Hide & Seek - Alyssa Brugman [51]
Erin nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks.
The two girls swapped horses, and Erin boosted Shelby onto Bandit's back. As Shelby settled into place she could see what Erin meant. Bandit's coat was much finer than Blue's, and smooth as satin. She tried gripping with her legs and Bandit surged forward with the pressure. 'Ooh!' she said.
Erin sniffed as if to say, See what I mean?
'We've got to get moving,' Shelby said.
She laced her fingers through Bandit's mane and grasped the crest of his neck, the way Zeb had taught her. She found that if she held onto the lead rope around his neck she had a strong grip. She held the reins in the other hand. Then the two girls set off.
Bandit had a lovely rocking-horse canter. He didn't pull, race or shy, and so long as he was cantering in a straight line, Shelby thought she had made the better part of the bargain. But then whenever he turned Shelby would tuck her leg in to keep steady, and Bandit would move his back end away from her leg, making the turn sharper still.
Erin opened the gate to the back paddock at the end of the lane without dismounting. The little paint pony was very accommodating, shunting sideways so Erin could reach the latch, and then pushing the gate open with his nose.
The two horses cantered up the hill and down the slope on the other side. Shelby held on tight and crouched low for balance. She squeezed with her knees, but not too tight in case Bandit took off.
As they reached the gate between the back paddock and the Gully trails, they came upon Monica and Kim, who were coming back from a trail. Both of their hacks were dark with sweat.
Shelby noticed that the back fence had been fixed where the branch had crushed it, but she hadn't seen the horses that were normally kept in the back paddock on their way through. She tried to remember if she had seen them in the paddock that Lindsey had put them in on the day Diablo first escaped, but she had been concentrating so hard on staying on Bandit that she hadn't noticed much else.
'Hey, where are you guys off to?' Monica asked, smiling. Kim held the gate open for them.
From the other side of the hill they could still hear the horses squealing and the thumping of hooves as they ran along their fence lines.
'What's going on up there?' Kim asked. She shaded her eyes, but couldn't see because the crest of the hill obscured the view.
'Was this gate open or closed?' Shelby asked.
'Have you seen Diablo?' Erin asked at the same time.
'Diablo?' Monica frowned.
'It was closed,' countered Kim.
'I thought it was open,' Monica said.
Kim said, 'It was open yesterday, but it was closed this morning. Did those people steal him again?'
'No, he escaped,' Erin began. She took a deep breath, about to go on, but after a warning look from Shelby, she shut her mouth.
'Can we help?' asked Monica.
'That would be great,' said Erin. 'There are only three trails he could have picked from here. You've just come from one way, so if we take the other two we have to find him.'
'We came from the Pony Club,' Kim told them.
Erin closed the gate. 'OK, we'll go straight through the middle and up to the water tower. That's the way he went before.'
Monica nodded, and then she and Kim sent their horses forward at a hand gallop along the right-hand trail.
Erin and Shelby rode their horses at a slower pace down the winding track into the Gully. When they reached the causeway, Bandit spooked and snorted at the water. Shelby didn't have time to be scared. She squeezed with her legs and the gelding kangaroo-hopped from one side to the other, making Erin laugh, despite her anxiety. On the other side he shook like a dog, nearly shaking Shelby off.
Bandit and Blue bounded up the hill side by side. Soon they were cantering past the lounge suite and alongside the fence at Keisha's place.
Zeb's son had the Clydesdale and the miniature liberty training in the round yard – trotting in opposite directions. He inclined his head in greeting to Shelby and she nodded in return. Keisha was lunging one of the Andalusians