Pony Jumpers 5- Five Stride Line

by Kate Lattey

  I raised my eyebrows as she picked up the now-empty feed buckets and threw them at my feet. “I hope you’re not calling Squib ordinary?”

  “Never,” she assured me, taking Molly by her neckrug and leading her out of her loosebox. “So don’t you dare try and turn him that way!”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Life is so unfair.”

  I looked over at Katy as she sat slumped in Molly’s saddle, watching as little Lacey Fitzherbert cantered her new pony across their arena towards a small oxer. The dun Appaloosa gelding pricked his ears, maintained his pace and jumped neatly over, despite Lacey grabbing at his sparse mane two strides away and looking petrified the entire time.

  “Whaddaya think of the new arrivals?”

  We turned to see Bradley walking up to us, leading a big black horse with a broad white blaze. Katy’s eyes roved over the black eagerly as Bradley pulled down his stirrup and hiked the girth up another hole.

  “Did you guys win Lotto or just decide to go on a family shopping spree?” Katy asked, trying to sound casual but failing to keep the envy out of her voice.

  Bradley laughed. “I knew you’d be pissed.”

  “I’m not pissed,” my friend argued. “And I’m glad you bought Ajax, he’s perfect for you. I’ve been telling you to try him for months. But that –” and she pointed to Lacey with her whip, “is the biggest waste of money I’ve seen in a long time. What on earth does Lacey want with a Grand Prix pony?”

  “Preaching to the converted,” Bradley agreed as he hauled himself into Ajax’s saddle. “But Mum wanted her to get some experience jumping bigger fences, and Biscuit’s actually the only one we tried that would put up with her. And trust me, you should’ve seen some of what we tried. You’d be falling off your pony in a jealous rage if she’d been able to ride even one of them. That ugly plug was the bottom of the heap as far as Mum was concerned, and she still reckons she paid too much for him.”

  Katy shook her head. “Does it still rear vertical in prize-givings? Because it’s tried to scalp a few judges.”

  Bradley looked astonished. “That thing has?” Katy nodded emphatically, and he shrugged. “Weird. Well, it’s a donkey now.”

  We watched as Lacey trotted around the arena, then took a deep breath as she passed us and cantered again. The Appaloosa pony picked up the canter willingly, and jumped neatly over the low vertical she was pointing him at. Bradley raised his eyebrows at Katy, shrugged, and rode off on his gorgeous big black horse.

  “Has that pony really done Grand Prix?” I asked, watching the Appaloosa canter around the far end of the Fitzherberts’ arena. Bradley had called him ugly, but I thought he was actually pretty cute. I always preferred solid ponies like Squib to fine, breedy ones like Molly, and I thought the pony’s dun coat and spotted blanket over his hindquarters looked cool. But he didn’t look to me like a Grand Prix pony as he trotted around the arena with his nose poking out in front of him, body bent to the outside and a bored expression on his face.

  “Wouldn’t think it, eh?” Katy agreed, reading my mind. “You should see it in a jump off. Turns like you wouldn’t believe, and fast too. But I’d never have picked him for Lacey.”

  “Well, I suppose she has to get used to bigger ponies if she’s going to move onto Puppet eventually,” I said, knowing that would get Katy’s hackles up even further. She’d been annoying me lately with her constant criticism of Squib and her continued insistence that I could only succeed if I put shoes on him. The tension was rising between us and I was starting to feel pressured into doing something that I didn’t agree with. On the other side of the coin was Charlie, whose confidence that I was doing the right thing was the one lifeline I was clinging onto right now.

  “Puppet rides nothing like that,” Katy said, waving at Biscuit again with her whip and making Molly flinch. “And I’m still hoping she’ll give up altogether before that even happens.”

  I shrugged, my attention diverted by a cloud of dust approaching us along the Fitzherberts’ dirt road. Squib’s ears shot up and he swung around, crashing his hindquarters into Molly and making Katy swear at him. I shortened my reins and patted his neck, trying to stay calm as I felt my own adrenalin rising. The dust cloud turned into a dirt bike, and it didn’t slow down as it came towards us.

