutely shocking, flopping all over the place! Would you look at it?” I stick my tongue out at Alec, who looks over at Finn and raises his eyebrows. “Wow. She looks amazing.”

  I start to smile proudly, then see the glint in his eye. Ducking around Dolly, I see Finn rolling on the ground, driving dirt into her coat. Alec laughs out loud as I run over to the railing and yell at Finn. She comes flying to her feet and stares at me in surprise. Her shining coat is covered in dirt, and she’s even rolled in a patch of her own manure, leaving a green stain across her shoulder.

  “Then again,” Alec continues, “maybe I won’t bring my pony to your beauty establishment. Clearly you have no idea how to present a pony properly!”

  Laughing, he turns Trixie and rides away. I grab a dandy brush out of my grooming kit, duck under the yard railing and take aim, flinging it at his back as hard as I can. It hits him right between the shoulder blades, then bounces onto Trixie’s rump. She shoots forward in surprise at the same time as Alec yells out, and he slides unceremoniously off her back and into a puddle in the driveway.

  Pip bursts out laughing. “That’ll teach him! Nice shot Jay.”

  Alec picks himself up and comes running straight at me. I shriek and Finn jumps in fright as Alec grabs me around the waist and drags me towards the puddle. I kick and yell, but he’s surprisingly strong and I’m no match for him. He forces me to sit down in the dirty water, and I yell as it seeps into my jodhpurs.

  “ALEC!”

  We all turn to see Liam standing next to the woolshed. He doesn’t look amused. I start to struggle to my feet, and Alec holds out a hand, which I grab. He pulls me up easily, and I stand there next to him, self-consciously aware of my dripping jodhpurs..

  “I told you I needed some help moving the stock in the creek paddock. Come on, stop mucking around.”

  Alec turns to me quickly. “Chuck Trix in the paddock for me?”

  I nod, and he shoots me a brief, half-hearted smile before jogging over to where his dad is still impatiently waiting. They disappear towards the tractor shed as I walk over to where Trixie is stuffing herself with grass and grab her reins. I glance over my shoulder at Pip, but she’s focused on Dolly’
s mane so I lead Trixie into the house paddock and slip her bridle off. Her head goes straight back down to the ground and she continues eating, unfazed by the turn of events.

  I pick up my fallen dandy brush, walk back to Finn’s yard and start brushing the dirt out of her coat.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Hey Becky

  I love my pony! She is amazing and I’m so glad I have her. It makes living here bearable. I jumped her yesterday and she was brilliant, cleared everything first attempt. Needs a bit of work to slow her down but that will come in time I’m sure. The vet came today and gave her a clean bill of health! Hopefully her owners will accept my offer to buy her, and Gran is going to send me some money so I can get a proper jumping saddle for her too! We’re going to a little Pony Club show this weekend which should be fun. Only going to jump her up to 90cm because she’s still quite unfit but I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s like when she’s out competing.

  I can’t believe Jacky got a new pony, she only had her other one a few months! There’s a girl here a bit like her, her name’s Natalie. More money than sense, you know the type. She has this really nice pony but she can’t ride it to save her life. She hates me and we’re always getting into fights in Media Studies which is the one class we have together. The teacher kept making us sit together but finally she moved me across the room because I was being “disruptive”. Gave me detention too, dammit. It was totally Natalie’s fault, of course, she was the one being a pain in the neck, but of course I was the one who got in trouble. Oh well, one day I’ll get her back somehow.

  Miss you!! Love J x x x

  The week takes an eternity to pass, but finally it’s Sunday and I’m riding into the ring on my own pony, ready to jump my first proper course on her. It’s only a small Pony Club show, but it’s the realisation of a lifelong dream, and I have to keep pinching myself to be sure that it’s real.