by Kate Lattey
Tori laid her ears back as I came closer and looked in at her. “Be nice,” I chided the mare, but she yanked a mouthful of hay out of her haynet and swished her tail at me. None of this felt like a good omen for the weekend ahead, and I was already wishing we hadn’t come.
“Splashing out on the flash digs, huh?”
I turned my head to see Susannah strolling up the aisle, leading all three of her ponies at once, who were of course all walking politely behind her because they were nice, well-mannered ponies who didn’t try to tear her arms off with their teeth.
“Speak for yourself.”
She smiled. “Hey, if there’s stables to be had Dad’ll book them. Guaranteed. We’re down there, I think. Seventeen, eighteen and nineteen.”
“Not far at all,” I said, taking Forbes’s leadrope from her and giving the dark bay pony a rub between his eyes. “Tori’s in eleven.”
“Right.” Susannah kept walking down the aisle, Skip and Buck following calmly behind her while I led Forbes at the back. She glanced into Tori’s box as she passed, then grinned over her shoulder at me.
“So that’s your new one? Impressive stuff! She must feel amazing to ride.”
I made a vaguely assenting noise and pretended to be more interested in reacquainting myself with Forbes, who I’d sold to Susannah only a couple of months ago. His dark bay coat was gleaming with good health, and he had a gorgeous leather halter and monogrammed stable rug that matched the rest of Susannah’s team. He looked a million miles from the scrappy, underweight problem child that he’d been when he arrived at our farm last year.
“Are you being a good boy?” I asked the gelding as I reached stable number 17 and unlatched the door.
“Brilliant,” Susannah answered on Forbes’s behalf. “He jumped amazing in his lesson on Thursday. Bruce reckons he’s got all the talent to get to the top, now that he’s finally starting to use his energy productively.”
She smiled at me as she flipped Buck’s leadrope over his neck and let him walk into his stable unattended, and I made myself smile back. Forbes had always been talented, but he also had a stubborn streak, and he’d been so naughty for me that I’d despaired of ever being able to get the pony to go consistently. Strangely enough, Susannah had developed a soft spot for him, and despite witnessing him have a massive tantrum in the ring with me one day, she’d still been keen to buy him. At the time, it had seemed like the perfect deal, but it wasn’t quite turning out the way I’d expected.
Susannah and I hadn’t started out as friends. She was one of those kids who had been gifted top-level Grand Prix ponies by her doting parents, and had never had to produce her own pony or deal with naughty behaviour. For someone like me, who had always had to work with other people’s cheap or damaged goods, it had been hard to watch her go out and win consistently on finished products. Not that she was the only rider who had ‘made’ ponies – the girl she’d bought Skip from, Bubbles Deveraux, had been positively dripping with money and her father had charged around the show circuit buying the best ponies in the country for her. But Bubbles had always been very friendly and polite, and nobody could help liking her. Susannah, on the other hand, had a tendency to come across as a bit of a snob, and a couple of years ago she’d had an ego the size of Africa and been downright unpleasant to be around. That had been well and truly checked when her brother had been found guilty of injuring another rider’s pony to try and knock her out of contention for Pony of the Year, and Susannah had fled the show with her tail between her legs.
No-one had really expected her to come back after that, but she had, although she kept a much lower profile these days. I’d done my best to simply ignore her, but when she’d almost bought Molly out from under me a few months ago, I’d been forced to pay attention. It hadn’t helped matters that AJ had, for reasons known only to herself, decided to make friends with Susannah, despite me (and everyone else) warning her off. But somehow it had all worked out in the end – Dad had opened his wallet at the right moment and bought Molly for me to keep; and when someone had tried to pay Susannah back for her brother’s cruelty by sabotaging her ponies in retribution, AJ had immediately come to Susannah’s defence and tried to help her find the culprit. Torn between my own prejudices and the risk of losing AJ’s friendship, I’d sided with my friend, and had been surprised to discover that Susannah actually wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.
