Comet and the Champion's Cup (3 page)

Issie knew it would be easy to convince Stella–she was mad keen on anything horsey. But sensible, practical Kate was a different story.

“Why is Hester running a riding school? I thought she trained movie horses,” Kate said.

“Ummm…the movie business is having a few hiccups,” Issie said. “Anyway, it's not just a riding school, it's like a camp for horsey kids like us. The riders come and stay at Blackthorn Farm for three weeks over the school holidays and learn to ride…” She saw Kate's hesitant expression. “Come on! It will be really good fun…”

“When do we go?”

“We need to spend the week before the kids arrive getting the camp ready. Aidan is coming with the horse truck to pick us up on Tuesday.”

“That's only two days!” Kate boggled. “Issie, I don't know if I can. Mum will flip out if I tell her I'm going away for a whole month!”

“Please, Kate!” Issie begged. “I know it's short notice, but Aunty Hess needs us straightaway.”

Issie had been desperately worried that Kate would say no. Of course she would be put off by the idea of suddenly changing her holiday plans and going all the way to Gisborne for a month. The problem was, she couldn't imagine going without Kate. Cool, calm Kate was a really good riding instructor; she was brilliant with kids and had loads of patience. All the junior riders at Chevalier Point totally adored her and Kate was always
Avery's first choice to fill in and teach the younger kids if an instructor failed to turn up for a practice session.

Kate looked thoughtful. “Issie, do you think you could get your mum to ask my mum? If your mum has OKed it, she'd have to say yes. Besides, I've stayed at Hester's before and she let me go that time, didn't she…?” Kate was smiling now. “And if I can take Toby with me, how excellent would that be?”

Issie squealed and threw her arms around Kate.

“I knew you'd say yes! Oh, this is going to be so cool!”

The only thing left to organise now was Storm. Issie would miss him so much, but she was sure that Avery would take good care of the colt and Blaze while she was away. Avery had looked after Blaze when she was in foal and Issie was away working on
The Palomino Princess
. She knew that Avery would be more than happy to take care of Storm and Blaze while she was gone. She saw him over by the clubhouse and set off to ask him.

“I can't,” Avery told her. Issie couldn't believe it.

“Issie, you know that normally I would do it,” Avery continued. “The problem is, I was planning to go to
Gisborne myself in a week. It's the Horse of the Year Show. I'm taking Dan and Ben down to prepare their horses to compete in the showjumping. This is the first time Dan will have a chance to compete on his new horse. We've been planning it for ages.”

Of course! How could Issie have forgotten? The Horse of the Year was the biggest event on the equestrian calendar.

Avery looked concerned. “I'm sorry, Issie. I can look after Storm and Blaze for the first week, but then we're trucking Madonna and Max to Gisborne to start training there and I'm afraid that leaves you stuck–unless you figure out a solution.”

Issie was devastated. This completely ruined their plans. She couldn't leave Storm behind with no one to check on him and care for him each day. And she couldn't take the colt with her. There was no way he was old enough to travel all the way to Blackthorn Farm. The trip to Gisborne took most of the day in the horse truck, much too far for a three-month-old colt. There was only one solution, Issie decided. She couldn't go.

“Don't be ridiculous!” Mrs Brown said when Issie met her back at the car and broke the bad news. “Of course you're going. It's all arranged.”

“But, Mum, I can't leave Storm and Blaze alone.”

“I'll look after them,” Mrs Brown said confidently.

“You? But, Mum, you don't even like horses…”

“Oh, for goodness sake, Isadora,” Mrs Brown said. “OK, I think we're all aware that I'm not exactly Pippa Funnell, but it's not like you're asking me to ride at Badminton, is it? I've been around them for long enough now and I think it's perfectly within my capabilities to go and check on your ponies each day. I'll make sure they've got food and water and that Storm hasn't got himself tangled in the electric fence!”

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” Mrs Brown smiled. “They will be just fine, I promise you.”

