Jade at the Champs

by Amy Brown

  ‘I want to go now!’ she said, after explaining the situation to Laura and Becca. ‘I hate thinking of her in all that pain.’

  ‘Poor Pip!’ Laura said, looking almost as devastated as Jade. ‘And poor you. All that training down the drain.’

  ‘Yeah, what will happen to the team?’ Becca said.

  Jade felt sick with disappointment. She and Pip would no longer be going to the Champs.

  7

  Dorian the Grey

  Pip whinnied to Jade as she saw her friend bike up the driveway.

  Mr White was hosing Pip’s front hooves, which made Jade feel guilty for not being with her sick pony all afternoon.

  ‘What did the vet say?’ Jade asked, taking the hose from Mr White. ‘How did this happen? She was fine yesterday.’ Well, almost — Jade remembered Pip’s stiff gait in the paddock the night before and felt another stab of guilt.

  ‘Acute laminitis can come on suddenly, although even Dan was unsure of what caused it. Possibly all the jumping on hard ground, or maybe the richer feed we were giving Pip each night.’

  ‘So it’s my fault?’ Jade said, frowning.

  ‘No, not at all!’ Mr White replied. ‘You’ve never let Pip get too fat, and you haven’t been riding her into the ground. It’s just terrible, terrible luck, that’s all.’

  Jade sniffed loudly. ‘What can I do to help her get better?’

  ‘Well,’ Mr White looked serious, ‘I’ve already given her as much Bute powder as she’s allowed for tonight — that’s eased the pain a bit. While she’s happy to stand up, you might like to walk her slowly around the paddock for five minutes, just to get the blood circulating in her hooves. The hose water might have soothed the inflammation, but it also slows down the blood flow.’

  Jade frowned. She was trying to imagine the inside of Pip’s front hooves: the pedal bone in the middle, holding up the pony’s weight, and fanning out from the pedal bone, the laminae. In Jade’s mind they resembled ropes, running from the wall of the hoof to the pedal bone, taking all the pressure of Pip’s weight as she cantered and jumped. The laminitis, like a rat, had gnawed at the laminae ropes. They were now breaking and Pip’s poor pedal bone was dangling free from the hoof wall. Instead of having her whole hoof holding her up, the bone was taking all the pressure.

  With these images in her head, Jade couldn’t see how Pip would ever recover.

  ‘Walking her, hosing her and giving her Bute will only stop the pain,’ Jade said, raising her voice. ‘How can we make her better?’

  ‘Let’s just concentrate on keeping her comfortable for now. That’ll mean taking her shoes off and making the ground in the yard a bit softer.’

  ‘I’ll phone Mr Finch!’ Jade said. ‘And Granddad might know where to get wood shavings. Though I should call Dad first.’

  Jade didn’t know exactly how much Dan Lewis would charge for each visit, or how costly the sachets of Bute were, but she had a bad feeling that it was all going to be expensive.

  ‘Look, Jade, why don’t you go home and tell your dad about this now. There’s nothing more you can do for Pip this evening.’

  ‘I can keep her company!’ Jade argued. ‘And you just said it’d help if I walked her around.’

  Clipping the lead rope onto Pip’s halter, Jade patted her pony’s sweaty neck and said, ‘C’mon, girl, let’s go for a wee walk.’

  Pip threw her head up in the air and put her ears back. All the pony’s weight was resting on her back legs now and her front hooves were stretched out in front.

  ‘C’mon,’ Jade tried again, pulling on the lead rope. Pip gave her a dirty look and nipped at her shoulder.

  ‘She doesn’t want to walk,’ Jade said to Mr White, hopelessly.

  ‘I know,’ Mr White replied. ‘It’s a very hard thing, coaxing a pony that sore into walking. Abby’s friend’s pony had laminitis and it was heartbreaking having to chase such a sick pony with a whip to make it move.’

  ‘Why do it?’ Jade asked. ‘Wouldn’t walking just make it worse?’

  ‘Maybe,’ Mr White said. ‘Some people think it’s cruel; others think that blood circulation is a necessary part of the cure. Dan suggested walking Pip, so that’s why I said you should try it.’ Firmly stroking Pip’s neck, Jade willed her pony to trust her and try walking a few steps. Chatting nonsensically to distract Pip from the pain, Jade eventually cajoled her into taking three agonizing steps. Seeing the pony that had cleared a 90-centimetre course just the day before struggling to even walk made Jade want to cry. She couldn’t stop herself — the tears just started spilling out.

