Hot Potato

by Alyssa Brugman

  'Have fun. Don't forget to buy me a treat,' said Erin, waving as Lindsey's mum climbed into her ute. Mrs Edel shook her head as she slammed the door.

  Once she was out of sight the girls grinned at each other. Erin agreed to finish putting the dinners in the stables while Lindsey and Shelby rode out to the back paddock to collect the pony.

  The two girls doubled on one of the riding school horses – a big, old, grey Percheron gelding. His real name was Beaumont, but Lindsey always called him Blockhead because his head was so huge.

  Shelby had to climb up on the fence to reach his back. Once aboard she wriggled backwards so that Lindsey would have room. He was so much broader than Blue. She felt like she was sitting on a barrel.

  When she was settled Lindsey handed her the bridle that she and Erin had used on the pony the day before, and they set off.

  There were two sand arenas at the stables. The larger one was set up with jumps, while the small one closer to the stables was used for flatwork, or dressage training. That was where Miss Anita usually held her classes and trained horses, although she wasn't there today.

  On the way to the back paddock they saw that both arenas were occupied. Some of the older girls that Shelby didn't know well were in the jumping arena. Hayley Crook was riding one of her show horses in the dressage arena, while her mum sat in a plastic chair in the middle and yelled at her.

  'Tighten up those reins. Sloppy! Push him out. He looks like a plough horse. Elbows, Hales! You're not skiing!'

  The horse Hayley was riding was called Scamp. He had been away at a trainer's further up the Gully, and Shelby hadn't seen him working since he came back. She asked Lindsey to stop at the fence so she could watch.

  Scamp was a small, dark, bay thoroughbred with a zigzag stripe running down his face. Shelby admired the way that he picked up all his hooves neatly, the athletic way he used his whole body, and yet Hayley sat so still on him you would think she was sitting on a rocking horse.

  With his white saddle blanket and white boots he looked like a proper dressage horse on television. Hayley cantered in a smooth arc and then, as she crossed the middle of the arena, she asked him to yield to her leg – trotting on an angle. His legs criss-crossed over each other. The skin on Shelby's arm raised in goose flesh as she watched him dance across the sand.

  She had thought Hayley's other horses were special, but Scamp was a class above.

  Shelby wondered if she would ever have a horse as magic as that. Probably not, she decided. For the same money the Crooks had spent on Scamp she could have five halfway good horses that she could train herself. Hayley Crook lived in a different world altogether.

  Hotty may not be as fancy as Scamp, but she could almost be as good as Hayley's show pony, Echo – once they had taught her some things and rugged her so that her coat was short and shiny.

  When Hayley saw Lindsey and Shelby she halted at the fence. Scamp stood square with his neck arched and crunched on his bit. Flecks of foam dropped out of his mouth.

  'How long are you going to be?' Lindsey asked.

  Hayley rolled her eyes. 'Forever! Mum's on a rampage. Where's Blue? Are you guys going out on a trail?'

  'Not this afternoon,' said Shelby. 'One of the agisters has asked us to ride her horse. It's going to be a show pony. You should see it. It's beautiful. We're schooling it.'

  'You are?' Hayley asked.

  Shelby nodded, and then she blushed. Now that the words were out they sounded ridiculous. Especially when Hayley knew Shelby didn't even have riding lessons. She hadn't trained Blue to do anything special either.

  'We're just getting it started,' she amended.

  Mrs Crook interrupted. 'There'll be plenty of time for talking later. Chop, chop, missy!'

  Hayley grimaced and then said, 'Catch you after,' as she pushed Scamp into a loping canter.

  Lindsey waited until she got further down the laneway before she spoke. Shelby could tell she was cranky because her shoulders were stiff. 'Why did you say that?'

  'She asked. I had to tell her something.'

  'You could have said that we're going down to the back paddock. You didn't have to be specific.'

  'I'm sorry, OK? You don't need to get grouchy.'

  Lindsey shook her head. 'You can't just say whatever comes into your head, Shelby.'

  'Why does it matter?'

  'Because, you nitwit, everyone talks around here. If Hayley tells her mum, and Mrs Crook tells other people that you and I are doing schooling then it will get back to Miss Anita. She'll be angry, thinking we're trying to steal business away from her, and she'll go somewhere else. Half our clients only agist here because they want Miss Anita's training.'

  'Oh,' said Shelby. She didn't think Miss Anita would take them any more seriously than Hayley Crook, but Lindsey seemed genuinely worried. 'Hayley won't say anything if we ask her not to. Let's go back now and tell her it's a secret.'

  'That's even worse!'

  Shelby huffed. 'What do you want me to do?'

