Beginner's Luck (5 page)

On Saturday morning Shelby saddled Blue and set out
to the meeting point at the back gate of the stables. It
was a mild day so she had decided to wear her dark
green jodhpurs and a black tee-shirt. Blue's tobiano
hide would be difficult to disguise, but at least she
would be a little bit camouflaged when she tried to
sneak away.

Shelby hummed the whole way. Her whole life was
going to be better after today. She had a little vision of
how it was going to be.

Her parents would drop her off each morning and
she'd walk between the stable blocks. All the people
would smile and say hello, and she would wave back,
not as a visitor, but as one of them – a paying
customer.

Just beyond the arenas were the spelling paddocks.
Blue would be there waiting for her. He would be the
most popular pony and all the other horses would
want to hang out with him near the dam, or under the
shelters.

Lindsey's mum would call to her from the office
window. 'Morning, Shel.' She would call her 'Shel'
because they would be so familiar. 'Can you take
Diablo's rugs off?'

'No problem,' Shelby would say.

Standing seventeen hands, Diablo was massive and
scary, but also shiny and beautiful. Lindsey's mum
never let anyone else handle him – not even Lindsey –
and Shelby didn't really want to either. She had always
feared that he would pin her to the side of the yard,
squash her flat and stomp all over her, like an industrious
cook with a meat tenderiser – but not in this
daydream. This morning she imagined that he would
become gentle and responsive to her, and they would
form an unbreakable bond, like in
The Black Stallion
.

Stallion owners would come from all over Sydney,
and then New South Wales, and then the world, to see
if she could help tame their feral monster stallions,
and she would go to them (always flying first class,
until she got her own jet), and hold out her hand. The
stallions would be nervous at first, but she would look
them in the eye, and they would become trusting and
compliant.

They would do a special on her on
Today Tonight
,
and Naomi Robson would ask, 'Shelby, why is it that
you can tame any horse that you come into contact
with? Is there a special technique that you use?'

Shelby would blush. 'No, Naomi. It's not something
that you can learn. I suppose it's a bit like
telepathy. I think I was born with it.'

Then Naomi would look into the camera with an
admiring and slightly surprised expression on her face
that told the audience she'd had a conversation with
someone unique in the world.

After that her teachers would never bug her about
handing her assignments in on time because they
would understand that she had a special gift, and an
obligation to share it.

The back paddock was crowded with horse trucks
and floats in raggle-taggle rows. They were different
from the kind she had seen at the horse shows. Many
of them had open tops, like cattle trucks, and the
horses tied to the sides were in stock or western
saddles. They didn't look like show horses either.
There were Arabs, stock horses and chunky quarter
horses. Their reins weren't buckled in the middle but
long, loose rope reins, hanging down on either side of
their shoulders.

The saddlery had set up shop in a marquee near
the fence, and beside that there was a caravan serving
coffee and ready-made sandwiches in wedge-shaped
plastic packages. Not far away there was a three-sided
tent with a barbecue inside. There was a man setting
out red, brown and yellow sauce bottles with white
squirt tops on a table to the side.

Near the gate there was a fold-out table with a hand-written
paper sign taped to the front, saying
'Gully
Riders' Club. Entry forms and raffle tickets here'
. Two
ladies were handing out clipboards, collecting people's
entry fees and selling raffle tickets. There was a pile of
disposable cameras on the bench, which the ladies were
handing out to each of the contestants. Shelby tied Blue
in the shade of a tree and then stood in line.

At the front of the queue there was a man in an
Akubra hat arguing about wearing a helmet.

'I don't even own a helmet!' he protested.

'No helmet, no entry,' said the lady. 'Go and buy
one. The saddlery's over there.' She pointed to the
marquee.

'Yeah? And what sort of a payback are you
getting?'

The woman shook her head. 'It's about insurance,
Dave. We can't hold these events without it.'

When it was Shelby's turn at the table she saw the
man marching away from the saddlery marquee with a
white skullcap strapped to his head. His face was red.
He kept his eyes to the ground, and covered one side
of his face with his hand.

The lady raised an eyebrow at Shelby. 'Better to
die of embarrassment than severe brain damage.' She
handed Shelby a clipboard. There was a pen tucked
under the clip. 'Take this to your mum or dad to fill
out.'

'They're not here,' Shelby said. 'But they said it
was OK.'

'You have to be over eighteen or have a parental
consent form,' said the lady.

Shelby didn't know what to do. Her plan was
about to fall apart. She was out of ideas and running
out of time.

'It's not fair!'

'Jeez, they're all feisty today,' she remarked to the
other lady. 'You can still buy a raffle ticket, darl,' she
said.

