Jade and the Hunters

by Amy Brown

  In fact, all the Deaths except Bronson were there to farewell Jade. After the ponies had eagerly walked up the ramp into the dry, lucerne-scented shelter of the float, Jade turned to thank her hosts.

  ‘It’s been a pleasure, Jade,’ Mr Death said, with a touch of irony.

  And the others, even Cosima, said their goodbyes.

  ‘Right,’ Jade’s dad said, keen to get away. ‘Home, James?’

  ‘And don’t spare the horses!’ Jade said, slamming the passenger door as she got into the car.

  ‘So, how was it?’ her dad asked, amused, once they were driving.

  Jade rolled her eyes. Where to begin? ‘Dad?’ she said, not even bothering to try to explain the week’s adventures then and there. ‘You know what I’d really like?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘To watch The Man From Snowy River again and eat cinnamon toast and wear my slippers.’

  Her dad laughed. ‘I think we can manage that. Though I’ve bought a leg of lamb to roast. You wouldn’t rather eat that than boring old toast?’

  Jade pictured the leg of lamb, raw and marinating in rosemary, salt and pepper. This image was swiftly followed by the hare, hanging with its neck at a funny angle.

  ‘I’ll eat it tonight,’ Jade said, diplomatically. ‘But, Dad, I’ve been thinking about becoming vegetarian.’

  ‘Too much meat on the farm?’

  ‘Something like that.’ Jade paused. ‘Dad … the huntsman cut off the hare’s tail and wiped the tail blood on my forehead.’

  ‘How rustic! I wondered what that was on your face.’

  ‘Dad?’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Thanks again for coming and getting me.’

  The Truth About Zoe

  Pip and Tani were both leaning over the fence of Mr White’s front paddock, ears pricked, waiting, when Jade rode her bike up the driveway on Sunday morning. On Saturday, before going home to spend the rainy afternoon with her dad, Jade had promised her two ponies that she would be back early the next morning to muck out their paddock. They must have understood.

  Wearing cleaning gloves, and equipped with shovel and wheelbarrow, Jade began the tedious task. For a while she tried to pretend that each pile of horse droppings she found in the long grass was in fact an archaeological treasure. With the first few piles, she worked carefully, placing rather than hurling them into the barrow. The game quickly became too improbable, though — there were far too many clumps of manure for them to seem rare or valuable. Instead, Jade started giving herself ten points for each pile, and twenty for disgusting ones that couldn’t be shovelled but had to be picked up by hand.

  Jade had scored herself 620 points by the time the paddock was finished, although that included a fifty-point bonus for having to pick it all up again when inquisitive Tani tipped the wheelbarrow over.

  ‘You want some attention, don’t you, boy?’ Jade said, forgiving him for the inconvenience he’d caused. ‘How about a groom then a lunge? But not before poor old Pip — I’ve neglected her all week!’

  Although Pip’s ‘diet paddock’ was small enough to stop her eating too much of the lush winter grass, it still allowed the old mare plenty of room to roll in the mud. While Jade worked at ridding Pip’s coat of a week’s worth of caked mud, the clouds cleared. Taking off her jacket and two layers of jerseys, Jade realized that in the last couple of months she had forgotten what it was like to wear only a T-shirt outside without getting too cold.

  ‘Does this mean summer’s on the way?’ Jade asked Pip. Small handfuls of brownish-black winter coat were coming off the old mare along with the mud. ‘I’m sick of the winter months,’ Jade kept chatting to Pip as she lifted up the near foreleg, ready to pick out the mud-clogged hoof. ‘Bring on summer.’

  For the past couple of years, to Jade summer had meant show season. Not this year, she thought with some regret. Now that Pip was groomed and back in her diet paddock — Jade had decided to leave her coverless for half an hour so the old mare could enjoy the sun on her back for the first time in weeks — Jade had moved on to Tani.

  ‘No shows — or maybe just tiny ones where you won’t get into too much trouble,’ Jade told Tani. ‘But mainly we’ll be doing lots more of this, I reckon,’ she said, clipping Mr White’s old lunge rope onto Tani’s halter. ‘This has worked for us so far, eh, boy?’