  'Don't do anything. If anyone asks we'll just say Hayley got her wires crossed. It won't matter because Bess will be gone soon anyway.'

  They rode along in silence to the end of the lane. Shelby looked across the paddocks where horses grazed, or dozed under stands of trees – nose to tail, flicking away flies for each other. Two buckskin ponies stood shoulder-to-shoulder on either side of a fence and scratched each other's backs with their teeth.

  Blockhead took long swaggering strides. Shelby leaned back, resting her weight on her hands on the top of his rump. She knew his flank was behind her foot and she was careful not to touch it with her heel.

  'We'll ride in the round yard,' Lindsey said as Shelby slid down to open the gate.

  The round yard was at the very back of the riding school ponies' paddock. It was part of the original setup on the property, before Mrs Edel had the new stables and arenas built. Nobody went down there. It was fenced off, because the structures were rickety and unsafe.

  Shelby was disappointed. What was the point of having a fancy new show pony if no one could see it? Especially since she wouldn't have her for long, if Lindsey got her way.

  Then again, maybe Lindsey was right. It was turning out to be much harder keeping Hotty a secret than she had imagined. She had assumed Erin would be the blabbermouth, but Shelby had already talked too much. She'd told her mum and dad one thing, and Hayley another. They'd told Clint something different altogether.

  Shelby decided that from now on she wouldn't say anything to anyone before she remembered what she'd said to whom.

  11 Broken Tree

  Shelby watched Lindsey canter away along the laneway on the big Percheron. The new pony was standing next to her and they were alone at last. She slipped the bridle on.

  'Hello, little one,' she said, brushing the pony's forelock back from her eyes. 'You and I are going to be best friends. How about that?'

  The pony sniffed at Shelby's hand, her nostrils dilating. Shelby thought she was the prettiest pony she had ever seen. She should be in one of those horse calendars you get for Christmas.

  She ran her hand down the pony's nose and tried out her name. 'Hotty. What do you think? Hotty is your favourite name, isn't it? Much better than Bess.'

  Normally when she hopped on Blue without a saddle she jumped up so that her tummy was across his back, and then she would swing her right leg over his rump, but she didn't know Hotty enough to predict how she would behave, so she led her to a nearby stump and used that as a mounting block. The pony didn't move and, once she was settled, Shelby patted her on the shoulder. She gathered up the reins and squeezed gently with her legs. 'Come on then, little one.'

  As they made their way up the laneway the pony nodded her head and picked up each of her hooves deliberately, covering the ground like a much bigger horse.

  'Maybe you would make a nice harness horse?' Shelby said. She recalled how her father always teased her about putting Blue in front of a sulky. She made a mental note to
joke with him when she got home, but then she remembered Hotty was a secret.

  It was a shame because things had been strained with her dad ever since Blue had squashed his vegetable garden, and it would have been good to find some common ground to ease the tension.

  Shelby relaxed into the rhythm, enjoying the scenery and allowing her mind to wander. Since she had started helping with the trail rides, she had ridden lots of different horses, including Blockhead and Cracker – a little fiery barrel of a pony. There was a flea-bitten grey mare called Penelope who was Shelby's current favourite of the riding school horses. She had a very elongated back, which made her oddlooking, but Shelby liked her gentleness. Clint called her his 'long friend'.

  Lindsey's mum said that her riding was getting better. Shelby had hoped to start lessons with Miss Anita, but she had to fit around Miss Anita's regular clients, and as the days grew shorter it was looking less and less likely, at least until the next school holidays.

  Shelby imagined what it must be like for Miss Anita. In the afternoons and on weekends she held lessons, and during the weekdays she trained horses. Shelby wondered what it would be like to actually be paid to ride other people's horses. What a dream job! She hoped she could do that when she left school.

  Along the way she rode past a car with a family inside. Shelby didn't know who they were, and assumed that they either owned one of the horses in the spelling paddock, or they were having a look around with a view to agisting here in the future.

  There were two little girls in the back seat, both about four or five years old. They leaned over the windowsill and stared at Hotty. She heard one of them, eyes wide, say, 'Did you see that lady on the horse, Mummy? She looked like a princess!'

  Shelby waved to the girls and felt her face flush with pride.

  Halfway along the laneway Shelby turned left, through one of the paddocks – empty at the moment – and headed towards the round yard. She couldn't see it yet, because it was hidden by a row of conifers.

  Across the paddocks Shelby could see Erin and Lindsey walking side by side from the stables. Lindsey had a stock saddle over one arm. It must have been heavy, because every now and then she would swap arms.

  Before long Shelby had reached the round yard. She slid off and stood at the railing, stroking the pony's neck while she waited for her friends.

  'How did you go?' Erin asked.

