Jade at the Champs

by Amy Brown

  The mare, now she was up and could see the open door, was desperate to be out of the truck and with the other horses, out of harm’s way. The hot pain in her off-hind fetlock would, in Medusa’s mind, stop once she was out of the truck and on the grassy verge. But every time she pushed towards the fresh air, her rider’s sharp shoulder was in her chest and her arm was around her neck.

  ‘Do you have an axe or something sharp for cutting out a bit of the wall?’ Jade, sent by Michaela, asked Becca’s mum. They had a look in the truck’s toolkit, but found nothing suitable for the job.

  ‘I always think I’m prepared for everything, then something like this happens,’ Michaela muttered to herself. ‘We’ll just have to wave a car down, see if someone can help.’

  The first car Jade pulled up was a silver Honda Accord, belonging to a young mother who was interested in the horses, but who could offer no axe or saw.

  ‘Hey! That’s an AA van,’ David shouted to Jade. ‘Flag him down.’

  Standing as close to the road as she dared, waving and jumping around like an unco-ordinated cheerleader, Jade convinced the driver to stop.

  ‘Would you be able to lend us an axe, please?’ she asked, as he opened the driver’s door. ‘One of our horses has kicked through the side of the truck.’

  ‘Ouch!’ he said. ‘Let’s have a look.’

  Taking what felt like forever, the man, who was somewhere between Jade’s dad’s and granddad’s ages, fossicked about in the back of his truck. ‘What are we cutting through?’ he asked. ‘Plywood, I think,’ Jade said uncertainly.

  The man grinned. ‘This should do. Where’s the problem?’ Jade took him into the truck, to where Michaela was holding Medusa’s off-hind leg to try to stop it kicking.

  ‘Our knight in shining armour,’ Michaela said as the AA man knelt beside her and examined the problem.

  ‘Might have to take a fair bit of the wall out,’ he apologized. ‘And the horse won’t like the banging.’

  ‘She got herself into this mess, so she can damn well put up with it,’ Michaela said, smiling stiffly. Corina looked pale and tired.

  ‘I’ve never done this before,’ the man said cheerfully, as he started hacking at the wooden wall, dangerously close to Medusa’s leg. ‘Never thought, when I woke up this morning, that I’d be doing this.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Jade said quietly, not wanting to appear rude, but, like everyone else both inside and outside the truck, willing him to work quickly.

  ‘Nearly there,’ he said, sweat gathering around his temples as he hacked cautiously around the bottom of the hoof.

  ‘Hear that, bub? You’re nearly free,’ Corina said in a high voice.

  ‘Give her a pull now, Corina; he’s finished,’ Michaela said. ‘Let’s get her out of here.’

  Corina, holding the lead rope with white knuckles, led Medusa towards the truck door. The mare’s muscles were stiff and her nerves shattered, but left with no real option but to trust her friend, she pulled with her bad leg. Feeling it come free from the wall, with a rasp of wood and metal, she charged down the ramp; she was wearing an untidy ring of wood like an anklet around her off-hind fetlock, below the travel bandage that had ridden up to her hock.

  Michaela let out a long sigh. ‘We can’t thank you enough for your help. I’m so sorry, I didn’t even ask your name?’

  ‘You were distracted. Roger,’ the AA man said. ‘My pleasure to lend a hand to some damsels, and horses, in distress.’

  Michaela tried to give Roger twenty dollars for his time, but he wouldn’t hear of it. ‘I hope the rest of your trip isn’t so dramatic,’ he said, giving a quick toot as he drove off.

  ‘What an idiot!’ Corina exclaimed. ‘Tooting while there are stressed-out horses on the side of the road.’

  ‘Your stressed-out horse wouldn’t be on the side of the road if it weren’t for him,’ David reminded her. ‘She’d still be stuck in the wall of the truck.’

  With a couple of angry stamps, Medusa’s wounded fetlock was free of its wooden anklet.

  ‘It doesn’t look too deep,’ Michaela said, sprinkling white disinfectant powder over the cuts, then deftly rolling a bandage around the fetlock. ‘I can’t see if there are any splinters still stuck in there. We’ll unload them all at Turangi and I’ll have another look then. This really isn’t a good place to linger.’

  While the others held the horses, Jade and Becca swiftly refilled the hay-nets, scraped the droppings off the rubber mats and chained off the far end of the truck, where there was now a gaping hole in the wooden wall, showing the dented metal of the truck’s exterior.

