Daisy and Dancer (4 page)

Us three have decided on a gymnastics theme, and in the lesson Jody helped us come up with some ideas for moves, like trotting into the manège twirling ribbons, and bending round cones. Hopefully I'll be OK at it – I mean, I'm not exactly a gymnastics kind of person. When Isabel suggested doing Round the Worlds on just our hands like Kate did I thought HELP! But luckily Jody said no to that straight away. We are allowed to do normal Round the Worlds, though, and we're going to halt our ponies in a diagonal line across the manège and do them all in time with each other, so that should look cool.

We also had a go at vaulting on and off our ponies in trot, by just running beside them and throwing ourselves over the saddle then pulling
ourselves up. Isabel and Rosie made it on after a couple of tries, but I couldn't manage it – my arms just didn't seem strong enough. Also, Dancer wasn't that keen on me suddenly launching myself at her and she kept skittering sideways, which didn't help. So we're going to leave that out. PHEW! I really don't want to fall off and look silly in front of everyone!

Sasha and Libby might put the vaulting move in
their
routine, if they get more confident at it, but they aren't sure at the moment. I hope Isabel and Rosie don't feel annoyed that
we
aren't doing it just because of me, though. Oh, I'm sure they don't, they're so nice, and we're doing loads of other cool things.

After tea we all hung out in the games room, having turns on the table tennis and dance mats and stuff, and Sasha and Libby worked out this hand jive dancing bit they're going to do in their display.

While we were waiting up here in our room for the shower to be free, Isabel and Rosie were trying to show me how to do a handstand properly (as in just in the air, without leaning your legs on a wall). They've got an idea that we could all dismount at the end of our display and do them in the manège. They can go upside down and stay there for ages, but even
with
the wall I'm not very good – my legs just slide down one way or the other after about a millisecond. I'm going to practise in every spare minute, though, so I don't let them down.

Oh, gotta go, I can hear Jody on the stairs. Goodnight!

Isabel and Rosie have gone to the tack room to look through the box of show ribbons, to make the twirlers for our display, but I wanted to stay here in the kitchen and catch up with my diary. Jody says we can try out the ribbon twirling in our lesson this afternoon, but that if the ponies spook we won't be able to do it. I'm worried Dancer is
definitely
going to freak out. I hope she doesn't because I don't want to let my friends down and be the reason why we can't have ribbons in our display (especially as we're
already
not doing the vaulting on because of me).

My mind's whirling round and round with all these thoughts now, and I'm getting more and more nervous about the display. 

This morning was really fun – up until our lesson, that is! First we got the ponies in and brushed them down (Dancer came trotting straight up to me again and I was SO proud!). Then we did a fitness workout – Sally had us doing laps round Sunnyside and running to the different markers in the manège. We all got the giggles during that, and Millie and Stephanie ended up having to lie down on the woodchips because their knees had gone weak from laughing so much!

I helped Isabel and Rosie tack up again – only with a couple of little things this time because they're really getting the hang of it now. They still said lots of thank yous though, and Lydia said well done to me for being so helpful! Dancer chose just that moment to nuzzle into me, so I couldn't stop grinning. I gave her a big
hug and told her how fab she is, and how I wished she was my own pony!

It wasn't until our lesson went so badly that I started to get this nervous feeling. Here's what went wrong:

1. There's this bit in our routine where we get our ponies trotting down the long side, and then stand up in the stirrups and hold our arms out. We started with just a few strides of it and then tried to move up to nine or ten, but I could
   not
   get my balance and we had to keep starting again. I found myself saying “Sorry, sorry,” to everyone because Isabel and Rosie could do it straight away, and also Sasha and Libby were waiting to practise their latest move and I felt like I was cutting into their time.
   
2. Dancer wouldn't stand still while we were doing our Round the Worlds – she kept walking forwards and I nearly fell right off! Also, it's even harder to do the handstand in the manège because your hands sink into the woodchips and put you off balance. Well, it is for
   me
   , anyway. Isabel and Rosie didn't seem to find it any more difficult. Help! I couldn't even do it in our room, and now it's even trickier!
   
3. I'm already worrying about the ribbons bit, even though we haven't tried it yet. At lunch just now, I wanted to say something to Isabel and Rosie about how I feel, but they were really excited about it and everyone else was saying what a fab idea it was, so I stayed quiet in the end.
   

Oh, they're back with the ribbons, so I'd better stop writing now and go and help make the twirlers.

