Amy and Amber Read Free

were borrowing ponies got to ride first, so that was James, Genevieve, Jasmine, Ava and Kayla, of course. I gave her a leg up on to Amber and sorted out her stirrupsfor her, and then they were off. I’d wanted Sally to take my camera with her and film them as she was riding along, but she said that might be a bit dangerous. So in the end I showed them going off up the beach into the distance. Then about twenty minutes later they reappeared and I got some fab shots of them trotting back towards us. The ponies’ legs were wet – they’d been in the sea as well! I couldn’t WAIT to ride when I saw that!

    Kayla was grinning from ear to ear when she came back. “I loved riding Amber,” she cried. “I mean, I love Cracker too, of course, but she’sso much easier to handle. She just did what I asked with no fuss and she really enjoyed being out in the open!”
    “That’s great!” I said, and we both gave Amber a big pat for being so good.
    The ponies had a drink and a little break, then Sally said, “Come on, girls, let’s get going before we melt!” I wanted Kayla to take over with my camera, but she wasn’t confident about using it, so James filmed our group instead.
    Riding Amber on the beach was amazing! First we walked along to get used to the feeling of being on sand and then we moved up into trot. And then, fabbiest of all, we had a canter! It was brilliant thundering along the sand, just like being in a movie!

    Then we slowed up and had lots of fun splashing in the waves, which Amber loved. Charm wasn’t that keen on getting his feet wet at first, but with a bit of encouragement from Sarah he was soon prancing about like everyone else. Lexy lost her seat at one point and she was just hanging sideways off Monsoon, desperately trying to pull herself back into the saddle before she plopped into the water. The problem was, she was giggling so much she didn’t have any strength in her arms! We were all laughing too and we gave her a big cheer when she finally made it up!

    Sally had the great idea of giving James an action shot, so we came thundering back towards the group at full gallop! I watched the footage on the monitor afterwards and it looks amazing – it’s really going to make the film extra-fantastic.
    We were SO hot after that and the second our feet touched the sand we all pulled off our hats (everyone’s hair was soaked with sweat – yuck!). We just wanted to get changed and jump into the waves, but of course we had to see to our ponies first. So we led them back up to the horsebox, untacked them and gave them a quick brush down with our partners’ help.

    Then we tied them up along the shady side of the horsebox with some fresh water and hay nets to munch on. And I gave Amber another big hug for being such a star!
    There was no stopping us after that! We all went to change into our swimming stuff in the horsebox and there was loads of giggling because we kept sending each other to the doors at the back to make sure James wasn’t looking! We ran out into the sea (after Jody had made us cover ourselves in even more suncream, that is!). The grown-ups all had their swimming stuff with them too, so they got changed and came in with us!

    The lovely cool water was so refreshing after the hot ride, and we had fun jumping over the waves and trying to lift each other up out of the water! Then Johnny went to look after the ponies and James came crashing into the sea. Sarah and Genevieve were giggling loads and whispering to each other – I think they’ve got crushes on him. Yuck! Back on the beach we all dried off and put on even more sun cream!

    And guess what…
    There was Johnny lining up disposable barbecues next to the Land Rover. What abrilliant surprise! No one had said anything about a beach barbie – I’d thought it would just be sarnies! Anyway, I was so hungry after all the riding and swimming I ate two hotdogs, two vegetable kebabs and a whole sweetcorn!

    I thought everyone was