“Have you ridden him before?” Alice asked, thinking of what Watty had said by the arch.
“No, never,” Holly admitted. “I normally ride a pony called Jester on my weekly lesson at Hilltop. Freddie – the one who led Skylark here – his parents run Hilltop. He’s just started teaching there, too. He watched my lesson last week so he could see which pony would be best for me to bring to camp. He thought I’d get along with Skylark.”
Watty, who was eavesdropping as she walked past with a bucket of water for her pony, Ace, stopped for a second.
“Do you know why Freddie started teaching at Hilltop?” she asked, looking like she was bursting with gossip that she just had to share.
“Er, no…” Holly frowned.
Watty put down her bucket, looking at the four friends and Holly with an excited face. “He used to be in the British Junior Eventing team – he was awesomely talented, just like Lily Simpson!”
The girls gasped.
“So, he was tipped for the top and he’d just got his first proper horse who he was going to take to Burghley this year, where he’d have competed against Lily. But then he had a nasty fall over a fence and cracked some vertebrae in his spine! He was told if he fell off again he could be paralysed. He hasn’t got on a horse since. His dreams of making it to the top were shattered.”
“That’s terrible!” Charlie grimaced.
Watty nodded. “His mum made him start teaching now that he can’t compete any more. This is his first ever camp as an instructor. His mum knows Melissa, who’s running the camp, really well. But I don’t want Freddie as my team’s instructor – I reckon he’ll be super moody about being stuck here this week. And not just because of his accident.”
“Why’s that?” Mia asked.
“Because his girlfriend only happens to be Georgie Belle, Lily Simpson’s biggest rival!” Watty revealed with a flourish. “Freddie’s desperate for Georgie to do well at Burghley – she was being hailed as The Next Big Thing until Lily appeared on the scene and stole her thunder. But instead of going to support Georgie, Freddie has stay behind to teach us lot at camp!”
“How come you know so much about it?” Charlie asked.
“Because my sister’s a weekend helper at Hilltop, that’s how,” Watty said smugly. “I get all the gossip!”
At the far end of the stables, a pony squealed indignantly as a bay cob was led past his door.
“I bet that’s Ace being grumpy,” Watty giggled. “I’d better go and check on him.”
The stables grew steadily noisier as other ponies arrived and riders rushed back and forth between them and the tents. Alice smiled at a few other campers, who grinned back, saying “Hi”.
A girl who introduced herself as Destiny wandered through the stables, checking everyone’s badges. “Is anyone here in the red team?” she asked. “I can only find four of us – there should be two more!”
A couple of riders bobbed out from the middle stables and called over to Destiny. Then an eye-catching chestnut pony appeared at the far end of the walkway and grabbed everyone’s attention, especially Skylark, who raised his head and whickered loudly, his big eyes bright and alert as he looked down to the end of the stables. The rider on top was as smart as her pony, dressed in a lime green T-shirt and beige jods. She had a heart-shaped, freckled face, pale green eyes and long auburn hair. She slid out of the expensive-looking saddle and gave her pony a pat.
Melissa, who was still busy meeting and greeting new campers, walked over to the girl. “Ah, our last-minute booking.” She smiled. “You must be Amber. Amber Simpson? And I think your mum said over the phone that your pony’s called Copper, is that right?”
As everyone – even the boys – began to nudge each other and a murmur rose in the stables, Amber nodded.
“Have you got your form? Your aunt said earlier when she dropped your stuff off that you’d be bringing it.”
“Oh, yes, I’ve got it here,” Amber said, in a strong New Zealand accent. She pulled out the Pony Camp form from her jodhpur pocket and handed it over to Melissa.
Charlie nudged her three friends. “Do you think that’s Lily Simpson’s sister?” she whispered. Rosie’s eyes widened.
“You’re in the purple team,” Melissa said to Amber, and handed her a sticky label to put on her T-shirt. Rosie’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
Alice and Mia only just managed to not squeal out loud. Holly was still in with Skylark, but Alice knew she would be jumping up and down in excitement, as one of Lily Simpson’s biggest fans. So, Alice got a big surprise when she saw Holly peek across at Amber, then quickly duck back inside Skylark’s stable.
