Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [37]
'I remember all ponies,' Blythe confessed. 'Let me show you around. We may as well start here. This is our feed shed. We feed our horses hay, and then green chaff, oats or pony pellets depending on the horse.'
'What about if I want to feed him my own stuff?'
'We don't recommend it because it gets mixed up and then people argue, so this is what we feed them. If you'll follow me.' Blythe walked down through the breezeway. 'We have four stables.'
'Four?' Shelby couldn't believe it. Only four? She looked in one. They used shavings for bedding, and they mustn't have cleaned them out properly, or very often, because it looked dusty and broken down.
'No adjoining yard,' she said
'Most people prefer turnout,' Blythe replied. 'Out here behind the arena you can see this is where we turn out the stabled horses during the day. They're all in together.'
The four horses stood together under a tree.
Shelby's dad nudged her with his elbow. 'See? Turned out.'
'Yeah, I can see that,' she muttered.
Blythe continued. 'And then on this side . . .' They walked through an empty stable. 'We have more paddocks.'
Shelby stared. The paddocks were tiny. Each held four or five horses. It reminded her of the Jenny Craig paddock at Wanada Park.
'There's no feed in them,' Shelby said.
'That's why we give them the hay,' Blythe explained.
Shelby looked dubious.
'It's actually better for them,' Blythe said.
'That's just your opinion.'
'Shelby!' her father said.
'Well, it is,' she replied.
He turned to Blythe. 'Shelby works at an agistment centre in Sydney.'
'Great! We can always use people with equine management experience around here. Which one? Would I know it?'
'The Gully Stables,' Shelby said, watching Blythe to see her reaction.
'That's quite a big one, isn't it?' she said.
'Over a hundred horses on one hundred and seventy-five acres, so yes, quite big,' Shelby said.
There was an awkward silence. Shelby knew she was being a brat, but for some reason she was finding it hard to stop.
'So if I was to bring Blue here where would he be? In here? How come there are no horses in the front paddocks?'
'We rotate them fairly regularly. You could keep him in one of the front paddocks if you wanted to. Most people prefer it when they are out here because it's closer to the tack shed and arena, and also it's a busy road, so some people are nervous about their horses getting out.'
'Do you have a problem with horses getting out?' Shelby asked.
'Shelby!' her father said again.
'It's kind of an important thing to know, don't you reckon?' she asked him. 'And there's only one arena? No sand?'
Blythe frowned. 'We do back onto the crown land here, and most people like to ride out on the dunes. There's lots and lots of sand there. That's where we take our camels on the weekends.'
'I was going to ask about the camels,' Shelby's dad said. 'Can we have a closer look?'
Blythe smiled again. 'Sure!'
'I'm going to stay here,' Shelby said.
What did she want to see a bunch of dumb camels for? She glowered. This place was dinky.
After a few minutes her dad called out, 'Are you ready to go?'
Shelby stomped along the path between the paddock and the stables.
'Say thank you to Blythe, Shelby,' he instructed. He was using his wait-till-you-get-home-young-lady voice, so she obliged.
'Thanks for showing me around,' she mumbled.
She got in the car and slammed the door. When her father climbed in the car she said, 'Bunch of amateurs. There is no way I am subjecting Blue to that place.'
Her dad's face was turning from red to purple. 'Not so long ago you were trying to talk us into keeping Blue on our back patio,' he said through gritted teeth.
'Turnout! Pfft,' she continued as the car crept down the driveway. 'Turnout for a goat maybe – a miniature goat.'
They reached the road. She folded her arms. 'A miniature goat with no legs and a poor appetite.'
'Shelby Shaw!' her dad roared. 'I have never been so embarrassed!'
'I don't want to move house!' she shouted back.
Neither of them spoke until they reached Aunty Jenny's