Barmah Brumbies

by Soraya Nicholas

  But it would be awesome to camp out together. The weather was perfect, they could ride out and find a good spot to put up their tents, and the horses would love going for a nice long walk after their lesson. She’d eagerly packed everything in her overnight bag as well.

  She watched Milly and Katie haltering their horses for a moment and then sprinted off to ask her aunt if they could do it, pumping her arms as she raced back down to the arena. She arrived just in time to see Storm give a massive buck and almost send Sophie flying over his head.

  Poppy winced as her brumby was scolded, happy that she hadn’t been on his back when he’d done that! It looked like he had a lot more training to go . . .

  ‘She said yes!’ Poppy thudded into the stable door.

  ‘No way!’ Milly called out from inside Joe’s stable. ‘After our lesson?’

  ‘So long as we do our chores before going and stay within, like, a fifteen-minute ride of the house, she said it was fine.’ Poppy laughed. ‘She even said we could stay out until early afternoon tomorrow if we wanted to. The only catch is that we have to text her and keep a phone on us the whole time. Oh, and she was super impressed we had everything packed to take.’

  ‘Awesome!’ Milly’s excitement was palpable through the stall doors.

  ‘Can we take Casper?’ Katie called out. ‘Don’t you guys remember that I’m scared of the dark?’

  Poppy groaned. ‘There’s nothing out there to be scared of, silly!’

  ‘Nothing to be scared of?’ Katie’s head appeared over the stable door. ‘Um, have you heard of snakes and wild animals and, oh, you remember Old Man Smithy? We could die out there!’ she said dramatically.

  It wasn’t like Katie to be such a drama queen. That was usually Milly’s role.

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Poppy said, picking up a brush and starting to groom Crystal. ‘If it wasn’t safe, Aunt Sophie would never let us go.’

  ‘I still think we should take Casper with us,’ Katie said.

  Poppy chewed on her lip as she thought, brushing Crystal’s leg firmly to get rid of some dirt. ‘I don’t know. Remember that time we stayed the night in here and he just slept through all the scary noises anyway?’

  Milly’s laughter boomed across the stables. ‘Yeah, he’ll be more trouble than he’s worth. I vote we leave him behind.’

  ‘This is going to be so cool,’ Poppy crowed. She finished brushing Crystal, then saddled her and bridled her. What would they take? How long would they be gone? When she finally emerged from the stable at the same time as Milly, she couldn’t stop grinning.

  ‘I wish we didn’t have a lesson first,’ Milly said, groaning as she mounted.

  Poppy shrugged. ‘It’ll be fun. I’m just happy to be back in the saddle again.’ Poppy never cared what kind of riding she was doing, so long as she was on horseback.

  ‘Do you guys think we should go over our list?’

  ‘No!’ Milly insisted, flicking her whip at Katie. ‘This is not something you need to over-organise, okay?’

  Poppy tried not to giggle. Milly was so bossy sometimes and poor Katie just liked to have everything planned out. ‘I think we’ll be fine with just some food, water, a tent and –’

  ‘There’s one thing we forgot about!’ Katie said. ‘We need something to pen the horses in or to tether them with.’

  ‘I’ll get some fencing tape,’ said Poppy. ‘We can wind it around some trees or something, and it’ll be light to carry.’

  They rode out into the bright sunlight together.

  ‘Come on, let’s trot down,’ said Poppy. ‘The quicker our lesson’s over, the quicker we can get our chores done and get ready to go!’

  She made a low clucking sound and touched her heels to Crystal’s sides to get her to trot, reins loose so she could stretch out. The others quickly caught up to her and they rode three abreast down to the arena.

  ‘You girls ready to go?’

  Poppy turned to see Uncle Mark leaning against the kitchen door, smiling. He had Ghost, the once-wild black cat they’d found in the barn, tucked up in one arm, and the other hand was holding a packet of chips.

  ‘Just about,’ Poppy said, looking down at her bulging backpack.

  ‘Well, these are for you,’ he said, passing her the chips. ‘Do you have enough other food?’

  ‘Um, I think we’ll be okay, Mr D,’ said Katie gravely. ‘We’ve made sandwiches for dinner and we have plenty of snacks.’

