Dream On (Dare to Dream Book 2), page 11
Staring at Maggie’s dancing hooves, Marley first registered her own surprise, then the sound of Van’s laughter. She scrambled to her feet and glared at her sister before trying to settle Maggie, who was sidling away from her nervously.
“You’re okay,” she told the pony. “You can stop laughing now,” she continued with a look over at Van. “It wasn’t that funny.”
“Sure it was. You stay on through everything else, then fall off when she’s practically walking. Comedy gold.”
Marley stuck out her tongue at her sister, then turned back to Maggie. “Hold still,” she said, preparing to vault onto the pony’s back. Maggie saw her intention and spun away, eyes rolling widely.
“Hey now,” Marley said softly. “You’re not gonna die.”
But Maggie had convinced herself otherwise. Every time Marley approached her to remount, she swung away, backed up, or struck out with a foreleg. Eventually Van stopped laughing and tried to give Marley a leg-up, but even then Maggie wasn’t having a bar of it, making savage attempts to bite Van’s arm any time she tried to hold her head.
“Simmer down pony, we’re not trying to hurt you.”
Marley frowned. “She doesn’t believe you.”
“I know she doesn’t.” Van conceded to the mare, letting go of her halter and stepping back. Maggie pawed the ground as Marley ran a hand down her neck. “This is what happens when you beat the living daylights out of a pony after you fall off it.”
“You think that’s what happened?”
Van nodded. “I’d put money on it. She won’t let you back on because she’s convinced that you’re going to give her a hiding.”
“Oh pony. I would never,” Marley insisted. She rubbed the mare’s neck and then ran her hands over her back, trying to reassure her. “Just let me back on and you’ll see.”
“Lead her for a bit, let her settle,” Van suggested, springing back onto Covergirl and leading the way down the beach. They walked for a while, and Maggie gradually calmed down and stopped flinching every time Marley looked at her. They stood together on the shore as Van took Covergirl into the water, splashing eagerly and leaping over the waves. Maggie watched in alarm at first, then with growing interest, and Marley led her down to the water’s edge. The water flowed towards them across the sand, and Maggie snorted, leaping backwards before it could touch her hooves. Marley laughed at her, patting her and urging her on again. Maggie summoned her courage and pranced through the shallow water, startling herself with the splashes sent up by her hooves, but she allowed Marley to take her into the slightly deeper water, and then deeper again. They made it into the flat expanse of ocean that lay beyond the shallow breakers, and when she was waist deep in the water, Marley decided to try again to spring onto Maggie’s back. She succeeded this time, and wrapped her bare legs around the mare’s wet sides.
“See? It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Maggie surged through the water, but Marley spoke softly to her, stroking her damp neck, and felt the tension start to ebb away from the pony beneath her.
“You’re safe now. I’ve got you. I promise.”
* * *
It was a warm summer’s afternoon when Marley leapt off the school bus and ran down the road towards home after the last day of term. No more school for weeks and weeks, just hours every day to spend on the ponies. Time to work on Gothic’s fitness, and Gigi’s flatwork, and Seattle’s manners. Time enough for Kris to help her with Breeze’s technique, for Seamus to teach her about trimming and shoeing, and a lot more time for helping Maggie learn to enjoy life.
Marley swept through the house like a whirlwind, discarding her school bag and uniform onto her bedroom floor before pulling on a pair of shorts and her favourite old t-shirt. Discarding the shackles of school, and free to be herself again.
Van was in the barn, carefully trimming Effie’s hooves under Seamus’s supervision.
“Free at last!” Marley declared as she grabbed a halter and a handful of oats out of the bucket by the door.
“That’s what she thinks,” Seamus told Van. “Little does she know the list of chores we’ve written up for her to get through.”
Van grinned as she set down Effie’s back leg. “Don’t you still have a bunch of exams to do?”
Marley shrugged. “Yeah, but they’re weeks away yet. No need to worry about them until the night before.”
