Puzzle: The Runaway Pony

by Belinda Rapley

  Charlie scowled at them and patted Phantom’s taut neck. She noticed that, although he’d jig-jogged and pulled on the reins on the ride over, reminding her of a larger version of Pirate, he’d been fairly settled. But now he was among all the other ponies and standing still he was starting to get on his toes again, snorting and growing taller by the second.

  “Which class are you in, anyway?” Sasha asked as Mrs Millar came over and gave Phantom a pat, before checking his girth.

  “The Junior Trophy,” Charlie replied.

  “You’re up against Sasha,” Jade jeered, before bursting into laughter, nudging Bex to do the same. Bex frowned, then pretended to smile when she saw Sasha glaring at her. Sasha looked smug before opening her stable door and leading The Colonel out.

  “I’ll see you in the ring, then,” she replied coolly, “and may the best rider win.”

  As Sasha rode off to the warm-up area, Mrs Millar organised everyone for their classes, getting numbers for those that needed them before helping Pixie and Puzzle prepare for the clear round competition, where they’d be jumping a small course of fences with the promise of a rosette if they kept all the poles up.

  When Pixie was ready, they all rode round to the indoor school. It was huge, with mirrors all down each side, making it seem even bigger. The surface was a deep brown, even and immaculately maintained. High up to the side was a gallery, with seats rising row by row. It was packed. One end of the school had post-and-rail fencing and a gate, where the competitors rode in and out. Anyone could stand at that end and watch what was happening inside and still keep hold of their ponies. Charlie jumped off Phantom, and passed his reins to Mrs Millar so that she could take Pirate. They all gathered by the gate to watch as Pixie rode into the school, pale and twitchy.

  The course was small and rode well, with lots of space between fences. Pixie gathered her reins and popped Puzzle into a steady canter. She looked for each fence in turn and told Puzzle how good he was each time he cleared a jump.

  “Pixie and Puzzle jump clear!” the loudspeaker announced, as Pixie collected a rosette on her way out.

  “That’s the first rosette I’ve ever won!” She beamed, looking almost as if she might cry she was so happy, lying along the pony’s neck and patting him with both hands as Daisy found him some mints. “Puzzle, you’re a complete star!”

  It was the start of a good run. Rosie and Mia both managed clears at the first attempt and Rosie even looked half decent after Mrs Millar’s last minute tuition. But in the 80cm competition Alice was eliminated after she got distracted by the audience in the gallery and missed out a fence. Charlie followed her in on Pirate and he flew round, rattling each fence but leaving them all standing, earning himself a place in the jump-off. Charlie took her pony outside and walked him round while the other ponies jumped the shortened course against the clock. She was last to go, and when the second to last pony rode out of the arena, Charlie jogged Pirate back in, one hand on his neck. Suddenly it hit her, full force: this would be the last time the pair would compete together.

  “This is it, Pirate,” she whispered, patting his sturdy neck beneath the thick black mane as her pony bunny-hopped, eager to go. For a second she felt her heart quiver, then she smiled, feeling a warm buzz of love and determination race through her. “So let’s make this a good one.”

  She leaned forward a fraction as the bell went, and Pirate immediately took it as his signal to go. Charlie focused as she asked Pirate for breathtaking turns, twisting between fences as he choppily dodged and jumped, spun and flew. Charlie heard the crowd gasp, watching the impossible line she was taking. But she knew Pirate, and the more challenges she set him, the braver he got. And she knew, as they flew through the finishing line, Pirate’s ears still pricked, that he’d loved every second as much as she had. They’d rattled fences, but left every one up, and easily clocked the fastest time. He was flying so fast that it took her a whole circuit to pull him up.

  After she brought him back to a halt, they waited to collect the small cup and rosette. Charlie beamed and patted Pirate’s neck. She wished she could freeze time right there, forever, that she could stop growing and carry on riding Pirate always. But she knew she was desperately wishing for the impossible. Especially when she heard the loudspeaker crackle into life.

  “The next class is the Junior Trophy for the Under 16s,” the loudspeaker announced.