  ‘Are we allowed to feed her anything, as a treat?’ Jade asked Mr White, after she’d wiped her eyes.

  ‘I’ve been giving her little feeds of chaff with the Bute mixed in. Rich grass and grain feed, like we’ve been feeding her, is a no-no though.’

  ‘What about a carrot or apple?’

  ‘I don’t see why not.’

  ‘I’ll bring some tomorrow then,’ Jade said, sniffing again. ‘Thanks very much for looking after her today.’

  ‘What else was I going to do?’ Mr White said, laughing weakly.

  When Jade got home, her granddad was sitting on the deck with her dad, reading the paper and swigging a beer. Dumping her school bag on her bed, Jade poured herself a glass of juice and joined them.

  ‘Granddad,’ she asked, ‘do you know where I could get some wood shavings?’

  Without looking up from the paper, he replied, ‘Murray Burgess has a joinery just out of Flaxton. He might have some shavings.’

  ‘I knew you’d know someone,’ Jade said, cheering up slightly.

  ‘Is this for Pip?’ her dad asked, noticing Jade’s puffy eyes.

  ‘Pip’s really sick, Dad,’ Jade said, her voice wobbling.

  As she described the sorry state of her pony, her dad put an arm around her and listened intently.

  ‘I think it’s going to cost heaps,’ Jade said.

  ‘Don’t worry about that, love,’ her dad said seriously. ‘Pip’s part of our family now, and we’ll all do our best to help her get well. Oh, you poor old soul,’ he said, rubbing Jade’s back as she was struck by another bout of sobbing.

  ‘I’ve just given Murray a call,’ Granddad said, emerging from the kitchen. ‘I can pick up a couple of bags of shavings tomorrow and take them around to the invalid.’

  ‘You’re awesome, Granddad!’ Jade said. ‘That reminds me, Dad, we need to call Mr Finch. Pip will be more comfortable with her shoes off.’

  It was an evening of phone calls. After Jade had arranged for the farrier to visit the next afternoon at four, Jade’s dad called Mr White. He made sure that Jade was distracted by her dinner and the TV before asking directly how good Pip’s chances were for a recovery.

  ‘We’ll know how bad it is once the X-rays are back,’ Mr White said gravely. ‘The vet said he’d be in touch tomorrow afternoon.’

  ‘Right; well, fingers crossed then. I really appreciate your help with this, Jim. Make sure you forward all the bills to me.’

  ‘Will do. I think you should prepare Jade for the worst, though. It’s likely that Pip will never be ridden again, and that the kindest thing may be to put her down.’

  The last phone call of the evening was to Michaela.

  ‘Oh, Jade, Dan told me the sad news,’ Michaela said. ‘And Pip was going so well, too.’

  ‘I know,’ Jade said in a small voice. ‘Sorry for letting the team down.’

  ‘It’s not your fault!’ Michaela replied. ‘But it has thrown a spanner in the works. Don’t worry, though, I’ll think of something.’

  ‘Now I’m officially out of the team,’ Jade said calmly, hanging up the phone. ‘I guess we’ll just have to try again next year.’

  Jade’s dad muted the TV. ‘Love, you know that there’s a good chance Pip won’t recover from this?’

  Jade knew very well, but hated hearing her dad say it. ‘How would you know? You don’t know anything about horses!’ she
shouted.

  ‘I talked to Mr White, Jade.’

  ‘You just want to get Pip put down so you don’t have to pay vet bills!’ Jade hissed in a poisonous voice.

  ‘Jade, I know you’re upset, but please don’t be horrible,’ her dad implored. ‘I just want you to be prepared for the worst. I hope the worst won’t come, but if it does I want you to be ready.’ Pip was the reason Jade had wanted to stay in Flaxton. Pip had helped Jade through a very hard year. Jade felt like she’d never be ready for Pip’s death, and she certainly didn’t want to talk about it with her dad right then, in the kitchen, with the smell of spaghetti bolognaise still hanging in the air. Jade ran to her bedroom and slammed the door.

  The next afternoon, Jade’s granddad picked her up from school and drove her straight to Mr White’s. The back of the big white Falcon was filled with bags of wood shavings. While her granddad drove, Jade wondered what the vet would have to say about Pip’s X-ray.

  When they pulled into the driveway, Mr White and the farrier were in the yard with Pip, one standing at her head, comforting her, while the other cut the clenches and pulled her front shoes off.

