Free Amy and Amber by Kelly McKain Page B

has happened. I’ll go back to when we went down to the yard after lunch, so I don’t miss anything out. Well, first we had a talk about tack and tacking up, and after Lydia had given us a demo on Charm, we all had a go with our own ponies. Amber stood really still while I brushed her down and got her saddle and bridle on.

    Then I had to help Kayla get the bit in as Cracker kept tossing his head around whenever she tried.

    Our lesson was really fun. There are two manèges next to each other, so both groups ride at the same time. Group B had Sally and we had Jody. She got us doing lots of balancing exercises like riding without stirrups and doing Round the Worlds. I loved it and I know Amber did too. And she was so sweet putting up with me bobbling about at first when we had to trot without stirrups! Jody told us to sit deep in our saddles and let our legs wrap lightly round our ponies, and soon I had a much more secure seat (which was good ’cos otherwise I would have ended up with a v. v. sore bottie!).
    Next we had to canter round the manège ( with stirrups – phew!) then ride a 20-metre circle at the far end. That was amazing!
    OK, so some of our circles were a bit eggshaped, including mine, but Jody told us it didn’t matter. She said that by the end of the week we’d have perfect ones. She’s so nice and patient, I’m really glad I’m in her group. I told Kayla about it afterwards while we were brushing our ponies down and getting them fresh water. She didn’t say much about her lesson (probably because she couldn’t get a word in edgeways, poor thing!) and I was just about to ask when Lydia came in and gave us our yard jobs.

    I was in charge of sweeping the yard with Lexy and we got really into it. We even chased the last little bits of straw around in the wind before they reached the ground to make sure there was not one speck of mess! Then Sally came out of the office to see our work. She said how fab it was and how she’d give us jobs at Sunnyside if we were old enough!

    When we’d all finished, we gathered in the barn with Lydia to turn out our ponies. That’s when I suddenly remembered my video camera, and I asked Lydia if I could run back to the farmhouse and fetch it. I wanted to get some film of Amber and the other ponies just hanging out in the field. And I’m so glad I did, because it was just fantastic! Amber did a big roll and then went flying about with Charm, both of them kicking their heels and whinnying.

    And even more amazing was what happened afterwards at teatime…
    We were all sitting round the big table in the kitchen of the farmhouse chatting about our first day, and eating our jacket potatoes and salad and chicken. You could just help yourself to what you wanted, and I ate THREE drumsticks ’cos I was so hungry after all the riding! Jody put my camera up on a shelf so it didn’t get covered in food and only gave it back after our pud (banana splits – YUM!).
    All the girls wanted to see what I’d filmed, so I showed them on the little monitor. They all went “Aww!” when Amber did the roll, and Jody said it was really good. Then she said something amazing which was, “Would you make us a film to go on our website showing how much fun it is at Sunnyside Stables?”

    Well, WOW!!!
    I said YES, of course! Everyone instantly started coming up with loads of ideas about what could be in it, like demos of jumping and flatwork, us all out on a hack and riding on the beach, going swimming, the yummy meals, the end of week disco and the gymkhana. The only problem was they were all talking at once!

    â€œHang on! Hang on!” I cried. “One at a time!” Jody found me a piece of paper and a pen so I could make a list. As well as the girls’ ideas, I’m going to film us doing yard work and looking after our ponies too – to show that coming on holiday here really is like having one of