Champion Horse Read Free Page A

the warm-up and you can at least watch.’
    ‘Right you are, then, miss!’ exclaimed Rodney in his English accent, and he hoisted her into the saddle.
    Melinda picked up the reins, and said, ‘Why—’
    Rodney turned his back and walked away. Melinda looked after him.
    I said, ‘Wow, Rodney really put a lot of plaits in the pony’s mane. I wonder how many?’ I started walking, and Melinda followed me. She said, ‘Seventeen.’
    ‘Are you kidding? I don’t believe you.’
    ‘Yes, seventeen.’
    I shook my head.
    She started counting, and by the time we got to the ring, she was saying, ‘See? Seventeen, eighteen with the forelock.’
    ‘Have you patted your pony ten times today?’
    She started patting.
    ‘What time did you get here?’
    ‘Well, May got me up at five, because I asked her to, but really, I couldn’t open my eyes until almost five-twenty because last night I was reading Black Beauty, and then I got to the part where Ginger dies and I started to cry, so I stayed up sort of late.’
    By this time, I was walking into the warm-up ring. Melinda was talking and following me. I said, ‘That is sad. I cried there, too. Okay, why don’t you just trot around me in a nice circle and we can see how Gallant Man feels this morning.’
    She was going before she realised it, and then she was fine. Melinda was always more scared of things in advance and afterwards than she was while she was doing them. But she had grown, at long last. She was eleven now, and I wasn’t sure how much longer she would look good on Gallant Man. I put that out of my mind, because it wasn’t any of my business.
    Since we were early, there were only three other riders in the warm-up. All the girls were courteous and looking out for each other, and I saw that they were careful to pass ‘left hand to left hand’, which is how, when you are approaching another horse and rider, you know who goes to the outside and who goes to the inside. They were all also looking at each other – who had the prettier horse or pony? What were they all wearing? That was something Melinda cared about, so as she lifted her chin and showed off a little, she got less nervous.
    There were three plain jumps across the middle of the warm-up, just standards and poles. The crossbar was to the left, the oxer to the right, and the regular jump in the middle. As Melinda headed down towards the crossbar for the first time, I saw Jane show up near the gate of the warm-up with Mr Anniston. She was talking; he wasn’t saying anything. Melinda trotted down towards the crossbar, cantered the last two strides, and jumped it nicely, then cantered away, smiling. I hoped she wouldn’t see her father. I shouted, ‘Okay, very nice, come around and do it again.’ She did, and still did not see her father. I pointed her towards the regular jump, which was maybe two feet. She had to pause and wait for the girl on the palomino, and when she did, she saw her father. The palomino went over. Gallant Man slowed his trot and stopped. Melinda caught herself. I called out, ‘Try again. Give him a kick and make sure he’s going. You have to want to jump, or he won’t care.’
    Jane stared at Melinda, then me. Then she took the hint and walked away with Mr Anniston. I hoped she would keep him off in a corner for the whole morning. I had never seen him smile. Melinda and Gallant Man made a little circle and went back to the jump. Two strides out, she gave him a kick, and of course he bounced over, easy as you please. He didn’t look very good – his front legs weren’t neatly folded – but when she came around again, he sorted himself out and did a good job. Then they jumped the oxer twice, and both times perfectly. When I took Melinda to the gate of the show ring, she had an unusual look on her face – a look of determination. I realised that part of Melinda’s problem was that Gallant Man never made a mistake, and so she never really understood that she was in charge. Now she