Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies Read Free

that Poppy was joking. She’d watched theSweetbriar Stud Cup the year before. It was held at the last show of the summer holidays and the fences were massive; there was no way she’d even get over the first! The Fratton Cup was pretty much as big as she wanted to jump on Scout without denting his confidence, or hers. For Moonlight and Poppy, though, the Fratton Cup had just been a warm-up on the way to much bigger classes. Since that show, Poppy and Alice had hardly competed against each other.
    Poppy smiled, then looked over to the ring. “Right, my class is on next, so I’d better get going. Lovely to see you all!”
    She jumped lightly into the saddle and trotted Moonlight off to the warm-up area, waving over her shoulder.
    As Poppy disappeared Alice noticed Tallulah standing on tiptoes, peering over the top of Diamond Starr’s saddle to get a better look at Scout. A second later her dad walked over, looking ruddy-faced after continuing his row withthe judges. Tallulah whispered something to him. The next second, he pulled out a cheque book and marched towards Rosie.
    “Right, how much do you want for this nag?” he boomed, nodding towards the sleepy roan mare in front of him.
    “Not that one, Dad!” Tallulah shouted rudely, pointing wildly towards Scout. “It’s the grey pony Poppy said could beat her in the Stud Cup!”
    Mr Starr turned to Alice and repeated his question to her, sizing up Scout like he was a shiny new sports car. Alice felt half as if she was about to laugh out loud at Mr Starr and half furious that Tallulah had even got him to ask the question.
    “He’s not for sale,” she told him, shaking her head in amazement. “He belongs to Mrs Valentine, but there’s no way she’d ever sell him. She put him on permanent loan to me a year ago.”
    “What? He’s not even yours?” Tallulah butted in, dragging Diamond Starr towards Alice irritably.
    “It doesn’t matter, princess,” Mr Starr said, ignoring Alice and waving his cheque book about. “We’ll just have to find this Mrs Valentine, then persuade her to change her mind.”
    Tallulah squealed, hugging her dad before they rushed back to their box, where one of her grooms already had a different pony waiting for her to ride in the next class against Poppy.

Chapter Two
    “H ONESTLY, what part of ‘permanent’ does Tallulah not understand?” Charlie laughed.
    “I can’t believe she’d even get her dad to ask!” Mia agreed.
    “Tallulah wouldn’t have looked twice at Scout when I first got him, either,” Alice said. “He was so scraggly and unloved. Only now he’s doing brilliantly and Poppy’s being nice about him, suddenly she’s interested!”
    Alice leaned forward and hugged her grey pony. She’d first caught sight of Scout when she was cycling along the path next to Dragonfly Marsh. It was a shortcut from her home to Rockland Riding School, where she used to help out at weekends and where Charlie and Miahad kept their ponies before Rosie’s parents inherited Blackberry Farm. The grey pony had peeped nervously through the grass. He had been a bit thin, with slightly overgrown hooves, and his coat was ungroomed. His tattered headcollar was held together with baler twine and his tail dragged through the marsh grass. Alice had fallen in love with the lonely little pony at first sight.
    Pretty quickly she’d started making special trips each day after school to see him, taking apples and carrots. He’d stood waiting for her and whickered when she turned up. She spent longer and longer sitting on the fence, keeping him company as he grazed nearby, pretending that he was hers. Secretly, she dreamed that one day he just might be. She’d been desperate to find out who, if anyone, owned him.
    “Are you coming or not, Alice? I need an ice cream before I melt,” Rosie declared. Alice realised that she’d been daydreaming and that the others were all staring at her, waiting for herreply. She nodded, and together they started