Emily and Emerald (8 page)

Jody met us at the picnic site in the Land Rover, and handed out sandwiches, fruit and some lovely cold cartons of orange juice. We clipped the ponies' lead ropes on to their head collars, took the bridles off and let them graze while we ate and chatted
(although Emerald was far more interested in my egg and cress sandwich than the grass!). There was no loo, so we had to hold each other's ponies while we went in the bushes! It was so funny having to do that and we couldn't stop giggling. I held Sugar for Madi, and this time Emerald didn't seem to mind standing that close to her – she really is making progress!

We rode a different way back to the yard, and Sally let us all have a canter up this stubble field. It was brilliant! Millie and Tally went bombing off really fast, and only Lydia and Fly overtook them. I would've loved a seriously fast gallop, but I knew it wouldn't be good for Emerald to get that razzed up (I wanted to be sure she'd stop again!), so I tucked her in behind Sugar and Monsoon and had a gentle canter to
the top. She really enjoyed it and easily came back to a nice springy trot when I asked.

In fact she did brilliantly the whole way back. We even had to walk through this river, and it wasn't that deep, but she got a bit spooked by the shadows on the water. Instead of panicking, I just stuck closely behind Sally and followed Blue across without even looking down. Before Emerald knew it, we were on the other side.

Oh, and now Jody's calling us in because me and Frankie are on the rota for laying the table and helping get the tea. Better go!

Well, I didn’t think I could get any prouder of Emerald after the picnic ride, but I am now! We had a DVD night tonight, and we were all watching
Spirit
and eating popcorn (yum!) when Sally popped her head round the games room door and called me over. I was worried for a minute that I’d done something wrong, but in fact she wanted me to come up to the field with her and try turning Emerald out with the other ponies again. I asked if Frankie could come too, and Sally said OK, so we all collected Emerald from the barn and walked up to the field. 

The sun was just starting to go down and everything was glowing golden, and the smell of grass and dry dirt and Emerald was all around me. Being out there with my great instructor and my new friend and my fab pony was just the best feeling ever, and I had to push away the thought that tomorrow Pony Camp is coming to an end.

Sally let me walk Emerald into the field and take off her lead rope. I gave her a big pat and whispered in her ear, “Go on, be brave. If
I
can make new friends, I know you can, too.” Then I gave her mane a final ruffle and walked away.

I hitched myself up on to the fence with Sally and Frankie, and we all watched. 

At first Emerald just stood there, and I felt a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I so desperately wanted to see her fit in – I just wished I could go and make friends
for
her!

She stood still for a while longer, and then, slowly, she began to wander around the group in a big circle, staying quite a way apart from them. I kept expecting her to bolt at them like she had before, but she didn’t (phew!). Instead, she walked in smaller and smaller circles around Flame, Shine and Charm, as the other ponies moved off to graze further away.

She kept circling closer and closer, and I looked to Sally because I was worried she was about to get chased away like last time and maybe even kicked. But Sally smiled at me and said, “Nearly there. Watch.”

And then the most amazing thing happened.

Flame kind of shifted so that she was standing sideways to Emerald, and Emerald
went up to her. I held my breath because I thought the others would definitely chase her then, but they didn’t seem bothered. Flame nudged Emerald around a bit and Emerald just let her, and then suddenly they were all grazing together and it looked like Emerald had always belonged there.

I felt all this happiness bubble up inside me, along with sadness that tomorrow I’ll have to say goodbye to her. Sally squeezed my arm and said, “Well done, Emily. You helped her to do that, you know.”

“Oh, I—” I began, but Frankie cut me off.

“Yeah, well done, Em, you’re like a total horse whisperer or something!” she said, grinning.

As we walked down the lane, Frankie linked arms with me, and when we got back to the games room, the others were so curious about what we’d been up to that Millie had to pause the DVD so we could tell them all about Emerald joining the others in the field. Well, Frankie, being Frankie, did most of the talking and me, being me, blushed when she told them how Sally said I’d helped Emerald have the confidence to become part of the group.

Then I sat down and Neema put her legs on my lap and Madi asked me to braid her hair. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll wish I was invisible ever again. There is one thing I
do
wish, though – I wish that Pony Camp would never end and that I could keep coming to Sunnyside Stables and seeing Emerald for ever and ever!

Friday
— back in my new room in our new house. I've got the most AMAZING news!

