Greener Pastures Page 5

  'We have a birthday party today. Four little girls and one dad.'

  So that's why she was smiling! Four little girls were easy. Sometimes they had groups of older girls who thought they knew all about riding, but worse were the grown men who behaved like yahoos and wouldn't listen to what the girls said.

  They were so strong, and they always acted as though the horses were playing up when they weren't. Those men wanted to make it look like a battle so they would seem tough to their friends. Shelby always worried about the school horses' mouths. Once or twice she had seen bruises on their sides the next day from men kicking them too hard.

  'Apparently one of the girls is really scared. Do you mind?'

  'No, that's fine. My Blue will look after her.'

  Some of the school ponies were quiet because they were lazy, like Scooter; some were quiet because they were old. Hiccup was one of those. Others knew that the humans they were carrying didn't know what they were doing, and so they would ignore the human altogether, and just settle in behind the horse in front, putting one foot after the other until they were back in their paddock again. Blockhead was like that, and he was big and solid too, which made him the perfect dad horse.

  A few of the school ponies were quiet so long as they knew what to expect, but if something unforeseen happened, like a car backfiring, or a plastic bag caught in the wind, they could spook. Cracker was that type. Lindsey always put more experienced riders on him.

  Blue wasn't like any of those horses. He seemed to take pride in the fact that he was responsible for a beginner. He was like a grandfather to them – listening to what they asked for, and only doing it if he thought they were ready.

  Soon the girls arrived. The birthday girl's face was flushed with excitement.

  'I love horses so much,' she said, breathlessly, as Shelby boosted her onto Cracker's back.

  'Me too,' Shelby said, smiling.

  The dad lifted the scared girl onto Blue's back, and she gripped on to the front of the saddle with both hands. As the pony took a step forward she screamed. Blue looked at Shelby over his shoulder, wondering if he was in trouble. 'You're all right,' she said to him.

  The dad must have thought she was speaking to the girl, because he added. 'Yes, you're OK, but you can wait here if you want.'

  The little girl shook her head. 'I just don't want to go fast, that's all.'

  Shelby pointed to Hiccup. 'That's your pony's best friend, so you two can ride together. You'll be fine.'

  While the girls got acquainted with their mounts in the yard, and Lindsey went over the basics, Shelby saddled a roan horse of about fifteen hands that she hadn't ridden before. His name was Siete, which means seven in Spanish.

  The group set off towards the farthest paddock. Lindsey and Shelby had devised a number of routes through it, including a figure eight and a serpentine, both of which they could do in reverse. Mixing it up stopped the horses from getting bored, and the girls too.

  Shelby kept Siete at the rear of the group while Lindsey rode Lyrical at the front. Usually by the time they reached the back boundary fence of the property, even the most frightened riders had relaxed a bit, but the scared girl was still rigid, and her knuckles were white.

  The poor thing is not having a good time, Shelby thought. She was enjoying Siete. He was a smart, easygoing horse who responded promptly to leg aids. He wasn't the best-looking horse, but she would use him again.

  They rode past the herd of broodmares. Several of them had foals. The group stopped to watch them play for a while. One of the colts bounced around with his short tail in the air like Pepé Le Pew, and the girls were delighted.

  Soon they reached a gently sloping straight. Lindsey took the two more confident girls and the father for a canter, and Shelby stayed back with the other two. She was pleased to see that Blue and Hiccup behaved perfectly, even when the others raced out of sight.

  Shelby knew Lindsey would be taking them in a long loop around, and she expected them to be cantering up behind them any time, but after a few minutes there was no sign of them.

  Siete was getting restless. He tried to reef the reins from Shelby so he could eat. Hiccup had already done so and was grazing at the edge of the track. Blue knew better. He stood at the edge of the trail with his eyes closed, content to doze.

  The scared girl unclamped her hand from the pommel for a moment to stroke his neck.

  After five more minutes Shelby turned Siete around. She didn't want to alarm her two companions. 'OK. We'll meet up with them back at the corner,' she said, as if that had been her plan all along.

  As she rounded the bend she saw Lindsey kneeling on the ground next to the birthday girl, who was crying. The dad was squatting on the ground too, and one of the other girls stood nearby holding Lyrical, Cracker and Scooter. Blockhead was standing in the middle of the track with his reins dangling on the ground in front of him.

  'What happened?' Shelby asked. This was the worst part of the job. Of course, she was concerned about the little girl, but she also worried that they would sue. All the riders signed waivers, but every time she saw tears Shelby wondered if this would be the fall that would shut down the business.

