Pony Club Princess, page 1
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About the Author
Copyright
About the Book
Poppy is taking part in a Pony Club Competition with her cousin Daisy. They've both been practising like mad and they absolutely can’t wait. But before long a whole series of things start to go wrong and it looks like Poppy might not be able to compete after all . . .
Will the Pony Club let Poppy enter the competition?
Will Twinkletoes be well enough to jump and, most importantly, will Poppy ever get to be a Pony Club Princess?
Find out in this brilliant new adventure.
Princess Poppy
Pony Club Princess
written by Janey Louise Jones
Illustrated by Samantha Chaffey
In memory of Jill,
who loved ponies with a passion
Chapter 1
POPPY AMBLED CHEERFULLY down to Riverside Stables on Barley Farm. She couldn’t wait to start riding over jumps on her chestnut pony, Twinkletoes. As she walked into the stable yard, she spotted her cousin Daisy tacking up her pony, Parsley, ready for a canter around the paddock.
“Hi, Poppy,” called Daisy.
“Hi,” replied Poppy, waving at her cousin.
“Did you get your Pony Club letter about taking part in the competition?” asked Daisy.
“Um, no, not yet. Did you get one?”
“Yes, it’s just an ‘acceptance to compete’ letter, which also explains what will happen at the competition. Look, I’ve brought it with me,” said Daisy.
Poppy peered at the letter Daisy was holding.
Poppy wished she had her letter too. It all sounded so grown up and exciting.
“Your letter will turn up soon,” said Daisy kindly as she folded hers away.
“Yes, I expect so,” replied Poppy. “The post hadn’t even arrived when I left this morning, so it’s probably at home right now. I’ve applied to join the Pony Club so that I can take part as a member.”
“Cool, then we’ll both be members,” said Daisy with a smile. “Now, come on, we’ve got to do some practice!”
Down in the paddock, where they had a couple of old practice jumps set up, Daisy gave Poppy lots of tips about jumping.
“Shorten your reins and urge Twinkletoes forward with your legs, Poppy. That way you’ll make sure he’s under control and he’ll be balanced for the jump. Then he’ll soar over. It’s a bit like flying!”
Poppy listened carefully to what her cousin said and was soon clearing the fences easily. Daisy was right – as they went over them, Poppy felt as though she and Twinkletoes were flying through the air.
“Wow!” said Daisy. “You’re so good! I’ll have to make the fences a bit higher this time!”
Poppy beamed with pride and then tried the bigger jumps that Daisy had set up for her. She was concentrating so hard that she completely forgot about her worries over the letter from the Pony Club.
Once she and Twinkletoes were completely exhausted, she watched admiringly as Daisy and Parsley jumped over really high fences. They were so good. Poppy was sure they would win their class in the competition.
When Daisy had finished, Poppy picked up two fallen apples for the ponies as a reward for a hard morning’s work. Parsley ate his in a flash while Twinkletoes munched happily on his for ages. Then the two cousins led their ponies back to the stables, chatting about pony accessories.
“Shall we go to Ned’s to get the ponies some treats for the competition?” suggested Daisy. “I might get Parsley a new numnah for under his saddle or some new ribbons for his plaits.”
Poppy nodded enthusiastically. She loved Ned’s, the saddler’s shop in Camomile Cove. And it was great to hang out with Daisy as her best friend, Honey, had gone on her annual holiday with her mum and dad. This year they were in Los Angeles in America.
Poppy had missed out on taking part in the last Pony Club competition because she had been so busy preparing for her ballet exam, but she was determined that she would not miss out on this one. It was the local Pony Club’s first ever competition to be held in Honeypot Hill. Poppy knew that all her family and friends would come down to watch and make a day of it. Her big ambition was to win a red first-place rosette. She would fasten it proudly onto Twinkletoes’ bridle and ride around the ring to a standing ovation from the crowd. She even saw herself riding at the next Olympic Games!
Poppy often got rather carried away when she was daydreaming. Thinking about it sensibly, she realized that, as it was going to be her first ever competition, she would be very lucky even to be placed in the top three. But more importantly, she needed the letter offering her a place, just like the one Daisy had been sent.
When they got back to Honeysuckle Cottage, Poppy ran through the house and burst into the kitchen.
“Mum! Mum! Has anything arrived in the post from the Pony Club?” she called, hoping that her letter had come.
“From the Pony Club?” asked Mum. “Um, no, there were just a few bills and a postcard from Honey. She says she’s having a lovely time, but she misses you.”
“Oh!” said Poppy, who would normally have been thrilled to receive a postcard from her best friend. “But Daisy has had a letter confirming her place in the Pony Club competition next month and her letter came this morning so mine should have come too.”
Mum looked a bit flustered. She bit her lip anxiously.
“We filled in the application forms together,” Poppy reminded her, beginning to feel rather worried, “and you said you’d post them off. Remember?”
“Um, to tell you the truth, darling, I don’t remember actually posting those forms at all. Oh dear, I think it might have been on the day when the twins weren’t very well a couple of weeks ago – I might have forgotten—”
“But, Mum!” exclaimed Poppy. “It’s really important! It’s my first ever Pony Club competition!”