  Shelby shrugged. 'We just walked up from the back paddock. Nothing special.'

  While Lindsey saddled the pony Erin and Shelby exchanged a smile, each knowing that they both thought everything to do with this pony was pretty special.

  'You want to go first?' asked Lindsey.

  Feeling quite confident now, Shelby shoved her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the pony's back.

  At first the pony moved sideways. Shelby thought she had swung too far, because she seemed to be leaning on the far side. Then the pony hitched up at the front, lifting her forelegs off the ground. Shelby tried to slip her foot into the stirrup on the off-side, but she couldn't find it, and she was still leaning alarmingly to one side. She kicked for the stirrup, but missed.

  The pony tucked her head between her legs and flicked her heels up at the back. Shelby was thrust forward. It was all happening too quickly for Shelby to register. She grabbed a handful of mane, crouching, trying to find her balance.

  The pony arched over and bucked, once, twice, three times, with an impressive twist, and Shelby found herself flat on her back on the dirt several metres away.

  It didn't hurt, she was only winded – a sensation she had experienced many times before, and yet every time the numbness across her shoulder blades and the dull, aching, hollow feeling in her chest made her panic just for a moment. She waited for the first deep breath and the stinging air rushing back into her empty lungs. Then she waited for a sharper pain that might indicate a break or a graze, and was relieved none came.

  Hotty raced around the yard kicking, pigrooting and bucking with such ferocity that Shelby was worried she was going to flip right over.

  Shelby sat up and the pony headed straight for her, ears flat to her head, teeth bared. Shelby put her hand over her face, turning away. She could feel the whoosh of air as Hotty sailed over the top of her, grazing Shelby's elbow slightly with her hind hoof.

  'Get out of there, Shel!' Lindsey bellowed.

  Shelby scrabbled backwards to the fence on the heels of her hands.

  The pony ran straight towards the fence, skidded, and at the last second spun sideways. Her hind legs slipped and she slid on her side along the dirt, sending clouds of dust rising.

  As Shelby watched the pony rolled over. She heard a loud crack! and when the pony scrambled up again, the saddle slid off her back. The girth had snapped, and guessing by the curious bent shape of it, the tree of the saddle was broken as well.

  Hotty trotted to the opposite edge of the yard from Shelby, snorted and stood still with her reins hanging down from either side of her mouth.

  All of the girls stared at each other through the dust still floating in the air.

  'What on earth was that?' Erin said.

  12 Saddle Sores

  'I think it's chiropractic,' Lindsey said. 'The chiropractor is coming this week to look at Diablo anyway, so we can ask her then.'

  The three girls were in the riding school tack room. Lindsey was sitting with the broken stock saddle across her lap. Every now and then she ran her hands across the cantle, as if stroking it would make it magically mend.

  The back wall was lined with saddle racks affixed in rows. There must have been twenty-five saddles – mostly stock saddles in a range of styles and sizes, but there were also a few all-purpose saddles and ancient dressage saddles. The side wall was studded with ushaped metal bridle holders, labelled with a sticker for each of the riding school horses. The whole room was filled with the spicy sour smell of old sweat, leather and oil.

  'It's more than that,' Erin said. 'She went nuts! Did you see her face, Shel? It's as if she hates you.'

  'She doesn't hate me.' Shelby scowled. 'Maybe it was just because that saddle didn't fit? It might have been pinching her wither, or pressing. If she was sore then she would have done that with anyone.'

  Shelby was sitting on the doorsill with her feet on the steps, making sure no one nearby could overhear them. She could see the car park. Hayley Crook and her mother climbed into their four-wheel drive and headed down the driveway. Hayley waved and Shelby raised her hand in return.

  'You didn't see because you were on your bum,' Erin continued. 'Lindsey and I saw the whole thing. She charged at you! It looked like she wanted to kill you! The minute you got on her she just wanted you off.'

  Shelby sulked. 'I rode her all the way up from the back paddock, remember? Besides, she's fine with me on the ground. It's not about me. She was the same with all of us bareback. It was that saddle.'

  After Shelby's fall the girls had agreed to stop for the day. It would have been too tricky to get another saddle, especially since Lindsey wasn't sure how long her mother was going to be away. They'd put the pony in the paddock and walked sombrely back to the stables along the laneway together.

  'What am I going to tell my mum?' Lindsey groaned.

  Shelby looked around at the racks on the walls. 'Are you sure she'll notice?'

  'This is Hiccup's saddle.'

  'Oh,' said Shelby.

  Hiccup – Blue's friend – was a shaggy, round pony with a sweet face. His stock saddle had been fitted with an extra wide gullet to accommodate his broad frame. Hiccup was a great favourite amongst the regular customers. He was requested for almost all trail rides.