Poppy and Prince (5 page)

I thought Sally would be cross with me, but instead she just laughed and said, “Well! I thought
I
was the riding instructor round here,
but I must have got it wrong. It’s obviously Jennifer!” That made me giggle, but then she went all serious and added, “Only do things when you feel ready, Poppy. And, as I said before, trust Prince. If you’re relaxed and confident and he understands what you’re asking for, he’ll always try. He’s a wonderful pony.”

I ruffled his mane and said, “I know. In fact I wish he was really mine and I could take him home after the holiday.”

Sally patted his shoulder. “Oh, no,” she said, “you can’t have him. He’s got an important job to do here, helping riders find their feet again. You’ll always love him, I’m sure, but you won’t always need him.”

I nodded, but I don’t believe her at all. I can only ride patient, perfect Prince. There’s no way I could manage on any other pony. The thought
of getting on fiery Pepper makes me shiver!

Sally led Prince into the middle again, and even though I was the only one not having a canter, I didn’t feel so bad after what she’d said.

Oh great, it’s time to prepare for afternoon lessons! Even if I can’t canter, caring for Prince really cheers me up!

Tuesday, before tea

I CANTERED!

It wasn’t very good, but at least I actually did it!

It was the afternoon lesson and after Tess and Lucinda had cantered to the back of the ride, Sophie went round and she did really well. Then it was my turn. “Good luck, Poppy,” I heard Sophie say from behind me. It made me feel better to know she wasn’t still upset with me. Still, my hands were trembling and I felt sick. I made myself pick up rising trot then sat down at the corner but I didn’t use my legs to ask for canter, so of course I didn’t get it.

“Never mind,” called Sally. “Go rising down the long side and try again at the next corner…”

I nodded and went rising. At the next corner I sat again and this time I slid my outside leg
back. Prince made the transition, but as soon as he did I had a complete panic and tensed up. I was bobbling about with my hands too high and my feet shooting forward, and I started feeling like I was going to fall off again. Poor Prince didn’t know what to do with all the mixed signals so he cut off the corner and dropped back into trot. Sally called out, “Good try, Poppy! Right, we’ll end there, I think!”

And that was it. It wasn’t very tidy and it was only for a few strides, but I actually cantered! It’s a long way from here to show jumping comps, of course, but it’s a start!

Our afternoon lecture was about “points of the horse” – markings, colours, conformation and all that. We had this really fun game in two teams where we had to pick out the right colour and marking cards for these made-up ponies the other group described. All the girls were acting normal with me again, and Jennifer
was quieter than usual and looked a bit sheepish.

I have this feeling Jody may have had a talk to them when I was in the loo before lunch. When we had to pair up to go round the stables and note down all the different markings we could find, Sophie grabbed my hand and said, “Bags I’m with Poppy!” which felt really lovely.

I still haven’t actually spoken to Jennifer, though. And she hasn’t spoken to me – but at least it doesn’t feel like everyone’s against me any more.

Tuesday,
in bed after lights-out

I’m using Millie’s torch to see the page – hee hee! I just wanted to quickly write down that Jennifer and I are talking again.

At the table tennis tonight, Johnny put me and Jennifer together as a team – I think that was his sneaky was of trying to make us be friends.

At first I pretended that I had a twisted ankle and couldn’t play, but after a while I got really into it (I can get very competitive, according to Mum!). In the end, I forgot that I was in a mood with Jennifer, and then when Jody brought the drinks out we started properly talking.

Of course, it was mainly Jennifer telling me how wonderful she normally is at table tennis and how she wasn’t that good tonight because
the table was the wrong kind, but at least it was better than frosty silence. I haven’t exactly forgiven her, but staying in a mood won’t make my holiday much fun either. Still, there’s no way I’ll ever tell her a secret again!

Tomorrow we’re taking a trip to an actual ranch to meet Western Bob, who’s going to teach us about Western riding. I’ve never done it before and I think it’ll be really cool! Time to get some sleep now, so I’m ready to be a cowgirl!

After our morning pony care and a lecture on feeding and stable management, it was time to get in the minibus. And the best thing is two Sunnyside ponies are coming with us as they've been trained in the Western style. One is Fisher, Amanda's pony, and the other is … PRINCE!

None of us have ever done Western riding before, so we are all madly excited. Jennifer just now said she's seen some on TV, on
The Stables,
so of course she's acting like a complete expert – and scaring the younger girls by saying we'll have to gallop around lassoing huge cows! But Millie laughed and said she'd been loads of times and of course we won't! I'm stopping writing now as Jennifer is peeping over my shoulder.

