Millie and Magic (3 page)

Angelika and Zuzanna are brilliant riders, and Irenka’s really good too, considering she’s only
been riding two years, the same as Kasia. Although she’s not that experienced, she’s really brave. Like, when Flame decided that canter wasn’t fast enough and absolutely
bolted
down the long side, Irenka screamed and I thought she’d refuse to try again. But Sally got her to ride a couple of circles in trot then asked for canter, and Flame went calmly that time (well, as calmly as she ever goes!).

Magic was easy to get into canter and had a nice even rhythm. And we made such a smooth downward transition you could hardly see me do anything. Mum’s right, he
would
make someone a lovely pony – it just won’t be me!

When we got back to the barn to untack, everyone was chattering excitedly about the lesson, and telling me that I’m SO lucky to live here – as usual! I managed to smile and say, “Yes, I am,” but it was quite hard to watch Kasia brushing Tally down.

He looked as sad as me, so when Kasia took his water bucket off to the yard to scrub out and fill up, I went over and gave him a big hug. 

And guess what?

Lydia saw and told me off!

Huh! I hadn’t even noticed she was there! She said, “Tally’s fine, Millie, stop fussing. Poor Magic needs a bit of attention, though.”

Well, he looked perfectly OK to me, but I went back into his pen and brushed him anyway, just to keep her happy. His coat came up really well, and he was so still and calm, I didn’t even have to watch my feet. He’s a real sweetie and, like I said, I’m sure he’ll make someone a great pony.
Amy was so funny at lunch just now, doing an impression of Mischief trying to plunge her off. Me and Zoe were in stitches watching her canter around the picnic tables.

Then when I was finishing off my fruit salad and ice cream I came up with a new plan for Operation Keep Tally. It’s way better than any of the silly ideas I had before, but I’m keeping it to myself, in case my new mates accidentally let something slip (especially loud-girl Amy!). In fact, I’m moving my arm over this page, so they don’t read anything!

Oh, Sally just came in and announced the groups. I’m in Group B with Amy and the older girls, and Zoe’s in Group A with Evie, Elizabeth and Kasia (on MY pony). It’s time to go down to the yard now. Fingers crossed that my plan goes well!  

The lecture this afternoon was on tack and tacking up. In the tack room Sally was pointing to all these different things and we had to say what they were. I made sure I was first to put my hand up, and I mentioned Tally every time, so she’d know how much I was missing him. “That’s a standing martingale, which could be useful on a lively pony like
Tally
, if he got into the habit of throwing his head up,” I called out. And, “That’s an eggbutt snaffle bit, which should be fine for most ponies, but you might want to use a drop or flash noseband with it rather than a cavesson if you’ve got a headstrong one,
like Tally
.” I thought Sally would be pleased that I was doing so well, but after a while she just said, “OK, thanks, Millie. Let someone else have a go now.”

Double embarrassing! I must have looked like a right show-off, and I hadn’t even realized it.

Once Sally had done a demo on Prince on the yard, we had to have a go at tacking up for ourselves. I was first back into the tack room and without even thinking about it, I lifted down Tally’s saddle and bridle. When I turned round, I found myself face to face with Irenka and Kasia. Whoops! I honestly took it by accident, but it must have looked strange. “Sorry, erm, I just got this down out of habit,” I muttered, heaving the saddle into Kasia’s arms and hanging the bridle on her shoulder. She said thanks, but Irenka gave me a funny look, like she thought I was trying to take over.

With Magic tacked up, I was all set to put my new plan into action. As we walked our ponies around the track to warm up, I dropped my toes down and let my arms go floppy.

“Sit up, Millie, you look like a sack of potatoes!” Sally called.

Good!
I thought. I also made sure we kept on wandering forward when I reached the markers for halt, I turned our circles into wonky egg shapes, and I let Magic poke his nose out and stray off the track. Not surprisingly, we kept getting corrected and having to try things again. And I made sure we did an even worse job the second time round – hee hee!

And when we did some jumping I didn’t even have to
try
to ride badly. It turns out that Magic gets nervous when the heights go up and
stops dead. He might have got over with some encouragement, but of course I didn’t give him any and he kept refusing. Even better, Dad stopped by the fence to watch, so
he
saw me being hopeless with Magic, too!

After about the fifth go, Sally called out, “Millie, you’re not even trying! You can’t expect every pony to leap over like Tally does! I just don’t know what’s got into you!”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, but really I was thinking,
Great, she’s already seen that me and Magic
aren’t right together, now she just needs to tell me
that and job done.
So as we were dismounting in the yard I said to her, “Oh, what a shame that I found everything so much more difficult on Magic than Tally. He’s just not—”

Sally looked at me wearily. “Don’t blame the pony, Millie,” she said. “Look at the rider.”

“But I—” I began.

“You need to pay attention to what Magic
needs, rather than just automatically riding the same way you’d ride Tally,” she said sternly. “You have to put more effort in, really
try
. You and Tally had obviously got stuck in a rut and you’ve let your skills slide. I should have noticed that before. Thank goodness you’ve got a new pony to wake you up a bit!”

“But I…” I said again, then trailed off. I couldn’t tell her I’d ridden badly on purpose – she’d be so cross, and she’d definitely tell Mum. I’ve told them enough times that I want to keep riding Tally, and they’ve always said no. Somehow I’ve got to make them think it’s
their
idea. But this plan has seriously backfired, and I don’t have another one. What on earth am I going to do?

Oh, here come Amy and Zoe, gotta go.