“Charlie and Rosie, could you show Amber where her stable is, and where your team’s tent is? Thanks. Now, quiet everyone.” Melissa tried to get everyone’s attention amidst the excited whispering. “We’ve got an introductory talk in the dining hall this afternoon at one o’clock, where you’ll get to meet the other instructors and find out more about the week ahead. Then there’ll be lunch, followed by our welcome hack. Make sure you’re ready in good time, please!”
As Melissa walked away into the sunshine, everyone suddenly broke into wild chatter and crowded round Amber, firing loads of questions at her.
“We were just talking about Lily earlier!” Emily, from the blue team, said. “We’re all huge fans – and she’s your sister! That’s crazy! I’m so jealous!”
“Is she coming here this week?” Watty piped up. “Please say she is!”
Amber shook her head. “She left with Firestorm last night,” she explained. “She headed to Burghley early to do some television stuff with Georgie Belle.”
“That’s Freddie’s girlfriend,” Watty butted in.
“Oh, right.” Amber half smiled. “Well, the TV crew are doing a piece about their rivalry leading up to the big event.”
“How come you haven’t gone with Lily?” Watty demanded. “I’d have stowed away in the horsebox!”
“I guess Mum didn’t want any distractions for Lily.” Amber replied, and Alice noticed a slight edge to her voice. “My aunt’s animal-sitting for us – Lily’s been busy building her string of horses since we got over here, so we’ve got a bunch of youngsters, and a couple of our old favourites that we brought with us from New Zealand, as well as the dogs. Aunt Becca’s lovely and everything, but she’s a bit dippy, so Mum decided last-minute that it’d be better to pack me off here.”
Everyone bunched up to watch her lead her pony into his stable. Copper’s coat gleamed as it moved over his muscles, even in the shade. He arched his neck and his perfect mane hung neatly and evenly. He looked every inch a top competition pony. Scout leaned forward, reaching his nose round to sniff the new arrival, wondering what the fuss was about. Alice moved over to him and stroked his whiskery muzzle in case he was getting jealous. He lifted his nose and she kissed the end of it.
“I bet you’re the most amazing rider,” Watty gushed. “The rest of us might as well give up now. You’ll ace the competition this week!”
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Amber said breezily as she slid the saddle off , revealing a security identification freeze mark on Copper’s back. A combination of letters and numbers stood out in white hairs from his bright chestnut coat.
“Let me take that saddle for you,” Emily offered, rushing forward. She carried it carefully out to the tack room, like it was made of gold, then rushed back to get the bridle. Another girl from the blue team, whose label showed her name was Cat, grabbed the upturned green water bucket from the corner of the stable. She quickly filled it from the tap just outside the feed room. She walked as fast as she could back into the stable, like she didn’t want to miss a second.
“He’s a bit like a small Firestorm, isn’t he?” Watty asked, swinging on the open door. “They’re the same colour chestnut.”
“Chestnuts are all we have on the yard,” Amber explained with a smile. “Lily’s retired pony, Foxy, is chestnut and he
took her to the top in Junior eventing. After that she said we should always stick to that colour for luck. It’s kind of become our trademark now.”
“Is that why you moved to Chestnut Grove?” Rosie asked.
Amber nodded. “Yup – how crazy’s that?”
“Ooh, can I have your autograph?” one of the blue team girls asked, suddenly rummaging around in her pocket to find a piece of paper.
“Me?” Amber asked with a frown as she came out of Copper’s stable and slid the bolt across.
“Well, you are kind of famous,” Emily said. “Your sister’s on the cover of this month’s Pony Mad. Rosie’s got a copy – I so wish I had one too!”
“Is that out already?” Amber asked, looking surprised.
Rosie nodded. “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet though. It’s stashed away in my tent, ready for bedtime!”
“Ooh, if I get a copy from the village, will you sign it?” Watty pleaded.
Suddenly there was a chorus of riders who wanted to rush out and buy Pony Mad to get them signed.
