Puzzle: The Runaway Pony

by Belinda Rapley

  “Then when everyone starts raving about him,” Alice beamed, “which they will, you can say, ‘That’s my horse you’re talking about!’”

  Pixie laughed, almost falling off the hay bale and making the others start to giggle too. Only Mia noticed Mrs Honeycott hurrying into the barn, carrying a cordless phone. As the others carried on laughing, Mia went to the top of the ladder.

  “Phonecall for the Pony Detectives,” Mrs Honeycott called, as she handed the phone up to Mia. “I couldn’t quite make out who it was.”

  Mia’s smile faded at once. There was only one person who would call the Blackberry Farm number and ask for the Pony Detectives. Mia held the phone to her ear, feeling her hand shake slightly.

  “Hello?” she said, as she sank back down onto the hay bales, next to the others.

  Everyone gradually fell silent as Mia started talking to the person at the other end of the phone. Even though they could only hear one side of the conversation it was clear what it was about. Pixie held her breath, looking pale.

  “Yes, just past the post box, then it’s second on the right,” Mia explained quietly. “We’ll have him ready.”

  Mia looked up at Pixie after the call ended. They all knew what was coming.

  “That was Puzzle’s owner,” Mia said. “The field where we put up the note was his, after all.”

  “It’s all right, really. I mean, it was always going to happen wasn’t it?” Pixie said, trying to smile as if everything was okay, as if she was always used to things not working out for her. But she couldn’t pretend for long and she suddenly turned and rushed down the ladder. As they looked out of the cracks in the barn they saw her fly across the yard to Puzzle’s stable.

  “I’d better let Daisy know,” Mia said, starting to text.

  The next fifteen minutes whizzed by. Charlie’s phone finally rang and she ducked into Pirate’s stable to answer it just as Beanie started barking, rushing to the gate as he heard a car pull into the drive. Pixie stood with Puzzle, red-eyed but looking resigned. She’d undone all the roan pony’s plaits which had made his mane go wavy. His clear round rosette was still tied outside his stable.

  “I want his owner to see that Puzzle’s been well looked after,” she whispered, not looking at Alice while she stroked his neck over and over.

  Mia walked to the gate as a car pulling an old trailer slowed to a halt. An elderly lady climbed slowly out of the passenger seat and a tall girl jumped out from the driver’s side and suddenly brightened.

  “Ghost!” she called out.

  The blue roan pony raised his head and whickered softly, his ears pricked. The girl ran across and Pixie let herself out of the stable, standing to one side as the girl hugged him and gave him a couple of carrots from her pocket. The elderly woman followed her through the gate using a stick to walk with.

  After the girl had finished giving Puzzle – or Ghost as they now knew his real name was – lots of fuss, they all went into the tack room. Charlie let herself out of Pirate’s stable and joined them, sitting next to Alice on a blanket box. Alice noticed her hands shaking slightly.

  “Did you speak to your parents?” Alice asked in a whisper. Charlie nodded. “Everything okay?” Charlie looked up and saw Pixie standing dejectedly in the door way. “Tell you later,” Charlie whispered back, and sat fiddling with Pirate’s headcollar.

  “I’m so glad Ghost found you kind girls,” the elderly woman remarked once Mia had explained what had happened. “I’ve been trying to look after him for my granddaughter Abby here since she went to university a month ago, and it’s proved a bit beyond me.”

  The girl next to her smiled sadly. “Nan said she’d keep an eye out for him. Only now I can see that wasn’t fair. On either of them.”

  “It was fine to begin with,” the old woman said, patting Abby’s knee lightly as she went on, and gesturing at her stick. “I gave him hay, had the farrier out and checked on him every day. Until a couple of weeks ago. I had a bad fall and had to go into hospital. I hoped Ghost might be all right as long as he had some grass to eat – I didn’t want Abby to worry or miss any of her studies, so I didn’t say anything to her. Then I found your note yesterday when I got back and I felt terrible about the poor pony. I called Abby straight away. She left first thing this morning. As soon as she arrived, we called you.”

  “What we really need,” Abby said looking round hopefully, “is for someone to take him on permanent loan, someone who wouldn’t mind me turning up every now and again in the holidays to have a few rides.”

  “Did you hear that, Pixie?” Rosie grinned, turning to look at her. But the doorway was empty and there was only the sound of footsteps running through the yard. The girls exchanged puzzled looks, then ran after her. She was sitting in the barn, her arms wrapped around her knees, her chin resting on them miserably.

  “Pixie? Did you hear what Abby said?” Mia asked, frowning.

  “She’s looking for someone to take Puzzle on loan. Full time!” Rosie added excitedly.

  “It’s perfect,” Alice said. “Charlie looks after Phantom and you loan Puzzle. It works out all round, just like we planned, right Charlie?”

