Luna started to canter down the narrow path that led away from Sunshine Stables. Willow tucked in close, trying to shield her arms from brambles laden with unripe blackberries, clinging on to Luna’s red mane. Luna’s ears were pricked forwards, and she seemed to know exactly where she was going.
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“That’s it, girl, go for it!”
Willow crouched lower over Luna’s withers, feeling the silken strands of red mane whip her face as the little mare thundered on. Luna was a fast pony, whippet slim and a striking chestnut, and she and Willow both loved to run. The faster they went, the better.
As they galloped on, Willow glanced over her shoulder at her friends from pony camp: Gracie on Bobby, who was already trotting; Sophie on the gorgeous Exmoor, Gorse, who was bumbling along in a steady canter; and Poppy, Amina and
Jess now trailing behind. They all had lovely ponies, but no one could catch Luna. Together, they were unstoppable. When Willow galloped on Luna, she could run from everything.
Willow had been thrilled when Lainey, who ran the Sunshine Stables pony camps, had paired her with Luna. Willow loved ponies, all ponies, in every shape and size, but there was something special about the chestnut mare who whickered softly as Willow approached her stable.
Luna had a beautiful dished face and large amber eyes, and her coat was almost red, turning copper as the day wore on and the sun set.
She looked as though she was always on high alert, her
eyes searching for things Willow couldn’t see, ready to gallop. But she was safe too. Although she was the fastest pony at Sunshine Stables, Willow felt as though they worked as a team, as if Luna was looking after her. She trusted the little red mare totally.
There was something about Luna that reminded Willow of herself. But while Luna ran for fun, seemingly enjoying the thrill of it, Willow ran because … why? She wasn’t entirely sure. All she knew was that when she was running around the local athletics track, or galloping on Luna, she felt as though she could do anything. All of the name-calling, the mean remarks, they didn’t matter when she ran. But when she stopped, everything caught up with her again.
For a couple of minutes, as they reached the top of the meadow, Willow and Luna were completely on their own, waiting for the others to
catch up. Luna was barely puffing and Willow was sure they could have done another lap around the field, even two. As she watched her friends amble up the hillside, bright-eyed, windswept and laughing as they trotted side-by-side, she smiled. Pony camp had been the best thing she’d ever done, and she was so thankful her mum and dad had suggested it, when she’d been having a really tricky time.
Meeting a bunch of strangers had been the scariest thing Willow had done since switching schools. However, unlike her new classmates – who’d all looked at her curiously, probably wondering why she was joining a new school right in the middle of term – everyone at Sunshine Stables had accepted her immediately, all drawn together by a love of horses, and bonding on the very first day by the discovery of a horseshoe they’d hung on the
camp barn wall for luck. Willow had made friends right away, from Sophie, who loved playing tricks, to Poppy, who had shared her stash of sweets and pony magazines, and Amina, who was endlessly cheerful.
No one laughed at her, or called her names and, as the week went by, Willow had relaxed, certain she was safe here, in her happy place. Almost…
A bit later, as they clattered back into the yard, all on loose reins, the ponies’ ears pricked as they spied full hay nets in clean stables. Willow gave a sigh of contentment. It was practically perfect.
Perfect – apart from one thing.
“Oh, Luna!”
She was doing it again, and at the worst moment too. As Willow had jumped down from the saddle, Luna had spotted her best pony friend and, giving a shrill whinny of delight, towed Willow across the yard to greet the little grey, who snuffled and whickered back affectionately.
Luna was surprisingly strong for such a fine pony! It could have been a really sweet moment, two ponies reunited after a morning apart, had the grey pony not been held by the grumpiest-looking girl ever.
“Fable, stop it!” The girl gave the lead rope a tug, but it was no use. She was clearly having as much trouble as Willow was! The ponies snuffled noses adoringly, before starting to groom each other’s necks. There was nothing Willow could do. Not for the first time, she thought how different the two ponies were. Luna, so feather light and red-gold in colour, compared to the chunkier grey Fable, a solid Welsh mountain pony who was almost thirty years old. She looked in great health, only her slightly dipped back and pure-white coat giving away her age, and her expression was always cheerful – cheeky even. Fable’s mother had died when Fable was just
a foal. It was Fable’s mother’s horseshoe which now hung on the camp barn wall. Willow really liked Fable, and was fascinated by her story. She was clearly very special to everyone at Sunshine Stables. She wanted to give her a hug, but didn’t think it would go down well with the girl who was now glaring at her.
