had just brushed her teeth before they left for the arena—she must have used her toothbrush after Dee Dee had brushed with it!
“I didn’t think you’d mind,” Dee Dee shrugged.
“What! Ohmygod…”
Issie was about to tell Dee Dee exactly how much she did mind actually, but she didn’t get the chance because at that moment the other riders entered the ring on their chosen horses.
Kate had been thrilled with her choice of the Clydesdale-cross. “His name is Costa,” she told Issie with a huge grin on her face. “I’m so glad I got him. I love his fluffy feet!”
Emily had picked the Skewbald and her twin sister, Laura, had taken the chestnut mare with the white star. Since they’d been choosing in alphabetical order, Stella had been the last to pick and was left with the stocky little chocolate dun. Despite the fact that she didn’t have a choice, Stella actually didn’t mind. The dun was just her type.
“His name is Woody,” she told them, giving the pony a slappy pat on his neck. “He even tried to bite me when I did up his girth—do you remember how Coco always did that?” Stella looked quite wistful as she said this. Since she had sold Coco last season, she had been struck with misty-eyed nostalgia for her tubby, grumpy old pony—she was even sentimental about Coco’s nasty vices!
Morgan, meanwhile, was mounted up on the dapple-grey gelding whose name was Arista. “What do you think we’ll actually have to do?” she wondered out loud as they watched Tara walk towards them, talking intently to Tom. As it turned out, their instruction was to do whatever they liked.
“You’ve got twenty minutes to work your horse in. Just treat it as if you were training them yourself at home,” Tara explained. “I want to see how you ride and how the horse responds. Try them at a walk, trot and canter, and also pop them over the cavaletti we’ve set up in the centre of the ring if you like.
“After the twenty minutes is up, you will choose another rider to swap horses with. You must choose your next horse carefully because you won’t be trying all of them today. You’ll each try just three different horses before you have to make a decision.”
“But what if we all want the same horse?” Stella asked.
“Then I’ll make the decision for you,” said Tara firmly.
“OK,” Avery said. “Find a free space and work your horse in. Remember, with eight of you riding freestyle in the arena, it’s important to remember to always obey the rules of arena riding. Can anyone tell me what they are?”
“Ohhh!” Stella raised her hand. “Always pass each other so that your left shoulder is passing the other rider’s left shoulder?”
“That’s right,” Avery nodded. “And make way for anyone doing a faster pace than you. We don’t want a game of dodgems going on out there.”
Issie looked over at Dee Dee, who grinned at her from the other end of the lineup and gave a wave. Issie was still feeling queasy after the toothbrush story. And if Dee Dee really thought she was her new best friend, she must be crazy!
Determined to be as far away from Dee Dee as possible, Issie rode all the way to the far end of the arena before she began to work Floyd in. She gathered him up and pressed him into a trot, sitting for a few paces before she began to rise. As soon as the cremello settled into a stride though, Issie was thrown back. Floyd’s paces were huge! It was like the horse covered half the length of the arena with each trot stride. He was so forward, so free-moving, that Issie was really struggling to keep in time with him.
Issie decided to try a canter instead, and discovered that Floyd’s canter stride was even bigger that his trot. She brought him back to a trot almost immediately, a bit freaked out by the speed that the cremello had in him. Perhaps she’d try walking him for a bit.
“Are you all right there, Isadora?” Tara called out to her. She looked concerned.
“I’m fine,” Issie said. “He’s just got a really big stride.”
“He’s a very forward horse,” agreed Tara. “Try and collect him up a bit.”
Issie asked Floyd to listen to her hands and accept the bit, asking him to drop his head into that wonderful arched outline that dressage horses need to have.
She was so busy focusing on Floyd’s head that she kept looking down and forgot to look where she was going. Floyd was racing forward, doing a particularly huge trot, when Issie heard Dee Dee’s voice bearing down on her from the other direction.
“Hey, roomie!”
By the time she saw Dee Dee, it was too late. Dee Dee was just a few metres away on Victory and heading straight for her. She was about to crash into them head first! At that moment Issie’s mind went blank. She totally forgot what Avery had just told them five minutes ago about arena etiquette. All she knew was that they were on a collision course. Issie didn’t know which way to turn to avoid a head-on crash.
“Dee Dee!” Issie shrieked.
She needn’t have panicked. Dee Dee knew exactly what she was doing. When she was just a couple of strides away from Floyd, she nudged Victory with her right leg and swerved expertly to the outside wall of the arena, breezing easily past Issie without even breaking her rhythm.
“Pass left-to-left, remember, roomie?” Dee Dee chirped as she zipped past. They had been a whisker away from colliding, but clearly Dee Dee had been in control of the situation the whole time!
Issie pulled Floyd up and sat, watching in astonishment, as Dee Dee rode Victory in a serpentine down the arena in the most beautiful collected trot Issie had ever seen. Then she turned Victory down the centre line and pushed him into a perfect extended trot, finishing off with a leg yield across the arena.
It was unbelievable! Clumsy, ditzy, goofball Dee Dee, who didn’t even seem to be able to pick up nail polish or pack a bag without causing total chaos, was a total genius when she was on a horse!
Issie watched as once more Dee Dee guided Victory expertly between two other horses and riders, cantering him easily around the arena. Dee Dee’s timing, her sense of cadence, was exquisite. As she steered Victory, her hands remained perfectly still and steady on the reins, her legs tapping along lightly in perfect rhythm with the horse’s stride. Her face showed how totally focused she was as she worked her horse with the deceptive ease of a true professional rider. Issie was stunned. How could anyone be so useless on the ground and so brilliant in the saddle?
“Hey!” A shout brought her back to reality. It was Tara Kelly. “Come on, Isadora,” she snapped. “Are you daydreaming or are you riding? You’ve only got fifteen minutes and then you’re swapping horses. I suggest you get Floyd moving!”
Moving? That was the problem! It was hard to stop Floyd. His paces were so huge and free that at times he could be terrifying to ride, and at best he felt like he was a little bit out of control. He was strong too. He pulled so hard on the reins as Issie took him through the trotting poles, she felt her arms were being wrenched from their sockets and she had to use all her strength to keep him in check.
“Give him his head and go with him, Isadora,” Tara called out to her. “You’re being left behind over the jumps.”
Issie wanted to explain that she wasn’t