  ‘Mum’s not going to be happy about this,’ Becca whispered to Jade.

  ‘At least it happened right at the back. Why wasn’t Medusa tied up next to Toby?’

  ‘They kept niggling at each other. Then she kicked him, so we moved her. Do you think we’ll ever make it to Cambridge?’ ‘Of course,’ Jade said firmly. ‘Medusa will be tired and careful now. She shouldn’t make any more trouble.’ This was really just wishful thinking, but saying it made Jade feel a bit better.

  It was eleven o’clock by the time they set off again, this time with Dusty in between Toblerone and Medusa.

  ‘Will Medusa be fit to jump tomorrow?’ Kristen asked, after she and Amanda, who’d only managed to glimpse the action from the Lewises’ truck, were brought up to date.

  ‘That’s the question,’ Michaela said wearily. ‘The cuts looked shallow to me, but until we trot her out, it’s hard to say. How were our three during the drama?’

  ‘Like sleepy lambs,’ Kristen said. ‘Dozz was dozing, Blue wouldn’t stop eating and Johnny just wanted cuddles.’

  Lunchtime came long before the convoy reached Turangi. Not wanting to upset the now peaceful animals, Becca’s mum and Michaela allowed for only a five-minute toilet stop and trip to the bakery in Taihape. Peeling a five-dollar note off the small wad of food money her dad had given her the night before, Jade bought a chicken roll and a chocolate lamington. She was concerned that she’d chosen a babyish treat, but got it anyway, not caring what Amanda thought. To Jade’s relief, she saw that Kristen had bought a lamington too, and Amanda a custard square.

  ‘Poor Blue,’ Amanda laughed, with white icing on her nose, as they drove off again. ‘I’ll weigh a ton tomorrow.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ Michaela said sternly. ‘It’ll give you the energy you need for a long day’s riding.’

  ‘That’s not what Mum says,’ Amanda replied. ‘She’s always going on about how I won’t get into my jodhpurs if I eat too much junk food.’

  ‘That’s horrible!’ Kristen said. ‘My mum can be pretty mean, but not like that,’ she added, earning an elbow in the ribs from Michaela.

  At Turangi, there was a toilet stop for both horses and riders. In a large, empty car park off the road, there was plenty of room to let the animals stretch their legs. Although it was pleasant with a cool breeze coming off the lake, it was already late afternoon and there was no time to enjoy the view. ‘I told Mr Parry we’d be there before dark. That won’t be happening now,’ Michaela fussed.

  It was, in fact, nine o’clock as the trucks drove down the Parrys’ long driveway. A paddock with four young horses, clearly destined for a racetrack, was to the left and an empty paddock, for the Flaxton team, on the right.

  ‘I love Cambridge,’ Kristen said. ‘The grass is always so green here, and everyone seems to have nice fences and foals in their paddocks.’

  ‘You have nice fences!’ Jade objected.

  Michaela laughed. ‘Thanks, Jade. And, Kristen, you’ve only been to racing stables and the showgrounds here; Cambridge isn’t all like that.’

  The horses, exhausted from their long, stressful journey, were the tired riders’ first priority. While Michaela greeted Mr Parry, a semi-retired racehorse breeder, Becca’s mum sorted out the humans’ sleeping quarters and the team members looked after their own respective mounts. After half an hour, the horses, relieved to be back in a paddo
ck, were rugged up and contentedly gobbling their dinner. Dorian, whom Jade watched protectively, seemed the least bothered by her new surroundings. Methodically, she kicked at her bucket to move the clumps of feed to where her nose could reach them.

  ‘I feel sick,’ Becca said. Dusty was tied to the fence next to Dorian, just out of reach of her bucket. ‘I don’t know if it’s butterflies about tomorrow, or the burger I ate for dinner.’

  ‘You’re probably just really tired,’ Jade said. ‘I know I am. We’ll sleep well tonight and be fresh for tomorrow.’ Although she wasn’t completely sure of this, Jade felt an obligation to console her nervous friend.

  ‘Right, kids,’ Becca’s mum called. ‘Your sleeping bags are unrolled in the sleep-out.’ They all flinched at being called kids. ‘As soon as those ponies have finished eating, unclip their halters and come inside. We have to be up at five-thirty tomorrow!’