What a fantastic day – and I loped (that’s Western for cantering!). I’ve offered to go last in the shower so I can hang around up here and write in my Pony Diary. I’m desperate to get everything down before I forget one tiny detail because Western riding is AMAZING!

And Western Bob was brilliant, too! I didn’t think he’d actually
look
Western, but he did! He wore a checked shirt and jeans with worn-in brown leather chaps that had fringes down the side, and a cowboy hat. He even
sounded
American.

First he introduced himself and asked all our names, then he explained that we were going to have a talk about Western riding, a
Western-style
riding lesson, and then a cook-out with Western mounted games afterwards. It sounded great and we all got even more excited!

We went into the barn and the ponies and horses were all in their own pens. Jody and Lydia unloaded Prince and Fisher from the trailer and Western Bob showed Amanda and I where to put them. With his beautiful piebald coat, Prince fitted right in with the Western ponies! Then Western Bob showed us the different tack they use in Western riding and how to tack up on this lovely pony called Nickle, who was an Appaloosa. He had amazing striped hooves and was really friendly. Western Bob told us that Appaloosas were first bred by native American Indians too
– so Nickle really is a wild western boy!

There was this funny bit where Western Bob said, “Then secure the throatlatch,” and Jennifer called out, “You mean throat lash,” just like that.

“No, I mean throatlatch,” said Western Bob, with a twinkle in his eye. “That’s what we call it in Western riding – as I just told y’all!”

Jennifer got a bit sniffity then – she likes people to think she knows everything.

Then we played a really fun game called Quick Draw where Western Bob pointed to parts of the bridle and saddle and we had to go in pairs and beat each other to saying their Western names. I was up against Millie and she kept pretending to draw pistols on every go and saying things in a Western voice. In the end we had to abandon our turn because we were laughing so much.

After that, it was time to tack up our ponies. Western Bob had some special tack for Prince, which he brought over and hung on the railings of the pen.

I said, “Wow, it’s amazing that you have the perfect tack to fit Prince.”

Western Bob smiled and said, “Well, I’ll tell you a secret – Prince used to live here before he went to Sunnyside.” He patted Prince’s neck and added, “We’re old buddies, aren’t we, fella?” Prince snorted happily – he likes Western Bob as much as I do.

So at least one of us knew about Western riding – phew!

The Western saddles were really heavy and we worked in pairs to swing them over our ponies’ backs.

I thought we’d wear cowboy hats like Western Bob but we had to wear our normal crash hats that we’d brought with us. Then it
was time to mount up and get moving!

It was really cool because instead of Group A and Group B we were all riding together because we were ALL beginners at Western riding.

First of all we walked around learning the new way of sitting and the different aids. The stirrup felt bigger and wider round my foot than normal and you have them very long in Western riding, so it felt like my legs were dangling way down. The steering is quite weird too, because you have to do neck reining, and none of us could get it right at first. You’re not meant to pull on the bit but instead you use the reins against the pony’s neck to turn him. Also, you’re supposed to hold the reins in only one
hand, but as we were beginners we started off with two. Even then we were all messing it up by moving our reins too far across, so we ended up twisting in the saddle and pulling our ponies’ mouths. We were all going the wrong way, except Amanda, who seemed to be a natural, and Millie, of course, who’d done it before. But the ponies were lovely (Prince was a star as usual) and we started getting the hang of it in the end.

Then Western Bob asked us all to dismount and re-check our girths, which are called cinches in Western riding. We all stepped down because the high cantle makes it impossible to swing your leg over and jump, but Jennifer tried to do just that and got stuck halfway!

Everyone was giggling and she looked really cross.

April said, “But I thought you knew all about Western Riding, Jennifer. That’s what you said in the minibus.”

Jennifer finally struggled out of the saddle and down to the ground. “Yeah, well, this is a different
style
of Western,” she muttered.

I saw Western Bob smile knowingly at Jody but he didn’t say anything. I liked him even more then.

Then we tried sitting to the jog, which is like sitting trot, only slower than normal. I really enjoyed it and I wasn’t bouncing around at all, unlike poor Sophie and Tess! Also, I felt really safe with the high cantle and horn around me. Western Bob said I had a good seat and asked me to show the rest of the group how it was done. Everyone gave me a clap afterwards and I went red again, but this time with happiness.