Megan and Mischief (4 page)

Oh! I fell asleep last night after writing my diary so we didn’t get to have a midnight feast. Hopefully we will tonight!

Right now it’s morning break and everyone’s getting ready to go on the beach ride, so I’m quickly writing this. I have had such a fab time this morning with my lovely Mischief!

This is what we did:

Caught and brought in the ponies. We also did a quick bit of grooming and picked out their feet. Mischief had a big stone quite near his frog so I had to be very gentle and careful

This was cool because there are lots of little boxes of cereals to choose from and you can have any kind you want, or even mix two sorts together. I had Ricicles and Coco Pops, which I’m not normally allowed because of all the sugar.

Normally we would get our ponies ready for the first lesson but it’s different today because we’re going on the beach ride! So instead we had our lecture, which was on how to do bandaging and put on boots. This is really important for travelling because if you bandage up your pony’s tail it won’t rub while he’s in the horsebox. And putting on boots or bandages stops his legs getting knocked if there’s a sudden jolt or slamming of brakes!

First Lydia did a demonstration on her bay, Shy, and then we all had a go on our ponies. We’re only taking four ponies to the beach (Tally, Rupert, Twinkle and Mischief – yippee!) but we practised on our own ponies anyway. Lydia showed us how to tie them up on the yard safely and then how to put a bale of straw between you and your pony’s hind legs just in case they kick backwards (not that Mischief would ever kick me because he is my gorgeous wonderhorse!) My tail bandage went a bit wrong at first and it all unravelled halfway and hung down like streamers. But Lydia showed me that I could start it off quite tight around the dock without hurting Mischief and then it held together better (although it still wasn’t perfect).

Then we got to lead the beach-ride ponies up the track to the horseboxes. On the way I secretly pretended that Mischief was my own pony again and that we were going back to the horsebox to go home together. I got so excited watching Johnny and Lydia load them up. I’ve never ridden on the beach before and Millie says it’s really fun. I’ve got to go now because she’s saving the back seat of her dad’s Land Rover for me and her and Gabrielle, even though everyone else has to go in the minibus!

Oh dear, my happy mood is ruined!

I’m writing this in the back of the Land Rover as we’re still waiting for everyone else to pile into the minibus. As I was walking over to the Land Rover, I spotted Moody Jade having a strop because Shine isn’t going to the beach and she has to ride Rupert after Kate instead. I wanted to try and make friends with her after the leg-crashing thing, so I tried to be nice by saying, “Don’t worry, Jade, it’s only for one ride.” But she just sneered at me and said, “What do you know? Your pony’s coming with us, which is totally not fair, ’specially when you can’t even handle him properly!”

I just stood there staring at her with my legs shaking and my eyes filling up with tears. And then she did this really mean “What are you staring at?” look.

Millie just this minute read this and said, “Don’t let her spoil your trip,” and she’s right. In fact, I’m just going to keep out of her way from now on. 

The beach ride was amazing! I was in the first group with Millie and Chloe. Kate was meant to be riding with us too, as Rupert is her pony, but Jade made such a fuss Kate let her go first (boo!).

We were on a private beach that the owners let Sunnyside use, so there were no people around. While we tacked up, Sally warned Jade not to ride too close to the sea as Rupert doesn’t like the water. Jade just harrumphed and said, “Well then, why couldn’t we bring Shine instead?” Sally just smiled and said, “Come on, cheer up and try to enjoy yourself,” which just made Jade look even more grumpy.

As soon as we mounted I felt really nervous about being out of the school because I’ve never even been on a hack out before. I kept thinking that Mischief might just suddenly take off down the beach, but Lydia spotted me looking scared and came and held on to him. I wasn’t embarrassed at all – just glad!