“That’s the spirit. Hey Mar, I got you a present.”
“Really?”
“It’s in the tack room.”
Marley dove into the room and looked around, trying to recognise anything unfamiliar in the jumbled space. Nothing leapt out to her, and she backed out of the room and gave Van a questioning look.
“Is it hidden?”
“Hardly. It’s on Maggie’s hook.”
Marley’s head swivelled around and she grinned at the sight of the bridle hanging from her hook. The Pelham bit had disappeared, and in its place was a short shank hackamore with a padded noseband. Marley grabbed it off the hook and admired it as Van appeared in the doorway.
“Thought that might suit her better.”
“Where’d you get it?”
“From a friend at work. I was telling her about Maggie and she said she’d had one that always put its tongue over the bit, so after trying everything else, she thought she’d have a go at riding him bitless, and lo and behold it worked.”
Marley ran her fingers over the short shanks of the hackamore. It was the perfect remedy for Maggie, giving Marley the control she needed without trying to put any metal into the mare’s damaged mouth. “Do you think she’ll go okay in it?”
Van shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”
Marley was eager to try Maggie in the hackamore, but twenty minutes later she was still attempting to coax the mare to allow the bridle anywhere near her head.
“There’s no bit, I promise. This one doesn’t work that way,” Marley explained to the frightened pony. “It’s attached to the cheekpieces just like a bit, but it fits over your nose like a halter. See?” She showed Maggie the curved metal shanks, with the reins attached to the ends. “And the nose piece has fluffy sheepskin on it, so even when I do pull on the reins it’ll be even more comfy than being ridden in a halter. It’s not going to hurt you. I promise.”
Maggie didn’t believe her. She laid her ears back and struck out at Marley with her foreleg.
“Come on now,” Marley said. “I thought we’d got past all that.”
Maggie threw her head up suddenly and looked over Marley’s shoulder as footsteps came up the aisle of their small barn, and Marley turned to see Jake walking towards them.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Not really,” Marley told him. “She won’t let me put the bridle on.” She sighed. “I heard you’re going back home for a while.”
Jake nodded, staring at the floor. “Yeah. They got home from Europe last week.”
“Bummer. Hey, maybe you can help me. Wait here while I grab a bucket of oats from the feed room.”
Marley thrust the bridle into his hand and left the stall, hurrying down the aisle towards the feed bins at the end. Jake looked at Maggie, who was still backed into the corner and eying him suspiciously. He lay the bridle over the stall door and leaned his arms on it, watching the mare. After a moment or two, she stepped forward, and walked up to him. He stood still as she blew warm breath into his hair, and he reached up and gently stroked her cheek.
“She really does like you.”
Jake startled slightly and turned to see Marley walking slowly towards them, a small bucket in her hand. She was giving him that same appraising look that he’d first seen on top of the hill a few weeks ago.
“I guess.”
“She doesn’t like anyone much. You should feel privileged.”
“Okay.” Jake’s throat went dry as she smiled at him, and he cleared it nervously. “What d’you want me to do?”
Marley let herself back into the stall, and motioned to Jake to follow her. “Bring the oats,” she added, and he dutifully scooped the bucket off the ground and stepped across the threshold of the stall. Maggie eyed them both suspiciously, but the feed in Jake’s hand caught her attention, and she pushed her muzzle into it greedily.
“Easy there child, you have to earn your reward,” Marley told her, rubbing her neck as she gobbled the feed. “Move that bucket away so she can’t get to it,” she instructed Jake. “Just give her a handful at a time.”
Slowly, working together, they managed to get Maggie to allow the reins to be slipped over her head, and the bridle to be lifted up to her face. She backed into a corner again, but didn’t try and strike out with her foreleg, and when Marley finally slipped the headstall over her ears and buckled the throatlash, Maggie tossed her head and looked at her curiously.
“Told you there was no bit,” Marley said to the pony. “I wouldn’t do that to you. I do care about you, you know.” Maggie tossed her head once more, then nudged Marley’s shoulder with her nose. “One more mouthful, then you’ve got to start earning your keep.”
