Hide & Seek - Alyssa Brugman [4]
Mrs Edel sighed, ignoring Shelby's comment. 'Well, I suppose the first thing is to search the place again. I'm going to feel like a right wally if he does turn up here somewhere. Can you girls check the back again for me? Lindsey, take Scooter. He's always sensible in the rain.'
Scooter was one of the riding school horses – a pretty palomino, slightly bigger than Shelby's paint pony, Blue.
Shelby had to borrow one of the riding school saddles, as her all-purpose saddle was broken. The old saddle was sitting on her bedroom floor and every night when Shelby went to bed she looked at it, hunched and busted in the shadows, like a mascot for all the things she wanted but couldn't have.
Eventually she would need to replace it, but with what? Her job at the stables, other than feeding and mucking out, was to lead the trail rides on the week-ends, so a western or a stock saddle would be the best for that. On the other hand, she went to Pony Club, and most of those girls rode in dressage or all-purpose saddles. Some of them had jumping saddles as well. Shelby wished she had the luxury of owning one of each but that wasn't possible.
When I am a grown up, Shelby thought to herself, I will have ten horses in ten different colours and a saddle for every day of the week, plus one wrapped up for special occasions.
For this ride she chose a western saddle that she had used before. She had always dreamed of owning a fancy dressage saddle, and had been sceptical when Lindsey suggested the western, so she had been sur-prised to find that it fitted Blue's frame well, and was more comfortable for trail riding than the dressage saddles she had tried.
The rain eased to a steady drizzle as the two ponies cantered along the laneway to the back paddock. The girls rode past the herd, grazing not far away from where they had seen them earlier. Now that they could see more clearly through the rain and mist Shelby could tell that something was wrong.
A branch from one of the trees had come down in the heavy weather and settled across the back fence near the gate. The wire sagged under the strain, and the posts on either side tilted over until they were almost horizontal. Any of the horses could easily step over the fence if they wanted to, and get tangled in the wire as well.
The two girls dismounted. Shelby held Blue and Scooter while Lindsey inspected the damage. She tried to push the branch off the wire, but it was too heavy. Mrs Edel would have to use her chainsaw to cut it into smaller pieces, then set the posts and restrain the wire.
'What shall we do?' asked Shelby, blowing on her hands, which were numb with cold.
'First we'll move the horses into the next paddock. Mum would kill me if they all got out. Then we'll come back and check the trails for Diablo.'
'But how would Diablo get in here in the first place?' Shelby asked.
'He probably didn't, but we should check,' her friend replied.
Lindsey cantered Scooter up the hill, towards the next paddock, closer to the house. Her plan was to unlock the gate and then head around to the right to help Shelby push the horses through the opening.
The two girls trotted around the back of the herd and zigzagged towards them. As they moved closer they slowed to a walk. If the herd started to run, they might panic and head in the wrong direction, and the girls would have to start all over again.
A heavy thoroughbred mare with a scarred face glared at Blue and Shelby with her ears back, but she moved away when Shelby maintained eye contact and pushed Blue steadily towards her.
The horses bunched in closer and moved up the hill towards the gate, slowing occasionally to steal a mouthful of grass along the way. Shelby and Lindsey kept up their steady zigzag pattern behind them.
A gangly buckskin colt in the middle of the group shied at a tree stump, and the herd sped up around him, some slipping a little in the churned-up soil. Shelby and Lindsey halted their horses, waiting for the rest to settle down. They were not far from the gate now and the last thing they needed was for the herd to split.