Aunt Hester was thrilled that evening when Issie phoned her with the good news. “Aidan's quite convinced that this riding-school plan will save our bacon–and I certainly hope he's right,” Hester said. “Is your mum OK about you coming here for the holidays? I haven't ruined any family plans, have I?”

“Mum's been great!” Issie said. “And she talked to Mrs Knight and convinced her to let Kate come. She's even
looking after Blaze and Storm while I'm away.”

“Well, well,” Hester said. “It might not be too late for that sister of mine to turn horsey after all.”

“I know!” Issie said. “I can't believe it's all organised and we're really coming. By this time tomorrow we'll be at Blackthorn Farm.”

“We're nearly there!” Issie pressed her face up against the window at the back of the truck cab and mouthed the words through the glass at Stella and Kate.

“What's she saying?” Kate was frustrated. “I can't hear her through the glass!”

“Issie!” Stella shouted back. “We can't hear you! What are you saying?”

The cab of Aunt Hester's horse truck wasn't big enough for all the girls to fit up front so it had been decided that Issie would travel in the cab with Aidan while Kate and Stella rode in the back.

The girls didn't mind riding in the back. The truck was fitted out a bit like a camper van, with a shower, kitchenette and bunk beds, and it was comfy enough
travelling on the bench seats. Plus, from where they sat, Stella and Kate could keep an eye on Toby and Coco who were travelling at the very back of the truck in their stalls. The girls could see Issie and Aidan too by peering through the little window with very thick glass at the back of the truck cab.

Issie tapped on the glass and tried again. “I said…We're nearly there!”

“Oh, give up, Issie!” Aidan grinned. “They'll figure it out for themselves soon enough. We're about to reach the turn-off.”

The six-hour drive to Blackthorn Farm had somehow seemed shorter this time. That might have been because she and Aidan hadn't stopped talking from the moment Issie got into the truck. There was so much for them to catch up on.

“I haven't seen Nightstorm since he was two days old,” Aidan said, “so that would make him…”

“Three months old!” Issie said. “He's already almost thirteen hands. Avery reckons he'll grow to sixteen-two, and he's so beautiful. He's losing all his foal fluff and he's got the most amazing deep bay coat, with a thick black mane and tail and black points. He looks so cute with his white blaze. He's exactly like his mum in some ways, but
he's kind of like Marius too. He has his own personality though–he's really smart. I taught him to wear a halter in just one day.”

Aidan pushed his long, dark fringe out of his eyes and looked at Issie. “It must have been hard to leave him.”

“Uh-huh,” Issie said. She didn't want to tell Aidan that she had been in floods of tears when she said goodbye to the colt last night. She knew it was only a month, but it seemed like such a long time to be away from him when he was so young.

“Well, I'm really glad you came,” Aidan said softly. Then he realised he sounded mushy and tried to make up for it by adding, “Ummm…cos Hester really needs your help.”

Issie smiled. “Hester says you've been schooling up a few of the Blackthorn Ponies that we caught when we were here last time.”

The Blackthorn Ponies were a wild herd that roamed the hills around Blackthorn Farm. On her last holiday at the farm Issie and Aidan had saved the herd from a cull. Most of the ponies had been sent to new homes, but Hester had kept a few of them with her at the farm.

“That's part of the problem,” Aidan continued. “The cost of those extra ponies adds up fast. Hester has thirteen
horses now–that's a lot of farrier bills and hard feed.”

“So the riding school will cover the bills?”

“Uh-huh,” Aidan said. “We won't make a fortune out of it, but hopefully we'll make enough to keep the farm going until the next movie job comes along.”

Issie looked worried. “And what if another film job doesn't come along?”

“Something will turn up soon,” Aidan said reassuringly. “I'm sure everything will be fine.”

“But, Aidan, what if it's not fine?”

“Well, if things got really tight, I guess we'd have to sell some of the horses,” said Aidan quietly. “Diablo and Stardust are experienced stunt horses–they're both worth quite a lot. But if that's not enough…”

“Then what?”

“Then Hester will have to sell Blackthorn Farm.”

For the first time since they had set off on this trip, silence settled over the truck cab. Issie stared out of the windows at the road ahead and couldn't help wondering if this would be the last time she would be making this journey.