  ‘I daren’t take off the back ones today,’ Mr Finch said, wiping his brow with his forearm. ‘She’s much too sore to hold herself up on her front hooves right now. Anyway, the hind shoes have got another month’s wear in them at least, and they’re not bothering her.’

  Jade thanked the farrier for coming around at such short notice. As he was leaving the Whites’, his ute nearly collided with the Lewises’ four-wheel-drive.

  ‘Rush hour at the Whites’,’ Dan said pleasantly, as he hopped out of the driver’s seat with a large envelope. ‘Before we all look at the X-ray,’ he said, ‘how’s the patient? Did the Bute help, Jim?’ Dan went over to Pip and let her rest her forehead against his shoulder. She seemed to understand that he was trying to help her.

  ‘She doesn’t look any better,’ Mr White replied. ‘But no worse either, so that’s something.’

  ‘This is good,’ Dan said, motioning at the wood shavings that Jade was spreading as evenly as she could over the yard. ‘Pip will probably be tempted to lie down more often now she’s got a comfy bed, but you don’t want her to get sores, or lose circulation, so remember to walk her.’

  Jade looked dismayed. ‘I know it’s hard,’ Dan went on, seeing her face, ‘but it’s good for her.’

  ‘Is there any point in making her walk if she’s just going to be put down eventually?’ Jade said, surprising everyone.

  ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Dan said. ‘Have a look at this X-ray with me, and I’ll show you why I think we have reason to be optimistic.’

  Granddad, Mr White and Jade all peered over the vet’s shoulder as he pointed at the blurry white shape in the middle of the hoof’s outline.

  ‘This is the pedal bone. It should be sitting at this angle.’ The vet drew a line with his finger. ‘But because the laminae have frayed, it’s started rotating. But,’ he said triumphantly, ‘and this is the important detail, it hasn’t rotated completely. If it had, you might see the bone poking through the skin and the hoof dangling like a mitten.’

  Jade flinched.

  ‘If that were the case,’ Dan continued, ‘I’d suggest putting Pip down. It’d be cruel to keep her in that state. But, as she is, I think we should give her a good chance to recover.’ He looked serious for a moment. ‘When I say “recover”, Jade, I mean to paddock fitness. Pip will never jump again.’

  ‘That’s OK,’ Jade said, unconvincingly. ‘When you think that she’s nearly twenty-four,’ Mr White said, patting Jade on the shoulder, ‘retirement doesn’t seem like such a bad option.’

  ‘And,’ Dan added, ‘I’ve known some ponies who had laminitis who recovered enough to make good beginners’ mounts. I can’t make any promises that Pip will recover to that degree, but it’s something to keep in mind while you’re nursing her.’

  Jade nodded and stroked her pony’s nose. ‘We’ll help you get better, girl. Don’t worry.’

  After the tiring excitement of visitors, Pip painfully eased herself to the ground and lay on the new bedding with her front legs tucked up like a dog’s. Jade sat down next to her pony and rested her back against Pip’s shoulder. When Pip was well, Jade would never have done this, for fear that she’d get trodden on. But, right now, Pip wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry and she seemed to enjoy Jade’s quiet company.

  Jade and her granddad arrived home to a dark house. Her dad was working late. There was a note on the bench saying, ‘Don’t worry about dinner: I’ll bring home pizza’, and a red light flashing on the answerphone.

  The new message was from Michaela, asking Jade to call her immediately. With her school bag still hanging on her shoulder, Jade quickly dialled the number.

  ‘Jade, it’s good to hear from you,’ Michaela said quickly, answering after the first ring. ‘Kristen and I have been talking about the team, and we have a proposition for you.’

  ‘OK,’ Jade replied, wondering whether they’d decided to let her come along as a groom. ‘Have you found someone new already?’

  ‘No, Jade,’ Michaela said. ‘At this late stage we’d rather you stayed on the team. Would you be willing to ride Kristen’s pony, Dorian?’

  The lean grey had soared over a 1.30-metre oxer in the pony Grand Prix last season, and as Jade had watched she’d wished that she was her rider.

  ‘What about Kristen?’ Jade asked, confused.

  ‘Kristen has a young pony, Johnny, that she’s been bringing on. He’s had a couple of outings and has behaved sensibly, so I don’t see why she couldn’t compete on him at the Champs,’ Michaela said. ‘In fact, I don’t know why we didn’t consider it sooner. It’ll be a great chance for prospective buyers to see him in action. So, you’re keen? Dorian’s a pro; she’ll show you a good time.’