“Well, I’m not sure,” Amber said, looking slightly awkward as she began to make her way with the crowd of campers towards Dovecote Hall.
Rosie looked behind just as they were leaving, and noticed that Holly was still in Skylark’s stable. “Are you coming?” Rosie asked brightly. “It’s almost time to meet in the dining hall.”
“Um, I’ll just finish this,” Holly said, polishing Skylark’s white coat with a stable rubber. “I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”
“Okay, see you in a bit,” Rosie replied, with a smile. She jogged to catch up with her friends.
“I thought Holly was a huge Lily Simpson fan,” Alice frowned. “But it’s like she’s barely noticed Amber’s here.”
“Maybe she’s star-struck?” Charlie said as the friends rushed into the Hall through the huge back door.
The welcome cool of the stone-clad building hit them as they wiped their feet on the mat. They entered a large, echoey hallway, hung with big oil paintings in heavy, gilt frames. Signs pointed them to the dining room, which had two long wooden tables with benches on either side. Along one wall of the room a buffet was laid out, with jugs of juice, piles of sandwiches, cakes and fruit. Melissa stood with the other instructors at one end of the tables, smiling at everyone coming in.
Holly, carrying a book on pony care and covered in Skylark’s white hairs, crept in just as Melissa was about to start. She stole a glance at Amber, then sat down on her own near the other end of the bench.
“Okay, listen up everyone,” Melissa called out, clapping her hands. “Before you start the buffet, I want to welcome you all to Pony Camp. I’ll pin a timetable up for the week, over by the juices. As a general rule, you’ll be expected to feed at seven thirty and be ready for your tack and turnout inspection by ten. Then there’ll be a morning lesson in your teams. Lunch will be at twelve thirty, followed by a stable management demo and an afternoon lesson or fun ride at three. We’ve got a pool here, so in the evenings you can go swimming, and there’ll be other fun stuff to get involved in, too. Oh, and there’s one strict ground rule – no one is to leave the camp without permission. Okay?”
Everyone nodded, and murmured a “yes”.
“Now, there’ll also be team and individual competitions running throughout the week,” Melissa continued.
Alice turned to look at Rosie, feeling nerves mixing with her excitement.
“Each day you’ll be awarded marks out of ten from your instructor for your turnout, and then again for your riding. These points will accumulate throughout the week. I’ll put the points up on a score sheet each morning at breakfast time. There’ll be further points awarded in the cross-country event on Friday.”
Next Melissa ran through which team had which instructor. She would be instructing the red team, Beth was taking the blues and Lara the green team. That left the purple team with Freddie. Rosie made a face, making Alice giggle.
“We’ll go out all together for our welcome hack around the village as soon as lunch is over,” Melissa announced, “so once the plates are cleared, make your way to the yard and I’ll meet you, all tacked up and mounted, at two thirty sharp. I hope you all enjoy the week. Now, tuck in!”
Everyone rushed to the food. Then the whole camp crammed themselves as close to Amber as they could get. They talked over each other, asking endless questions – what was Lily really like? What was her favourite colour? Her favourite rider? Her star sign? Her favourite chocolate? Was she as pretty in real life as her pictures? Could they come and visit her at Chestnut Grove?
Amber sat there, hardly able to eat with answering all the questions. Suddenly her phone burst into life with a loud neigh. Amber’s face lit up as she saw the screen. Everyone around her paused for a second. “You can ask Lily your questions yourselves if you want,” she grinned. “This is her now.”
The whole hall fell silent as Amber put Lily onto speakerphone.
“Hey, Lil, how’s it going? Did you get to Burghley okay?”
Everyone tried not to giggle, and Watty clapped her hand over her own mouth.
“Amber, listen, I’ve just spoken to Aunt Becca,” a voice rang out clearly. “She’s crazy with worry – she can’t find Foxy. He’s disappeared from Chestnut Grove.”
AMBER froze as Lily carried on speaking, her panicked voice flooding out into the stunned hall.