  Poppy smirked. They had enough snacks to last them a week.

  Milly held out the tent bag that Katie had brought with her. ‘So, one of you guys actually knows how to put this thing up, right?’

  Poppy laughed. ‘Not me,’ she replied.

  Katie waved her hand in the air. ‘Piece of cake. I’ve gone camping lots with my brothers, and I’m always the one who helps dad put our tent up. We’ll be fine.’

  ‘So can we go now?’ Milly asked. ‘Actually, can we eat first? I’m starving.’

  ‘You’re always starving,’ Poppy teased. ‘Here, let’s eat these. Then we’re going.’

  She ripped open the bag of chips and grabbed a handful before passing it over to Milly. They munched in silence for a bit, and Poppy licked the chicken flavouring off her fingers as Katie offered some to Uncle Mark.

  ‘Is there anywhere you’d recommend we set up camp?’ she asked him. ‘Like under a tree or out in the open or near water for the horses?’

  Uncle Mark put Ghost down. ‘Water is a great idea. Why don’t you ride over near the creek? Pops, that’s still one of your favourite places, isn’t it?’

  She nodded, imagining straightaway the lovely little spot where they could set up camp. ‘Uh-huh. Sounds good to me.’

  ‘We need to run quickly through all the boring stuff before you go though, girls. Listen up.’

  Milly jumped up and down impatiently and Poppy grabbed her arm. ‘Stop it,’ she growled.

  Milly rolled her eyes, but she stayed still.

  ‘Poppy, your phone must stay with you and be turned on at all times, and you girls should take yours just in case as back-up,’ Uncle Mark began. ‘No riding anywhere else but straight down to the creek, and if anything changes you need to call for permission first. If you’re unsure about anything or if you’re scared, text or call me and I’ll drive down to get you, and if there’s an accident, the first thing you do is pick up the phone. Understood?’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ they chorused together.

  ‘You have food, water, torches and warm clothes?’ he asked.

  ‘Yep, all of that. Can we go now?’ Milly asked.

  Mark laughed and threw his hands in the air in surrender. ‘Go. And have fun!’

  The girls rushed to put their packs on and headed for the stables. Milly had the tent in her big pack, Katie had sleeping-bags in her pack, and Poppy had their food and water. They weren’t taking a lot, but it was still heavy on her back. She’d try to remember to apologise to Crystal for the extra weight.

  ‘Bye, girls!’ Aunt Sophie called out. She was leading her huge Warmblood gelding Jupiter, and his rich chestnut coat gleamed in the sunshine. He lifted his big, noble head, ears pricked, watching them as they ran past.

  Poppy waved. ‘Bye!’

  ‘See you tomorrow!’ Katie called out.

  ‘See ya, Mrs D!’ Milly yelled back.

  Poppy smiled at her friends, excitement buzzing through her. They were actually going to spend the night out on their own with their horses, with no adults.

  She squared her shoulders and tucked her fingers beneath the straps of her pack. Something about being totally in charge of what she did for the next twenty-four hours was making her feel super grown-up, and she liked it.

  ‘Race to the horses?’ Milly asked.

  Before they could answer, she took off. Poppy raced to catch up with her, but her pack was just too heavy. Milly looked like a turtle, the tent pack swaying from side to side and threating to overbalance her.

  Katie’s giggles echo
ed her own as they reached the stables behind Milly and thumped into the wall.

  ‘We need to stop letting her beat us like that,’ Katie panted to Poppy.

  Milly planted her hands on her hips and grinned at them. ‘Never!’

  Once they’d caught their breath, Poppy ducked into the storage room to grab the roll of electric fence tape Aunt Sophie had told them to take. Then they went to get their ponies.

  Crystal was still saddled up, and Poppy put a brush in her backpack before zipping it up and checking her straps were firm. She did the same to her girth then tied the lead rope from Crystal’s halter on to her saddle. They would need their halters later so she’d left it on over the bridle.

  ‘Ready?’ she called out to the others before pushing open her stable door.

  ‘Ready!’ Milly and Katie called out at the same time, their doors creaking as they led their ponies out to join her.

  ‘Let the fun begin!’ Milly announced.

