Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp (16 page)

Once all the rosettes had been handed out, everyone began to talk again, until Melissa called them back to order.

“There are still a couple of rosettes left,” Mia noticed.

“We have a special achievement award for the most improved rider and pony this week,” Melissa announced and everyone began to murmur. “And I’m delighted to say that this goes to Rosie and Dancer!”

Rosie almost fell over, even though she was sitting down. When she did manage to get up, she did a little bow.

“Just go up there and get it!” Charlie said, shaking her head and laughing.

Everyone else giggled, shoving Rosie to the front.

“Now, our very last prize,” Melissa continued, “is a very special one. It’s for a lesson with Lily Simpson, as organised by Amber.”

The whole camp gasped and began to look round, nudging each other and whispering about who would win it.

“And it’s for the rider who has worked the hardest, and who showed the most natural talent this week.” Melissa smiled, picking up another special rosette. “And, to prove that dreams can come true, Holly, this is for you.”

Holly gasped, her eyes wide. “No way!”

“Yes way,” Amber laughed.

“Oh, but hang on, I don’t have my own pony…” Holly’s face suddenly dropped.

Freddie smiled. “If you accept my offer
of taking Skylark on loan, you will. He’s too talented to stay in the riding school. I’d love to train you both.”

Holly’s hands suddenly shot to her mouth. “Are you being serious?” She began to laugh and hiccup, all at the same time, like she couldn’t believe what was happening. “I can’t wait to tell Grammy!”

Lots of the campers congratulated Holly, and then raced down to the pool for a final evening swim.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Holly giggled with Amber, Destiny and the Pony Detectives as she walked back to the stables to tell Skylark the good news. They all spent some time making a fuss of Skylark, before jumping in the pool.

That night it took ages for the camp to settle into silence. Everyone had decided to sleep outside under the stars for their last night.

“I’m going to miss this tomorrow,” Rosie
yawned in the darkness as she lay down on her sleeping bag.

“Me too,” Alice said. “And seeing the ponies all day, every day – and at night if we want to, as well.”

“I’m not going to miss Rosie’s snoring,” Charlie laughed. Rosie flung her pillow at Charlie, who got out of the way so quickly, it hit Mia on the head instead.

“Rosie!” Mia squealed, getting her own pillow and thwacking her back.

“Time for sleep everyone,” Freddie called out.

They lay back down giggling, before drifting off to the sound of the ponies snorting gently in their paddocks.

T
HE
next morning, all the campers were flying round in a mad rush as everyone started to get ready to leave, flinging clothes into bags and dashing between tents to get everyone’s email addresses, promising to keep in touch and taking crazy photos.

They’d just had time to groom their ponies and round up all their tack when the first of the horseboxes arrived. One after the other began to bump up the drive after that, and it wasn’t long before Charlie’s dad appeared. The four girls got their ponies booted and rugged up, ready to travel.

As Watty set off for home on Ace, she promised to drop by and call for Amber on
a hack sometime soon. Suddenly Watty wanted to be best friends again. Amber rolled her eyes.

When Watty had gone, Holly led Skylark over to Amber to say goodbye.

“I can’t wait for your lesson at Chestnut Grove,” Amber smiled. “Or to meet your Grammy properly and find out more about the place. I told Lily about your photograph. She remembered your letter and said she was going to reply once she’d got settled in. She’s really excited now she knows more of what you wanted to tell her about.”

Holly grinned. “I’m so excited about it, as well! You’ll have to come to mine, too. We can watch horsey DVDs!”

“Hmm, I’m going to rethink my horsey future after this week,” Amber joked. “Maybe it’s time I started to learn a musical instrument instead!”

Holly grinned, then set off with Skylark back to Hilltop Riding School. Her parents
were meeting her and Freddie there to talk through his plans for her future riding career.

As Alice got ready to lead Scout from the field, she looked round, feeling sad that it was suddenly all over.

“I wish that we didn’t have to leave either,” Charlie said as she saw Alice’s face. “Though the sooner we get back, the sooner we can get the ponies settled down. And the sooner we can sit down to watch Burghley cross-country! The holiday hasn’t ended just yet!”

“We’d better get going then,” Rosie said, leading Dancer towards the horsebox.

With the ponies all loaded, the girls were just about to head off when Amber ran up to them. She gave them a Foxy update – he’d be coming home in another couple of days, and was recovering well.

“Apparently he’s being the model patient. Oh, and thanks for yesterday,” she said, looking a bit awkward for a second. “For waiting with me in the lane and, well, for listening to me. After what I’d been like all week I was pretty amazed that anyone would speak to me, so it meant a lot. And I want to buy you a replacement copy of
Pony Mad
, Rosie, to make up for taking yours. I’ll send it to you in the post, if I take your address.”