Then we were off! Sally rode at the back on her own horse, Blue, and Millie was at the front on Tally. Lydia rode Shy along beside us – she had a lead rope clipped to her D ring, which made me feel really safe. We walked on for a while, getting used to the sand, which felt softer than the woodchips in the ménage. Then we moved into a trot. It was so brilliant jogging along in sitting trot and when we went rising I wasn’t thinking “up, down, up, down” like usual but just sort of doing it. Mischief had lots of impulsion and I only had to squeeze my lower leg against him rather than kicking, so it was far
easier than normal for me to keep it all together and not flap about. And it wasn’t scary at all – it was fab! I wasn’t worried about hitting the fences at the sides like I am in the manège. And we didn’t have to do any turns or try to stay on a track, we just had to go straight forward, so I felt much more like Megan the Brave than Megan the Terrified. Millie was right about beach rides. It wasdd

Sally said my new confidence showed in my seat and hands, and that’s why Mischief was listening to me, and I couldn’t help smiling. We went back to walk then and Sally corrected our positions and ran through the aids for going into canter, just as a reminder. We picked up rising trot again and when she gave the word we went sitting and asked for canter. Millie and Tally were off like a rocket, then Rupert and Jade, and then me and Mischief! I tried to sit still and not throw my body forward, which is my number one bad habit, and for once I just kept my seat and went with the rhythm and it felt like we were flying!

I don’t know if I should write about what happened next, in case Jade somehow finds out and starts not liking me even more, but this is my diary and I want to put what truly happened so here goes. As we cantered up the beach, Jade kept nudging Rupert over into the waves
and so Sally called, “Jade, stay on the sand, please. I’ve already told you Rupert doesn’t like the water.”

But Jade didn’t listen and just rode closer and closer to the sea. Just as Sally said crossly, “Right, and easing back into trot everyone,” this wave broke on Rupert and he sort of leaped backwards and Jade lost her stirrup.

Then just as she was trying to get it back, Rupert went back into trot really suddenly and she bobbled forwards, clinging to his neck. She probably could have sat up, except then he dropped his head and snorted loudly and she toppled off into the sea! It was so funny because it looked like Rupert had dumped her there on purpose. (Maybe he had!)

Me and Millie couldn’t help laughing!

But Jade herself was NOT finding it funny! Instead she was rolling about clutching her leg and groaning. As Sally dismounted and checked her over, I stopped laughing and started to worry that she’d seriously hurt herself. But Sally said, “You’re fine, just a bit wet, that’s all. I did warn you not to go near the water.”

“I didn’t!” grumped Jade. “It was Rupert’s fault!” But Sally just raised one eyebrow and said, “Let’s not argue about it. You’re okay and that’s the main thing.”

Sally gave Jade a leg up but she was still grumbling about the fall. I forgot not to look at her so she did the “What are you staring at?” face to me again, and I quickly turned away and started talking to Millie. But it really made my stomach churn because I can’t stand it if someone doesn’t like me. We just walked and trotted on the way back, and even though Jade
was still grumbling, she rode on the exact bit of sand that Sally told her to and not a single millimetre closer to the water.

When we got back to the picnic place everyone wanted to know why Jade was dripping wet. She was really snappy and wouldn’t tell them, so while Jody helped her to dry off, Millie explained about the fall. Everyone laughed and Moody Jade got even moodier.

I didn’t join in the laughing, hoping she’d notice, but she just flounced off round the back of the horsebox to change into the dry stuff Jody had brought “just in case”.

Then the second group got ready to ride. I held on to Mischief while Gabrielle mounted and I kept giving her all these tips about being confident and relaxed with him and sitting up tall but she just smiled and said, “Megan, chill, I’ll be fine!”

Kate was on Rupert and when Sally warned her about the water thing she laughed and said, “Don’t worry, there’s no way I’m going near the sea, not after what happened to Jade!” That made everyone start laughing again, which made Moody Jade even crosser.

I watched Gabrielle heading off on Mischief and I only felt a tiny bit jealous! Then we had our picnic lunch, with cheese and tomato or tuna and cucumber sandwiches. I had one of each without picking out the cucumber or the tomato. Eating what I’m given is part of me being Megan the Brave, instead of Megan the Fussy like I am at home.

After that, Chloe got her model horses out, which are the cool Breyer ones, and we all played with them (except Moody Jade, who read a
Popworld
mag and ignored us). We made up a whole game about running the only riding school in the Sahara desert, and we even shaped some of the sand and pebbles into a jumping course! I chose the palomino, of course, and pretended that it was Mischief and that I was riding him over these really high jumps and winning heaps of rosettes.

On the way home in the Land Rover, Gabrielle told me that she’d had fun on Mischief, but she wished Prince had gone on the trip instead and she said she couldn’t wait to get back and see him. I was secretly glad because I don’t want anyone else to start loving Mischief when he’s MINE!