We’ve been swimming this evening and us three were first in the shower, so now we’re lying on our beds in our PJs writing in our diaries while everyone else has their turn. Then we’re all going down for our hot chocolate and to listen to some of Jody’s CDs and find a bit of music to go with our routine. I bet Isabel and Rosie are writing about how brilliantly this afternoon’s lesson went (because it did go really well – for
them
) and about how much they’re looking forward to doing our display on Friday. I’m glad they can’t see what
I’m
writing, because the truth is that now I’m most definitely not looking forward to it
AT ALL
.

After lunch we went back out on to the yard and had a talk about points of the horse
(well, pony!), colours and conformation, and then we went round looking at all the ponies and horses in the barn and stables to see what colours and markings we could find.

Everyone was chatting excitedly as we walked round, but I just started to feel smaller and smaller and quieter and quieter, and the horrible nervous feeling was getting stronger. I couldn’t stop thinking about the ribbons and how Dancer might react. Isabel asked if I was OK, and I said yes and tried to smile more and join in after that, but inside I felt worse and worse.

By the time we walked our ponies into the manège for our lesson I was
really
nervous. Dancer seemed jumpy too – she even skittered about in the warm-up, and bolted off across the manège a couple of times when she was supposed to be trotting round the track. That made my heart pound even more, and when Jody got the ribbons out for us three to have
a go at twirling I was absolutely dreading it. We started off holding the ribbons by our ponies’ sides as we walked around the track, just to get them used to it, but even then Dancer kept snorting and swishing her head and stepping sideways away from the ribbons. I didn’t think she’d like them – and I was right!

“Daisy, sit up straight, look ahead and be confident,” Jody called. “Dancer needs you to show her that there’s nothing to be scared of, but you look like a bag of nerves yourself.”

I wanted to say, “Well, that’s because I feel like one. I can’t get anything right in this stupid display and I’m going to let everyone down and make an idiot of myself in front of loads of people.” But of course I didn’t. Instead I just nodded and bit my lip hard because actually, to be honest, I felt like crying.

Everything fell apart after that. Dancer wouldn’t halt when we did the Round the
Worlds, so we ended up right behind Rosie instead of nicely spaced out. And I could only do four steps of the trotting with my arms to the sides, even though we had about ten goes at it. And my handstand isn’t any better than this morning.

It didn’t help that Libby and Sasha’s routine looks fantastic (they’re vaulting on and off, and doing the hand jive while trotting now, when at first they thought they’d only be able to manage it in walk). And when I looked over into the other manège, Millie and Stephanie were in hysterics – they can’t juggle
at all
at the moment, never mind on horseback, but it didn’t seem to bother them. I wish I could just laugh about the things I can’t do, like they were, but I couldn’t. I didn’t see Lara and Brooke’s routine, but from what they were saying at tea it sounds
amazing – they’ve got walk to
canter
in it, and even some leg yield! When I heard that I really felt stupid, because I’m the only one who’s struggling.

Jody must have noticed how upset I was because she held me back at the end of the lesson and asked if I was all right. I said
yes
, but she then said, “You know, Daisy, you were so nervous when you came out here this afternoon, it’s not surprising that things didn’t go well. Dancer’s looking to you for leadership – she’ll have more confidence if you have a positive attitude. OK?”

I smiled and nodded, but inside I still felt like crying.

“Good girl,” said Jody, “and don’t worry, we all have off days and there’s still plenty of time to turn things around before Friday.”

She was being really nice, but I still felt awful!

When I got back to the barn with Dancer, Isabel and Rosie put their arms round me and asked what was wrong. For a moment I nearly told them the truth about how I feel, but instead I said I had a bad headache. They told Lydia I wasn’t well, so while everyone was doing yard jobs, she let me stay in the barn and I had a big cuddle with Dancer.

“Oh Dancer, I’m sorry I’m so hopeless!” I sighed. “I just can’t seem to get anything right in our routine. None of it’s your fault, of course. I know I’m not a good enough leader to make you trust in me and that’s why you’re getting so spooked. I’m letting
you
down as well as Rosie and Isabel!”

She whinnied gently and nuzzled into me as if to say she didn’t mind, which was sweet, but I still feel bad that she’s not having much fun.

“The problem is, I know what’s wrong, but I have no idea how to fix it,” I said then. “I mean, I can’t suddenly become really good at gymnastics and be able to do all the moves by Friday, can I? And I can’t ask Isabel and Rosie to change what we’re doing – if we lose the ribbons and handstands and trotting with
arms-out
bits from our routine it’s going to look completely boring!”

Dancer whinnied again and gave me a big nudge with her nose, and I knew she understood. I love her SO much! I wish I could be like everyone else, just really enjoying practising for the display and looking forward to Friday. It’s all anyone’s talking about and it’s so hard to make myself smile and join in. Oh, what am I going to do?

Gotta go, Isabel’s spotted something outside and she’s calling us to the window. What’s going on…?