“You don’t have to worry about doing that,” Rosie said.

“I was going to get Lily to sign it for you all,” Amber explained.

“Ooh, well, scratch what I just said,” Rosie smiled. “You do have to worry about doing that! Thanks, Amber!”

Mia wrote down the Blackberry Farm address and Amber wrote down hers, too.

“If you are ever around,” she said, shyly, “I’d love it if you could pop in. You could meet Lily, too.”

They all grinned. “We will,” Mia said. “But it doesn’t matter if Lily’s there or not. It’d just be nice to catch up with you.”

Amber smiled warmly, just as her Aunt Becca arrived to collect her. Aunt Becca did not look very happy.

“Right, we’d better leave you to it,” Charlie said, knowing that Amber had some explaining to do. “Good luck!”

The girls jumped into their horsebox and waved a last goodbye to Pony Camp.

“And there’s just one more fence between Lily Simpson and the chance to make history at Burghley,” the commentator said in a hushed voice.

The arena was so silent that each hoof beat could be heard clearly.

The Pony Detectives were sitting on the
carpet in Rosie’s front room, watching the television. They’d done the same the day before when they’d got home from camp. They’d got the ponies settled, then sat glued to the screen, watching the horses fly round the massive Burghley cross-country fences. Rosie had her special achievement rosette attached to her T-shirt and Beanie, her Jack Russell, was lounging on her lap, rolling over to be tickled.

The others had giggled at Beanie, but all the joking around had stopped the instant Lily Simpson had appeared. They’d watched, captivated, as she and Firestorm jumped as one over the enormous brushes, ditches and the water complexes. The pair had gone round clear, and were sitting in first place going into the show-jumping phase on the final day of the competition.

Now the girls could barely watch as they counted down her strides to the final show
jump – it was all that stood between her and a place in the history books.

“And she’s done it! She’s cleared the last fence!” the commentator screamed over the deafening roar from the crowd. “Lily Simpson has become the youngest ever rider to lift the Burghley trophy!”

The girls leaped up and danced round the room, whooping and high-fiving. They collapsed back onto the squishy sofas just as Lily was interviewed. She was crying and laughing at the same time, holding onto Firestorm with loose reins as everyone walking past hugged her or congratulated her. She talked about how thrilled she was and how amazingly lucky she was to have a horse like Firestorm. When asked who she wanted to dedicate the win to, she didn’t hesitate.

“First, to my little sis, Amber,” Lily said, looking directly into the camera. “I know she’ll be at home watching. She’s given up loads to
come to the UK with me. I hadn’t realised till this week just how hard it’s been for her, and I hope this makes up for it just a little bit!”

“Sounds like Lily’s forgiven Amber,” Mia said.

Lily continued, “I want to dedicate this victory to the most wonderful pony ever, Foxy, who helped me get where I am today. He means the world to me and I want to say a huge thanks to everyone at Dovecote Hall Pony Camp who rallied round to help find Foxy when we thought he’d gone missing. You know who you are – thanks, guys!”

The Pony Detectives looked at each other like they might burst, and erupted into cheers.

“She meant us!” Charlie giggled. “I can’t believe
Lily Simpson
thanked
us
!”

“On live television!” Rosie added, hiccupping through excitement.

“Our first celebrity case successfully solved!” Mia beamed. “Tick!”

They watched as Firestorm received a huge wreath round his neck, and tried to eat it.

“Just think,” Charlie grinned, “one day that’ll be Holly up there, winning Burghley.”

“And we can say we know her!” Alice giggled.

“Er, aren’t you forgetting another talent that might soon be charging round there?” Rosie said.

“Why, who else is there?” Charlie frowned. Alice and Mia tried to think who she meant.

Rosie pointed to the rosette pinned to her T-shirt. “Er, you don’t get a special achievement for nothing,” she said. “This year, Pony Camp – next year, Burghley! There’s no stopping me and Dancer now!”

The Pony Detectives collapsed into another fit of giggles. As they settled back down to watch the trophy presentation, the four best friends grinned at each other. They were already looking forward to next summer, when they could go to camp all over again.

Follow Charlie’s tips to become a cross-country champ!

  Aim to get your pony into a good rhythm right at the start of the course.

Try to keep out of the saddle in the cross-country position between fences. It might make your legs ache afterwards, but it’s more comfy for your pony over a long distance.

Prepare your pony for the fence ahead by changing his speed on the approach. He’ll need to pick up speed to clear a spread, or steady up for a tricky drop or bounce!

Remember to keep the red flags on the fences to the right, and the white flags to the left when you jump a cross-country fence.

If your or your pony aren’t confident about riding in a cross-country competition, you could enter a ‘pairs’ class, where you ride round with a friend.