I’d even sold Forbes to her, something I’d sworn only months earlier that I’d never do. But although I now trusted her to look after him, I hadn’t really expected her to be able to ride him. I’d known, deep down, that she was going to struggle with him, and honestly, I’d expected her to fail. It was all very well to be able to ride top level ponies that other people had trained for you, but Forbes was not that pony. Mercurial and wilful, I was sure that he was going to be the pony to teach her a lesson and bring her ego down a few more pegs.
I should’ve known better though, because Forbes had never behaved with any kind of predictability, and (barring a couple of off days) he had already started to be much more consistent with Susannah than he had been with me. Having regular lessons with a top Grand Prix rider helped, of course, and the way Susannah casually mentioned Bruce Goddard’s name in conversation had me squirming with jealousy. I’d give my right arm for one lesson with him, let alone being able to train with him week in and week out. Some people had all the luck.
“Living the high life, aren’t you buddy?” I asked Forbes as I settled him into the stable, and he snuffled around my pockets, searching for treats. “I hope you appreciate it. But just between us,” I added, lowering my voice to a whisper, “Don’t feel like you have to be too well-behaved, okay? Keep life interesting.”
“Susie, where are you? How are you getting on?” A loud voice interrupted my whispering and I turned to see Susannah’s dad marching down the aisle towards us. Tall and overbearing, his presence immediately made me tense up. Susannah shut her chestnut pony Skip into his stable and turned to her father.
“I’m right here. We’re all fine,” Susannah said, her voice so even it was almost expressionless.
Her father leaned past me and peered into Forbes’s box with a frown. “Not much bedding. You’d better get some more.” He glanced at me, and nodded briefly in my direction. “How are you Katy?”
“Fine, thanks,” I replied politely, but he’d already turned back towards his daughter, not actually caring about my response. “I saw a shavings pile on the other side of the block. You’ll want to put another load in each of these stables, at least.” He walked on down the line, peering into each box. “Buck could use at least two. None of these stables are bedded down properly.”
I immediately chafed at his bossy tone, knowing how I’d have reacted if my father had turned up and started ordering me around like that, but Susannah just nodded. “Okay.”
Her father’s gaze swung back in my direction. “Katy will help you, I’m sure,” he said, then walked away, poker-straight with his arms held rigid against his sides. Strange man. I wondered what he was like to live with on a daily basis, and decided that, show jumping lessons excluded, there were parts of Susannah’s life that she could keep.
I stepped out of Forbes’s stable as she passed it, and fell into step with her. “Got a wheelbarrow at your truck?”
Susannah glanced at me. “I’ve got this,” she told me. “You don’t have to help.”
I shrugged. “I don’t have anything better to do until Mum gets back,” I told her, explaining the yard situation as we headed for her truck. Somehow, in the process of loading shavings and filling her ponies’ stables, I ended up telling her more than I’d intended to about how difficult Tori was to handle, and how aggressive she was around other horses.
“Hmm. I wonder what happened to her,” Susannah replied thoughtfully as I pushed the loaded wheelbarrow down the aisle towards her ponies.
“What d’you mean? Nothing’s happened to her, she’s lived in the lap of luxury
her whole life. Have you been to Little River? It’s like a horse palace.”
Susannah just shrugged as she pulled Buck’s door open and nudged him back out of the way. I followed her in and tipped the shavings out, shaking the wheelbarrow handles back and forth to get every last flake while Susannah started spreading it around.
“Yeah, I’ve been there,” she said quietly. “We went up a few years ago to look at a horse for…” she hesitated, then carried on. “For Pete. When he moved off ponies. Shove over, Buckles.” Susannah busied herself with the shavings for almost a minute while I waited for her to continue the conversation. She never talked about her brother, and it made me uneasy just hearing his name. I could be friends with her, but I wasn’t about to forgive him for what he’d done. Fortunately he’d long since disappeared to South Africa, and I hoped that he would stay there. Eventually Susannah straightened up and looked me in the eye. “It’s a nice set-up, but I’m not sure the horses are very happy.”
“Why?” I demanded. “What’d you see?”