'No,' said Shelby. 'I need to win the thousand
dollars.'

The lady laughed at her. 'Nobody wins
those
prizes. It's just cheap advertising. You're not going
to find the Matchstick Town. It doesn't exist. It's a
metaphor.'

'A what?' asked Shelby.

The woman sighed. 'Everybody knows this is just a
fundraiser for the club.' The lady picked up one of the
cameras. 'We use these photos for our newsletters and
the website.'

'I want to enter properly, just in case,' said Shelby.

'Then go and get a signature. I'm sorry, but I can't
talk to you any more. There are people waiting.'

Shelby took the clipboard and walked away. She
saw Lindsey standing near the caravans and moved
towards her, glad to see a familiar face. 'You won't
believe it. They won't let me enter. I need a permission
slip.' She rubbed her forehead with her hand.

'It's no biggie, Shel. Why are you so worried? You
can ride through the Gully any day of the week.'

Shelby scuffed the ground with the heel of her
boot. She could tell Lindsey why it was so important.
Of all people, Lindsey would understand the most.
But Lindsey and her mother weren't rich like the
Crooks either. Lindsey might have things that she
wanted to buy too, or problems that a thousand
dollars would fix. What if it came down to a race?
Even putting the money aside, would their friendship
survive a for-real contest?

Lindsey was a better rider than Shelby, especially
out in the bush, and she had eighteen trail riding
horses to choose from. If it did end up in a battle
between them, Lindsey would win.

Shelby shrugged. 'I don't care really. I just thought
it would be fun.'

'Why don't you ask Mrs Crook to sign it for you?
She's down at the stables.'

'That's a great idea!' Shelby ran back to where
Blue was waiting and rode him across the paddock to
the stables.

Mrs Crook was in her tack room. Shelby explained
her predicament.

'Don't look at me!' Mrs Crook said, brushing her
hands together. 'I think the whole thing is a recipe for
broken bones. You've seen them. Those blokes go out
there and flog their horses half to death, over bushes
and through puddles of muck, and for what? No, my
dear. You're best to keep away.'

Mrs Crook had only one idea about horse riding
and that was to bundle horse and rider up as tight as
a knot and have them run around in circles. Shelby
liked showing, but she enjoyed trail riding too. She
knew that Blue had a ball out there in the bush and
perhaps the Crooks' horses might have some fun too,
if they were given a chance.

All she was asking for was a little scribble. Shelby's
mum had given her permission, so who was Mrs
Crook to say that she couldn't go? Shelby wanted to
jump up and down and shout, but instead she nodded.
'OK. Thanks anyway, Mrs C.'

She tucked the clipboard under her arm and
headed back towards the starting point. When she got
to the end of the laneway she pulled the pen out from
under the clip and scrawled
'Marie Shaw'
over the
dotted signature line. Shelby knew that her mum
would have signed it if she had been there.

It was another lie, but there was no way Shelby
was going to let Blue become a riding school pony
while there was still a strong chance for her to make
things different.

Seventy-three riders entered the Matchstick Town
Challenge. Shelby was beginning to think that Erin
had forgotten, but as all of the horses were lining up
near the gate she saw Bandit trotting across the back
paddock with Erin onboard, waving and grinning.

Shelby and Lindsey stood at the gate with their
horses side-by-side, waiting for Erin to join them.
Lindsey was frowning. She asked, 'Hey, Shel, if I said
"Ida" would that mean anything to you?'

'What?' Shelby asked. She wondered if Ida was a
band, or a singer. Maybe Lindsey had been embarrassed
about not knowing Avril Lavigne after all.

Lindsey shook her head. 'Doesn't matter.'

'Phew!' Erin said as she pulled up between Shelby
and Lindsey. 'I nearly didn't make it.'

Lindsey was riding an energetic chestnut barrel-on-legs
named Cracker. He had a solid crest and a thick
mane on top that stood straight up like a Mohawk.
Shelby guessed he was around 12.2 hands high.
Lindsey's feet hung low beneath his belly.

'I thought you didn't like riding the little ones,'
Erin commented.

'I don't!' replied Lindsey. 'But I have to ride them
all every now and then, otherwise they pick up bad
habits.' Cracker reefed at the reins, trying to reach the
grass beneath his feet. 'Like that,' she added.

At midday one of the organisers opened the gate
and let the contestants through. Some belted off at a
fast canter. Others, like the three girls, dawdled along
behind the horses that had gone through before them.

'Which way shall we go?' asked Shelby. She had
tucked the instant camera into her waistband and it
was digging into her side. Erin had such long skinny
legs and oversized jodhpurs that her camera fitted into
her pocket. Lindsey hadn't bothered to take one, even
though her saddle rug had a pocket in it. Shelby
wished she had one like that.