  'It's all right,' said Lindsey. 'We've just had a bit of a spill.' Lindsey gave her a tense smile and Shelby could tell that her friend had been thinking the same thing.

  The birthday girl wiped her face and soon Lindsey and the dad were helping her to her feet. To Shelby's relief, she walked over to Cracker and climbed straight back on again. She seemed more embarrassed than afraid, or hurt.

  Shelby glanced over at the scared girl's face. She was still gripping on to Blue's saddle tightly, and her face was solemn.

  The rest of the ride was uneventful. Back in the yard all the girls slipped off their horses, complaining about their sore legs, but still smiling.

  'This is the best birthday ever!' the birthday girl said. She grabbed Cracker's head and planted a kiss in the middle of his face.

  The scared girl followed suit, and soon all the girls were kissing their horses.

  Blue gave Shelby a look, as if he was saying, Kids! What can you do?

  Erin came over to collect the girls. They had reserved the barbecue area for lunch, and Erin had offered to help the dad set up the food he had brought.

  'Are you coming?' she asked Shelby.

  'I'm going with Hayley to visit Smarty.'

  'Oh.' Erin looked disappointed. Shelby wasn't sure if it was because Erin had hoped Shelby would stay to help, or because Hayley hadn't invited her too.

  'It wasn't planned or anything,' Shelby told her. 'I kind of gatecrashed it.'

  'No biggie. I'm going to be busy anyway,' Erin said. 'C'mon, everyone, there's a cake up here with somebody's name on it.' She grinned. 'I know that's an expression, but there really is!'

  8 A Serious Horse Person

  As the four-wheel drive headed west Hayley slipped the new Delta Goodrem CD into the player, and the three of them sang along together. One of Shelby's favourite things about Mrs Crook was that she knew all the latest songs. Shelby could never imagine singing in the car with her mum. She always listened to Radio National. Sometimes it was interesting, but most of the time they were talking about something really random like classifying galaxies, or coups in South Pacific nations. Snore!

  After a few minutes Mrs Crook turned down the volume. 'What shall we call this foal?'

  'Don't you want to see what he looks like first?' Shelby asked.

  'I think Quicksilver, if he's a grey,' Hayley said.

  'What about Hooroo?' Mrs Crook suggested.

  'As in, goodbye?' Hayley asked. 'Isn't that, like, a death wish?'

  'Wish is nice,' Shelby said.

  'It has to be something strong.'

  They all lapsed into silence while they thought. Mrs Crook slowed the car as they passed through a tollbooth. The e-tag on the windscreen beeped.

  'What about Bravo? If it's a colt,' Shelby offered.

  'Yeah! It m
atches Echo and Ditto,' Hayley said, referring to two other horses she had owned back when Shelby first met her.

  'Bravo it is,' Mrs Crook said.

  'Shouldn't you wait to see if it looks like a Bravo?' Shelby asked again.

  Hayley explained. 'It's just for the registration papers. It will be Wanada Park Bravo. If the foal doesn't suit Bravo we will give it a nickname. We might not keep it for long anyway. Cheryl will probably sell it for us as a yearling.'

  Mrs Crook shook her head. 'She's mad, that woman. You know she has seventy ponies? Seventy!'

  Hayley peeked over her shoulder at Shelby. 'Next she's going to say, "She literally has more ponies than you can poke a stick at."' Hayley did an excellent impersonation of her mother's voice.

  Mrs Crook pointed an imaginary stick. 'Thiry-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven . . . damn, I lost count! One, two three. . .'

  Shelby started to giggle. 'Don't you think it's funny, Hayley?'

  'Yeah, the first time,' her friend replied. 'She says that every single time we come up here.'

  Shelby gazed out the car window. More ponies than you can poke a stick at! That had been her dream not so long ago, but now she wasn't so sure. How many was the perfect amount of ponies? You needed more than one, because if one was lame or sick you would still have another horse to ride. Also when people asked, 'How many horses do you have?', you needed to say more than one, because otherwise the person might make the mistake of thinking it was just a hobby, and Shelby wanted to be recognised as a serious horse person.

  You would need at least one fancy competition horse, but three was too many to keep in show condition when you had to go to school as well. You would also have Hayley's problem, which was that she couldn't ride them all if their competitions were on at the same time. Two competition horses then, she decided, and Blue to muck around on – assuming that she decided to keep Blue. Three horses sounded pretty serious.

  Three horses on her ten-acre property. She had learned so much from the Edels about how she wanted to set up her own place, when the time came. She could probably even take one or two horses on agistment. She could keep Bandit for Erin since she couldn't see Erin buying her own horse place.