Jake leaned against the edge of the arena and watched as Marley rode the pony around at a walk. Maggie was nervous, jumping around and snorting at things, but Marley looked relaxed, patting the mare and repeatedly telling her that life was okay. That she was safe here, and was going to be taken care of. Despite Maggie’s unease, Jake found it strangely soothing to watch.
Marley nudged Maggie’s sides gently and the pony sprang forward into trot, head high and body tense. Closing her fingers around the reins, Marley steadied her and made her circle and bend her body, and Maggie started to relax and settle into a rhythm. For the next few minutes, Marley held her at the same pace, feeling the mare start to relax and give underneath her. She seemed to be catching on quickly to the hackamore, and was responding well.
It was time for a real test. Marley slid her outside leg back behind the girth and gave a gentle squeeze, asking for a canter. And today, for the first time, Maggie didn’t leap forward in a rush and try to yank the reins out of Marley’s hands. This time she glided smoothly into a balanced canter, and as Marley shifted her weight to the inside, she circled quietly, bending her body around Marley’s inside leg. Another shift of weight and she got a perfect flying change. A half-halt out of the corner, leg on and asking for a forward stride, and Maggie bounded into a strong, expressive canter. The kind of canter that could jump a six foot oxer without a second thought. There was so much strength, so much power, so much harnessed energy that Marley’s breath caught in her throat. This pony was everything that Stacey had claimed she was, and more.
She looked over at the gate, and was surprised to see Kris standing next to Jake, watching her. Marley brought Maggie back to a walk and let her stroll over to the gate, where she brought her to a gentle halt.
“What d’you think?”
“She looks a bit more rideable today, I’ll give her that,” Kris said nonchalantly. “Which is good, because I came to tell you that Stacey just called. She’s out of hospital and she wants to come and see her pony.”
Marley’s throat constricted. “She is? When?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.” She caught Marley’s anxious expression and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry, she’s not allowed to ride for several months yet,” she reminded her sister. “She won’t be taking her anywhere.”
“I know,” Marley nodded. “I just hope she can see how much progress we’ve made.”
“If she can’t, she doesn’t deserve to own a horse,” Kris replied. “She’s a completely different animal from the mad creature that we brought home a few weeks ago.”
Marley shuddered, remembering that night. She could see Miles grazing in the house paddock with Covergirl, slowly regaining the condition he’d dropped after Maggie’s furious attack on him. “She was so angry back then.” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Maggie’s neck with a smile. “I just hope Stacey will be as impressed with her as we are.”
“I’m sure she will,” Kris said. “Now go get Breeze in, and I’ll set you up some exercises to tune her up before Taupo.”
* * *
Fortunately, on the day that Stacey and her father turned up, Maggie was in a good mood. She took only a few moments to bridle, and didn’t even try to nip when the girth was tightened. Marley rode her at a steady walk, trot and canter around the arena, and the pony was as relaxed and obedient as she’d ever been. Marley rubbed her neck as she rode back to Stacey, watching from the gate.
“She looks good,” Stacey said, her voice a little flat. “Really quiet.”
Gordon was less reserved in his comments. “Have you doped her or something?”
Marley was shocked. “No! Of course not.”
“He didn’t mean that you would,” Stacey said quickly. “Just that we’ve never seen her so calm. Even with Lottie, my cousin, she was never so quiet.”
“She’s a lot more rideable,” Kris said, standing alongside Gordon with her fingers clenched together. The slightly disparaging way that the pony’s owners had viewed what Kris saw as a minor miracle was rubbing her up the wrong way.
“She doesn’t look like the same pony that we bought,” Gordon said, and Marley grinned until she realised he didn’t mean it as a compliment. “We’re used to her being all fired up and energetic.”