  Charlie closed her eyes for a second, blinking them hard as she leaned forward and gave Pirate a hug. With a final squeeze she sat back up and rode out of the ring, her eyes glistening. She jumped down and passed her little bay’s reins, his cup and rosette to Alice.

  “Perfect round,” Alice said, as Mia and Rosie smiled. They could all guess how Charlie must be feeling as she patted Pirate. For a second Charlie couldn’t speak, looking at the tiny little Pirate, standing so alertly, so eager to please and such a willing partner in everything they’d done. She took a deep breath and smiled.

  “Totally perfect,” she agreed. She knew it couldn’t have been better. But she didn’t have long to think about it, because Sasha marched past to organise the jumps for the trophy and Charlie knew that she had to get Phantom ready.

  Sasha ordered the Under 16s of the yard, including Tom, Jade and Bex, around the ring, directing where to put up fences and walking between them with her measuring wheel. She was making a big deal of checking her plan, then striding out the related distances in the doubles and combinations to ensure that they were right. Once it was complete, Mia took hold of Phantom and Charlie found Mrs Millar to walk the course.

  Sasha was just ahead of them with Jade, giggling the whole way and looking round at everyone else, being really annoying. Mrs Millar strode it out with Charlie and they emerged looking serious.

  “It’s going to be a testing course for this horse,” Mrs Millar said as she legged Charlie back into the saddle. “Those combinations are all extremely short.”

  They all looked at Phantom, who was long in the back. It couldn’t be less ideal for him and it was going to test Charlie’s skills to the max. She felt herself shiver.

  “It’s almost as if the course has been designed to suit a very short-striding horse,” Mrs Millar said grimly as they watched Sasha and The Colonel, who was sweating after being ridden in for ages, canter into the ring, first to go. The Colonel bounced neatly over one fence then another, finding all the distances perfect. Mrs Millar frowned. “Not unlike that one in the ring right now…”

  “You jumped that brilliantly!” Jade exclaimed, trying not to laugh as Sasha cleared the last fence and rode out. “Almost as if the course was built just for you!”

  Sasha smiled knowingly before jumping off and throwing her reins at Bex, who looked at The Colonel with concern. “Do you want me to walk him round at all, until he’s cooled down?”

  “No. Just tie him up until it’s time to collect the Trophy,” she crowed. “It won’t be long. After all, there won’t be any others in the jump-off, not over this course!”

  As the Pony Detectives looked on, Tom’s cremello pony, Casper, refused the last fence in the combination and they ended up being eliminated. Others fared no better, with rider after rider getting into trouble with the short distances between fences, knocking poles down left, right and centre. The way the class was going it would be almost impossible for anyone else to go clear. Sasha would win with a course that looked more and more as if it had been designed and built by Sasha to suit The Colonel.

  Charlie tried to put that out of her mind as she trotted Phantom around the warm-up arena, riding the course in her head and repeating all Mrs Millar’s advice to herself. She breathed out, telling herself that it was only a show and it didn’t matter how they did. But secretly, deep down, she felt worried on top of a horse for the first time ever, not knowing what might happen as she rode out of the practice ring, past the others and into the main arena.

  She could tell that Phantom was on edge as soon as he’d walked through the huge doors
into the indoor school. And when the loudspeaker crackled to announce that Faraway Phantom and Charlotte Hall were in the ring, he jinked backwards, his ears flat. Charlie patted him and managed to keep him contained until the bell went and he half-reared. He came back to the ground and immediately did it again, swinging round at the same time.

  “I bet he remembers Sasha scaring him in there,” Pixie whispered to Alice and Mrs Millar, looking panicked as Phantom started to back up.

  But Charlie didn’t give up. She suddenly realised that he was more scared than she was, and he needed her to be confident and brave for his sake. She relaxed in the saddle and, rather than hurrying Phantom, she sat quietly, waiting for him to calm down. She could sense that he wasn’t being naughty. As Charlie sat with soft hands, not putting any pressure on him, he suddenly stopped and stood quietly for a moment. Then Charlie put her legs on gently and together the pair of them set off with a bound. Pixie and Alice both let out a big sigh of relief.