Emily.
Emily was the only bad bit about Sunshine Stables. She was Lainey’s daughter, and had a twin brother, Jack, who was really nice. But Emily had been grumpy from the start because she had found Sunshine Stables’ change from private stables to riding school hard and didn’t like other people looking after the ponies. But she had warmed to the gang throughout the week, even helping Jess with the rescue of Bandit, a beautiful grey pony. Emily now seemed happy to chat to them throughout the day. Everyone, but Willow.
Willow knew she hadn’t exactly been friendly either. But how could she, when Emily made her feel exactly like she’d felt so many times in the past? Swanning around her gorgeous stables with her nose stuck in the air, looking down on Willow, who in return glared back at her. When she felt intimidated, she got defensive, put up a
guard. And Emily was definitely the worst sort of bully. It would be so easy to avoid her if their ponies weren’t the best of friends!
Finally getting Luna to follow her, Willow put the little chestnut in her stable, turning her back on the other girl. She knew some people thought she was aloof, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Inside she was trembling. The taunts and the name-calling and the sneers were so fresh in her mind, and Emily just reminded her of it all.
She hugged Luna tightly, breathing in her safe, comforting pony scent, her red coat warmed by the sunshine, and she gave a deep sigh. No wonder she was always running, she thought to herself. Would she ever escape?
“Hey, Willow!”
Amina was waiting for Willow outside the stable a little while later, having just tended to her camp pony, Nutmeg. Amina was bubbly and friendly, and she had made Willow feel at ease as soon as they’d met. Willow thought about her friends at the athletics club where she trained. Most of them knew about her moving schools, and some had even gone to her previous school, although luckily hadn’t been involved in any of the horrible stuff. She couldn’t have coped with that too, never being able to escape the mean
girls. But they still knew.
Willow loved the freedom running gave her, and she was good at it too. But ponies were something else. They let her escape, just like running, though it was more than that. The teamwork between her and Luna gave her a sense of being part of something bigger than herself.
But could she combine the two worlds? She knew her talent shouldn’t go to waste, but training took up so much time, and she wanted to carry on riding too. She felt as though she was at a crossroads.
“Jade’s got someone with her today,” Amina said, linking arms with Willow. Willow still felt herself tense up whenever the other girls got too close, shuddering as she remembered the mean sticky note Bella Sanders had stuck to her school jumper, and she hadn’t noticed all day, only wondering why everyone was laughing at her.
But Amina was kind as she chatted away. Jade was the young instructor at Sunshine Stables, and she was adored by everyone. She kept her horse at the yard, a beautiful grey showjumper called Sox.
“She looks cool!” Amina continued. “She’s wearing a tracksuit top, sort of like you wear, and it’s got an England flag on it. Perhaps she does dressage, or showjumping. Ohhh, do you reckon she might know the Olympic dressage team?”
“Oh, maybe it’s someone Lainey knows!” Willow smiled. “How awesome would that be?”
“Yeah,” Amina said. “Wouldn’t it? Which famous rider would you like to meet?”
Willow and Amina were so caught up in their conversation, imagining the top riders who graced the pages of their pony magazines teaching them cross-country, or showing them how to ride a flying change, that they weren’t really looking where they were going, and the next thing Willow
knew she was bumping into the navy blue of a tracksuit.
“Oh, I’m really sorry!”
Mortified, Willow and Amina stepped back.
Willow felt her cheeks redden as she looked up at the owner of the tracksuit, a girl about Jade’s age, with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Luckily she was smiling.
“Hey, that’s all right,” she said. “From what I could hear, you were having a very important conversation.” She grinned. “I’d love to meet all those riders too!”
Jade then came out of the stable next to her and laughed.
“And me!” She smiled at Willow and Amina.
“Girls, this is my friend Hollie,” she said. “She’s come to visit Sox and me today!”
“So good to see Sox,” Hollie said. “I’ve been so busy training, I haven’t seen him in ages!”
Willow knew Amina was dying to know why Hollie had an English flag on the chest of her tracksuit, and she wanted to know too. But she felt really shy. Hollie seemed so cool.