'Let's go down to the causeway and through the
dippers,' suggested Erin, referring to the tiny peaks
and valleys where the trail ran parallel to the creek
and passed through a number of small streams and
deep puddles. In summer the girls would often ride
there because it was shady and the breeze over the
water made it cooler.

The creek wound right through the middle of the
Gully. Shelby's storm water tunnel was at the far end.
She searched through each of the trails in her mind,
trying to think of a place where she could lose the
other two girls.

They steered around a group of older ladies. Erin
and Lindsey went on one side, while Shelby came
around the other.
I could lose them now
, she thought
.

A lone rider on a leggy thoroughbred cantered up
behind them. ''Scuse me, coming through,' he said.

She moved Blue backwards to allow the rider past.
There were about six horses between Shelby and the
other girls now. 'I'll catch up,' she called out.

'No, we'll wait,' Lindsey answered. She steered
Cracker to the side of the trail and halted. 'We nearly
lost you!' she said, when Shelby had caught up.

'Yeah. Nearly,' Shelby said.

It seemed as though many of the other riders had
the same idea as Erin had, because by the time they
reached the dippers, the water in the puddles was
muddy and foaming across the top.

'We know all the trails, and we've never seen this
Matchstick Town,' Shelby remarked. 'Maybe we
should split up and head straight into the bush.'

'OK. But we can still go together,' replied Erin.

Shelby turned Blue off the trail and straight into the
scrubby bush to the side. The two other girls followed
in single file. Shelby dropped the reins and held out her
hands to move the branches away from her face. Blue
kept his head low and his ears back, winding between
the trees along the path of least resistance.

Under the horses' hooves the twigs snapped and
crackled. As they brushed past the branches, hard
little berries and spiky seeds fell from the trees,
lodging between Shelby's legs and the saddle. She tried
to sweep them off, but she could feel them burying
further into the fabric. When she looked up again Blue
had just ducked under a particularly thick branch. She
shoved at it with both hands, but it was more rigid
then the others. She managed to squeeze past it, but it
ripped a small hole in the sleeve of her shirt and left a
graze on her shoulder.

'Blue!' she scolded. It was hopeless. Shelby
couldn't lose the others while she was in front.

'Lindsey, why don't you lead? Blue doesn't like
being in front.'

'He's doing all right. Besides, it's good to get them
used to being in different positions in the group.'

Shelby frowned. If she didn't know better, it would
seem as though Lindsey knew she was trying to get
away. After a while Shelby was covered in scratches,
and with all the ducking and weaving to get around
the trees, they weren't making much progress. Besides,
she hadn't anticipated just how much noise they made.
Even if she managed to move beyond sight of the
other girls, they would probably be able to hear her.
'This is too hard. Let's go back to the trail.' She
turned Blue around and headed back for the trail.

Just when it seemed hopeless Shelby found her
opening. She could hear the drumming of hooves
along the trail behind her. Cracker and Bandit hopped
up and down on the spot. Blue looked interested, but
he wasn't as hyped as the other two.

Around the corner a group of about five young
riders on stock horses came galloping along. Shelby
could hear more of them coming up from behind.

Erin and Lindsey were preoccupied trying to keep
their horses calm. Shelby saw Bandit take off alongside
one of the racing horses. Cracker was bounding
forward too. Shelby whisked Blue's head around and
drummed her heels to his sides. 'Let's go!' she said.

Blue was reluctant, but he trotted along, snorting
and huffing, against the tide of horses galloping beside
him. She reached the corner and glanced over her
shoulder. Lindsey was still in the same place, trying to
contain Cracker while he skipped and pigrooted. Her
head was swivelling as she looked for the other girls.

Shelby slipped around the corner, and just before
she was out of eyesight she could see Lindsey look in
her direction. Lindsey pushed Cracker forward. He
was resisting. He wanted to chase the main group, not
Blue, but Lindsey made him follow.

Shelby could stop now, and let Lindsey catch up.
She could tell Lindsey that the only way to keep Blue
calm was to face him into the herd, and if she didn't
believe it, Shelby could make something up. Lindsey
might think it was strange, but in all the excitement it
would be forgotten.

If she kept going now, Lindsey would know for
sure that Shelby was trying to shake off her friends
deliberately. She might forgive her for it, but she
wouldn't forget. From this moment on, forever and
ever, Lindsey would remember it whenever there was a
question of trust between them. Shelby knew this was
true. She knew something else too. If she didn't get
this day right, it was Blue's last day of freedom.

Shelby squeezed his sides and he bounded into a
canter. 'Come on!'