“Nothing, exactly. It was just a vibe.” Susannah looked down at her hand and twisted a snaffle bit bracelet around her wrist. Her fingernails were perfectly manicured with flawless pink nail polish, and if I hadn’t just seen it with my own eyes, I’d never have believed she did any stable chores. “The horses seemed nervous in their stables, and skittish when they were being handled. The grooms wouldn’t let me pat any of them, kept saying they weren’t kids’ ponies and didn’t like to be cuddled. I accepted it at the time, but I’ve always remembered that. And I don’t think it’s true. Every horse wants to be shown some affection.”
“Huh.” I was wishing now, more than ever, that I’d insisted on seeing Tori handled and tacked up when we’d gone to look at her. At the time it had seemed perfectly natural that we would let the grooms do all the work, and I’d enjoyed being treated like a moneyed client so much that it had never occurred to me that we were being kept away from the stables for a good reason.
I pushed the wheelbarrow back towards the shavings heap, and we worked in near silence for the next few minutes as I pondered Susannah’s revelation. One image in particular kept flashing back into my mind – the look on the groom’s face when Marlene had told her to bring Tori out for me to try. I’d assumed that her astonishment was due to the fact that she hadn’t expected such a talented horse to be sold to a kid like me, but maybe I’d misinterpreted. Maybe she’d been shocked that Marlene was going to try and sell a dangerous, difficult horse to an unsuspecting teenager. The thought made my stomach churn, and I wondered if Marlene was here, and whether I could find her groom for questioning.
“There you are!” My head snapped up at the sound of my mother’s voice. “I’ve been looking all over for you. We’ve got new yards, they’re just down in the next block. Took me forever to talk them into reassigning us, honestly you’d think I was trying to move heaven and earth, rather than three ponies. But it’s all sorted now. Hello Susannah, how’re you?”
“Good, thanks,” Susannah replied with a smile, but like her father had with me, Mum only paid cursory attention to her response.
“Since you’ve already got the shavings going, I’ll go fetch the ponies while you bed down the yards,” Mum said bossily, already starting to turn away from me.
I opened my mouth to suggest that she took over wheelbarrow duties while I went to get the ponies, but it was too late – she’d already walked away. I turned to Susannah and rolled my eyes.
“Do you think our parents will ever stop bossing us around?”
There was a hint of resignation in her smile. “Probably not. I guess it’s my turn now to give you a hand – but it’s your turn to shovel!”
* * *
Early the next morning, when I was walking Molly and Puppet out for a pick of grass and a leg stretch, I spotted the massive silver truck with Little River Farms emblazoned on the side in fancy lettering. The vehicle was crawling with grooms, all dressed in identical monogrammed polo shirts and caps, but I saw no sign of Marlene. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved. As Molly dragged me closer in pursuit of the most succulent grass, I looked carefully at each of the grooms, trying to recognise the girl who’d ridden Tori before me, but I couldn’t identify her amongst the masses.
I was walking back to the stables when I met Jonty. He was leading Misty out for a walk, and the chunky grey pony was being a handful as usual, trumpeting a welcome to my ponies as we approached, arching his muscular neck and pricking his curved ears forward almost far enough for them to touch. He danced on the spot slightly, looking like he was about to explode, but Jonty stood calmly at the end of the leadrope and laughed at him.
“Don’t be an egg, you’re not impressing anyone,” he told the grey pony, then grinned at me. “Morning.”
“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled.
It was barely seven o’clock, and I could still feel the sleep gathered in the corners of my eyes. I hadn’t bothered to get properly dressed before walking the ponies out, and the cuffs of my pyjama pants were soaked with dew. Jonty, in contrast, was fully dressed and looked bright and alert.
“Early starts are good for you,” he insisted. “Puts hair on your chest.”
“Just what I always wanted.”
I halted my ponies a couple of metres away, and Molly immediately resumed grazing. Puppet was interested in meeting Misty, but a sharp tug on his leadrope let him know that I firmly disapproved of that idea. My pony didn’t need to have a chunk gouged out of his face by Misty’s ever-ready teeth.