  Charlie stuck to the exact route that she’d walked with Mrs Millar. Phantom fought the bit, lifting his head up, but stayed light in his mouth and arced over the first few fences when he reached them. Charlie could feel that Phantom was clearing each fence by masses and felt a buzz of excitement, until they got to the first double, where his scope would be likely to land him in trouble if he jumped in big. Charlie held Phantom together, getting him right back on his hocks going into the first fence and then again as she landed, then Phantom popped over the second fence, a big parallel, clearing it easily. Charlie stroked his neck briefly and flicked his ears back, listening to her.

  They easily cleared the next couple of jumps, then turned to the combination. It was a parallel, followed by an upright, followed by a huge triple bar, with one stride between the first two fences and two strides between the last two. The whole gallery fell silent. Charlie knew that if she went in too slow Phantom wouldn’t make the back bars of the fences; too fast, and she’d crash straight into the second fence like so many of the other riders in the class.

  Charlie steadied Phantom, who shook his head, in the final few strides but she kept her legs on to maintain the impulsion and he jumped in big over the parallel. The back pole rocked as Charlie held Phantom together, snapping back in the saddle so that he didn’t run on to the middle fence. She held him for the single stride, just letting him jump out of her hands over the upright, which he cleared on a bouncy stride. But he landed further out than Charlie would have liked with his floaty jump. Now, with only a stride and a half between them and the next fence, they were in trouble.

  But rather than sit and try for the two strides, Charlie instinctively squeezed him up, her reins soft. Phantom responded in an instant and stretched out, taking one massive, raking stride before launching himself skyward and powering up over the triple bar. He snapped his hooves up to keep them out of the way of the poles. They soared over it, landing softly on the other side.

  Pixie and Alice burst out cheering as they watched them clear the rest of the course, flying over the last fence easily. Phantom bucked twice before Charlie brought him back to a walk. She broke into a smile, relief washing over her. Then suddenly she got excited about what they’d just done together. In the end, they’d made a tricky course look simple.

  Sasha’s face was thunderous when Charlie rode out, patting Phantom happily as he jogged his head up and down, white foam flicking from his bit. It was time for the jump-off. And it soon became very obvious that Sasha had been so convinced that she’d be the only clear that she hadn’t bothered thinking about the second course. She snapped at Jade and Bex as they got a harassed-looking Colonel ready for Sasha to warm up. She was going first, and after a couple of jumps in the practice ring she cantered him into the arena.

  In the silence, she messed up the approach to nearly every fence. The Colonel swished his tail, getting confused as Sasha pulled and kicked, until at the penultimate fence he ground to a halt in front of it, sending Sasha flying. She jumped back on, bright red, and shouted at him. He refused to budge, standing there with his heels dug in, his head high and his ears back, looking thoroughly fed up and frightened until Sasha dismounted again and left him standing in the arena. Bex ran in to rescue the chestnut as the voice over the loudspeaker announced that The Colonel and Sasha Compton had been eliminated.

  “At least I know that maniac horse won’t do any better,” she raged, storming out as Charlie cantered Phantom into the ring.

  Charlie felt more confident going back in, but after his performance at the start of the last round Charlie wasn’t sure what to expect. Phantom was more settled and only jinked once when the voice over the loudspeaker said their names.

  “Come on Phantom,” Charlie whispered. He flicked one ear back. “Let’s show them what you can do.”

  Then, light as a feather, he moved smoothly from walk to canter and Charlie guided him to the first fence, keeping her legs against him and allowing her hands to go forward, following his head as it stretched down. He glided over each fence and this time the striding in the double that ended the course was easier. Phantom floated effortlessly over the first one, landing lightly and adjusting his stride to pop out over the second element of the double, the last fence in the course.

  As the arena erupted into a roar, sending Phantom into a fizzing frenzy, Charlie rode him quietly out of the arena at a sideways, slow-motion canter, his head tucked into his chest, white foam from his bit flecking his coat. Charlie had to pinch herself, suddenly realising that she’d ridden round the whole course and hadn’t heard a single rap of the fences.