  Poppy led Crystal out into the sunlight and mounted. Excitement pulsed through her and she looked expectantly at her friends. It was time to go!

  They set off at a walk and Poppy held her reins on the buckle, content to let Crystal stretch out and relax, enjoying the gentle sway of her horse beneath her. She was usually eager to canter and find logs to jump, but today their packs were heavy and she knew the horses were tired. They’d spent an hour with Aunt Sophie concentrating on dressage and jump training, and her own legs ached.

  She glanced back, trying to catch a glimpse of Storm in his paddock, but she couldn’t see him. A pang echoed through her chest, and she felt guilty that he wasn’t with them. Sometimes it was tough loving two horses.

  ‘What do you think the trail ride will be like at Barmah?’ Katie asked. ‘Do you think we’ll actually see a mob of wild brumbies? I can’t believe we’re going!’

  Poppy sighed. ‘I really, really hope so. It’d be so magical. Tomorrow when we wake up it’ll only be six more sleeps!’

  ‘Do you think they just gallop off when they see people, or do you think it’ll be like in the movies and they’ll look up and silently watch us?’ Katie said with a sigh.

  Milly laughed. ‘I hope it’s like the movies!’

  Poppy could imagine exactly what it would be like. There’d be a small mob and they’d all pause from grazing, looking up with their steady, deep gazes. Then Storm would whinny out to them, knowing they were his own kind, that this was the place he’d come from, and then the mob would slowly disappear into the trees.

  She’d read so much about Barmah when she’d first bought Storm, and since they’d found out they were going she’d looked up everything she could find all over again. It was going to take them a couple of hours to drive there next Saturday, and she’d read that locals and the government couldn’t agree on how many horses were left in the wild there. Some said 100 horses lived there, and others claimed it was 300, so she wasn’t sure what to believe. She couldn’t wait to ride through the forest and see the river, and try to spot as many different kinds of wild animals as she could.

  ‘Poppy?’

  She blinked and looked over at Katie. ‘Sorry, what?’

  ‘She was daydreaming,’ Milly said. ‘We just go straight down here to ride to the creek, right?’

  ‘Yep,’ Poppy said, stroking Crystal’s neck as they walked. She should have been tired and slow, but instead her pony was striding out fast, excited about going on a bigger ride. ‘There’s a cluster of trees a little bit further away from the big old Oak near the creek. We could put our tape around that and pen the horses there for the night.’

  ‘Sounds perfect,’ Katie replied. ‘You know, I’m still a bit scared of staying out tonight, but it was a good idea, Mils. This is kind of fun being out just the three of us.’

  ‘So my ideas aren’t always crazy, is that what you’re saying?’ Milly asked.

  ‘Well . . .’

  Poppy smiled as she listened to her friends, closing her eyes for a moment and feeling her horse moving beneath her, the rhythm so natural to her now. Being on horseback was her happy place. When she opened her eyes they were riding through a big cluster of gums. She looked up at the beautiful pale, bleached trunks stretching effortlessly high into the air, leaves waving in the light breeze, forming an umbrella above them. She was looking forward to going away for the week to Barmah, but she doubted that anywhere in the world would be better to ride than her aunt and uncle’s farm.

  Milly and Katie were still chatting beside her as she stared ahead, smiling to herself when she saw a kangaroo straighten, then another three beside it. They sniffed the air then hopped off, unhurried but putting distance between them. She wondered if that’s what it would be like seeing the brumbies in the wild.

  It took them almost twenty minutes to ride to the creek at a slow walk, which had just enough water for the horses to splash their hooves and take a shallow drink. Poppy reluctantly dismounted once Crystal had dipped her head and sipped her fill. She could have stayed in the saddle for hours.

  ‘Who’s in charge of what?’ Poppy asked, looking at her friends. ‘Katie, if you want to put up the tent, maybe Milly could help you and I could do the tape fence for the horses.’

  ‘How about I do the fence?’ Milly asked. ‘If I have anything to do with the tent, it’ll definitely collapse in the middle of the night!’