  “Bloody idiot,” Katy snapped as Molly went into reverse, her eyes goggling wide. Squib was still rooted to the spot, and I turned my head as I heard Lacey start to shriek, just in time to see Biscuit launch her off with a series of rodeo bucks. Lacey flew through the air and hit the dirt hard as the Appaloosa pony jumped the arena fence and bolted off up the driveway, the dirt bike in hot pursuit.

  Everyone was swearing and yelling, Lacey was bawling and Squib finally snapped out of his frozen state to start prancing across the arena with his tail in the air, snorting in alarm.

  “Who was that?”

  “That was Phil,” Katy muttered as Molly pirouetted anxiously. “Doesn’t he know better than that?” she asked Bradley, who had dismounted and was leaning over his prone sister, Ajax’s reins in one hand.

  “Course he does, he just doesn’t care,” Bradley told me. “C’mon Lacey, get up and stop your wailing. You’re not dead.”

  But Lacey was inconsolable, and just kept howling that she wanted her mother. Bradley looked over at us.

  “Mum’s up at the house. Can you go get her? And make sure Biscuit hasn’t run through a fence or something,” he added as an afterthought as Katy and I headed our ponies out of the gate and trotted them up the hill towards the house.

  “Blimmin’ typical Phil,” Katy grumbled as Molly spooked and baulked, slamming sideways into Squib and bruising my ankle with Katy’s stirrup iron. “He’s probably mad that their parents spent all that money on new horses for his siblings and nothing on him. Pretty sick way to get revenge though, if you ask me.”

  It clicked into place then. I’d heard vague mention of there being another, unhorsy sibling in the equine-obsessed Fitzherbert family, but I’d never met him. Until now, I reflected as we trotted around the corner and came face-to-face with Phil.

  He didn’t even look much like his siblings, who all took after their solid, freckled, red-headed father. Phil resembled his mother, slender and sinewy with her olive skin and finer features. He was still sitting astride his dirt-encrusted motorbike, the helmet resting on the seat in front of him as he watched us approach with an oddly bland expression.

  Katy launched immediately into a tirade of abuse, kicking Molly forcibly towards him despite her pony’s reluctance to approach the idling motorbike. Phil cupped one hand behind his ear and pretended he couldn’t hear her, which only incensed Katy more. I was looking around for Biscuit, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

  “Katy, shut up and help me find the pony,” I told her.

  “He’s over there,” she snapped, pointing towards a large vegetable garden that Biscuit was standing right in the middle of, tearing up carrots and devouring them eagerly. Since she was more interested in screaming at Phil than going to rescue the pony, I turned Squib in that direction and rode over to him.

  Biscuit watched us approach warily, but thankfully let me catch him and lead him out. I winced at the double set of hoof prints that now marred the carefully maintained plot, but I was pretty sure Phil would be the one to get in trouble over all this. Katy was still giving him an earful when I returned, and Phil was responding by revving the engine every time she got close to him and spooking Molly backwards.

  “I got him,” I yelled to my friend over the roar of the bike. “Come on.”

  “What on earth is going on out here?!”

  Katy and I turned in our saddles to see Miriam Fitzherbert come charging out of the house, looking incensed at the noise, then alarmed at the sight of Biscuit without a rider and with dark soil all over his fetlocks.

  “That idiot spooked the ponies and made Lacey fall off,” Katy called back to her, and Miriam turned to her son with her hands on her hips and a
glowering look.

  “Would you turn that bloody thing off!” she yelled, and Phil shut off the ignition at last.

  Silence settled around us for a moment, but it didn’t last long. Katy filled Miriam in on the situation, and she started yelling at Phil as well, while he sat sulkily on his motorbike and refused to respond to either of them. Squib was unsettled by all the shouting and started trying to nip Biscuit, who swiftly retaliated with a sharp bite that left a bare patch of skin on Squib’s face.

  “Oh, give him to me,” Miriam snapped, marching over and taking Biscuit’s reins from my hand. “I’d better go and see if Lacey’s alright. I’ll deal with you later,” she told her son before striding away, dragging the pony behind her.

