Lauren and Lucky (4 page)

I also remembered what she'd said about Lucky needing preparation so I sat up tall and gave him a few extra squeezes with my legs to get his walk more active before I asked for trot. It worked on the third try (and yes, bang on the marker!). I'm
so
putting that combination in my test.

Oh, time to get back on to the yard. Bye!

I just can't work out why she was so mean to me in the lesson, and in front of everyone else, too! She was fine at lunch, so perhaps she got in a mood because of what happened in this afternoon's dressage workshop. But I don't get
why
– it was nothing really.

We were at the picnic benches again, sketching out rough ideas for our dressage tests with Sally going round helping us. Me and Marie were pacing ours out in front of the barn, as if we were on our ponies, and we got in hysterical giggles 'cos I was whinnying like Lucky does, and Marie was demonstrating round-the-worlds with no pony, which mainly involved twirling while kicking her legs in the air. Then she even asked
Sally if we could do them in the comp! Sally said she thought we were crazy girls, but we could if we wanted to. Arabella said we couldn't because it's not an official dressage move, but Sally said, “Well, it's my competition and my rules, so if it makes things even more fun, then why not?”

So maybe Arabella was moody 'cos she didn't get her own way? But still, I don't get why she should care what someone
else
is doing.

Anyway, I know she was
definitely
in a huff when we went to get ready for our lesson. We had a bit of extra time because Sally was busy in the manège working one to one with Emily, the local girl who rides Emerald, Sunnyside's new pony. So Lydia supervised us on the yard and Marie tried to help me work out how to smarten Lucky up a bit for the final comp.
We started a mane plait, and can you believe, Arabella said, “I don't know why you're bothering, he's so cobby he's not going to look smart whatever you do!”

I mean, char-ming! I went bright red and hugged Lucky's neck. “Yes, he will. He'll look fab. Won't you, sweetie?” I said loudly, but Arabella had already wandered away.

When Marie went to help Jojo pick out Sugar's hooves, Arabella came stomping back and said I was
going off
with her! I said, “Marie was helping me, what's wrong with that?” but Arabella got all moody and wouldn't lend me her dandy brush to get the woodchip dust out of Lucky's hind fetlock feather. I don't understand why she acts like she owns me! We're all here to enjoy our ponies and learn
dressage and have a good time, so what's the point of making problems when there aren't any?

And then in the lesson the WORST thing happened.

Once we'd warmed up in the manège, Sally said we were going to practise the combination of dressage movements again, but this time in pairs. She explained that this was a good exercise because the more forward-going, confident ponies would give the others a boost. She said Arabella would lead me and Leonie would lead Marie and she was just about to explain what Paula was going to do when Arabella said, “We're not doing the
actual
competition in pairs, are we? Because it's not fair for
them
to affect my score.” When she said
them
she looked at me and Lucky like we were a couple of complete no-hopers.

I was shocked and I automatically reached down and stroked Lucky's neck. I felt really embarrassed that she'd said that in front of everyone and also really angry that she could be so mean about us. Sally was cross too. “It's only for this lesson,” she snapped at Arabella, who just looked sulkily back at her.

“
I'd
like to go with Lauren. I think she's brilliant,” said Paula, coming to my rescue.

Sally said, “Yes, all right then, lovely. And Leonie, you can take Arabella over after you've worked with Marie.”

Arabella gave me a mean look as if it was MY fault that she wasn't one of the leaders any more, when it was HER who'd made a fuss. I know
she's a bit of a perfectionist about the dressage, but that's no reason to be so horrible!

The rest of the lesson went OK, but it was hard to forget about what Arabella had said and I couldn't concentrate as much as usual. Maybe poor Lucky was upset, too, because he didn't seem himself either. Between us we were even sloppier about making transitions exactly at the markers and we didn't get our canter in the AF corner either, so I had to ride another 20 metre circle in trot and ask again.

But we did finally cheer up a bit when we got to the pairs work, 'cos Lucky really went blazing round after Flame and Paula. I think Flame's showmanship must have inspired him, because he did everything with a lot of style – Sally was right, it
is
easier with someone to copy. She said how good we were, and how much we'd come on already and I couldn't help grinning. It really boosted my confidence after what Arabella said.
I don't care what she thinks – I'm so proud of my lovely boy! 

In the second half of the lesson, we all went out of the gate and stood by the fence. Then one by one we went back into the manège and tried out our routines. Lydia came and sat on the spectators' stand and called out our sequences for us. It was all very rough and messy, and we kept stopping when things didn't work and changing them, with Sally's help, and Lydia wrote the new things down on our papers.

Lucky tried hard, but he got a bit confused because some of the things I'd put down were quite awkward for him. So my routine changed a lot in the end as Sally and I found ways to make it smoother. When Lydia gave me my
paper back it was very scribbly, so I redrew it up neatly, like this:

Oh, I just have to also write that Leonie's routine was amazing! She's got these serpentines in it that look really beautiful and she even had a go at counter-canter. Because she did it so well, Sally said she could leave it in.