By the time the horse truck came through the narrow Gisborne gorge and began to travel up through the green cornfields towards the high country, Issie had pulled herself
together again. In fact, she was positively filled with resolve.

“You're right. Things will be fine!” she said firmly, smiling at Aidan. The riding school would make enough money–or they'd think of something else. No matter what, there was no way her aunt was going to lose Blackthorn Farm.

Half an hour later, they reached the crest of a very steep hill. To the right, Issie could see the bright blue sea of the Gisborne coastline, and on the left was farmland and forest. Up ahead she could see a gravel road that veered to the left off the main highway.

“We're here!”

Aidan turned off down the private road, slowing down a gear as the truck struck gravel. Issie watched as the trees closed in around her and the truck became cocooned in the dense native forest that bordered the sides of the driveway that led to Blackthorn Farm. Low-hanging pohutukawa branches scraped against the roof of the truck.

“I keep telling Hester we need to prune the trees back to get the truck through,” Aidan said as he heard the
branches scraping the roof above him. “She just tells me to ‘add it to the endless list of things that need doing'!”

A few more scrapes and bangs later and they had emerged into the bright sunlight once more. Issie's heart leapt when she saw the familiar sight of the cherry trees, their white and pink petals falling in a snowy carpet on the circular lawn in front of Blackthorn Manor.

The tumbledown mansion was just as she remembered. The enormous two-storeyed country manor must once have been very grand, but was, she noted with fresh eyes, definitely rickety and in desperate need of a new coat of white paint.

“It must have been horrible being here over the past couple of months. You know, with all those movies cancelling at the last minute.”

“Actually,” Aidan said, “this will sound weird, but it's been great. I mean, yeah, it's been stressful, especially for Hester. But having no film work has meant that I could spend more time riding. I've been doing loads of training sessions on Destiny.”

“Like movie training?” Issie asked.

Aidan shook his head. “Showjumping. Destiny's a natural jumper. He picks his feet up really cleanly and never knocks the rails.”

“How high have you been jumping?”

“He can do about a metre twenty,” Aidan said. “Easily big enough to put him in the prize money.”

“What prize money?” Issie was confused.

“The Horse of the Year Show,” Aidan said. “I haven't asked Hester yet, but I was thinking of entering him in the novice horse class.”

“Do you think he can win?”

Aidan nodded. “Yep–and it's decent prize money too. The Horse of the Year is the richest competition in the whole Southern hemisphere. There's half a million dollars in prize money. If Destiny and I win the novice class, that's worth $10,000.”

“$10,000?”

“There'll be loads of competition though,” Aidan continued. “There are riders from all over the country coming down for it.”

“I know,” Issie said. “Tom is coming down next week. He's bringing Dan and Ben. I think Dan's riding in the novice class too.”

Aidan seemed to go very quiet at this news. When he finally spoke his voice sounded quite different. “That guy Dan. You go to pony club with him, right?”

“Uh-huh,” said Issie.

“And he's, like, a friend of yours?” Issie nodded. Aidan went quiet again for a moment.

“Is he your boyfriend?”

Issie was stunned. She hadn't been expecting this. “No,” she said, “no, he's not.” Aidan looked relieved.

“Hester is probably waiting for us down at the stables,” he said. “We'll drive straight through to unload the horses.” He nosed the truck to the right of the circular lawn so that they swept right past the front door of the manor and headed down the limestone drive towards the stables.

“Issie?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You know what I said before? About me being glad that you were here? Well, I am, Issie. I'm really glad. It seems like ages since I saw you and…” Aidan stopped paying attention to the road and stared at Issie. He was fidgeting nervously with the sleeve of his tartan shirt. “The thing is, I've been wanting to ask you something the whole way down here…”

He was suddenly interrupted by Issie who let out a loud shriek. “Stop the truck, Aidan! You're going to hit him!”

Aidan's foot instinctively went for the brake as he turned to see what had made Issie shout out. In front of
them, galloping straight for their truck, was a pony.