  9

  The Showgrounds

  Jade woke early; her team-mates were still dark, sleeping shapes around her. She and Becca, being the youngest and apparently the most resilient, had lilos on the floor. Kristen and Michaela were on the bunk beds next to the window, which was beginning to glow greyish-yellow. Amanda and Corina were on the other bunks opposite, both facing the wall, and Corina was snoring gently.

  Becca’s mum, who’d just got up and was using the shower before the rush that would occur in the next half-hour, had the single bed near the door. She’d offered this to David, claiming to be just as comfortable on the mattress in her truck, but he’d declined. Poor David, Jade thought, resting her eyes for another five minutes before getting up. He really is outnumbered. Wondering whether, out in the truck, he was beginning to wake up, Jade took a deep breath, threw off her sleeping bag and stood up in the chilly air. After a long, hot summer, Jade had almost forgotten the discomfort of a cold morning.

  ‘Good girl, getting up so early,’ Becca’s mum whispered, coming out of the steamy en suite with her hair in a towel turban. ‘Help yourself to the shower. It has good pressure but I reckon that by the time we’ve all used it the hot water will have run out.’

  After a quick, scalding-hot shower, Jade felt much more ready to face the day. While the others were having a bleary-eyed discussion about who would have the next shower, Jade followed Becca’s mum into Mr Parry’s house to help organize breakfast.

  Mr Parry was already up, listening to ‘Country Life’ on National Radio and sipping coffee. The dining room, kitchen and living area were open plan, and every surface seemed to be decorated with racing paraphernalia: the mantelpieces held silver cups and bronze statues of horses; every wall had framed photographs or paintings of thoroughbreds; clippings from the racing section of the newspaper were held to the fridge door with magnets — and even the magnets were horsey, advertising horse dentists and feed suppliers.

  ‘I was about to come out and wake all you girls up myself,’ Mr Parry said, chortling hoarsely. ‘It’s nearly half-past-six.’

  Jade smiled nervously and looked at Becca’s mum. ‘Thanks so much for letting us stay, Mr Parry,’ Becca’s mum said. ‘I’m Christine, and this is Jade, our youngest team member. I’ve just got to fetch our box of food from the truck; Jade can tell you all about our dramas on the road yesterday.’

  Wishing she could have fetched the box instead of being left to make conversation, Jade reluctantly described Medusa’s fall.

  Mr Parry looked unimpressed when she’d finished, as if a hoof through the wall of the truck was nothing compared with the equine misfortunes he’d witnessed in his time. ‘I heard your lot thundering about last night,’ he said. ‘Hopefully the mare hasn’t made it worse.’ As Jade wondered how to reply to this pessimism, Becca’s mum returned with the box of food, Michaela and David.

  ‘Michaela, honey!’ Mr Parry said, leaving the breakfast table to hug the coach. ‘I always look forward to this time of year. How long have you been coming here now?’

  ‘I think this is the fifth year,’ Michaela said, giving Mr Parry a peck on the cheek. ‘How are you, Harry? You don’t look any older than when I first brought a Flaxton team to stay.’

  ‘Harry Parry?’ David whispered to Jade; they were in the kitchen where they’d been put on toast and baked-beans duty. ‘Really? What a name!’

  Jade had to stop herself from snorting with laughter.

  ‘What’s funny?’ Kristen said, having been sent to the kitchen to make hot drinks for everyone. She too started giggling when they told her.

  ‘Is this hysteria due to lack of sleep or precompetition nerves?’ Michaela asked the giggling kitchen. ‘Let’s say both and hope that Mr Parry excuses you for rudely forgetting to ask whether he’d like another coffee or some toast. Would you, Harry?’

  ‘I am a bit of a hobbit in the weekend,’ he said, ‘partial to a second breakfast. But I don’t want to hold the young equestrians up.’

  ‘The young equestrians,’ Michaela said, ‘would be more than happy to make you breakfast; it’s the least they can do when you’ve been so kind as to billet them. And they’re actually fairly organized. David, here — girls, I don’t know if you’ve thanked him yet — has already caught the horses and given them each a little breakfast.’

  Before tucking into their own breakfasts, the girls thanked David enthusiastically. Jade, who was always worrying about running late, calmed down a bit, and concentrated instead on not spilling baked beans down her front. She was in an old sweatshirt and track pants — every rider’s pristine gear was hanging ready in the truck — so it didn’t really matter, but being clumsy so early in the day seemed like a bad omen.