  Katy shot Phil a smug look as he climbed off his bike, then turned Molly to follow Biscuit and rode away. I looked back at Phil, whose impassive expression had never slipped. He met my eyes for a moment, but they looked blank, with no emotion behind them. As Squib and I turned to follow our friends, I decided that maybe I’d been lucky with my siblings after all.

  Lacey refused point blank to get back on Biscuit, claiming that she’d hurt her arm and cradling it convincingly as she continued to cry. Miriam failed to keep the irritation out of her voice as she told Lacey to go and sit down on the mounting block and watch, then turned to Katy.

  “Would you hop on and give him a quick ride, just so he doesn’t finish on a bad note?” she asked my friend, who frowned and glanced at her watch.

  “We don’t really have time,” Katy said. “We need to be home in twenty minutes and it’ll take us at least ten to get there if we trot the whole way. And I didn’t get to school Molly over your new jumps yet,” she added. That was the reason we’d come to ride with the Fitzherberts today, because they’d just purchased some new spooky fillers and Katy wanted to jump her mare over them.

  “I’m too big,” Bradley said immediately as his mother’s attention shifted towards him. “And I’d rather not die today.”

  “Oh don’t be stupid, nobody’s going to die,” Miriam snapped, then looked at me. “What about you? Do you want a ride?”

  She was talking to me, and I stared at her in surprise. “Um, sure.” I slid my feet out of Squib’s stirrups and jumped to the ground. She was right that someone would have to ride the pony before Lacey got back on, and I was intrigued by Biscuit. Besides, it seemed only fair that she got something out of it when we came and used her jumps.

  Miriam took hold of Squib as I adjusted Biscuit’s stirrups, then swung up onto his back. He threw his head around and humped his back up slightly, but I gave him a reassuring pat and then walked him forward. After a couple of sideways steps, he settled into the pace and started to relax.

  “Trot him on, get him moving,” Miriam called to me and I nudged the Appaloosa into a bouncy trot. He was surprisingly well-schooled, and once I got my leg on him and had him moving forward, he settled into a nice frame and worked well.

  “See, there’s nothing wrong with him,” Miriam told Lacey as I cantered past. “He just got a fright, that’s all.”

  Katy had completed the course of jumps, with Molly baulking at a couple of the fences but jumping cleanly over each one on her first attempt. I let Biscuit walk on a loose rein as Bradley took Ajax around the course. The big horse was strong and eager, and I watched with a frown as Bradley pulled on him around the corners, then gunned him at the jumps. Ajax flung himself into the air and scattered a few poles, but Bradley seemed unfazed and surprisingly, so did his mother.

  “Well, they did tell us he can get a bit strong. He’s got a huge jump on him though. He’ll make you a great Young Rider horse with a bit more work and a stronger bit.” She turned to me as I sat with my feet dangling from the stirrups. “Do you want to give Biscuit a jump?”

  “Um, sure.” I looked around the course of fences, which were all set near the top of the stands. They had to be at least a metre-twenty, if not higher. I’d jumped Squib over some big fences, but nothing this big, and never a whole course. “Can you put them down a bit?”

  Miriam frowned at me. “He’s more than capable of the height, he’s a three-star pony,” she said smugly. “And he’s child’s play to ride.” I looked down at Lacey’s white face, feeling even more awkward. Fortunately Katy saved me by jumping off Molly and thrusting her reins into Lacey’s small hand.

  “Give him a trot round, AJ. I’ll reset the jumps.” She looked over her shoulder at Miriam as she started on the nearest jump. “Down three, the oxer down four. AJ’s not that experienced at the height, and Biscuit doesn’t need another scare if she gets him wrong.”

  Miriam seemed to accept that explanation, and headed towards the big blue oxer that I’d been looking at a little squeamishly while I took Biscuit for a trot, then a canter. It was a strange sensation, preparing to jump a pony that I barely knew. I’d ridden Katy’s ponies before, but they’d all been familiar to me before I’d been allowed to jump them, and she’d been able to give me very specific instructions from her personal knowledge. But she’d never ridden Biscuit before either, and I didn’t know how much she was going to be able to help me out.

