by Kelly Wilson
She tried bribery. “I’ll do the dishes every night for a year,” she said. When that didn’t work, Kelly and Amanda helped her hide dozens of handwritten notes around the house for Mum and Dad to find, outlining all the reasons why they should let her save Casper. The first dozen she hid between plates in the kitchen cupboard; others she left under her parents’ pillows and taped to food in the fridge.
Her dad laughed as he pulled a note off a bottle of milk he’d just opened at breakfast. “I’ve always dreamed of owning an Arab, ever since I read The Black Stallion. Buying Casper would make that dream come true,” he read out. “That hardly seems like a good reason to buy a troublesome pony. You’re going to have to come up with something better than that, Vicki.”
Vicki rolled her eyes. “No problem, I have plenty more where that came from!”
Shuffling through the pile of plates, she grabbed another note and read it out loud.
“My instructor at Pony Club said it’s the difficult ponies that have the most to teach us. I will learn a lot from training Casper and be a better horse-rider because of it.”
Her parents looked at each other, momentarily lost for words. Vicki could see that this reason at least had impressed them, and crossed her fingers.
“You’re like a broken record,” Dad said at last, taking a sip of his coffee. “But we’re not buying Casper. That’s final.”
“That pony needs me,” Vicki said adamantly. She finished the last mouthful of her breakfast, and rose from the table. “I’m the only one who sees the potential in him.”
Chapter 4
The Money Plan
ONE AFTERNOON, ON THEIR WAY home from school, rain pelted against the windows of the car and the window-wipers swished back and forth frantically. Wanting to delay getting saturated doing chores, Vicki rushed straight to her room and grabbed her piggy-bank. She’d talked over her pony problem with Stella during the lunch break and had come up with a great idea.
Shaking out the coins, she settled down and began counting. She’d been saving up for over a year now. If she could afford to buy Casper herself, surely then her parents would have to let her have him?
“Twenty-six dollars,” Vicki whispered as she jotted down a simple maths equation. “That means I still need another … two hundred and twenty-four.”
She racked her brain thinking of ways to earn more money, and soon had a very short list.
How can I make enough money to buy Casper?
Sell horse manure — $4 per sack
Pull weeds out of the paddocks — $1 per sack
As Vicki stared at the sheet of paper, her sisters rushed into their little shared bedroom. She snatched up the list and hid it behind her back — but not quite fast enough.
“What are you hiding?” Kelly asked suspiciously.
“Nothing.” Vicki avoided her sisters’ gaze. “Just homework.”
“Why have you emptied your piggy-bank?” Kelly asked, her eyes trained on the piled-up coins.
Defeated, Vicki sighed. “I was hoping I’d have enough money to buy Casper, but I’m not even close.”
Amanda perched on the edge of her bed, her eyes focused on her own piggy-bank on the windowsill. “You can borrow my money.”
“Mine, too,” Kelly offered. “I was saving up to buy a velvet helmet, but rescuing Casper is much more important.”
Vicki smiled gratefully as they lifted their piggy-banks off the windowsill. The rain continued beating against the window-panes, almost drowning out the sound of her sisters emptying their piggy-banks onto the bed.
“I’ve saved thirty-one dollars,” Kelly said proudly.
“How much do I have?” Amanda asked.
“You’ve got fourteen,” Vicki said when she’d finished counting. “With all our pocket money together it’s a big help, but I’ll still need nearly a hundred and eighty dollars. I thought I might be able to sell sacks of horse manure or pull weeds to earn the rest of the money.”
“That’ll take ages,” Amanda groaned, and began grabbing handfuls of coins and slotting them back into her piggy-bank.
Vicki sighed. She knew her little sister was right. They’d been pulling weeds and selling bags of manure for as long as they could remember, but between the three of them they’d only managed to save seventy-one dollars.
“I have an idea,” Kelly said, suddenly sitting up. “If you buy the ribbons, I could make you some show browbands to sell.”
