Hot Potato (5 page)

In the afternoon Erin and Shelby met Lindsey in the
feed shed at the stables. 'My mum's got a hair appointment
in a little while,' Lindsey told them. 'We can work
Bess in the arena.'

Lindsey and Shelby made up the evening meals
while they waited for Mrs Edel to leave. Erin sat on an
upturned feed bucket. One of the feed-shed cats – a
cinnamon-coloured Burmese – sprawled across her
lap, belly-up, with its tongue poking out. She stroked
its tummy and it purred so loudly Shelby could hear it
from the other side of the shed.

'Did you make the file?' Erin asked.

Lindsey nodded. 'This morning when Mum was
riding Diablo.'

Mrs Edel had a warmblood stallion. Shelby had
been scared of him at first because he was so grand and
powerful, but she was getting used to handling him now.
She changed his rugs when she worked in the mornings.
He was so tall that she had to stand on a crate.

Mrs Edel had asked her to hold Diablo the last time
Clint trimmed his feet. Being a barefoot specialist, Clint
always took a long time with his measuring tools making
sure the angles and proportions were right. Diablo was
restless and Shelby had been worried that he might
charge straight over the top of her, but Clint taught
her how to shake the lead rope to get the big stallion's
attention. After that she felt much more confident.

She still didn't know how Lindsey's mum had the
courage to actually ride him.

'I was so worried that she would come in and see,
but it's all done now. I made up a fake address. Mum
usually sends me to the post box with the monthly
invoices, so I can always fish out the bills that are for
Gwen. And if I miss one then it will be returned to
sender anyway. I also put in Erin's mobile number.
Her voice mail is an automatic one.'

'Good thinking,' said Shelby. She put her hand in
her pocket and felt a small piece of paper there. She
drew it out to see what it was. The fifty-dollar note –
she had forgotten about it.

Lindsey had seen it, so Shelby handed it across as
though that was what she had meant to do all along.
'This is for you.'

'I'll bring mine tomorrow,' Erin promised.

When they combined their efforts they made the
feeds up much more quickly – even when they were
laughing – and before long they were tipping the
buckets into the bins in the stables.

Mrs Edel emerged from her office and crossed the
driveway to where the girls were working. 'Going
now, love. Here's the phone.'

Lindsey put the cordless phone in the pocket of her
sleeveless riding vest.

'Have fun. Don't forget to buy me a treat,' said
Erin, waving as Lindsey's mum climbed into her ute.
Mrs Edel shook her head as she slammed the door.

Once she was out of sight the girls grinned at each
other. Erin agreed to finish putting the dinners in the
stables while Lindsey and Shelby rode out to the back
paddock to collect the pony.

The two girls doubled on one of the riding school
horses – a big, old, grey Percheron gelding. His real
name was Beaumont, but Lindsey always called him
Blockhead because his head was so huge.

Shelby had to climb up on the fence to reach his
back. Once aboard she wriggled backwards so that
Lindsey would have room. He was so much broader
than Blue. She felt like she was sitting on a barrel.

When she was settled Lindsey handed her the
bridle that she and Erin had used on the pony the day
before, and they set off.

There were two sand arenas at the stables. The
larger one was set up with jumps, while the small one
closer to the stables was used for flatwork, or dressage
training. That was where Miss Anita usually held her
classes and trained horses, although she wasn't there
today.

On the way to the back paddock they saw that
both arenas were occupied. Some of the older girls
that Shelby didn't know well were in the jumping
arena. Hayley Crook was riding one of her show
horses in the dressage arena, while her mum sat in a
plastic chair in the middle and yelled at her.

'Tighten up those reins. Sloppy! Push him out. He
looks like a plough horse. Elbows, Hales! You're not
skiing!'

The horse Hayley was riding was called Scamp. He
had been away at a trainer's further up the Gully, and
Shelby hadn't seen him working since he came back. She
asked Lindsey to stop at the fence so she could watch.

Scamp was a small, dark, bay thoroughbred with a
zigzag stripe running down his face. Shelby admired
the way that he picked up all his hooves neatly, the
athletic way he used his whole body, and yet Hayley
sat so still on him you would think she was sitting on
a rocking horse.

With his white saddle blanket and white boots he
looked like a proper dressage horse on television.
Hayley cantered in a smooth arc and then, as she
crossed the middle of the arena, she asked him to yield
to her leg – trotting on an angle. His legs criss-crossed
over each other. The skin on Shelby's arm raised in
goose flesh as she watched him dance across the sand.

She had thought Hayley's other horses were special,
but Scamp was a class above.

Shelby wondered if she would ever have a horse as
magic as that. Probably not, she decided. For the same
money the Crooks had spent on Scamp she could have
five halfway good horses that she could train herself.
Hayley Crook lived in a different world altogether.

