Hot Potato (Shelby and Blue) - Alyssa Brugman [17]
Along the way she rode past a car with a family inside. Shelby didn't know who they were, and assumed that they either owned one of the horses in the spelling paddock, or they were having a look around with a view to agisting here in the future.
There were two little girls in the back seat, both about four or five years old. They leaned over the windowsill and stared at Hotty. She heard one of them, eyes wide, say, 'Did you see that lady on the horse, Mummy? She looked like a princess!'
Shelby waved to the girls and felt her face flush with pride.
Halfway along the laneway Shelby turned left, through one of the paddocks – empty at the moment – and headed towards the round yard. She couldn't see it yet, because it was hidden by a row of conifers.
Across the paddocks Shelby could see Erin and Lindsey walking side by side from the stables. Lindsey had a stock saddle over one arm. It must have been heavy, because every now and then she would swap arms.
Before long Shelby had reached the round yard. She slid off and stood at the railing, stroking the pony's neck while she waited for her friends.
'How did you go?' Erin asked.
Shelby shrugged. 'We just walked up from the back paddock. Nothing special.'
While Lindsey saddled the pony Erin and Shelby exchanged a smile, each knowing that they both thought everything to do with this pony was pretty special.
'You want to go first?' asked Lindsey.
Feeling quite confident now, Shelby shoved her foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the pony's back.
At first the pony moved sideways. Shelby thought she had swung too far, because she seemed to be leaning on the far side. Then the pony hitched up at the front, lifting her forelegs off the ground. Shelby tried to slip her foot into the stirrup on the off-side, but she couldn't find it, and she was still leaning alarmingly to one side. She kicked for the stirrup, but missed.
The pony tucked her head between her legs and flicked her heels up at the back. Shelby was thrust forward. It was all happening too quickly for Shelby to register. She grabbed a handful of mane, crouching, trying to find her balance.
The pony arched over and bucked, once, twice, three times, with an impressive twist, and Shelby found herself flat on her back on the dirt several metres away.
It didn't hurt, she was only winded – a sensation she had experienced many times before, and yet every time the numbness across her shoulder blades and the dull, aching, hollow feeling in her chest made her panic just for a moment. She waited for the first deep breath and the stinging air rushing back into her empty lungs. Then she waited for a sharper pain that might indicate a break or a graze, and was relieved none came.
Hotty raced around the yard kicking, pigrooting and bucking with such ferocity that Shelby was worried she was going to flip right over.
Shelby sat up and the pony headed straight for her, ears flat to her head, teeth bared. Shelby put her hand over her face, turning away. She could feel the whoosh of air as Hotty sailed over the top of her, grazing Shelby's elbow slightly with her hind hoof.
'Get out of there, Shel!' Lindsey bellowed.
Shelby scrabbled backwards to the fence on the heels of her hands.
The pony ran straight towards the fence, skidded, and at the last second spun sideways. Her hind legs slipped and she slid on her side along the dirt, sending clouds of dust rising.
As Shelby watched the pony rolled over. She heard a loud crack! and when the pony scrambled up again, the saddle slid off her back. The girth had snapped, and guessing by the curious bent shape of it, the tree of the saddle was broken as well.
Hotty trotted to the opposite edge of the yard from Shelby, snorted and stood still with her reins hanging down from either side of her mouth.
All of the girls stared at each other through the dust still floating in the air.
'What on earth was that?' Erin said.
12 Saddle Sores