“I’d forgotten to tell Aunt Becca about the supplement for Foxy’s feed,” Lily continued without waiting for a reply from her sister, “so I called her today about it. I said Foxy would be easy to pick out amongst the other horses and ponies. But then she phoned me back in a panic. She said she’d looked all over and there definitely wasn’t a pony there with—”
Amber broke from her daze and quickly switched off the speakerphone, her fingers shaking. She pressed the phone to her ear, listened intently for a few moments, then spoke.
“So Foxy really is missing,” Amber said in a small voice. Suddenly aware of everyone listening in, Amber hurried towards the door. “You can’t come home because of this – you’ve got to stay and compete! I’ll go home and help Aunt Becca look for him.”
As she rushed out of the room, Watty started to flap, worried that their camp celebrity was about to make a dramatic exit before they’d even had a chance to see her ride. The murmuring in the hall grew as everyone speculated on what had happened. Everyone but Holly, Alice noticed, whose nose was buried in her book on pony care.
Mia turned to Charlie, Alice and Rosie. Her own excitement was reflected in her three friends’ faces.
“If Foxy’s missing,” she whispered, “the Pony Detectives could help Lily and Amber look for him! From what Watty said earlier, the Simpsons don’t live very far away.”
“It could be our first celebrity case!” Rosie said, her eyes widening.
The past mysteries the Pony Detectives had solved included working out who stole a top showjumping pony, Moonlight. Then, when Alice faced losing her beloved Scout, they’d investigated a way to stop him being sold, securing his future with Alice for ever. Then they’d found the owners of a runaway pony and saved Phantom after his difficult behaviour nearly saw him sold once more. They were getting quite good at being detectives.
Amber walked back into the dining hall, her porcelain skin looking even paler than before. She sat down heavily next to the Pony Detectives, a deep frown etched into her forehead.
“What are you going to do?” Mia asked.
The rest of the camp crowded round, straining to hear.
“Lily doesn’t know if Foxy’s escaped, or… or if he’s been taken deliberately,” Amber said, sounding perplexed. Alice noticed Holly look up sharply from her book. She caught Alice’s eye, flushed, then quickly glanced back at the page again. “She’s called the police and the local rescue yards. She wanted to know if I saw anything out of the ordinary this morning, but I didn’t.”
“Was Foxy there when you left?” Alice asked.
Amber’s cheeks reddened slightly.
“I… I don’t know,” she confessed. “I was in a bit of a rush, so I didn’t get to check all the fields. He could have gone missing last night…”
“He might have just escaped from your yard,” Charlie said, trying to make Amber feel better.
“That’s true,” Rosie agreed. “Firestorm’s gone to Burghley, Copper’s come here – maybe he tried to follow you? He could be wandering around somewhere nearby.”
“Maybe,” Amber said slowly. “I said I’d go home to help Aunt Becca look for him, but Mum and Lily won’t hear of it. Lily’s still thinking of coming back, but either way they’re determined that this shouldn’t spoil my week at camp.”
It looked to Alice like the news about Foxy had already done that. “We’ve got our welcome hack this afternoon,” Alice suggested. “Why don’t we use it to ride round and search for Foxy then?”
Amber chewed her lip, looking uncertain.
“We can’t lose anything by trying,” Mia said, secretly wishing she’d come up with the idea. “If we split off into our teams, rather than hacking out together, we could cover lots of ground. Let’s go and ask the instructors now.”
The other Pony Detectives agreed and got up to leave, looking determined. Alice noticed that Amber hadn’t moved. “Coming?” Alice asked.
Amber forced a smile and nodded, scraping back the bench as she stood up.
Melissa was chatting with the other instructors in the lounge when the Pony Detectives raced in. When Mia explained in a rush about Foxy going missing, Melissa looked confused.
“Slow down a second,” Melissa said. “Who’s Foxy? That’s not one of the ponies here, is it?”
“No,” Freddie chipped in. “It’s Lily’s retired competition pony.”
“That’s the one,” Mia said, looking across at Freddie. “He’s gone missing from Chestnut Grove.”
“Well, Chestnut Grove isn’t far from here,” Freddie pointed out. “Foxy could have wandered onto the Dovecote estate.”
Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp Page 2