“Sorry mate,” Jonty told the grey gelding as he strained towards my grazing ponies. “Well, I guess I should keep him moving.”
“Okay. Hey, wait!” I called, and Jonty looked back at me, stopping in his tracks. I was fed up with guesswork, and feeling out of the loop. Plus I’d promised AJ that I’d do my best to find out, and not even asking the question wasn’t going to cut the mustard with her. “Can you please tell me what’s going on? I can’t get anything out of Tess, but we’re really worried about her, and Hayley. We are her friends, you know.”
Jonty frowned, running his tongue over his teeth as he clearly struggled to know how to answer. “Look, it’s not up to me to say anything,” he finally said.
“But you know what’s going on.”
“Well, yeah. But it’s not my place to talk about it.”
I huffed out an impatient sigh. “Well, can you at least get Tess to come talk to me? AJ and I are worried, and it’s starting to feel like she doesn’t trust us.” The look on Jonty’s face confirmed that suspicion. “She can trust us, you know.”
“I believe you.” And I could tell that he did. “But like I said, it’s not-”
“Not your place to tell. Got it. Just…just ask her, okay?”
Jonty nodded, putting a hand on Misty’s neck as the pony sidled restlessly next to him. “I’ll talk to her,” he promised. “I’d better take this guy back. See you in the ring in an hour or so.”
Molly had drawn second in the order of go for the Pony 1.15m class that morning, but the first rider had scratched, so we had to go out and blaze the trail. My pony trotted into the ring with her tail kinked in the air and her eyes boggling at the brightly painted jumps, hooves springing off the grass that was still slippery with dew.
“You’ve seen jumps before, silly mare,” I told her as I took her over to view the Liverpool.
Molly eyed it nervously, danced sideways past it and sprang into a bounding canter when I put my leg on. My heart sank as I shortened my reins. This was not good. For no reason that I had ever been able to discern, ninety percent of the time Molly jumped anything in front of her, no matter how spooky it was, but ten percent of the time she acted as though she was petrified of coloured poles and had never been asked to jump one in her life. Maybe today would be an exception, I thought as I headed her to the first fence. Maybe she’d get over herself and jump well.
Maybe not. Just over a minute later, I was trot
ting her back to the gate with a heavy heart. Despite my best efforts, I’d been unable to get her brain on track and she’d ducked out at the Liverpool twice, then cleared it with room to spare and flown over the next few jumps before slamming on the brakes in the middle of the treble. I’d been lucky to stay in the saddle, and that third refusal spelled elimination from the class.
I was furious and disappointed, but I knew that it wouldn’t do me any good to express it. All I could do now was cut Molly’s oats tonight, ride her in for longer tomorrow, make sure to put a bigger pair of spurs on next time, and then just pray that she’d be in a better mood next time.
I saw Tess trotting Misty on the far side of the warm-up, but I wasn’t in the mood now to talk to her anyway. Mum had been standing at the rail, watching my round, but she’d headed back to the truck without waiting for me, knowing better than to offer any advice or condolences until I’d overcome my frustration. I kicked my feet out of the stirrups and slid to the ground as Susannah rode past, shooting me a sympathetic look. I gritted my teeth and loosened Molly’s stud girth, fighting hard to contain my emotions. Molly was still on her toes, and when the rider in the ring crashed through the triple bar, she leapt sideways in fright and almost knocked me off my feet.
“Would you cut it out and behave yourself?” I snapped at her, regaining my balance and giving her rein a couple of sharp yanks to remind her of her manners.
Molly threw her head up in horror, acting as though I’d tried to break her jaw, and of course that was the exact moment when Steph Marshall, her former owner, rode past. Steph looked down at me from the back of her dark bay mare with a frown, and I felt my face flush red and quickly rubbed Molly’s neck apologetically.
“That’s better. Good girl,” I told the pony, then buried my head under her saddle flap as Steph passed us by. Much to my relief, she didn’t stop to reprimand me for my harsh treatment of Molly, and I was able to escape back to our truck.