Well, when I saw Sally talking to Mum while we were getting ready for the gymkhana I had no idea that they were saying anything much. But it turns out that they were saying something v. v. important, which I will reveal in a minute!

First of all, I just want to quickly write about how well Emerald did in the gymkhana. We all spent ages making our ponies look nice for it and cleaning our tack.

When I finished, Emerald looked like this:

It was great to see Mum again. Of course, she fell totally in love with Emerald, and she was so surprised at me talking away about our lessons, and the picnic ride, and Frankie and the other girls, and Sally and Western Bob, instead of being quiet like I usually am.

I'd decided with Sally before the gymkhana that I'd join in with Group A's races, but only some of them.

So, me and Emerald did:

Walk, trot, canter

Weaving round the cones

Ball and bucket race

Apple bobbing. 

But we missed out the relay and the bale stepping stones races because I thought she'd find those too spooky. I managed to keep her in check during our races, even though it meant that in the apple bobbing I stayed in trot when the others cantered up to the buckets. Amazingly, we actually won the walk, trot, canter against Frankie and Millie – Emerald's speed when I
did
let her go meant we pipped even super-fast Tally at the post! 

After both groups had had their gymkhana games, everyone played Chase Me Charlie. Well, all except us. As I hadn't tried any jumping with Emerald, a competition with everyone watching didn't seem like a great place to start, so I led her off into the barn for a rest.

When I got back, I leaned on the fence next to Mum to watch the rest of the jumping. Johnny was in charge with Sally helping, and when she saw me she came over and said well done for handling the gymkhana games.

“Without you, Emerald wouldn't have achieved the amazing things she has done,” she said, and I suddenly realized that without
Sally
, me and Emerald wouldn't have achieved anything at all! In fact, we wouldn't even have been together! I said thanks to her for believing in me and giving me the chance to have Emerald as my pony for the week, and for rearranging the lessons for me and getting
Western Bob in to help us and, well,
everything
! Then I added, “I was worried you were going to swap me off her, though!”

Sally smiled and said, “I did think about it. But I felt that you and Emerald were right for each other. You've taught each other what you needed to learn most – confidence. Funny how the things ponies have to teach us are sometimes not about technique or even about riding at all!”

I felt a big wave of love for Emerald then, and after that an even bigger wave of sadness that I'd have to leave her. I'd pushed it to the back of my mind so I could enjoy my last day, but just then the full force of having to say goodbye hit me and tears sprang into my eyes. I was just about to rush off to the barn to spend every single moment I had left at Pony Camp with her (and probably cry a LOT!), when Sally said casually, “Oh, it's such a shame,
one of my best term-time helpers has just moved away. The yard's going to be such a mess without her.”

I hardly dared to ask in case she said no, but I knew I had to take the chance. “I'd like to volunteer, and I bet Frankie would, too, if you think we'd be good enough,” I managed to mumble. I looked up nervously.

“I think you'd both be great!” she said. And I
had
to duck under the fence and give her a hug, even though she's the instructor! Then I looked at Mum and she was beaming – turns out Sally had already cleared it with her (so
that's
what they were talking about!).

For a moment this horrible thought flashed through my head that perhaps there would be older girls helping on the yard as well who'd be horrible to me, but I know it's not like that here.

Then Sally said something even more amazing, which was, “Emerald will need some consistency and won't be suitable as a riding school pony for a long while yet, so if you can ride her every couple of days you'll be helping her, too. And we'll keep working with Western Bob to really get her settled.”

I was just absolutely staring at her, grinning. I said thank you loads of times, but even if I'd said it a million times, it wouldn't have seemed like enough. Sally said it was enough after about 23 times, though!

After that, I still wanted Frankie to win the Chase Me Charlie, but I also wanted her to be out straight away so I could tell her the brilliant news! (She came third in the end, after Chantelle and Harry.)

Of course, it was still sad when Pony Camp was over, because us girls won't be together any more. Morgan and Madison were both in
tears about leaving their ponies, so the rest of us did our best to cheer them up. We got the mums and dads to take loads of photos of us all squashed on to the bench, sitting on each other's laps and stuff. When I remember how I didn't dare join in with sitting on the bench at first I can hardly believe it now! Without even
thinking
about being shy, I just plonked myself down on to Chantelle's lap. She was yelling, “OW, my legs!” and everyone was giggling and leaning on each other. Mum took a picture of us on my camera. I haven't downloaded it yet, but here's my drawing of what we looked like: