Hide and Seek (10 page)

'Sit back. Push into your seat, now ask for canter. No! You're leaning forward! You shifted your balance. See how you made her trot really fast? Do it again. Sit down. Now, just think canter. That's it!'

Shelby pulled her shoulders back and lifted her chin, enjoying Penelope's rocking-horse canter. It was so much nicer than Blue's, but they were both getting tired. They had been doing trot/canter transitions all morning. Still, it felt good. She was improving.

'OK, trot at B,' Miss Anita said, indicating the letter at the edge of the dressage arena. 'Sit trot. No rising. That's good! You didn't lose her head that time. Canter again at E.'

Shelby gathered her reins, sat down hard and thought, 'Canter!' Penelope sprang forward right on the mark.

'Perfecto!' Miss Anita said. 'That will do for today. Good work, Shelby.'

Shelby slowed Penelope down and walked around the arena on a loose rein.

'Thanks, Miss Anita, I enjoyed that,' Shelby said, as she jumped down. She brushed her hair away from her face, thinking of the question she had been forming in her mind since the night before. 'I was just wondering, would you ever use a hard bit?'

Miss Anita stroked Penelope's neck. 'Not on the flat. You want to drive them forward into the bit, not hold them in at the front. For cross country or jumping I would. You need to be able to shorten the horse's stride in an instant. You can haul on their mouth, and eventually get a response – maybe too late – or you can use a strong bit and stop right now. It's about safety.'

'So you think there is a place for it?' Shelby asked.

Miss Anita nodded. 'Spurs, whips, bits – they all have a place. I don't think you should use a harder bit yet. You will get to a certain level and you'll need more advanced aids. It's like any tool – in the hands of an expert you can get things done more quickly and safely, but an amateur will do damage. You're not ready yet.'

They walked out of the arena together.

'What about shoes?' Shelby asked.

Miss Anita smiled at her young protégée. 'In an ideal situation you would keep horses barefoot, in a herd and travelling over varied terrain twenty-four hours a day. It stimulates the blood flow, which makes for healthy feet. We can't achieve that here, but we get as close as we can.' She nodded in greeting to various clients as they walked down the laneway towards the stable block.

'So, when would you put shoes on a horse?'

'Personally? I wouldn't.' Miss Anita paused, thinking of a way to explain. 'If you keep your horse in a confined space for twenty-three hours a day and then ask it to perform on a hard surface for one hour, you can't expect it to stay sound.'

They stopped at a crossway where Miss Anita was heading in one direction, and Shelby the other.

'You're saying it would be OK to put on shoes if you stabled your horse?' asked Shelby.

'Not at all. If a horse I'm working on has tender feet, or I'm travelling over a surface they're not used to, I would prefer to use boots. What I'm saying is, under those same conditions you can put shoes on a horse and it will
look
sound.' She smiled wryly.

'Lots of kids at Pony Club have shoes on their ponies,' Shelby said.

Miss Anita shook her head. 'Well, obviously lots of people don't keep up with the latest research – and this is supposed to be the information age.' She tutted. 'See you next week, Shelby.'

While Shelby washed Penelope she decided to spend at least an hour on the internet that night reading up about horse health. Miss Anita was a real tiger when it came to her students knowing how to look after their own horses. Shelby didn't want to get caught flat-footed. Also, she would earn brownie points if she could talk knowledgeably about pasture types, or iden-tifying mineral deficiencies, or some other detail.

As she put Penelope away Shelby could see Lindsey and Erin coming back from the morning's trail ride. At the same time Hayley approached from the stable block. She was grinning.

'I was supposed to have a lesson on Ditto this morning, but Mum said he could have a week off after the Royal.'

'That's good,' Shelby mumbled. She couldn't understand why Hayley didn't enjoy learning from Miss Anita. Hayley rode so beautifully that she hardly ever got into trouble. Besides, she did interesting, tricky things such as flying changes and pirouettes.

'Mum said I could go on a trail ride instead,' Hayley said, 'but only if I borrow a horse. You know how she is. I was wondering if I could ride Blue.'

The surprise must have registered on Shelby's face, because Hayley rushed on. 'It's OK. I'm sure Lindsey would let me take Cracker or Blockhead if you don't want to. Or Erin might let me ride Bandit.'

'You can take Blue, but I don't have a saddle at the moment.'

Her friend grinned again. 'Thanks, Shel! I've got an old synthetic lying around somewhere that would fit him.' Hayley rushed off to her tack room to fetch the saddle.

Shelby made her way over to where the other girls were finishing up the trail ride. The riders climbed off gingerly, groaning and stretching their stiff muscles. Many of them simply dismounted and walked away, leaving their horses wandering loose in the yard with their reins dangling.

'Beginners!' Erin rolled her eyes.

'Shh!' Lindsey scolded. Some of the customers were still within earshot.

'Beginners are the best!' Erin added. 'Give me a B! Give me an E!' She made out the shapes of the letters with her arms.

'What's up, Shel?' Lindsey asked, ignoring Erin's cheerleading in the background.

'Hayley wants to take Blue for a trail ride.'

Lindsey raised an eyebrow.

'Yeah, I know!' Shelby said. She brought in Blue from the paddock and tied him to the hitching rail, then she helped to unsaddle the other riding school ponies. As the sweaty horses were untacked, Shelby took the saddles and bridles into the tack room and placed them on their racks. Meanwhile, Lindsey led them one by one to the nearby tap for a quick hose down. As soon as they were let back into the paddock they rolled in the dirt, covering their wet bodies with a thick layer of dust.

'Why do they always do that?' Erin asked, watching a little grey pony, Hiccup, who was on his side, eyes closed, groaning with pleasure. When he stood up, one whole side of his body was encrusted with soil.

'Not sure,' Shelby answered. 'I suppose dirty horses have oily skin. Maybe when they're clean their skin gets dry and itchy.'

'They're probably itchy because they're hot and sweaty,' Lindsey added.

'Imagine if we did that after PE class!' Erin said. Then she dropped onto the grass, rolling around and groaning.

Lindsey and Shelby laughed at her, and then laughed more when several of the horses snorted at her suspiciously. When Erin stood up again her hair was full of grass and twigs, but she didn't seem to notice.

Soon Hayley was back with her spare saddle. She set about adjusting the girth to fit Blue's tummy. Hayley's 'old synthetic' was an earlier model, but it looked almost brand new. Shelby wished she had such a thing 'lying around'. Hayley might be willing to sell it to her. She wondered how much it was worth and whether her parents would give her the money. Shelby was going to have to get a saddle sometime soon. She felt like a scab borrowing one all the time.

She thought about Aunty Jenny's offer and wondered if renting their house would mean things were easier for her family. Her mother talked about being 'stretched', and Shelby saw that on her face – a frayed, harrowed look. She knew her parents worried about money all the time, but they didn't fight about it. If anything they were drawn together by it. They worried as if it was a team sport.

'Who are you going to take?' Hayley asked, surprising Shelby out of her thoughts.

'You want me to come too?'

Hayley screwed up her nose. 'Of course, you big nong! You think I was going to take your horse out in the Gully by myself?'

Erin tossed her head, looking miffed.

'And you too, you dill! I meant all of us. Jeez Louise!'

Erin rolled her eyes. 'Man! I wish you'd said so before I took Bandit's saddle off. Lindsey already washed him. Now he's all muddy!'

'Why don't you ride Tic Tac?' Lindsey suggested, pointing to an appaloosa gelding that hadn't yet been unsaddled after the trail ride.

Shelby took Scooter and soon the four girls were on their way out the back gate and along the wide trail. Hayley was still smiling and it was infectious. Shelby thought she looked funny on Blue, with her perfect seat, moseying along on a loose rein.

'Blue is a real person, isn't he?' Hayley sighed. 'He reminds me of my first pony. I reckon in your lifetime there is always one special horse that you're almost telepathic with. You can have good ones – really nice horses, but it's not the same as your best friend horse.'

'Aren't you best friends with yours?' Shelby asked.

Hayley shook her head. 'We communicate, but we don't connect. Although at the show Ditto was pretty smoochy. It's just because I was the only person he knew there. As soon as we got back here he was going, "Hayley who?" And Scamp is almost too educated. He's slick like a salesman now.' Hayley curled her lip. 'He's a bit greasy.'

'He looks flash, though,' Shelby said.

'Yeah, he'll make Horse of the Year.'

The girls moved into single file as they passed through a narrow rock cutting.

'You know who he reminds me of?' Hayley said. 'Jafar from
Aladdin
.'

Shelby laughed.

Erin broke into song. First she sang James Blunt, but the other girls shouted her down so she started singing a Rogue Traders song, then Hayley and Shelby joined in.

'Don't you think it's weird that she says, "here come the drums", and then there aren't any?' Hayley observed.

'There aren't either!' Erin said. She started singing 'My Hump' by the Black Eyed Peas.

Lindsey's jaw dropped. 'Did you just say your
lady lumps
? That's disgusting!'

'What song do you know, Lin?' Hayley asked.

Lindsey cleared her throat. '
Australians all let us rejoice
...'

'
For we are young and free!
' the others joined in for the rest of the verse.

Shelby looked at her friends laughing as they finished the anthem. Hayley had dropped the reins and held her arms wide as though she was an opera singer.

It was a beautiful clear autumn day and they were all on healthy, happy horses, mucking around in the Gully. Who cared about where Diablo had been? He was back now and everything was the way it should be.

Shelby went on alone, '
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross we toil with hearts and hands, to make this Commonwealth of ours renowned of all the lands
...'

'What's that?' asked Hayley.

'The second verse,' Shelby answered, smiling. She had learned it for the choir at primary school. They had sung both verses of the anthem, then 'Home Among the Gum Trees', and they'd finished with the old crowd-pleaser, 'Old Macdonald had a dog and Bingo was his name-o'.

'I didn't even know it had a second verse!' said Erin. 'I can't believe you know it!'

'You're making it up,' Lindsey protested.

'
For those who've come across the sea we've boundless plains to share
. . .' She stopped in the middle of the trail.

Keisha sat on her beautiful white horse further along the trail, waiting.

The four girls stared at her. With the sun dappling through the leaves making a golden light on her skin, and her long dark hair around her shoulders, she looked like something from a movie. She looked like Arwen from
Lord of the Rings
.

'I've been looking for you, Shelby,' Keisha said. 'Dad said you can come back. He said you can try out for the troupe, if you still want to.'

At first Erin and Hayley didn't say anything. Lindsey's face went purple, like a volcano about to erupt. She turned her horse around and rode away. The mare was not keen to leave the other horses, and Lindsey gave her a sharp dig in the ribs with her heels. 'Get up!'

Shelby noticed Keisha's eyes narrow as she realised that Shelby hadn't told her friends about her visit the day before.

Shelby opened her mouth and then shut it again.

Hayley shook her head and then rode off after Lindsey – on Shelby's horse. Shelby looked after her, wondering if she should mention that, but decided against it.

Erin frowned. 'What's she talking about? You don't even know her. You weren't even there.'

Shelby watched her friend's face as she pieced the information together in her mind. Erin put her hand to her mouth and said, 'Oh my God, Shelby! Traitor-potato.'

Then she turned Bandit around and trotted after the others.

'Do you want to come over now?' Keisha asked.

'I better not.' Shelby listened to the muffled footfalls of her friends' horses trotting along the trail. Although she couldn't hear their words, she could hear the tone of their voices as they talked about her. 'I have to work this afternoon.' She thought about how horrible the afternoon was likely to be. 'Maybe I could come over tomorrow,' she suggested in a small voice. 'But I may not be able to. I might not be allowed, or something.'

Keisha nodded. 'I'm sorry I made trouble for you.'

'Now we're even,' Shelby confessed.

'The police? I thought that might have been you.' Keisha smiled, but without any humour in it. 'Is that one yours too?' she asked, eyeing Scooter.

'This one's just a loaner.'

'Nice colour,' Keisha said.

'Can I ask something?'

'You can ask.'

Shelby tilted her head to the side, peeking at Keisha from under the brim of her helmet. 'You don't go to school, do you?'

Keisha shrugged. 'I'm mostly home-schooled. There is a school for all us circus kids. I get to go when we're not travelling. I do a lot via correspondence. Is that what you were going to ask? I was sure you were just going to come out and ask me whether we stole that stallion.'

'I was. I will. It's just that you're kind of a straight-talker. Almost . . . rude. I wondered if you've spent much time with other kids – had to get along with people, when they could, umm, leave, if you were annoying them.'

Keisha stared at her. The white horse nodded its head, chewing on the bit.

'Did you steal Diablo?' Shelby asked.

'No.'

'Then what happened?'

Keisha's horse shifted on its feet and she patted it – murmuring for it to wait. Then she looked up at Shelby again. 'We have a full circuit of bookings through the winter. We go down south to Wagga and then west to Mildura up to Broken Hill and then Bourke, Brewarina, Narrabri, back to the coast. We stay in Coffs Harbour for two weeks. It's nice there, and then down the coast. At first you would do some simple tricks, stand-asides, step-throughs, step-downs. You could learn along the way. Half the show is liberty and dressage at the moment. We could make up a routine as we go with costumes and music. We could be the big finale – you, me and Molly.'

Shelby shook her head. 'Why would you want
me
?'

'You have the right horse. Zeb reckons that paint horse of yours is the best trick horse he's seen in a long time. You're coordinated and a good shape for it. Besides, most people's parents won't let them miss school. Would your parents let you go? Now's probably a good time to ask.' Keisha turned her horse around. 'You should go and make up with your friends. See you tomorrow.'

After Keisha left, Shelby turned Scooter along the trail. Keisha's offer was everything she dreamed about, but it had come too easily. It made her anxious. Nothing to do with horses had ever been easy for Shelby. In the past things that seemed straightforward always had some consequence she hadn't anticipated. She was sure there would be some nasty price to pay that would jump out at her in some unpreventable way.

When Shelby arrived back at the stables Hayley had already put Blue in his paddock and fed him, so Shelby walked to the feed shed. Inside there was a sign on the whiteboard that said,

S, please do first row feeds and rugs. Don't even try to talk to us.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

E, H & L.

At the bottom was a frowny face. There was even steam coming out of the cartoon ears.