Hotty may not be as fancy as Scamp, but she could
almost be as good as Hayley's show pony, Echo – once
they had taught her some things and rugged her so
that her coat was short and shiny.

When Hayley saw Lindsey and Shelby she halted
at the fence. Scamp stood square with his neck arched
and crunched on his bit. Flecks of foam dropped out
of his mouth.

'How long are you going to be?' Lindsey asked.

Hayley rolled her eyes. 'Forever! Mum's on a rampage.
Where's Blue? Are you guys going out on a trail?'

'Not this afternoon,' said Shelby. 'One of the
agisters has asked us to ride her horse. It's going to be
a show pony. You should see it. It's beautiful. We're
schooling it.'

'You are?' Hayley asked.

Shelby nodded, and then she blushed. Now that the
words were out they sounded ridiculous. Especially
when Hayley knew Shelby didn't even have riding
lessons. She hadn't trained Blue to do anything special
either.

'We're just getting it started,' she amended.

Mrs Crook interrupted. 'There'll be plenty of time
for talking later. Chop, chop, missy!'

Hayley grimaced and then said, 'Catch you after,'
as she pushed Scamp into a loping canter.

Lindsey waited until she got further down the
laneway before she spoke. Shelby could tell she was
cranky because her shoulders were stiff. 'Why did you
say that?'

'She asked. I had to tell her something.'

'You could have said that we're going down to the
back paddock. You didn't have to be specific.'

'I'm sorry, OK? You don't need to get grouchy.'

Lindsey shook her head. 'You can't just say
whatever comes into your head, Shelby.'

'Why does it matter?'

'Because, you nitwit, everyone talks around here. If
Hayley tells her mum, and Mrs Crook tells other
people that you and I are doing schooling then it will
get back to Miss Anita. She'll be angry, thinking we're
trying to steal business away from her, and she'll go
somewhere else. Half our clients only agist here
because they want Miss Anita's training.'

'Oh,' said Shelby. She didn't think Miss Anita
would take them any more seriously than Hayley
Crook, but Lindsey seemed genuinely worried.
'Hayley won't say anything if we ask her not to. Let's
go back now and tell her it's a secret.'

'That's even worse!'

Shelby huffed. 'What do you want me to do?'

'Don't do anything. If anyone asks we'll just say
Hayley got her wires crossed. It won't matter because
Bess will be gone soon anyway.'

They rode along in silence to the end of the lane.
Shelby looked across the paddocks where horses
grazed, or dozed under stands of trees – nose to tail,
flicking away flies for each other. Two buckskin
ponies stood shoulder-to-shoulder on either side of a
fence and scratched each other's backs with their
teeth.

Blockhead took long swaggering strides. Shelby
leaned back, resting her weight on her hands on the
top of his rump. She knew his flank was behind her
foot and she was careful not to touch it with her heel.

'We'll ride in the round yard,' Lindsey said as
Shelby slid down to open the gate.

The round yard was at the very back of the riding
school ponies' paddock. It was part of the original setup
on the property, before Mrs Edel had the new
stables and arenas built. Nobody went down there. It
was fenced off, because the structures were rickety
and unsafe.

Shelby was disappointed. What was the point of
having a fancy new show pony if no one could see it?
Especially since she wouldn't have her for long, if
Lindsey got her way.

Then again, maybe Lindsey was right. It was
turning out to be much harder keeping Hotty a secret
than she had imagined. She had assumed Erin would
be the blabbermouth, but Shelby had already talked
too much. She'd told her mum and dad one thing, and
Hayley another. They'd told Clint something different
altogether.

Shelby decided that from now on she wouldn't say
anything to anyone before she remembered what she'd
said to whom.

Shelby watched Lindsey canter away along the laneway
on the big Percheron. The new pony was standing
next to her and they were alone at last. She slipped the
bridle on.

'Hello, little one,' she said, brushing the pony's
forelock back from her eyes. 'You and I are going to
be best friends. How about that?'

The pony sniffed at Shelby's hand, her nostrils
dilating. Shelby thought she was the prettiest pony she
had ever seen. She should be in one of those horse
calendars you get for Christmas.

She ran her hand down the pony's nose and tried
out her name. 'Hotty. What do you think? Hotty is
your favourite name, isn't it? Much better than Bess.'

Normally when she hopped on Blue without a
saddle she jumped up so that her tummy was across
his back, and then she would swing her right leg over
his rump, but she didn't know Hotty enough to
predict how she would behave, so she led her to a
nearby stump and used that as a mounting block. The
pony didn't move and, once she was settled, Shelby
patted her on the shoulder. She gathered up the reins
and squeezed gently with her legs. 'Come on then,
little one.'

As they made their way up the laneway the pony
nodded her head and picked up each of her hooves
deliberately, covering the ground like a much bigger
horse.