Marley glanced at her sister, who subtly rolled her eyes in response. “When she’s too fired up, she loses her head, and she forgets to think. Then she panics, and doesn’t want to jump,” Marley explained. Then she throws you headfirst into a jump at high speed, and you end up in hospital. Remember? She bit her tongue as Gordon grumbled on.
“She was well enough trained before to compete at the top level in Europe,” he snapped. “What’s she like when you jump her?”
Marley stroked Maggie’s gleaming neck. “I haven’t, yet. She’s only been in this arena a couple of times, and she’s still getting used to the hackamore.”
Gordon snorted. “Do you really think you can jump her in that thing?”
Marley tried to keep her expression neutral as she stared at him. “I don’t see that I have a choice,” she replied steadily. “We told you what we found when we had her mouth looked at.”
Gordon waved her concerns away with a flick of his large hand. “None of that showed up on the vet check, and we had her extensively vetted before we bought her. But we were told that she’s very strong when she starts to jump, and Stacey found that to be true. I just can’t see you being able to jump her without a bit in her mouth.” He was clearly about to issue a challenge, and Kris intercepted him quickly.
“She’s not ready to jump her yet,” she told him.
“What d’you mean, not ready? She’s a world class pony, she already knows how to jump. Come on, you don’t have to do a whole course, just a couple of fences. You’ve already got some set up,” he added, gesturing towards the jumps set in the middle of the arena.
“I don’t think…”
“Go on Marley,” Stacey pressured. “I’d love for her to stay with you, but if she can’t jump in the hackamore, well…”
“Fine.” Marley turned Maggie away and rode back towards the centre of the arena, and Kris followed her across, and started lowering the jumps.
“You don’t need to put them down,” Gordon called across. “She can easily jump that height, she’s a–”
“World class pony,” Marley mouthed silently, echoing Gordon’s words as he repeated himself.
Kris rolled her eyes as she lifted one of the poles onto her knee while she dropped the cup onto a lower hole. Marley was about to offer to help when she noticed Seamus striding into the arena, so she took Maggie for a trot while he gave her sister a hand. The pony was responding well, but she was unnerved by the presence of so many people, and when Kris knocked a couple of poles to the ground, the resulting clatter caused Maggie to almost jump out of her skin.
Marley rubbed the mare’s neck. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to ask you to do this so soon, but it’s out of my hands. If you want to stay here, you have to do this for me. Okay?”
Maggie tossed her head, but when Marley trotted her towards a low crossrail, she baulked three strides out and tried to swerve to the left. Marley dug her knees into the saddle and straightened the mare, bringing her back to a walk and coaxing her slowly, one step at a time, towards the small jump. Maggie snorted and danced, but eventually walked up to the jump. She sniffed it tentatively, then rocked back onto her haunches and sprang into the air, clearing it by miles. Marley was caught by surprise and lost her balance as the pony landed. Maggie plunged her head between her knees and bucked fiercely, and Marley felt herself fly through the air. The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the ground, and she lay still for a moment, trying to remember how to breathe. Kris was by her side in moments, her face white.
“Mar?! Are you okay?”
Marley nodded, struggling to sit up. Seamus was there too, helping her into a sitting position, and she finally managed to suck in a breath. “I wasn’t prepared for that.”
“You don’t have to get back on,” Kris told her as Marley got to her feet.
“Don’t be stupid, of course I do. I’ll stay on next time.” She walked stiffly towards Maggie, who was standing in the corner of the arena with her head up, snorting. Marley reached her side and took her reins, then gently stroked her neck. “Sorry girl. I didn’t mean to fall off, I know you hate that.”
Maggie rubbed her cheek on Marley’s shoulder, and Marley took a moment to get her breath back properly. Seamus came up behind her, offering a leg-up, but Marley shook her head as Maggie flattened her ears at him.
“She wouldn’t let you close enough anyway.” She turned her attention back to the pony, gathered up the reins and lifted her foot to the stirrup. Maggie started to tremble, but she didn’t move away or try to bite her, and Marley swung quickly into the saddle.