  I circled Biscuit, then rode him towards the first oxer. He kept a steady rhythm, cantered to the base and popped neatly over. I felt my lower leg slide back as Lacey’s small saddle didn’t allow me much of a knee roll, but I told Biscuit he was a good boy as we landed and cantered on to the next.

  It wasn’t the most beautiful round ever jumped, but Biscuit went well and he was admittedly pretty straightforward to ride. He maintained a nice rhythm and didn’t get strong or back off, and he didn’t jump me out of the saddle like Squib so often did. In fact, as long as he didn’t get spooked or upset again, he actually would be a great pony for Lacey to learn on. We flew over the last fence and I brought Biscuit back down to a walk and patted his neck enthusiastically.

  “He’s so cool! And he’s really straightforward,” I added, hoping to bolster Lacey’s confidence, but she looked unconvinced, her pinched face still unnaturally white.

  “We’ve got to go,” Katy said abruptly. “We’re going to be late and Mum’ll kill me.”

  “Okay, well thank you girls,” Miriam said as I slid to the ground and gave Biscuit another big pat before taking my own pony back again. “I’d better get Lacey off to the doctor, make sure there’s nothing too much wrong with her. Come on you,” she told her daughter, who followed her slowly towards the gate with her eyes on the ground.

  I was still buzzing as we rode home, reliving my round on Biscuit fence-by-fence as I trotted Squib alongside Katy.

  “You’re going to hurt Squib’s feelings,” my friend told me as I paused for breath.

  I leaned forward and rubbed Squib’s solid neck. “Sorry Squiblet. You’re still my favourite. But wow. That pony was so easy to ride.”

  Katy shrugged, looking a little hurt. “Well don’t get too used to him. I don’t see him being around their place for long.”

  Squib was pulling hard, and I half-halted furiously to try and contain his energy. “Lacey’ll get the hang of him.”

  Katy snorted. “Yeah right. She’ll come up with six million excuses not to ride him, and when her mum finally forces her into it Biscuit will be fresh as, and then Phil will do something else stupid to spook him and he’ll launch her again and it’ll be all over, Rover. Trust me. I’ve seen it before with them. Lacey changes ponies more often than she changes her t-shirt.”

  I changed the subject slightly as something occurred to me to ask. “How come Phil doesn’t ride?”

  She shrugged. “Doesn’t like horses. Which is weirdly ironic, because his name means horse lover,” she added with a snort.

  “Has he ever ridden?” I asked. “Like, when he was younger?”

  “Only when he was really little, until he got his first motorbike. Now he’s obsessed with motocross. He’s got mates that do it and he goes off with them on weekends to race while his family goes show jumping.”

&nbs
p; I thought about that for a bit as Squib saw a goat in a nearby paddock and insisted on going past sideways. “Sounds a bit lonely.”

  Katy shrugged. “Does his mum’s head in, too. She’s always going on about what a waste it is, because he’s got the perfect build for riding, plus really good natural balance and coordination. But he’s never been interested.”

  “Shame. He’d have the girls falling all over him at horse shows,” I added. Boys who could ride were generally in short supply, and the ones who did compete regularly seemed to have a revolving door of girlfriends, moving seamlessly from one to the next. They didn’t even have to be especially attractive or ride particularly well, in my experience. Just being there and being male was enough.

  “Oh gross, don’t even say that,” Katy said, pulling a face at me. “And don’t think Miriam didn’t try dangling that carrot. But Phil had put his foot down well before he was interested in girls anyway, so by then it was a lost cause.”

  We reached Katy’s driveway and let the ponies walk up on a loose rein – well, Molly did. Squib went sideways at a jog and spooked at the flax bushes, pretending there were pony-eating monsters lurking behind them that might jump out and attack him at any moment.

  “You’re such a tool,” I told him affectionately as we finally burst into the yard, where Katy’s dad was waiting for her with an impatient scowl.