'Maybe you would make a nice harness horse?'
Shelby said. She recalled how her father always teased
her about putting Blue in front of a sulky. She made a
mental note to joke with him when she got home, but
then she remembered Hotty was a secret.

It was a shame because things had been strained
with her dad ever since Blue had squashed his vegetable
garden, and it would have been good to find
some common ground to ease the tension.

Shelby relaxed into the rhythm, enjoying the
scenery and allowing her mind to wander. Since she
had started helping with the trail rides, she had ridden
lots of different horses, including Blockhead and
Cracker – a little fiery barrel of a pony. There was a
flea-bitten grey mare called Penelope who was
Shelby's current favourite of the riding school horses.
She had a very elongated back, which made her oddlooking,
but Shelby liked her gentleness. Clint called
her his 'long friend'.

Lindsey's mum said that her riding was getting
better. Shelby had hoped to start lessons with Miss
Anita, but she had to fit around Miss Anita's regular
clients, and as the days grew shorter it was looking
less and less likely, at least until the next school
holidays.

Shelby imagined what it must be like for Miss
Anita. In the afternoons and on weekends she held
lessons, and during the weekdays she trained horses.
Shelby wondered what it would be like to actually be
paid to ride other people's horses. What a dream job!
She hoped she could do that when she left school.

Along the way she rode past a car with a family
inside. Shelby didn't know who they were, and
assumed that they either owned one of the horses in
the spelling paddock, or they were having a look
around with a view to agisting here in the future.

There were two little girls in the back seat, both
about four or five years old. They leaned over the
windowsill and stared at Hotty. She heard one of
them, eyes wide, say, 'Did you see that lady on the
horse, Mummy? She looked like a princess!'

Shelby waved to the girls and felt her face flush
with pride.

Halfway along the laneway Shelby turned left,
through one of the paddocks – empty at the moment –
and headed towards the round yard. She couldn't see
it yet, because it was hidden by a row of conifers.

Across the paddocks Shelby could see Erin and
Lindsey walking side by side from the stables. Lindsey
had a stock saddle over one arm. It must have been
heavy, because every now and then she would swap
arms.

Before long Shelby had reached the round yard.
She slid off and stood at the railing, stroking the
pony's neck while she waited for her friends.

'How did you go?' Erin asked.

Shelby shrugged. 'We just walked up from the
back paddock. Nothing special.'

While Lindsey saddled the pony Erin and Shelby
exchanged a smile, each knowing that they both
thought everything to do with this pony was pretty
special.

'You want to go first?' asked Lindsey.

Feeling quite confident now, Shelby shoved her
foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the pony's
back.

At first the pony moved sideways. Shelby thought
she had swung too far, because she seemed to be leaning
on the far side. Then the pony hitched up at the front,
lifting her forelegs off the ground. Shelby tried to slip
her foot into the stirrup on the off-side, but she couldn't
find it, and she was still leaning alarmingly to one side.
She kicked for the stirrup, but missed.

The pony tucked her head between her legs and
flicked her heels up at the back. Shelby was thrust
forward. It was all happening too quickly for Shelby
to register. She grabbed a handful of mane, crouching,
trying to find her balance.

The pony arched over and bucked, once, twice,
three times, with an impressive twist, and Shelby
found herself flat on her back on the dirt several
metres away.

It didn't hurt, she was only winded – a sensation
she had experienced many times before, and yet every
time the numbness across her shoulder blades and the
dull, aching, hollow feeling in her chest made her
panic just for a moment. She waited for the first deep
breath and the stinging air rushing back into her
empty lungs. Then she waited for a sharper pain that
might indicate a break or a graze, and was relieved
none came.

Hotty raced around the yard kicking, pigrooting
and bucking with such ferocity that Shelby was
worried she was going to flip right over.

Shelby sat up and the pony headed straight for her,
ears flat to her head, teeth bared. Shelby put her hand
over her face, turning away. She could feel the whoosh
of air as Hotty sailed over the top of her, grazing
Shelby's elbow slightly with her hind hoof.

'Get out of there, Shel!' Lindsey bellowed.

Shelby scrabbled backwards to the fence on the
heels of her hands.

The pony ran straight towards the fence, skidded,
and at the last second spun sideways. Her hind legs
slipped and she slid on her side along the dirt, sending
clouds of dust rising.

As Shelby watched the pony rolled over. She heard
a loud
crack!
and when the pony scrambled up again,
the saddle slid off her back. The girth had snapped,
and guessing by the curious bent shape of it, the tree
of the saddle was broken as well.

Hotty trotted to the opposite edge of the yard from
Shelby, snorted and stood still with her reins hanging
down from either side of her mouth.

All of the girls stared at each other through the
dust still floating in the air.

'What on earth was that?' Erin said.