For Sale or Swap - Alyssa Brugman [3]
'Of course I'm a good rider. I have to ride you,' she said to him, patting a drum roll on his chest.
Blue was horrible to ride. He had short stubby legs and struck his hooves hard on the ground, so that every stride was sharp and jangling and made her teeth clatter, and yet she managed to sit still and balance. He was forever tossing his head around, so her hands had to be supple and forgiving. She had no choice.
'I'd like to see Erin try to win "Rider of the Year" on you,' she grumbled into his mane.
He put his head down to graze and Shelby slid off his back and crouched on the ground beside him, watching him eat.
Blue looked like he had been made from leftover bits of other horses. He had a short blunt face, and blue eyes – which is where he got his name. He had a long thin ewe-neck and a disproportionately large round rump. The only part of him that was any good was a thick, flowing tail, so long that it dragged on the ground. His brown blotches on white added to his patchwork appearance.
That's when it struck her. It wasn't her poxy old all-purpose saddle that was holding her back. It was ugly Blue. If the Pony Club committee saw her on another horse – something delicate and smooth – they'd see a world of difference.
'It's you,' she said. His ears flickered towards her voice. She crept forward and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Shelby knew what she wanted for Christmas.
2 Lost and Found
'Absolutely out of the question,' Shelby's mother said.
'Aren't you even going to think about it?' Shelby protested.
'What's to think about? You should be grateful that you have one horse. Lots of girls don't have any at all.'
'I might as well not have one,' grumbled Shelby. 'Blue is hopeless. He was good while I was learning, but now I need to move on to something more advanced.'
Her mother leaned against the kitchen bench and sighed. 'Then we'll have to sell him.'
Shelby's mouth dropped open. 'But you can't. He's one of the family!'
Her mother shook her head. She took a cloth from the sink and began wiping down the benches, collecting crumbs in her hand. 'Those are your options, honey.'
Shelby couldn't sell Blue. He was her best friend.
'I'll get a paper run.'
'That's a good idea,' said her mother, washing out the cloth under the tap.
'You'll let me have another horse if I get a paper run?' she asked.
'No, but it would help you get all the things you want,' replied her mother. She wrung out the cloth and began wiping around the stove hotplates.
'It's so unfair,' Shelby said, stamping her foot.
Shelby's mother stopped wiping and stared at her. 'Unfair? I don't think so, young lady. You have two little brothers who don't have hobbies that are even half as expensive as yours. You get more than your fair share.'
'What about Dad? He has two cars!'
'Yes, and when you bring in as much money for the family as he does, then you can have two horses.'
'Hayley Crook has three horses,' countered Shelby.
'Well, she hasn't got three bottoms, has she? She can't ride them all at once. Maybe she'll lend you one?' suggested Shelby's mother.
The next morning at the stables Shelby related the conversation to Erin in full.
'I tried to explain to Mum that people don't lend out their horses. It's just not done.'
Erin was sweeping out her storeroom with a threadbare broom, deftly flicking dirt and wisps of hay from around the drums of feed.
'Yes they do,' she said. 'It's called leasing.'
Shelby, sitting on a bale of hay, lifted her feet up so that Erin could sweep under them. It irritated Shelby when Erin talked about horses as though she knew more than Shelby did. She didn't know anything about them before she started hanging around with Shelby at school.
One Monday morning when they were sitting in the playground and Shelby was telling Erin about what she had done with Blue on the weekend, Erin had said, 'If I get a horse too, we can ride together,' as if she'd only just thought about it. Then, hey presto, Bandit turns up at the stables. The next weekend, Erin's family had arrived at