  “That’s because he cleared them all by a whole mile!” Rosie squealed as Charlie rode, breathless and beaming, out of the ring.

  Apart from Jade and Sasha, everyone from the yard cheered loudly during the presentation. Sasha’s mother congratulated Charlie warmly on her riding when she handed her the prize, saying that she must have another look at Sasha’s course design; she was sure she hadn’t approved quite such a stiff test for the juniors.

  As they left the arena Mrs Millar disappeared to have a word with Mrs Compton and the girls saw Sasha blaming Bex for The Colonel’s poor performance.

  “You must have upset him when you tied him in his stable,” Sasha shouted. “I told you to walk him round! It’s all your fault!”

  “Well, if you’d have looked after your poor horse yourself then you wouldn’t have anyone else to blame, would you?” Bex suddenly shouted back, astonishing Sasha, who stood there open-mouthed and unable to reply.

  They watched as Bex then strode straight up to an already flustered-looking Mrs Compton and handed her two pieces of paper with the course drawn on.

  As Bex walked away with her head held high, Sasha blurted out that she was out of the CM club for good.

  “Don’t worry,” Bex said triumphantly. “It’s not just the CM club I’m out of. It’s Compton Manor too – I’m going to move my pony to a new yard as soon as I can find a box. There’s no way I’m staying in this place for a minute longer while you’re in charge of the Under 16s!”

  “Well said!” Tom laughed, joining forces. “And I’ll be following you, Bex.”

  As others from the Junior yard joined in, the Pony Detectives heard a voice calling out, sounding furious.

  “Sasha!” Mrs Compton, almost purple and furiously waving the two bits of paper Bex had given her, came stomping up the yard. “You’re in serious trouble!”

  MRS Millar had driven away from the show, calling Charlie and Phantom a ‘perfect match’, and saying that she should seriously consider making it a permanent partnership. Charlie had been floating on cloud nine, but her mood had quickly dropped as reality set in on the ride back to Blackberry Farm.

  “If you did buy him,” Daisy said excitedly, “Pixie could see him all the time even though she didn’t own him.”

  Pixie looked reluctant and Charlie shook her head. “There’s no way Mum and Dad could afford to buy Phantom,” she explained.

  “Hang
on,” Mia said suddenly having a bright idea. “There is one possible way! What if Charlie took Phantom on loan? That way you still get to ride without having to sell Pirate, and Pixie still officially owns Phantom?”

  “Perfect!” Alice and Rosie grinned.

  Charlie looked at Pixie questioningly. Pixie frowned, then smiled. “That might just work!”

  “I’d have to check with my parents first, though, about keeping two ponies,” Charlie said, feeling the excitement start to bubble up inside her again, even though she wasn’t sure what her parents would say. “I’ll give them a ring as soon as we get back!”

  “And no one’s claimed Puzzle, yet,” Rosie said to Pixie as everyone else nodded, “so it makes sense for you to keep looking after him.”

  “Could you imagine it!” Pixie breathed. “Puzzle’s my dream pony, and I know I shouldn’t have, but I’ve completely fallen in love with him!”

  Pixie wanted to say more, but something inside her couldn’t quite believe that things could turn out so magically well, and she didn’t dare jinx it.

  As soon as they got back to Blackberry Farm, Charlie called her parents, but they weren’t in, so she left them a garbled, excited message.

  Daisy helped untack, then sighed. “I’ve had the best day ever,” she said, “but I’ve got to leave so I can check on Rolo. I’ll see you all tomorrow afternoon.”

  She patted Puzzle once more, then disappeared on her bike, leaving the ponies noisily eating from their haynets. The others gathered in the hay barn. They rested Phantom’s silver trophy on one of the bales and toasted his and Charlie’s success with a chink of hot chocolate mugs.

  “You know what this means, don’t you Pixie?” Mia said, suddenly turning very serious. “Your name gets called out at every show as the owner of Phantom – you’re the owner of your very own competition horse!”

  “You’ll have to attend every show Charlie goes to,” Rosie added, as Charlie smiled, getting excited too. Pixie giggled, going pink, her eyes wide as she thought about what lay ahead.