First Fence (Pony Jumpers #1)

CHAPTER 9

“Hi AJ!”

“Hi Oscar. How’s Carrie today? Behaving herself?” I asked, and Carrie laughed.

“He says yes, and he wants you to give him a carrot.”

“I’m all out of carrots today, sorry mate,” I apologised to the fluffy pony, giving his forehead a quick scratch as Squib strained at his halter, trying to get close enough to say hi to his pony friend. “Maybe Carrie will give you a big bucket of feed instead.”

“Not a big bucket, he might get colic,” Carrie told me seriously, her short legs swinging cheerfully back and forth as Oscar closed his eyes, dozing off.

Sandra was walking down the track towards us, one hand clasping Rebel’s rein behind the bit as the pony tossed his head, wanting to catch up with Oscar. Alyssa was making pathetic whimpering noises and clutching the front of the saddle with one hand, and I quickly turned away and pulled down Squib’s offside stirrup.

“Are you going for a ride?” Carrie asked, flopping forward onto Oscar’s short neck and burying her hands in his mane. “We’ve just been to the river. Oscar couldn’t touch the bottom, he had to swim!”

“That sounds fun,” I said as I snapped up the chinstrap of my helmet. “I’m going to my friend’s place for the week.”

“For a whole week?” Carrie’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Are you going for a sleep over?”

“I sure am. And Squib’s sleeping over too,” I added for the benefit of Sandra, who had just come level with us and started snapping at Carrie for leaving her sister behind and upsetting Rebel.

“Mum, Squib’s going for a sleep over,” Carrie said, oblivious to the scolding. “For a whole week!”

Sandra looked at me through narrowed eyes. “Is that right? You do know you’ll have to pay grazing for the week, even if the pony isn’t actually on the property, don’t you?”

I nodded, checking Squib’s girth once more before swinging into his saddle. He surged forward, almost flattening Rebel, who jumped sideways onto Sandra’s foot. As she cried out and swore at the poor pony, I realised belatedly that Squib’s halter was still tied to the fence, but I decided that it was in my best interests to just leave it there. I closed my legs around Squib’s sides and he trotted eagerly up the track and off on our adventure.

“Finally! I thought you would never get here,” Katy cried when I trotted up the driveway twenty minutes later. “Chuck him out in the orchard when he’s untacked, he can hang out with Robin. I’d let him go in with the young ponies but Forbes will play silly buggers and I don’t want either of them getting kicked.”

I turned Squib out with Forbes, then helped Katy mix feeds and distribute them to the ponies. We leaned on the fence and watched Lucas eat, his pale yellow forelock luminescent as the sun set behind the hills, bathing everything in a pink-orange glow .

“He really is the best pony ever,” Katy sighed. “It’s going to break my heart to have to give him back when I age out of ponies. Good thing that’s not for a couple of years yet.”

“Why don’t you ask if you can keep him?” I suggested. “His owner might let you. You look after him really well.”

Katy shook her head. “No way. She’ll want him to go to someone else to compete, or she’ll have him at home. She loves him too. And it’s kind of better this way. If I owned him we’d have to sell him, because it’d be a total waste to have him sitting in the paddock and Mum would be screaming out for the money he’d go for, but then he might end up going to someone horrible and it would break my heart if he got ruined. At least Abby’s rich enough not to have to sell him, and she can always take him back from whoever’s riding him if he doesn’t go well.”