“I’m sorry, darling. I just had a lot on my mind . . . Let me have a scout about my desk,” said Mum. She soon reappeared with bright red cheeks, holding Poppy’s application form, all correctly addressed and with a stamp in place, but just not posted.
“Poppy, I’m terribly sorry, I did forget. Don’t worry, I’ll take this over to the Pony Club offices and explain what’s happened,” said Mum. “Everything will be fine!”
“The only problem, Aunt Lavender,” Daisy told her, “is that all applications were supposed to reach them by last Friday.”
Chapter 2
POPPY DISSOLVED INTO tears, which woke the twins from their nap and they too started crying.
“Oh dear!” said Mum. “What a mess I’ve got us into. Right, let’s sort this out. Can you two girls go and ask Grandpa if he would mind coming over to look after Angel and Archie, and then the three of us can head over to the Pony Club offices and explain my stupid mistake. It’ll only take ten minutes, and I’ll drop you home afterwards, Daisy.”
Poppy dried her eyes, and after a brief visit to Grandpa’s to make the babysitting request, she paced around Honeysuckle Cottage impatiently as her mum got ready.
“I can’t eat lunch!” she declared. “I’m far too worried.”
But Mum insisted she had a cheese and salad sandwich and soon they were waving goodbye to Grandpa, Angel and Archie.
“I’ll take the Camomile Cove road,” Mum told them. “I’m sure the turnoff for the Pony Club headquarters is there.”
Mum soon turned onto a bumpy country road and they pulled up in the car park of the regional Pony Club offices. Mum combed her hair and put on some rose-pink lipstick, then headed for the reception area, with Daisy and Poppy following behind.
“Excuse me, and sorry for being a nuisance,” Mum said to the lady sitting in reception, “but I have here my daughter’s application forms for membership of the Pony Club and for the forthcoming event at Honeypot Hill. I forgot to post them and I wonder if you would consider processing them now, even though they’re a few days late?”
Poppy stared at the lady: she looked quite strict, she thought. Her large, confident face was heavily powdered, her lips were stained a dark cyclamen-pink, and her brown wavy hair was set firmly with spray. She wore a navy padded jacket with a silk scarf decorated with riding hats and horses’ heads and a badge bearing the name BLUEBELL LAMBTON. Poppy and Daisy recognized it from Daisy’s letter.
The lady tutted loudly. “We make the rules for a good reason, you know. We can’t be dealing with forms turning up late, right, left and centre. All the places have been offered and we can’t change the numbers now, for insurance purposes. I’m afraid you won’t be able to compete this time!” she explained.
Poppy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had been quite sure that Mum would be able to fix everything. It was so unfair, and it was all because of Bluebell Lambton’s silly rules. But Poppy was determined to take part. She’d worked so hard for the competition and she wasn’t going to miss it. She simply couldn’t.
Mum tried to reason with Bluebell.
“I take full responsibility for this. It’s not my daughter’s fault at all. Is th
“I’m sorry, but if we bend the rules for one girl, then scores of others will want special treatment too. We look forward to seeing your daughter at the next event.”
Bluebell Lambton felt more than a little sorry for the girl, but she had no intention of bending the rules – it was not in her power to do so anyway.
Poppy, Daisy and Mum made their way forlornly out to the car. Mum felt terrible as she looked at Poppy’s brave little face, which struggled to hide her disappointment.
Meanwhile Bluebell was deep in thought, wondering if she had been rather harsh, when she heard a phone ringing. Moments later, her colleague, Iris Buxley, appeared from the office behind the reception desk.
“Bluebell,” she said, “that was a cancellation for the Novice Jumping Class at the Honeypot Hill competition. The pony is in foal, apparently. So we can fit in another rider. It’s number six.”
Bluebell looked out of the window and saw the car disappearing into the distance.
“There was a little girl in here just a minute ago, desperate to take part in that Novice Class,” she said. “Her mum had forgotten to post the forms. Do you think we should offer her the place?”
“Definitely!” exclaimed Iris. “We must!”
“But I don’t have their details. They had the forms but they seem to have taken them away again. I don’t know how I’d get in touch with them,” said Bluebell.
“Well, why don’t you try and catch them if they’ve only just left?” said Iris.
“Yes, but neither of us has a car, do we?” said Bluebell, who was starting to think it really would be in the spirit of the Pony Club to offer the place to the little girl who had looked so sad.
“I expect they’re heading towards the Camomile Cove road. Why don’t you ride? You could cut through the fields to the Periwinkle turnoff and wait for them there, ready to give them the good news! Minty is so nippy she’ll get you there in no time.”
Bluebell hastily put on her riding hat and gloves. She needed no further encouragement.
Chapter 3
MUM WAS FOLLOWING the road towards Periwinkle Lane, desperately trying to cheer Poppy up. She felt so bad about what had happened. But Poppy was devastated by the news that she was not in the competition – nothing seemed to be working. Even Daisy’s gossip from Smuggler’s Cove High, which Poppy usually loved hearing, couldn’t distract her.
