Chloe and Cracker Read Free Page B

the barn, munching hay. I’m sure he saw me too – but I didn’t go over and fuss him. I would have, if I’d had more time. Maybe. But I didn’t really feel like it.
    The table tennis was fun – Millie’s older brother James organized it, with her dad. Millie actually won, but she said the second-place person should get the prize, ’cos she’s here all the time and she plays a lot. So Mai won the Spirit DVD – when she gets back to school she’s going to ask her house mistress to put it on for all the girls. She and Suki board at their school because their parents are in Japan. They must be used to not seeing their mums and dads much because they don’t seem to miss them at all.
    I’m not used to it though, and after I got knocked out of the table tennis tournament I was suddenly desperate to speak to Mum, soJody let me phone. Dad answered, as he’d just got in the door from work. The good news is that he’s almost definitely coming to the gymkhana on Friday. The bad news is that he said, “So, still reckon you’re on for that clear round you promised me?”

    I said, “Definitely!” but my stomach was churning. Then Mum came on the telephone and I told her all the good bits of what we’d been doing this week and none of the awkward things like how jealous I feel about Bella getting Charm. I don’t want her to worry that I’m not settling in here.

    Anyway, I have to think positively about that clear round. There are still three days to sort out my jumping before the comp – I’ll make more effort with Cracker tomorrow and hopefully everything will go well!

Wednesday, after tea
    I haven’t had time to write in here all day, but loads of things have happened. Our flat work lesson this morning went fine and the Pony Care lectures on feeding and points of the horse and everything were really fun. But this afternoon’s jumping lesson was a disaster.
    Everything has gone wrong. I mean, really wrong. I’ve fallen out with Bella and Georgia. And the worst thing of all is that it’s my own stupid fault.
    This afternoon when we rode into the manège all eight jumps were in place, and my stomach flipped with excitement. Before starting at the beginning, though, we did some work on the last jump, which is the water tray.
    Sally explained that although it’s only a single it’s the most challenging fence, because poniescan find the water a bit spooky. She said we’d just walk our ponies through the water first, without the pole, so they could get used to it.

    Well, Charm didn’t mind at all and Tally splashed straight through it. Even Prince was fine once he’d had a good look.
    But not Cracker.
    He walked through it on the second try, and for a moment I thought we’d be okay. But when Sally put the pole up, even at a much lower height than it will be on Friday, he just absolutely refused to go over, even in trot. He had this way of seeming like he was going over, then scampering sideways at the last minute, and itcaught me out every time. After a few tries, I felt like I was holding everyone up, and I had to do the fast-blinking thing to keep myself from crying. Sally came over and explained that Cracker was finding it easier to run out because the fence is narrower. She said, “You just have to ride forward positively and look ahead to the finish. You’re looking down at the water, and that’s going to make him think it’s scarier than it is.”
    I wanted to say that I was doing my best, but I didn’t dare. I tried looking ahead and riding Cracker forward like Sally said, but it still didn’t work. Then I got annoyed and rode him at it quite fast, and this time when he lurched to the left I came flying off on to the woodchips.
    Everyone laughed. I realize now they only meant it in a friendly way but I didn’t see it like that at the time. As I got up and dusted myself down I didn’t look anyone in the eye. I got on again and trotted to the back of the ride, butwhat I really wanted to do was