Luckily Jade started the conversation for her.
“Sox is quite different to Hollie’s ponies,” Jade said, leaning on the rail the camp members used to place their saddles on after riding. “He’s about three hands bigger, and I don’t think he’s as fast!”
“Oh, I don’t know, Soxy.” Hollie gave the big grey an affectionate pat. “I reckon you’d be pretty good at games.”
“Games?” Willow blurted out before she could stop herself.
But Hollie smiled at the girls, who were looking curiously at her.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m a mounted-games rider. I compete in the regional team.”
“And for England,” Jade chimed in, giving her friend a nudge. “Don’t forget that bit!”
“And for England,” Hollie grinned.
“Wow!” Amina said in awe. “That’s amazing!”
Then she looked a bit sheepish.
“Um,” she continued, looking at Willow, who shook her head. “What is mounted games?”
Willow was so pleased Amina had asked, because she didn’t know either and hadn’t wanted to look silly in front of Hollie, or Jade, who she
really looked up to.
But Hollie didn’t seem to mind.
“Well, now you’ve got me talking,” she laughed.
“It’s kind of like gymkhana games, similar to what you’ve been doing this week I expect. But a little more grown up.”
She reached into her pocket for her phone and tapped at it before turning it round so Willow and Amina could see. Willow gazed at the screen as a video started up. Hollie was wearing a white T-shirt and was running alongside a gorgeous chestnut pony, similar in looks to Luna. The pony was practically
galloping but Hollie was keeping up with ease, before suddenly she gave a hop and a skip and leapt straight into the pony’s saddle. Crouching over the pony’s neck, Hollie urged her on.
Willow could see she seemed to be racing against other ponies. Hollie then stretched right out of the saddle as she reached another girl in the same white T-shirt, passing over what looked like a baton. The other girl’s pony, a whizzy-looking grey, gave a small rear before galloping off to whoops and cheers from whoever was filming. It looked fast and furious, and amazing fun!
“That’s so cool!” Amina said. “What do you think, Willow?”
But Willow couldn’t speak. She was transfixed. Suddenly, in her mind, it was her and Luna galloping over the line.
“It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen,” she finally managed. “Wow!”
“What do you need to be a mounted-games rider?” Amina asked.
Hollie looked thoughtful.
“Well, a brilliant, fast pony, for starters,” she said. “And you need to be fit and strong, and push yourself to the limit. Some of the races are really testing!”
“Hollie used to go running locally,” Jade said, and Willow’s ears pricked. “At Southfields Club.”
“Hey!” Amina said, turning to Willow. “That’s where you go, isn’t it? She’s amazing at running,” she added to Hollie, and Willow felt like hugging her. They’d called her weird Willow at her old school for running around the school fields.
Hollie looked really interested.
“That’s great!” she said. “Perhaps you’d like to come along to one of our demos? It’s a great way to combine running and ponies. I was torn between the two, you see. Now I can enjoy both the things I love.”
And with that, Willow knew. It was like Hollie had read her thoughts, the way she too was torn between two sports she really enjoyed, two things that helped her escape the scary world of school. She knew what it was she wanted to do. She wanted to learn absolutely everything she could about mounted games!
“I’d love to!” Willow didn’t care about trying to sound cool any more. “Yes, please!”
“Why don’t you come along to our end-of-camp fun day?” Jade then said in an excited voice to Hollie. “We’ll have some mounted games races!”
And Hollie smiled.
“Absolutely,” she replied. “I’d like nothing more! And, Willow,” she smiled at Willow, who was starry-eyed now, “I’ll look forward to watching you ride! Then I could perhaps help you choose what you can do in the future?”
“Willow and Luna would be a great partnership
to try games properly,” Jade added with a little smile at Willow. “You’ll be very impressed. Both love going fast.”
“I’m looking forward to it!” Hollie said. “Lovely to meet you, girls!”
And as she left the yard, with a hug for Jade and a wave for Willow and Amina, Willow grinned. Camp had already been the best week she’d had in so long, and now this was an unexpected bonus. There was no pressure, no competition to win, but to have someone watch her ride and talk her through the route into mounted games would be amazing. Willow’s parents had already let her know she could continue her riding lessons, having told her they knew how happy ponies made her, and if she rode Luna as often as she could, then maybe, just maybe she would succeed!