Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [19]
There was a bale under a tarp next to the door and Cheryl broke off a biscuit. She unlatched the stall door and put the biscuit in the hay bag clipped to the wall.
Shelby looked over the door at the little foal peeking out from behind Song's back legs. 'Oh! He's so adorable!'
The little foal was chestnut, with two stockings at the back and a star slightly off centre.
It took Cheryl a few minutes to catch him. He kept slipping under Song's tummy or ducking around under her throat, but eventually she managed to grip his halter. He struggled against it, but she quickly slipped her other hand around behind his rump, and as soon as she did that he settled.
'Do you want to come in and pat him?' Cheryl asked. 'One at a time is probably best.'
Hayley slid through the door and approached the foal.
'He's so soft!' she said. 'I love his little beardy.' She ran her hand over his mouth, and the tiny colt snapped at her fingers. 'Ooh!'
'Careful,' Cheryl said. 'He doesn't know that's naughty yet.'
Soon it was Shelby's turn. She kneeled down beside the colt. Shelby had expected his thin, Mohawk mane to be wiry, but it was soft under her fingers.
The colt didn't seem afraid at all. She guessed Cheryl must have handled him quite a bit already. His knee and fetlock joints were so out of proportion that they looked swollen. He had tiny pointed hooves.
'He's a nice shape already, isn't he?' Shelby said.
'He's a very handsome boy,' Cheryl said. 'Lots of bone. He'll make a good hunter.'
After the girls had finished patting the foal, they stood outside the stall watching for a while. The colt picked at wisps of hay that fell from the bag. Song swished her tail at him and he wandered away to lie down.
'So what else have you got?' Mrs Crook asked.
'You want to see more?'
'Are you kidding?' Mrs Crook laughed. 'I could look at ponies all day long.'
At the end of the row of stables there were three long straight paddocks. Each held at least twenty ponies.
As they walked past, Hayley pointed out a cresty palomino. 'That's Wanada Park Autumnal.' Shelby recognised him from the show magazines. In the flesh the little stallion was spectacular. His coat was so shiny it almost looked like glitter. He raced around the mares tossing his head and flicking out his feet like a dancer. Mostly the mares ignored him.
Hayley pointed to a tiny bay stallion. 'And that's Tuppence.'
Tuppence was smaller than Autumnal with finer legs, but he had a similar dished face and cresty neck. Tuppence and the great dane sniffed at each other through the fence. The dog wasn't much smaller than the stallion.
'If you were to cross your chestnut with Tummy you'd have a fifty-fifty chance of chestnut or palomino. If you cross her with Tuppence you could get a black, chestnut or bay foal.'
'Oh, I think we should try for the pally. Don't you, Hales?' Mrs Crook said.
Hayley nodded. 'Yeah, sounds good.'
Shelby couldn't believe Hayley was so casual about it. If it were Shelby's horse she would be jumping up and down with excitement.
'Where is Smarty anyway?' Shelby asked.
'She's over here with my scraps,' Cheryl joked.
They kept walking towards the third paddock, which had ponies of differing ages. The terriers ran ahead, yapping. One of the border collies slipped under the fence and chased the nearest pony. Cheryl called it back.
'There!' Shelby spotted the little mare in the back corner. Smarty had become quite tubby, but she looked happy and healthy. Shelby smiled, pleased to see the pony again. She thought Hayley might want to take a closer look, but she seemed to be content to watch her from the fence.
'How many ponies do you have at the moment?' Mrs Crook asked.
'Altogether? Goodness, if you add the new foals ...I don't know.' Cheryl put her hand to her cheek. 'At least a hundred.'
She caught Mrs Crook winking at Shelby.
'Don't laugh at me, Jill. I know I have to get rid of some, but it's so difficult. My goal in life is to produce the ultimate pony. What do you do with the ones that are less than perfect? You can't sell