  Poppy grinned. ‘Good point. Let’s tether them to the branches over there –’ she pointed, ‘– and you can put the temporary fence up around them. We can dump our bags and stuff here.’ She took off her pack and set it down, then led Crystal over to the trees.

  Milly tied Joe up and began fumbling around with the tape. Poppy left her to it, taking Crystal’s saddle and bridle off and propping them on the other side of the tree, then moving around to Joe and doing the same for him. She fell into step beside Katie, who had finished unsaddling Cody, and they started hunting around for a good spot to set up the tent.

  ‘Do you think there’ll be possums around tonight?’ Katie asked, her eyes wide.

  Poppy linked her hand through Katie’s arm and shook her head. ‘Look, we’ll be so tired tonight that we’ll fall asleep before we even hear any animals. And no, I don’t think there will be any around. They’re way more scared of us than we are of them, remember?’

  Katie didn’t look convinced. ‘Let’s just get this tent up. The only thing worse than being out here at night in a tent would be not having a tent to hide in!’

  Poppy stifled a laugh and unzipped the tent bag, hoping for Katie’s sake that they didn’t have any animal encounters during the night. She had no idea what she was doing when it came to tents – it had been years since she’d been camping and back then her dad had been in charge of things like that. She blinked back tears when the familiar prickle pierced her eyes. Most days she didn’t think about him, not when she was busy, but it was little odd things like this that brought back a flood of memories.

  ‘You all right?’

  ‘Yeah. It’s just, well, the last time I went camping was with my dad.’

  Katie stared at her, like she wasn’t sure what to say, then she suddenly dropped what she was holding and leaped over the tent bag, swallowing Poppy in a huge hug.

  ‘I’m sorry, Pops,’ she whispered in her ear, holding her tight.

  Poppy hugged her back, feeling better and gulping a big breath before stepping away. ‘Now, let’s get this tent up.’

  Katie stared at her for a second, like she was checking she was actually okay, before nodding and going back to the tent. They laughed and tripped and giggled while they fumbled to erect it, but they finally managed to get it up.

  ‘Not bad,’ Milly said from behind them.

  Poppy spun, hands on her hips, proud of their handiwork. The tent was a tiny bit lopsided, but other than that it looked perfect. ‘Yeah, we did great, Katie!’

  They got their sleeping-bags out, and crawled into the tent to lay them out. They just fitted side by side. Poppy bund
led up her hoodie as a pillow. It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable sleep in the world, but as she traded smiles with the others, she knew it was going to be a heap of fun.

  Poppy passed around sandwiches before taking her own out and unwrapping it. Her stomach growled. The horses were happily munching grass, the tent was up behind them, and Poppy was sitting side by side with her friends as the sun slowly disappeared for the day. The air was cooler than it had been earlier, a slight chill sending a ripple of tiny goose pimples across her bare arms.

  ‘This is so cool,’ Milly said between mouthfuls. ‘I get sick of my parents telling me what to do all the time, and my teacher telling me to listen and stop talking, and . . .’

  ‘You do talk too much,’ Poppy laughed. ‘I bet you drive your teacher absolutely nuts.’

  Milly glared at her. ‘I do not talk too much,’ she huffed.

  ‘I know what you mean though. It’s kind of nice and silent out here, just being us.’

  Poppy loved her mum, and she liked school most of the time, but it was kind of awesome being trusted to go out alone for the night with no adults in charge.

  By the time they finished their sandwiches, darkness had started to swallow the skyline and Poppy leaned back against the big oak tree trunk. She could still make out the silhouette of their horses, and she wondered what Crystal would think of their next big adventure, camping out with so many other horses and people for five whole glorious days.

  ‘Want to go into the tent?’ she asked, yawning.

  Katie immediately shifted beside her. ‘Yeah, let’s get inside and zip it up.’

  Poppy stood and held out a hand for Katie, yanking her to her feet. She didn’t even bother to make fun of how nervous her friend was, and for once Milly didn’t either.

  ‘I’m still starved,’ Milly moaned. ‘Did you pack any snacks?’

  Poppy laughed. ‘Sure did. We have chips and Tim Tams and . . .’ She rummaged in her bag. ‘And rice crackers.’

  Milly grabbed the bag. ‘We definitely need to start with the Tim Tams.’