Pony Jumpers: Box Set 1 (Volumes 1-4) by Kate Lattey

Author:Kate Lattey [Lattey, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2015-07-16T04:00:00+00:00

Buck jumped clear in the first round of the metre-twenty, but Molly was wound up by the noisy speedway and had two rails. I felt for Katy as she rode out of the ring, looking disappointed. I was too far away from her to commiserate, and she rode straight back towards the yards, but not before I heard my father’s voice carrying through the indoor.

“Looks like we dodged a bullet with that one, if it can’t even get around this course cleanly. It’s not exactly built to height.”

I glared at him along with everyone else as I walked Skip in small circles near the in-gate, waiting for our turn. The course was a little underbuilt, but it was still a twisty, technical route and the added distraction of the roaring speedway made it a tough track. Only a handful of starters had managed clear rounds, and three riders had fallen off already.

Soon to be four, I thought to myself as Tessa Maxwell rode through the gate, her hands visibly shaking on the reins as Misty Magic cavorted across the arena, snorting at the dust that was springing up underneath his hooves. Her sister Hayley, Misty’s former rider, was yelling at her from the sideline to get her leg on and ride like she wanted to be there. Tough sell, when Tess so clearly wanted to be anywhere else on earth.

I watched Misty as he approached the first fence, baulked at the base, then jumped almost from a standstill, sending Tess flying onto his neck. She lost both her stirrups and ended up sitting in front of the saddle, and Misty promptly bolted towards the gate. The helpful steward waved his arms at the pony, who swerved hard and bucked, flinging Tess to the ground. I waited as Hayley ran into the arena and caught the naughty pony, and Tess’s mother dragged her to her feet and brushed her off, then got waved into the ring. That hadn’t taken long.

Skip trotted smoothly in despite the commotion, and I focused my thoughts on the course ahead. Blue oxer to yellow vertical, short five strides to the green vertical and then that tough rollback to the white oxer that Buck had only just made it over. How was I going to make it easier for Skip? Ride the turn a bit wider? Shorten his stride out of the corner?

I was so focused on the course that I almost rode into Hayley as she led Misty back between the jumps, and had to pull Skip to the side to avoid her.

“Watch it! You don’t own this arena, you know,” she snapped at me.

I scowled back at her. No point trying to be nice to this one. She’d been bullying me relentlessly for the past two seasons, and judging from the way she treated her sister, it was an ingrained habit. I wasn’t going to change her mind about me, and I wasn’t going to waste energy in trying.

Pushing her to the back of my mind, I focused on the course ahead.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.