Just a few months earlier Kelly had saved them all a lot of money by making each of their ponies — Cameo, Dandy and Charlie — show browbands for the Royal Easter Show. Her browbands looked so good nobody had known they were homemade.
“They sell in shops for one hundred dollars each, but even if we charged only half that amount, we’d be able to afford Casper in no time.”
“Really? You’d do that for me?” Vicki asked. It took her sister a couple of hours to make each browband, so it would be much faster than any of her other ways to earn money.
“We could ask Dad to teach us how to make rope halters, too,” Kelly said, her voice rising in excitement as she held out a hand for the pen and paper. “The one he made for Dandy when he was wild is even better than the ones from the horse shop.”
Vicki watched as Kelly scribbled on the list, then passed it back for her to look at.
How can we make enough money to buy Casper?
Sell horse manure — $4 per sack
Pull weeds out of the paddocks — $1 per sack
Make and sell show browbands — $50 each
Make and sell rope halters — $15 each
As she read over the list, Vicki felt the tension leaving her shoulders. Having enough money to save Casper suddenly seemed within her grasp.
“Now we just need to convince Mum and Dad,” Vicki smiled, unable to contain her optimism. “Then head into town to buy ribbons and rope.”
“Can I help pick the colours?” Amanda begged.
Ten minutes later, Vicki and her sisters were pulling on their gumboots, heading out on the farm in search of their parents. A storm was brewing, and the girls found them moving jumps and collecting buckets in case the river flooded. A quick glance showed it was already threatening to burst its banks.
“You girls need to get your ponies out of the back paddock,” Dad yelled above the wind. “If the rain is as heavy as they’re predicting, it’ll be underwater by morning.”
Forgetting about their plans to make money, Vicki and her sisters ran to the tack shed and grabbed halters. As they sloshed through the mud in search of their ponies, Amanda ran ahead, slipping and sliding in the puddles. Her laughter was contagious, and soon Vicki and Kelly joined in. By the time they reached their ponies, they looked like mud monsters, and Dandy took off at a canter when he saw them.
“You’re a silly boy,” Vicki said fondly. She wiped the mud from her face and followed after him. Soon she had Dandy caught, and the girls led him, Cameo and Charlie, along with their mother’s pony, Jude, along the river’s edge and up the hill to a more sheltered paddock.
After feeding all their animals, Vicki headed back to the house, careful to leave her muddy clothes in a pile by the door. She hurriedly showered and dressed in her pyjamas, then waited impatiently in the kitchen for the rest of the family.
At last, everyone was clean and dry, and while her mother cooked dinner, Vicki was finally able to broach the subject of their plan to save Casper.
“Kelly, Amanda and I have put together all our savings and we have seventy-one dollars,” she began, twisting the tablecloth nervously in her hand. “If we can earn the rest of the money by ourselves, we were wondering if you’d let us buy Casper?”
Silence filled the room. As soon as she dared, Vicki looked up to see that Mum had stopped stirring the gravy, wooden spoon poised in mid-air as she made eye contact with her husband. Kelly and Amanda were hovering with eyes as big as saucers.
“It’s a lot of money to raise,” Mum said finally, and resumed stirring.
“It’ll take a lot of hard work.”
“We’ve never been afraid of hard work,” Vicki reminded her. “We’ve already made a plan for how we’ll earn the money.”
“I’m going to make browbands to sell,” Kelly said tentatively. “And we were wondering, Dad, if you’d teach us how to make rope halters as well.”
Vicki glanced at her dad, and was relieved to see his expression softening. “I’d love to teach you how to make rope halters. You’ll pick it up in no time and it will be a good money-earner.”
As Vicki watched, her dad gave her mum a questioning look, and caught a barely perceivable nod. Hope filled her.
“Mum and I have been talking about it all week, and although we don’t think buying Casper makes any sense, we actually admire your passion and determination—” Dad began.
“You have to let us buy Casper!” Amanda interrupted. “I’m giving Vicki all the money from my piggy-bank. I’d saved it up to buy a slingshot.”