As Mum approached the final turn for Camomile Cove, she noticed a lady on horseback waving wildly in the distance.
“Look, Aunt Lavender,” said Daisy, spotting the rider too. “I think she wants us to stop.”
Poppy’s mum began to slow down and they saw that it was Bluebell Lambton from the Pony Club headquarters. She was flagging them down while also keeping a tight rein on her frisky dark bay mare.
Mum stopped the car and jumped out. Poppy and Daisy rolled down the windows and waved.
“Ah, glad to have caught you!” said Bluebell. “It’s about your little girl and the competition . . .”
When Bluebell explained that a place had now become available, Mum was so excited that she hugged the lady’s horse, Minty, and then turned back towards the girls. Poppy and Daisy, who had been hanging out of the windows, straining to hear the conversation, had already got out of the car.
Poppy ran up to hug her mum then turned to Bluebell. “Thank you, Mrs Lambton! Thank you so much!”
Daisy and Poppy then joined hands and danced along the hedgerow, with Daisy making up a celebration song:
“You’re in the Pony Club,
No more need to blub!
You’re in the Pony Show,
You’re really going to go!
Wey-hey!”
Mum gave Bluebell the envelope with all the forms, which she tucked safely inside her jacket, and they watched as she cantered back towards the Pony Club.
“Yippee, I’m definitely in the competition!” Poppy said as they got back in the car and made their way into Camomile Cove, where the blue sky and even bluer sea met on the horizon. “Thanks for sorting it all out, Mum!”
“All in a day’s work, Poppy! I’m just sorry that I forgot to post it in the first place,” said Mum, who was feeling hugely relieved.
It was the sort of blunder that would never have happened before she had the twins. She loved them to bits but she sometimes felt sorry for Poppy: it was difficult for her to get used to sharing Mum with her little brother and sister.
When they arrived at Shellbay House, Mum nipped in for a quick coffee with her sister, Delphi, while Poppy and Daisy went off to play in the Summer House.
The next day the cousins met at Riverside Stables again.
“My friend Lily called me last night,” said Daisy as the two girls sat in the tack room cleaning the bridles and saddles. “Wait till you hear what she told me!”
Poppy settled down on a bale of straw in the corner of the room with a rosy red apple, eager to hear her cousin’s news.
“Apparently Lilac Farrington has enrolled in my event in the pony competition!” revealed Daisy.
“Oh no!” said Poppy, remembering the dreadful problems Lilac had caused for their band, the Beach Babes, at the You’re a Star! talent contest. “But she is our friend now, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s always quite sweet to me at Smuggler’s Cove High, but you know what she can be like in a competition!” said Daisy.
Poppy nodded. “Does she have a fast pony?”
“He’s new. I haven’t seen him but I’ve heard he’s called Black Beauty – and lives up to his name!” replied Daisy.
“Wow!” exclaimed Poppy. She thought Lilac’s pony sounded gorgeous. “Well, if the competition is going to be tough, we’d better get on with our practice, instead of lazing around here all day!”
“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Daisy. “Come on, let’s get out into the paddock.”
As the girls led their ponies out, Mrs Meadowsweet, the kind farmer’s wife, appeared. She was wearing her usual flowery apron and smelled of apple pie. She and her husband owned Riverside Stables.
“Hello, girls!” she called.
“Hello, Mrs Meadowsweet!” the girls replied, making their way towards her.
“Practising for the Pony Club event, dears?”
The cousins nodded.
“You know that our Sally used to compete in shows like this many moons ago?” she began. “Well, we’ve lots of practice fences and poles in the barn. They haven’t seen the light of day for ages! How would you like to set up a course in the paddock – you could time each other and what-not?”
Poppy and Daisy beamed.
“That would be amazing, Mrs Meadowsweet!” said Daisy. “Just show us where they are, and we’ll carry them down to the paddock. Thanks so much!”
“They’re a bit heavy, love. I’ll ask Farmer Meadowsweet to take them along in his trailer. Oh, he used to love it when Sally was eventing. What grand times we had at the competitions! And we loved to watch her practise too.”
The girls waited excitedly as the farmer gradually brought over more and more coloured poles, bars, cups, posts and fences. And with his help, the girls designed and assembled a practice course.
Poppy and Daisy got up onto their ponies and tried it out. Meanwhile, Farmer and Mrs Meadowsweet came out to watch them, bringing with them a picnic of newly baked bread and freshly churned butter.
“Come and get refreshments!” called Mrs Meadowsweet, opening a bottle of her famous oranges and lemons fizz.
Poppy and Daisy were having a wonderful time. They lay in the sun, munching on fresh bread, washed down with the delicious juice, while Mrs Meadowsweet told them all about Sally’s show-jumping adventures.
Chapter 4
THE NEXT MORNING Poppy and Grandpa travelled over to Camomile Cove for a visit to Ned’s. Daisy was waiting for them at the station, as planned.
“Why don’t you go to Mum’s for coffee, Grandpa?” suggested Daisy. “We’ll be about an hour down at the shops.”
