Free Charlie and Charm by Kelly McKain Page B

teachers!”
    Molly was so excited about getting Sugar that it took ages to persuade her to stop making a fuss of him and mount up!

    I kept myself busy by helping out with the other girls’ stirrups, hoping that Sally wouldn’t notice me. But when I turned round she was standing there with a grey Connemara. “Charlie, meet Charm,” she said, with a smile. “He’s a lovely boy and he’ll definitely cheer you up. Plus, he’s a great jumper.” She winked at me and added, “And you’ll find out why that matters later on.”
    I forced myself to smile back and took the reins. I fussed over Charm, but only because Sally was watching. Inside, I missed Apple so much I felt like crying. But I took some deep breaths and managed to hold the tears in – I don’t want the girls thinking I’m a spoilt brat or something.
    So, this is who everyone got in the end:

    I still didn’t feel like riding, but I couldn’t exactly say anything in front of everyone else, could I? So I got on, and it felt really strange because I was much higher up off the ground than I was on Apple. Also, Charm’s slimmer than she was, so my legs were in a totally different position. I kept readjusting my stirrups, but I couldn’t seem to find a leg position that felt quite right.

    Still, even if I’m not really into the riding, the other girls are so nice I think I’ll have a fun week. Like, it was so funny when Mischief wandered away from the mounting block, leaving Jemima hanging there giggling with her leg half over the saddle! We all laughed at that,except Sally, of course, who said, “Don’t encourage him!” and made him back up and stand properly while Jemima got herself sorted out.

    For our first lesson we all rode together so that Sally could assess which group to put us in. As we walked our ponies up to the manège, the other girls kept saying how gorgeous Charm was, but all I could think about was Apple. I started getting upset, but luckily Sally asked me to lead everyone into the manège so I had to think about steering Charm through the gate and on to the track.

    It was so strange riding another pony after Apple. As we trotted on, Charm was going round with his nose poking out (Apple used to always get nicely on the bit once we’d warmed up). I shortened my reins to try and pull him in, but that didn’tseem to work. Sally called out, “Relax your shoulders and get your elbows back, Charlie. Charm’s feeling your tension and it’s making him resist you.”
    I wanted to say, It’s not my fault he’s not paying attention to me . But, of course, I didn’t. I just looked ahead and tried to relax more. We made a few transitions from walk and trot to halt, and Sally called out to all of us, “I said forward to halt, which doesn’t mean just sitting there and letting your ponies run out of steam!”But at least I wasn’t the only one getting told off.
    Then we did lots of changes of direction and circles, and Sally got a few different people to lead. That was easier for me because then Charm could just follow the pony in front and I didn’t have to keep nagging at him. But when it was my turn to trot a 20 metre circle I had to kick on loads to even get him off the track!And when we cantered to the back of the ride (you could choose if you wanted to or not) it took me two corners to get a canter. That was a shock – I only ever had to sit down and touch Apple with my outside leg and she’d whoosh straight off.

    At lunchtime I sat with my two room-mates, and Millie told us what it’s like living at the stables all the time. It sounds amazing! I wish I lived somewhere like this – if I did there would have been plenty of space to keep Apple and she could have stayed with me for ever.

    When we were helping clear up after lunch, Ricosha and Tameka showed us this singing and dancing routine they’ve been working on. Me, Millie, Skye and Jemima tried to learn a bit of it. We weren’t exactly very good and we all kept bursting