Holding up a hand, Dad quietened Amanda. “I wasn’t finished,” he said. “If you can raise the money, and if Casper hasn’t sold by then, you can have him.”
“Yesssss!” Vicki yelled, giving them both a hug. “You’re the best parents in the world!”
“Don’t get too excited,” Mum warned. “Dad and I are hoping someone else will have bought him by then, so we don’t have to!”
Chapter 5
The Final Dollars
THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS passed slowly, even though they were filled with chores. Every spare minute the girls had was spent weeding the paddocks, picking up horse manure to sell and making rope halters. Kelly also made a show browband for one of their friends who wanted one.
“We’ve run out of weeds to pull, and we still have sixty-seven dollars to earn,” Vicki said one day as they scoured the paddocks. Her shoulders stooped when she saw only grass and clover remained. The longer they took to earn the money, the more likely that Casper would be sold — or worse.
“How about we see if you can give pony rides on Charlie and Cameo at the local market on Saturday?” their mum suggested at dinner that night. “Those two love children, and a morning’s work won’t hurt them.”
Nodding eagerly, Vicki and her sisters waited as she made some phone calls.
“It’s all sorted,” Mum smiled at their expectant faces. “We have to have the ponies there by 7 a.m. and we can lead people around the car park.”
“We better make some signs,” Kelly said, and began collecting sheets of used cardboard and marker pens.
Soon Vicki had written out the signs, and Kelly and Amanda set about colouring in the letters. When they finished they sat back and admired their handiwork.
PONY RIDES, $2 FOR 5 MINUTES
Vicki suddenly clapped a hand to her head. In her excitement, she’d forgotten that the ponies hadn’t been ridden for the past month. “We’d better give Cameo and Charlie a ride first, to make sure they’ll behave!”
Saturday morning finally arrived, and Vicki rose some time before the sun. The days were now dawning much later, and she wanted to have everything perfectly ready. Hurrying outside, where her breath frosted in mid-air, she packed the signs and Charlie and Cameo’s gear before catching her sister’s ponies, removing their blankets and brushing them until their coats shone.
“I’m so lucky you two are quiet enough for strangers to ride,” Vicki chatted to the ponies as she worked. “Dandy and Jude would never be patient enough for pony rides!”
At 6.30 a.m. her sisters appeared outside, bundled into coats and scarves and looking dishevelled and sleepy.
“Mum says it’s time to load the ponies on the truck,” Kelly yawned.
Twenty minutes later they had arrived at the market. Once Cameo and Charlie were saddled, Vicki carefully set up their handmade signs by the entrance, pointing people in the right direction.
Soon they had their first customers. Vicki carefully pocketed the coins, knowing that with each pony ride she was a couple of dollars closer to saving Casper. As she and Dad carefully led the ponies with their riders around the car park, little children started pointing at the ponies and pulling their parents over to join the growing line.
For the next three hours Cameo and Charlie walked around and around the car park tirelessly, and the pile of gold coins grew bigger and bigger.
Finally, the market came to an end and the stall owners began packing up their stands. Grabbing a gold coin, Vicki rushed over and bought Cameo and Charlie some carrots as a reward for being so patient and gentle with all of the kids.
When she returned, Kelly, Amanda and their mum were grinning like idiots.
“We made over a hundred dollars!” Amanda cried. “Way more than you needed to buy Casper!”
Vicki froze, unable to believe it. Slowly she turned to her mum, her eyes questioning. Her mum nodded.
“As soon as we’re home, you can ring up and see if he’s still available.”
Chapter 6
Home Sweet Home
AN HOUR LATER THEY WERE HOME. Once the ponies were back in their paddocks grazing, Vicki rushed into the house to call Casper’s owner. With trembling fingers, she dialled the number.
“I’m calling about Casper,” she began, as soon as the lady answered. “Is he still for sale?”
“Yes, he is,” she replied.
Vicki breathed a sigh of relief. “My family came out and tried him three weeks ago.”
“Were you the nice family with the three girls? I remember that Casper let you brush him.”