  Knowing what was expected of him now, Tani needed little encouragement from Jade to begin walking in a circle on the left rein. Deciding that he’d mastered that part of the routine, Tani quickly began trotting. It wasn’t a bad trot at all — he was tracking up and bending well — but it wasn’t what Jade had asked for.

  ‘No, Tan. I said walk … walk … waalking.’

  Preferring to trot, Tani ignored his rider. As if wanting them to congratulate him on his disobedience, Tani whinnied to Brandy and Hamlet in the back paddock. Hamlet stopped grazing and looked up. Pleased with his audience, Tani broke into a canter.

  ‘Trot,’ Jade commanded.

  Tani wouldn’t.

  ‘Enough, Tani!’ Jade growled. ‘I said trot — now trot.’ Giving the lunge rope a stern jerk, Jade finally retrieved Tani’s attention. He came back to a trot.

  ‘Good boy — that wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, walk … waaalk.’ After another decisive tug on the rope, Tani had reluctantly slowed down to the walk Jade had originally asked for. Like a sulky child, he dragged his hooves somewhat and stumbled.

  With as much patience as she could muster, Jade kept her young pony walking until she felt satisfied with his performance at that pace. Gradually, without any rush, she moved him back through a trot and then a canter, ensuring that she was the one making the decisions.

  ‘Stop it!’ Jade growled when Tani dramatically shied at absolutely nothing. ‘No need for that.’

  When Tani had calmed down, Jade brought him back to the yard to swap his halter for a bridle before a quick ride.

  But maybe Tani hadn’t shied at nothing: turning around, Jade saw Briar Rose’s Cortina in the driveway. She hadn’t even heard her come in.

  ‘Hi, Jade.’ Briar was standing at the fence, stroking Pip’s nose. ‘Didn’t want to interrupt your lunging.’

  ‘Hi! I’m finished for now.’

  ‘He was going quite nicely.’

  ‘Bit naughty, but much better than he has been.’

  ‘Good to hear. Hey, I thought of you as I was driving past — even did a U-ey. Got some literature here from Mike Corretto that might be of interest to you.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Jade hung the bridle she had been about to put on Tani over a fence post and took the pamphlets. Like the videos on the Corretto website, they seemed to be advertising products that would solve Jade’s horsey problems rather than providing any actual advice.

  ‘Are you still using that Pelham?’ Briar asked, touching the bridle with distaste. ‘You know what would be heaps better for him?’ She grabbed back the top pamphlet and opened it to a double-page spread entitled Get Bridle Wise! ‘Here, this is exactly what your boy would thrive with.’ Briar’s dirty fingernail was pointing at the Elan Snaffle. It was $75 — American dollars.

  ‘He’s been going fine in the Pelham lately,’ Jade said. ‘But thanks for the suggestion.’

  ‘It may seem as if he’s “going fine” to you,’ Briar said, ‘but how do you think that heavy bit is affecting his happiness and confidence?’

  ‘I think he’s happy and confident enough,’ Jade replied. ‘He seemed it on the lunge today, anyway.’ She smiled. Briar did not.

  ‘No thanks to the way you were tugging on his mouth and shouting at him. I know it can be frustrating and hard to hear this, Jade, but often it’s not the horse that needs to change but the rider. This is true in your case. What I saw while I was watching you lunge was a rider who was still scared of her horse and taking this fear out on him. It’s a vicious circle.’

  Jade was shocked. She shook her head slightly. ‘No, I don’t think that’s true.’

  ‘Accepting
that you’re the problem is the first step to improving your horse–rider relationship.’

  ‘But I don’t think there is a problem anymore. I’m happy with how he’s going.’

  Briar raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t try. Suit yourself, Jade.’

  Jade didn’t know what to say. She stood there, absent-mindedly holding Tani’s mane, watching Briar stride back to her car and drive off without saying goodbye.

  ‘That was weird,’ Jade told Tani as she slipped the Pelham into his mouth. ‘As weird as the Deaths.’

  Walking around the paddock and still chatting to Tani in a way that would make a non-horsey person think she was crazy, Jade reached a conclusion: ‘I guess the Deaths and Briar sort of cancel each other’s weirdness out. I mean, if you combine their two ways of riding — Zoe hitting and spurring all the time, and Briar whispering and not using a bit at all — they sort of balance each other out. What do you think?’