  Charlie nodded, scuffing the hay with her foot. Pixie looked up desperately, her eyes shining and tears streaking her pale face.

  “But it’s not perfect, is it?” Pixie said sadly, shaking her head. “That was just a lovely day dream. I couldn’t afford Phantom. I can’t afford Puzzle… I mean Ghost. I can’t afford to keep him or stable him or… or look after him properly. He’d end up in another field just like the one he escaped from.”

  They all stood for a second, not quite knowing what to say.

  “I’m sorry Charlie,” Pixie sniffed. “I feel like I’ve ruined everything.”

  “You haven’t,” Charlie said, trying to smile. “I guess we all just got carried away.”

  Mia frowned, then reached for her mobile phone and left the barn quietly.

  “I’d better go and tell Abby and her nan,” Charlie said, slipping after Mia.

  A few moments later Pixie, Alice and Rosie heard a bolt being drawn back and a clip-clop of hooves. Covering her ears, Pixie got up and ran out to the paddock at the back of the yard, her breath coming fast as her hair flopped over her face, tears dropping from her cheeks. With just one phone call all her dreams had been shattered. She couldn’t help but hear an engine starting up in the distance, then the rattling of a trailer making its way slowly along the rutted drive.

  “You can ride Scout any time you want to,” Alice said, coming up behind with Rosie and putting her arms around Pixie’s shaking shoulders.

  “And Dancer,” Rosie added. “Not that you’d probably want to – she’s a bit of a slow coach – but you can drop by here whenever you want.”

  Pixie nodded with a sniff. When they heard the noise of the engine fade they walked heavily back to the yard.

  Pixie looked away from Ghost’s empty stable, but she couldn’t help one quick glance. She stopped in her tracks. There, standing quietly just like nothing had happened, was a large blue roan pony.

  “But…?” Pixie asked in a whisper. “I don’t understand!”

  At that moment Mia walked over, grinning, and held out her phone to Pixie. “I’ve got Daisy on speaker phone, she wants a word.”

  “Daisy?” Pixie said, confused. “What’s going on?”

  “Mia called me,” Daisy explained excitedly down the phone, “to tell me about Puzzle needing someone to loan him. She put me onto to Abby and…”

  “…and?” Pixie asked, hardly daring to listen.

  “And, I told her that I’ve got a field shelter and an unused paddock, so would she consider loaning Ghost to me?”

  Pixie’s mouth dropped open. “What did she say?”

  “Yes, of course!” Daisy giggled as Pixie’s eyes lit up. “Dad’s delighted that I want another pony, one that suits me this time and he’s said he’ll cover all the costs! He even suggested Abby and her Nan come over her
e to get everything sorted. They were about to load Ghost to take him back to his field, but they put him back in his stable instead and they’re on their way to mine now, so they can see the stables and the paddock, and then we can go through a loan agreement. If everything’s okay, Abby said she’ll help me move Ghost later this afternoon!”

  “That’s excellent news!” Alice cheered.

  “Well, almost, but there’s still one snag,” Daisy said seriously. “You see, although all the costs are covered, with the job at Hope Farm I don’t have enough time to look after Ghost on my own. So I’ll need someone to share him with me. Know anyone…?”

  Pixie beamed, laughing out loud. Then she skipped over to tell Ghost the good news.

  Abby’s car pulled the horse trailer slowly down Blackberry Farm’s drive, with Ghost’s blue roan rump just visible from the outside. Charlie stood quietly at the top of the drive, behind the other three Pony Detectives, who were all waving wildly. Daisy and Pixie leaned out of the car and waved back, almost bursting with excitement about showing Puzzle his new home. They called out goodbyes until the car and trailer had slowly bumped all the way to the end of the drive and turned the corner onto Duck Lane, disappearing from sight.

  “Another case successfully completed,” Rosie said, sounding satisfied. “One Phantom found, one Puzzle solved and lots of missing pony nuts accounted for.”

  “And one new horse for the yard, so now we have five!” Alice added as they turned towards it, the rosettes from Compton Manor pinned up against the stables, except for Ghost’s rosette, which had been taken down to be transported with him to his new stable.

  “Not quite,” Charlie said, her voice wobbling. The others all turned towards her, frowning.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I… I didn’t want to say anything while Pixie was here,” Charlie began hesitantly. “She was so happy and I didn’t want to spoil it. But I spoke to Mum and Dad…”

  “And?” Mia asked.

  “And,” Charlie said taking a deep breath, “they’ve said that they’re okay about me taking on Phantom, but they can’t afford to keep him and Pirate. So, I’ve got to make a decision.”

  Charlie looked up and saw the huge red rosette fluttering from Phantom’s stable door. He was standing near the back of his stable, keeping out of sight. The other four ponies all had their heads over their doors, ears pricked as they listened to the sound of the rattling trailer finally fading to nothing.