  The hour after breakfast felt like five minutes; there was so much to do and remember. Becca’s mum cleared away the breakfast dishes while the riders began grooming their already excited animals. David and Kristen were in good spirits, whistling ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ together as they began plaiting. ‘Can you stop that?’ Amanda said. ‘You’re upsetting Blue.’

  ‘That’s funny, I’m sure the whistling’s calming Johnny down,’ Kristen said.

  ‘Would you prefer it if we sang?’ David asked Amanda, before launching into ‘Galileo, Galileo!’ Kristen joined in, and Jade was tempted to as well, amused by Amanda’s bright-red face, but Michaela told them to stop.

  ‘Cut out that racket for a minute, would you?’ She and Mr Parry were scrutinizing Medusa’s gait as Corina trotted her out.

  ‘Bit stiff, do you think?’ Michaela asked Mr Parry. Her arms were crossed and lips pursed.

  ‘You’re imagining things,’ he said after a while. ‘If you hadn’t told me it was the off-hind, I’d never have known.’

  ‘Honestly?’ Corina said, relieved. ‘I can ride her, then?’

  ‘Up to your coach,’ he said, patting Michaela’s shoulder. ‘But, as far as I can see, it’s just a scratch. She’ll be jumping as happy as ever in a few hours, I’d say.’

  Michaela let out a long sigh. ‘OK, then. But, if she’s favouring that fetlock after her first round, she’s out. I’d hate to ruin the team, but I’d hate even more to ruin your mare, Corina.’

  On the dot of seven-thirty the three ponies and three horses were looking immaculate. As Jade velcroed the last travel boot onto Dorian’s spotless off-hind leg, getting hoof oil on her nervous hands in the process while dodging the pony’s cantankerous tail-swishes, she heard a commotion at Becca’s truck. Medusa, remembering yesterday’s trauma, was refusing to load.

  ‘Let’s not dither,’ Michaela said decisively, after two attempts to chase the mare up the ramp. ‘Amanda, load Blue instead. Hopefully our truck won’t have such negative associations.’

  ‘If she boots Dorian or Johnny, there will be hell to pay,’ Kristen said to Jade, unfortunately in Corina’s earshot.

  ‘I’m sorry she’s such a witch!’ Corina said, upset. ‘But there’s nothing I can do about it. She’s a sweet jumper and fine with people — she’s just stink at making friends.’

  Seeing Corina’s embarrassment,
Kristen and Jade felt bad.

  ‘She might be fine with our two,’ Kristen said quickly. ‘Try not to worry about it. I’m sorry I made a fuss.’

  By some miracle, Kristen was right. Whether it was the smell of the Lewises’ better-quality hay, or the example of blasé Dorian, who, already loaded on the truck, was resting a hind hoof and munching on the lucerne, or the fact that she was now the only horse left standing in the driveway, Medusa pulled herself together at last and trotted up the ramp.

  ‘You’d better get a clear round, you dog!’ Michaela shouted to the horse as she put the ramp up. Jade could tell Michaela was joking, but poor Corina’s face had turned greenish-grey. She climbed into the cab of the truck, then twisted around to look through the back window, keeping an eye on the horses.

  As the trucks departed in convoy, Mr Parry’s yearlings in the paddock next to the driveway cantered after them along the fence line, graunching to an untidy halt when they reached the roadside.

  The team hadn’t driven far before they joined a procession of floats and trucks. ‘Everyone seems to be going to the Champs,’ Jade said nervously.

  ‘You just wait until we get there,’ Michaela said, grinning. ‘It’ll make the Flaxton Show look like a tiny gymkhana.’

  Twenty minutes later, when they were unloading the horses, Jade saw what Michaela had meant. She felt suddenly small and shabby. At least Dorian looked at home here, Jade thought, with a pang of guilt for betraying Pip.

  Instead of gazing around at the ponies, parents, riders and many shiny vehicles — let alone the terrifyingly professional-looking courses in the distance across the paddock — Jade set to work on Dorian, constantly watching out for her irritable teeth and hooves. Jade was glad of the cosy, familiar zone between Becca’s truck and the Lewises’. Parked just far enough apart so that the tied-up horses weren’t in kicking distance of each other, the trucks formed a little house. Becca’s mum had even set up a picnic table in her truck — after the horses’ droppings had been removed, of course.

  Becca was fixing one of Dusty’s plaits that had come unrolled during the journey. Satisfied with Dorian’s gleaming silver coat and sufficiently tidy plaits, Jade gave the pony a quick kiss on the eyebrow before joining her friend.