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this?' she asked.
    'You can have it,' said Erin, standing up and
adjusting her jodhpurs. 'I've got to get ready for my
lesson now. Are you going to watch?'
    Shelby nodded. At fifty dollars each, Shelby's
family couldn't afford lessons, so the closest thing for
Shelby was to watch, and then apply what she'd
learned on her own. Each weekend she rode Blue
across the gully to the stables, leaving him in one of
the spare yards. She would perch herself on the railing
of the arena while the other girls had their lessons.
    Hayley Crook, who had her lesson earlier in the
day, joined Shelby at the side of the arena. She was
eating an ice-block.
    'Where'd you get that?' Shelby asked.
    'Mum's put a bar fridge in our tack room,' she
replied.
    Typical, thought Shelby. Her family didn't even
have ice-blocks at home, let alone in a spare fridge.
    'How are your horses going?' Shelby asked.
    Hayley nodded. 'Good. We sent Scamp up the gully.'
    Shelby inhaled sharply. Up at the end of the gully
there was an abattoir.
    Hayley let out a bray of tinkling laughter. 'No,
silly, to a trainer up there. He'll only be gone for a
month.'
    'Phew,' said Shelby. She couldn't imagine sending
Blue away for a month, but Hayley had other horses, so
she might not miss him. Hayley's life was so different
from her own. Shelby always felt a little bit shy around
Hayley – she never really knew what to say. She
wondered whether she would feel more confident if she
had a better horse.
    Erin came around the far side of the arena, and for
a minute she was in profile. Her leg closest to the
instructor was firmly against the saddle, with her heel
pushed down, but the one the instructor couldn't see
was flapping in the breeze. Erin saw Hayley and gave
a little wave. For a second she lost her balance,
tipping slightly to the side.
    'Concentrate!' shouted the instructor, Miss Anita.
    Erin rolled her eyes at Hayley, and Hayley smiled
back.
    'I saw that!' warned Miss Anita.
    At the end of her lesson Erin rode over to where
Hayley and Shelby were standing.
    'Are you coming out again tomorrow, Hales?'
asked Erin, patting Bandit on the neck.
    Hayley nodded.
    'Do you want to go out on a trail?'
    Hayley had finished her ice-block now and was
chewing on the stick. She shrugged. 'OK.'
    Erin looked at Shelby. 'Want to come?'
    Shelby grinned. 'Great.'
    Shelby rode Blue home across the gully on a loose
rein. Above her head a flock of cockatoos screeched to
each other in their raucous voices, crash-landing in a
nearby tree like kamikaze pilots. She had tucked Erin's
magazine into the waistband of her pants, and it dug
into her back as she rode along.
    She was looking forward to the ride tomorrow, but
she was also a bit self-conscious. She'd never been out
on a ride with Hayley before. Hayley's horses were
beautiful. Even Erin's Bandit, while nothing out of the
ordinary, was respectable-looking.
    Blue seemed oblivious to Shelby's daydreaming. He
put one foot in front of the other all the way home,
stopping square in front of the sliprail, where he
waited patiently for Shelby to make up his evening
meal.

3 Pikers
    The downhill section between Blue's paddock and the
stables was rocky and covered with sharp pebbles that
slipped easily, but towards the bottom of the gully was
a long sandy patch, occasionally dipping into shallow
puddles.
    This was Shelby's favourite place to push Blue into
a gallop. He enjoyed it too, flicking his tail, flattening
his ears, and stretching out that little bit more than he
was asked.
    At the very bottom of the gully was a causeway
that dried up by mid-January, but for now it was
swollen with recent rain, and the water spilled over it
noisily – sounding like distant applause. Blue slowed
down a fraction as he splashed through it, but picked
up the pace again as soon as he hit the drier ground
on the other side.
    Their sudden appearance surprised an elderly man
out for an early morning walk with his dog. Blue
skipped a beat, changing his leading leg.