Jump to the Stars by Gillian Baxter

Author:Gillian Baxter [Baxter, Gillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jane Badger Books

8

AND so, on Saturday morning, Bobby and Heath set out on Shelta and Cuckoo, who were both polished and shining, with heads carried high, and filled with energy. Cuckoo was a big, blotchy chestnut, almost a dun, with a large white blaze down his face, giving him a slightly stupid expression. He was nearly seventeen hands high, big boned, with rather a long back. Guy watched them go, and then went back to the box, into which Sea Mist and Inca had already been loaded.

It took Bobby and Heath just over an hour to reach the show ground. It was a clear, hot day, and the show ground was a big flat field in a valley. It was dreadfully hot in the field and there was not much shade. The few trees that there were grew on the farther side of the field, and it was there that Bobby and Heath unsaddled their horses. Both were sweating under their saddles, especially Cuckoo, who was not as fit as Shelta.

They had not been there long before people began to come across casually and stand watching. Shelta was obviously the object of interest, and Bobby felt proud of her. Their classes were both to be held after lunch, the Novice at two o’clock and the Open following it.

When the lunch interval began several people came to speak to Bobby and ask questions about Shelta. Bobby told them Shelta’s history, and usually managed to slip in a few words about Guy having some nice horses coming on, and a few sentences later, about Guy deciding that they were a bit crowded and that he had better sell off a few horses. Several people rose to the bait and asked if he had any promising jumpers, and one or two said that they would probably drop round to see him some time.

And then the loud-speaker was calling for all competitors for the Novice jumping, and Heath was saddling Cuckoo, who was growing excited at the sudden increase in the bustle all around them. She mounted and took him for a canter round the field, and Bobby climbed a little way up the tree, under which Shelta stood, to see better, as she did not like to leave the mare alone.

Shelta stood dozing, her summer sheet, and the fly lotion, keeping flies away, though her long red tail still swished lazily about her hocks, and she stamped now and then with a neat, freshly shod hoof. Bobby settled comfortably into a fork above her head and kept her eyes on the not too distant ring. From here she could see over everyone’s heads, and had quite a good view. The announcer’s voice came to her clearly on the very slight breeze that stirred the leaves around her, moving the sun dapples across her face.

The first competitor entered the ring, a big black horse, ridden by a fair boy with no hat, the only details that Bobby could see from where she was. He was announced as Mr.

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