  ‘Yeah, of course! Thank you so much,’ Jade babbled. ‘But is pony-swapping allowed?’

  ‘It’s not encouraged,’ Michaela said, ‘but I’ve been on the phone to the organizers and explained our unfortunate situation. I convinced them in the end and our entry has been changed.’

  In between mouthfuls of pizza, Jade told her dad and granddad the news. She’d promised to go round to the Lewises’ straight after school the next day, for a practice.

  ‘What about Pip?’ her granddad asked. ‘I thought you were going to nurse her each day after school. That’s what you told the vet.’

  ‘I’ll go in the morning, before school. And Mr White can give her Bute in the afternoon.’ ‘Pip’s your pony, not Jim White’s,’ her granddad grumbled. ‘You shouldn’t take him for granted.’

  ‘I’m not!’ Jade said. ‘It’s just I can’t be everywhere at once!’

  ‘Dad, leave her alone,’ Jade’s father said to Granddad.

  ‘I don’t want her neglecting her old sick pony as soon as she’s offered a fancy new one,’ Granddad said. ‘That’s all.’

  ‘Jade won’t neglect Pip. I know she won’t. Perhaps, Jade,’ her dad suggested, ‘while you’re busy riding this new pony, you could ask for some help from Laura and Becca? They want to be vets, don’t they?’

  ‘Laura does, but only small animals,’ Jade replied sadly. ‘And Granddad’s right: I shouldn’t neglect Pip.’

  ‘You shouldn’t let your team down either,’ her dad said. ‘How about I bike around and see to Pip tomorrow after work? You’ll have to write me a list of what to do, though.’

  Feeling ridiculous biking in her riding helmet and jodhpurs on the way to the Lewises’, Jade wondered how her dad would get on with the list. She’d asked him to muck out the yard, put down fresh shavings, mix a small feed with a sachet of Bute, hose Pip’s hooves and coax her to take a few steps. For someone unaccustomed to horses, this would be quite a challenge. Jade hoped that her dad would manage.

  In the Lewises’ own pristine yards, Kristen was grooming Dorian.

  ‘I would’ve groomed her,’ Jade said, propping he
r bike against the fence. ‘It’s the least I could do. Thanks so much for lending her to me.’

  ‘You haven’t ridden her yet,’ Kristen said in an ominous voice. ‘You might want to save your thanks.’

  Jade looked nervous.

  ‘Nah, just kidding. She’s a sweetheart when you’re on her back. Mean when you’re on the ground, though,’ Kristen admitted, dodging a nip as she brushed under Dorian’s stomach. ‘See? That’s why I didn’t leave her for you to groom.’

  Kristen was right. As soon as Jade mounted Dorian, she could tell she was on a well-schooled pony. Dorian was as sensible and honest as Pip, but also as nimble and energetic as Dusty. It took only very light aids to get her to change pace and her ears were always twitching, listening intelligently.

  ‘I think she knows more than I do,’ Jade said, sitting deeper in the expensive black jumping saddle.

  ‘Quite possibly,’ Michaela said. ‘She’s a smart cookie, that one.’

  Also in need of last-minute training, Kristen and Jack Sparrow, a fine-featured dark bay gelding affectionately known as Johnny, followed Jade and Dorian around the practice ring. At Michaela’s command, the girls walked, trotted and cantered their mounts on each rein.

  ‘Dorian’s looking good, Jade, but she has a tendency to fall in on the left rein. Watch out for that — keep her balanced and interested. Don’t let her fall asleep.’

  There was no chance of that when they started trying out the practice course. After Jade had taken her over a 90-centimetre straight-bar, Dorian threw a playful buck. Jade could hear Kristen laughing.

  ‘You know what it is?’ Kristen told Jade as they both slowed back down to a trot. ‘You’re a fair bit lighter than me, and I’m pretty much the only one who’s ridden her in the last three or four years. She’s probably enjoying the weight off her back.’

  The buck had shaken Jade. She’d started to take it for granted that Dorian was a push-button pony that would do no wrong. Now she was more cautious. Trying a course of five jumps this time, Jade rode more actively. Dorian often needed no help in finding the right stride, but that didn’t mean that Jade should just be a passenger. She started asking more of Dorian — cutting corners, approaching jumps on an angle — and the grey mare responded well. When Michaela suggested they call it a day, Jade felt like she and Dorian were beginning to forge a mutual respect.