Hide & Seek - Alyssa Brugman [8]
When the Alfa reached the top of the hill everyone exhaled.
'See? Made it!' Dad crowed.
As they drove across Mount White Shelby saw a convoy of trucks heading the other way. Some were semitrailers, but three were horse trucks. She could see ears through the small windows at the top. Each truck was splashed in bright colours, and sign-written in scrolled font, Equus Caballus. Shelby recognised the name from her numerous horse books as the Latin name for the horse, as canis lupus familiaris is to dog, and felis silvestris catus is to the common house cat.
'A horse circus!' she whispered.
Her eyes followed the trucks until they rounded the bend, then Shelby sat back, linked her fingers behind her head and stared at the roof.
Over the last month or so she had started having lessons with Miss Anita on Friday mornings before school. She'd had the first lesson on Blue, but after that Miss Anita had put her on one of the school ponies, Penelope, who was better educated and more Shelby's size. Miss Anita said it was easier when she wasn't trying to school the horse and the rider at the same time.
For so long she'd perched on the fence watching the other girls have their lessons, and suddenly she was the one in the arena. She'd learnt so much already, and was amazed to find that her arms and legs hurt after her lessons, even though she rode for hours almost every day.
Miss Anita said that she had a naturally strong core balance, but her technique was sloppy. Since she had been having lessons she had started concentrating on keeping her shoulders back and looking where she was going instead of down at the horse's neck – even when she was out on trails.
She also enjoyed quizzing Miss Anita at the end of each lesson. She would ask about different styles of riding, competition, and how to train horses. Miss Anita always gave her long answers and sometimes took the time to show her examples as well. Miss Anita had some pretty strong opinions about things, Shelby was discovering. Sometimes she got an answer, other times a lecture, but it was all good.
Now Shelby wasn't sure what she wanted to do. For years her dream had been hacking. She'd always loved the neat little show ponies in the magazines, and the smart outfits that the girls wore, but from what she was learning from the Crooks she wasn't sure if she wanted to do that any more.
She'd been to a few shows with the Crooks leading up to the Royal. Sometimes in a class it was obvious which horse should win, but other times she had been surprised by the choice the judge made. She didn't know how she could ever succeed in a discipline where the method of judging was so arbitrary and vague, and where there was no opportunity for feedback.
How could you improve when you had no idea what they were looking for? Even the Crooks, with all the money, time and professional help they threw at it, weren't guaranteed success. Besides, it was never a field in which Blue was going to succeed, and since she could only have one horse it seemed a hopeless case.
Now Shelby was at a crossroads. She was going to ask Miss Anita for jumping lessons on Blue. He was good at that, and seemed to enjoy it. Shelby wasn't as brave as he was, especially approaching the bigger jumps. She could also try sporting. Blue was nifty. He'd probably do well at that too. Except then she'd miss out on the dressing-up part. It was hard to know what to do.
'Maybe I should join the circus,' she muttered.
'How much longer now?' Blake asked.
'Nearly there.'
Soon they were turning off the freeway and heading east towards the coast, where Aunty Jenny had a little cottage on the top of a hill.
When they pulled into the drive, even her father sighed with relief that the Alfa had actually made it. The three children tumbled out of the car.
'Aunty Jenny!' the boys called out, running up the steps.
Shelby's great-aunt opened the door and Shelby gasped. 'What have you done with your hair?'
The older lady smiled and flicked at her auburncoloured hair self-consciously.
'Oh, trying