  But all of that was a long way away. She really wanted three horses now. If only she could convince her parents to let her have even one other horse. They never would.

  Thinking about her parents reminded her of their decision to go to London. So far she'd been doing a pretty good job of pretending it wasn't happening.

  'How is Echo anyway?' Shelby asked.

  'We saw him at the All Breeds Show a few weekends ago. He won supreme gelding,' Mrs Crook answered. 'He's doing very well, but he only has a few more years left in him. His hocks already looked as though they were stiffening up. Didn't you think so, Hales?'

  Her daughter nodded.

  'Don't you miss him?' Shelby asked.

  'Nah,' Hayley said. 'We've known the people we sold him to for years. They have a really nice place. They're good competitors.'

  Shelby stared at her friend. How could she be so offhand about it?

  'Your trouble is that you're too sentimental, Shelby,' Mrs Crook said, glancing at her in the rear-vision mirror. 'Echo was too small for Hayley. Better he go to a home where he suits the rider. He's very happy there.'

  'But. . .'

  Mrs Crook cut Shelby off. 'It's arrogant to think that you're the only one who knows how to look after an animal. Echo's new owners are perfectly capable.'

  Shelby was embarrassed. Mrs Crook wasn't talking about Echo at all. She was talking about Blue.

  Shelby took a deep breath. 'Someone has offered to buy Blue for ten thousand dollars.'

  Neither Hayley nor Mrs Crook even blinked. They were used to trading in horses for those kinds of sums. For Shelby it was so much money that it didn't seem real.

  'Do you want to buy Scamp?' Hayley asked. 'He'd be a good size for you.'

  Hayley's small thoroughbred was amazing, but for some reason Hayley didn't like him as a person. She'd been trying to talk her mother into selling him for ages.

  'We could sell him for nine and a half, don't you reckon, Mum?'

  'Who are you going to ride?' Shelby asked.

  'Mrs Edel has asked me to start a filly by Diablo.'

  Shelby wondered why the Crooks hadn't come to that sort of arrangement with Mrs Edel before. The Crooks would have a free lease and free agistment. Mrs Edel would get her stallion's prodigy out there competing, and probably winning, which would increase the value of all of the young stock.

  'You definitely need something bigger, with a bit of an education. Even something like Erin's Bandit would be good for you,' Mrs Crook told her.

  Shelby murmured vaguely. The Crooks seemed to be assuming that she had already made the decision to sell, as if it wasn't even worth pondering for a while. She had been without Blue before and it had broken her heart. It had given her nightmares.

  This time would be different. She would know where he was. Shelby would be able to visit him whenever she wanted to. But there was no guarantee that Zeb would keep him forever. What would happen if he decided to sell Blue? Shelby would never be able to gather enough money to buy him back. Who knows where he could end up?

  Here she was thinking about it again when she had promised herself she wouldn't.

  On the other hand, Shelby had to accept the reality that she could only have one horse, and if she wanted to be a serious horse person and seriously compete she wasn't going to be able to do that on a small, ageing paint pony.

  She could wait until she was old enough to buy her own horses, and then she could have as many as she liked, but that was years and years away. Meanwhile, other girls like Hayley would be going from horse to horse, to bigger and better achievements. Shelby would be left far behind.

  The truth was, Mrs Edel would never give Shelby a horse to start because she didn't think of Shelby as a serious horse person.

  Nobody was ever going to think of Shelby as a serious horse person as long as she owned a beginner's mount.

  9 A Jenny Craig Paddock

  Out of the side window Shelby saw a sign: 'Wanada Park Pony Stud'. Mrs Crook flicked on the blinker and they pulled into a driveway lined on each side by conifers. For most of the way the trees obscured the view, but in the gaps she saw tantalising glimpses of ponies grazing. She tried not to press her face against the window. She thought that would look too impatient.

  The driveway swept around in a curve and Mrs Crook pulled up behind a shed, which contained horse trucks and floats of differing sizes and states of disrepair. The two girls climbed out and stretched their legs.

  Cheryl's house was old and in need of a paint, but it must once have been beautiful, with scrolled timber work around the windows and gables. It was surrounded by a formal garden, now overgrown and scrappy. Roses clawed their way up the window frames and lavender bushes escaped their rock boundaries, reaching across the lawn.

  As the front door opened a pack of dogs ran out to greet them. There were three shabby-looking terriers with pink stains around their eyes. Two long-haired border collie crosses had green-coloured stains on their shoulders which looked and smelled suspiciously like fresh horse poo. A young great dane, clumsy on her long legs, gambolled ecstatically, splattering the girls with strings of drool.