“Yes, that’s right. I’m Vicki. I’ve finally saved up enough to buy him. Would it be possible to pick him up this afternoon?”
“Really?” Casper’s owner replied in shock. “What time? I’ll have him caught and waiting.”
“We can be there in half an hour, if it suits?” Vicki said, pretending not to notice that her parents were frantically shaking their heads.
Hanging up the phone, Vicki danced around the room with her sisters. “Casper’s coming home!”
“It’s a twenty-minute drive,” Dad scolded her. “There’s no way we’ll have the truck ready to leave in ten minutes.”
Vicki put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for weeks — I can’t bear the thought of waiting even a minute longer.”
Dad looked at his daughter’s determined face for a moment, and then chuckled. “You’d better hurry then,” he said. “Run down to the shed and grab a halter. We’ll meet you at the truck.”
Just as the owner had promised, Casper was tied up to the rail and waiting for them when they arrived. As soon as the truck stopped, Vicki jumped out and ran eagerly over to him.
“I told you I’d be back,” she said, reaching out to pat his chiselled head. Casper’s eyes glinted, and he flattened his ears in warning. Vicki ducked backwards to avoid being bitten. It wasn’t the reunion she had dreamed of. “I guess we’re not friends yet,” she said ruefully.
“Give him time,” Mum encouraged her.
Dad narrowed his eyes as he watched Casper. “He couldn’t possibly get any worse, that’s for sure. Let’s get his halter changed then load up, so we can be home before dark.”
Vicki changed Casper’s halter carefully, quickly moving out of reach every time he swiped at her with his teeth. Fear flickered in her stomach as she realised there was a real chance that Casper could injure her.
“Come on, boy,” Vicki whispered to the pony, as she led him over to the truck. “You’ll like living with us.”
To everyone’s surprise, Casper leapt eagerly on the truck and soon the ramp was closed.
“This is for you,” Vicki said to his owner, as she passed over the money she and her sisters had saved. Suddenly it felt real. Casper was finally hers!
“Promise you’ll be careful with him,” the lady cautioned. “I’d feel awful if he hurt you.”
“I will,” Vicki promised her. “But I have a feeling he’s going to be fine. We’ll be friends in no time.�
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“For his sake, and yours, I really hope that’s true. He deserves to be happy.”
For the entire drive home she wondered about Casper’s future, trying to imagine what he’d be like a year from now. When she’d been taming Dandy, and training Cameo for Kelly, she’d been able to visualise them winning ribbons and jumping at competitions. But for Casper, the future looked cloudy.
Then, as they pulled into their driveway twenty minutes later, she suddenly saw it clearly: Casper trotting towards her with his ears pricked, standing contentedly while she scratched his neck. In that moment, she realised something. Casper didn’t have to be a champion in the competition arena; in fact, he didn’t even have to be ridden if it was something he hated.
“I just want you to enjoy life,” Vicki told Casper as she led him down the ramp, keeping the rope short so he couldn’t pull away from her. Casper didn’t seem reassured by this, however. Waving his head wildly, he looked around at his new surroundings. When he saw the other ponies in the front paddock, he neighed out desperately, fighting against Vicki as he tried to join them.
“Where are we putting him?” Vicki asked her mum, tightening her grip on the rope.
Mum thought quickly and turned to her second daughter. “Kelly, why don’t you run down and catch Cameo and we’ll introduce them to each other. Your pony is so calm and steady, and if they get along, Casper might be more relaxed grazing with another pony.”
“He won’t have seen another pony in almost a year,” Vicki realised. “Oh Casper, how lonely for you.”
When Kelly approached with Cameo, Vicki kept a close eye on her new pony, who was tugging on his lead and trying to inch closer to the placid, steel-grey mare. The ponies reached out their heads to say hello to each other.
“Just be careful they don’t kick each other, or strike out and get you with a front hoof,” Mum cautioned. But instead, Casper nickered softly and nudged Cameo repeatedly. Cameo seemed less than impressed, but patiently tolerated the new arrival’s attention.