  ‘Hi, Jade!’

  Jade jumped slightly, embarrassed that Mr White had heard her talking to Tani as if he were a person. Still, if anyone were to understand behaviour like that, it would be Mr White.

  ‘Hello! Thanks for keeping an eye on Pip for me. Was she good?’

  ‘Good as gold.’

  ‘I’ve done the paddock.’

  ‘So I see.’

  ‘When I’ve done another ten minutes with him, I’ll tell you all about the hunt.’

  ‘Good-o. I heard from your dad that it ended up being a bit dramatic. Actually, I’ve got a snippet of gossip for you, too.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I’ll tell you when you’ve finished your ride.’

  Jade clicked her tongue and asked Tani for a trot. Once through the paces on each rein, then she would go in and hear Mr White’s news.

  ‘And Zoe just kept riding — literally galloped away from poor Becca and left her lying in the mud!’ Jade said, for the second time. She had rushed through her tale of her week on the farm, and was now returning to the highlights, more for her own benefit than for Mr White’s.

  ‘That sounds right,’ he replied quietly, carrying two cups of tea — one weak and black, the other white and sweet — over to the table.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, on Friday I met some old friends for a drink at the pub, one of whom is deputy principal at Harrington House.’

  ‘Zoe’s school?’

  ‘Not anymore.’ He paused for effect and took a sip of tea.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Zoe was expelled at the end of last term for fighting. Nasty piece of work to teach, too, apparently.’

  Jade blinked. ‘Fighting?’

  ‘Yes. She has a terrible temper, according to the DP. Ended up causing quite a scene, smashing another student’s car’s windows with a hockey stick.’

  Jade swallowed a too-hot mouthful of her tea and winced. ‘Wow.’

  ‘So, you see, I was a fraction worried about you all staying with her. It’s good to see you back in one piece.’

  ‘Poor Becca isn’t, though. She’s broken her collarbone and two ribs.’

  ‘Ouch. Are you going to visit her in hospital?’

  ‘No. I wanted to, but Becca’s mum said it wasn’t worth it; she’ll probably be allowed to go home this afternoon. Thought I’d send her a get-well-soon present, though. She won’t be able to ride for ages, so maybe a book or something, to keep her from getting too bored.’ It was so nice chatting to Mr White after spending a week shyly tiptoeing around the Deaths.

  ‘That’s Dad now,’ Jade said as she heard the sound of his car turning into the driveway. ‘I’d better go.’

  ‘Jade—’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘Tani was looking splendid this morning.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Jade ran out to her dad’s car, grinning. He was already hoisting her bike onto the stand above the towbar.

  ‘Good ride?’

  ‘Yep, great!’

  ‘Off to town now, to buy young Becca something nice?’

  ‘Yep.’

  As they left the Whites’ driveway, Jade glanced in the car’s rear-view mirror, then smiled as she saw Tani and Pip grooming each other’s necks over the diet paddock’s flimsy tape fence. She was glad she had decided to put their covers back on, because it was clouding over again. It would probably be another miserable, rainy week — appropriate, though, as it was back to school tomorrow. Usually that was a grim thought, but this time Jade felt relieved. Maybe that’s why people hunt, she thought. To do something that scares them, like Jacqui said, so that everyday life is easier afterwards.

  ‘Hel-looo? Jade, I swear you get dreamier every day.’

  ‘I wasn’t dreaming, I was thinking.’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Nothing?’

  ‘Nothing important. Nothing I want to talk about.’

  Her dad grimaced. ‘Are you turning into a teenager?’

  ‘No — but speaking of teenagers, do you know what happened to the “companion” you found for me when I was concussed?’

  Jade told Mr White’s story to her dad, relishing, and in places embellishing, the details.

  ‘So, really, you left me with a dangerous criminal!’ she finished in triumph.

  Jade’s dad whistled, impressed. ‘Of course I had no idea, Jade. I’m sorry. But you always thought she was a bit strange, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Better judge of character than I am, then.’