  “I can either keep Pirate but give up riding,” Charlie sighed, “or I can take on Phantom and lose Pirate.”

  “What are you going to do?” Rosie asked, feeling the tension in the air.

  “Well, I know more than anyone how much Pirate loves charging round the countryside, flying over fences. He… he needs someone who’ll do all that with him,” she said, trying to sound matter-of-fact, until her voice trembled and gave her away. “But I won’t ever sell him, he’ll always belong to me and I’ll always make sure he’s okay and well cared for, no matter what.”

  Charlie looked over at Pirate’s mischievous little face, his bright eyes almost hidden behind his bushy forelock. He didn’t have a clue that everything was changing around him, that nothing would ever truly be the same again. Charlie walked towards him and gently pulled his soft, stubby ear. She thought of his nostrils fluttering warmly when she arrived at the yard every morning, his excitement at seeing the tack being slung over his stable door, his huge heart as brave as a lion’s, no matter what fence they were facing.

  “So there’s only one problem left to solve now then,” Alice sighed.

  “Finding a new rider for Pirate,” Rosie said grimly.

  They gathered by Pirate’s stable. They all knew that Charlie’s decision was the right one, the only one she could really make. It would be the worst fate of all for Pirate to be left standing in the paddock, watching the other ponies leaving the yard to be ridden out.

  “We’ll all help you find the best person ever for him,” Mia said, “The Pony Detectives are totally on the case.”

  Charlie nodded, unable to speak as she turned to Pirate. He nudged her arm, looking expectantly at her. Charlie’s heart melted. He trusted her completely and she wouldn’t let him down. The next few weeks and months would be the most heartbreaking she’d ever had to face, but with her best friends beside her, she knew they’d find a way through, together.

  Daisy’s First Aid Kit

  Make sure you keep a pony first aid kit at the yard so you can deal with any minor cuts and scrapes. It could also help in an emergency while you wait for the vet!

  Torch

  A small torch will be useful if you have to check your pony in the dark.

  Bowl, towel and wash

  Antibacterial wash, a bowl and a towel to dry the area around a wound are all very useful. It’s important that the bowl and the towel are nice and clean.

  Curved scissors

  You’ll need round-edged scissors to trim the hair near the edges of a wound. Be really careful when you’re using these!

  Wound gel

  Wound gel creates a protective barrier over a cut and stops bacteria or dirt from getting in.

  Sterile dressings

  Use sterile dressings to cover and protect an injury.

  Bandages and gamgee

  Gamgee are pads that go over the sterile dressing to keep it in place. Bandages go on top of the gamgee. They can help to support the injured leg.

  What’s it all about? Lunging is great training for your pony. He will walk, trot and canter in a twenty metre circle, on the end of a lunge line.

  What equipment do I need?

  A lunge line

  A bridle or a cavesson

  A lunge whip, to stop your pony wandering into the circle to see you!

  Brushing boots, to protect your pony’s legs from knocks.

  How’s it done? The pony moves round in a big circle while the trainer stands in the centre, using voice commands to vary the pony’s pace. The trainer changes the direction of the circle so that the pony works both sides equally.

  Why do it?

  1 It can be used, like Mrs Millar does, to exercise a young pony. It helps build up his muscles, ready for wearing a saddle.

  2 You can lunge an excitable pony before you ride him, so he can get rid of some of his extra energy!

  3 It can help you improve your riding. An instructor will lunge the pony while you concentrate on perfecting your position in the saddle.

  Whether you’re looking for a riding school or a yard to stable your pony, my tips will help you avoid what Pixie went through at Compton Manor!

  First, write a list of what you want from a yard or a school.

  Take your list with you when you visit all the yards and riding schools.

  Other useful things to think about:

  When you walk in, does everyone make you feel really welcome?

  If you’re looking for a yard, are the ponies’ haynets full and their beds clean?

  If you’re checking out a riding school, watch a couple of lessons to see what the teaching is like.

  Do the ponies look well-groomed and happy?

  Take as much time as you can to decide, it should be perfect for you and your pony pal!

  A TEMPLAR BOOK

  First published in the UK in 2012 by Templar Publishing, an imprint of The Templar Company Limited,

  Deepdene Lodge, Deepdene Avenue, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 4AT, UK

  www.templarco.co.uk

  This ebook edition first published in 2012 by Templar Publishing

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2012 by Belinda Rapley

  The right of Belinda Rapley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  www.pony-detectives.co.uk

  Cover design by Will Steele

  Illustrations by Debbie Clark and Dave Shephard

  Cover photograph by Saman
tha Lamb

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  ISBN (ePub) 978–1–84877–840–5

  ISBN (Mobi) 978–1–84877–841–2