  At the Flaxton Book Shoppe, Jade chose a new edition of My Friend Flicka and the latest issues of New Zealand Horse & Pony and PONIES! magazines. She was pretty sure Becca wasn’t looking for a new pony — it would be a year at least before she grew out of Dusty — but it was always fun to comb through the advertisements, dreaming about which Irish hunter one would buy. In fact, that would be a perfect way to spend this afternoon. As Jade had predicted, the skies had now burst and the gutters in Flaxton’s main street were gushing with rainwater. A bubble bath, a Milo and a long read of New Zealand Horse & Pony — was there a more comfortable prospect?

  ‘Dad, I know I’m shopping for Becca, but do you think I could have one of these, too? They’re only $8.10.’

  Her dad was flicking through a paperback, his face contorted.

  ‘What is this dross? I picked it up because it looked vaguely equestrian, but we’re not giving this to Becca, never in a million years.’

  Jade peeked at the cover: it was The Hunters by Velvet de Latour. She suppressed a smile.

  ‘It’s OK: I’ve got her My Friend Flicka — she hasn’t read any Mary O’Hara yet — and these magazines. Dad, can I get this one for myself?’

  He was still staring incredulously at the cover of The Hunters. ‘It says on the back that it’s a bestseller. This woman must be raking in the cash for her literary efforts.’

  ‘Maybe he — she! — has to put food on the table for a big family.’

  ‘Maybe she has a large staff of grooms and manicurists and literary agents to pay.’

  ‘No, there are no grooms.’

  Her dad laughed. ‘Jade, you haven’t read this, have you?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘You seem to be defending it.’

  ‘I just think we shouldn’t judge Velvet de Latour without having met her,’ Jade said, smugly.

  ‘And we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover either, I guess, but look at this! Tacky photo, hideous font. It’s almost as bad as the Flaxton Times. C’mon, let’s get out of here before a workmate overhears my ranting.’ Jade’s dad took her arm and led her to the checkout.

  The old man who owned and ran the Book Shoppe was behind the counter. As usual, the expression on his cadaverous face was grim.

  ‘Just these, please,’ Jade’s dad said pleasantly.

  The bookseller looked up, but didn’t smile.

  ‘Fan of the gee gees?’ he asked slowly, as if this were a terrible thing to be.r />
  ‘My daughter is, yes.’

  ‘And you want two copies of Horse & Pony?’

  ‘No, sorry — we must have grabbed two by mistake.’

  ‘No, Dad, can we get two?’

  ‘You want one as well?’ Her dad sighed.

  ‘I asked you twice, but you were busy looking at The Hunters. Can I please have it? It’s only $8.10,’ Jade tried again.

  ‘But surely you’re not planning on getting another pony, Jade? That’s madness. That’s when I’ll have to put my foot down. You cannot just keep collecting new horses every few months.’

  The bookseller listened silently.

  Another pony? The thought hadn’t crossed Jade’s mind. She had spent the whole morning caring for two — imagine how much more work three would be. And besides, her current pony was, today at least, almost exactly what she wanted.

  ‘No, of course not.’ Jade looked at her dad as if he was stupid. ‘Two is plenty.’

  ‘More than enough, so I hear.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘So, both of them, then?’ the bookseller asked.

  ‘Yes.’ Jade’s dad fumbled in his wallet for some cash.

  ‘What did you mean in there, Dad?’ Jade asked as they were driving home.

  ‘It’s not urgent — and I don’t want you panicking, Jade — but Jim White and I were talking while you were at the Deaths’. He thinks maybe two ponies are a bit much for someone your age.’

  ‘It’s been fine,’ Jade said weakly. ‘I can manage.’

  ‘You can manage with Jim’s help, which is OK sometimes, but not something we should take for granted.’

  ‘He wants me to get rid of Pip?’ Jade asked, un-clicking her seat belt. They were home now and the sun had come out, interfering with Jade’s plans of spending a stormy afternoon in a bath full of bubbles. She didn’t like being inside when it was sunny.

  ‘He suggested that we consider finding another home for her; maybe as a paddock mate or even a beginner’s pony. Jim seemed confident that Pip is well enough for light work again now. We could even put an ad on Trade Me.’