Free Daisy and Dancer by Kelly McKain Page B

two thousand times in her life! I always get to my stables a bit early so I can tack up Bailey, so I was pretty confident too. Dancer wasn’t that keen on standing still, though, so I gave her lots and lots of fuss and cuddles to keep her calm! And she really jumped when the girth strap accidentally slid off the saddle and swung to the ground, poor thing, so I had to give her another big stroke after that. She’s so gorgeous, I could just stay in the barn and make a fuss of her all day! It’s fantastic that I’ve got her for a whole week, and that we really do get to do everything for our ponies here, like tacking up, grooming, mucking out and refilling their water buckets – just as if they were our own.
    At Isabel and Rosie’s stables the tacking up’s all done before they arrive, so they’re not that confident about it. They did really well, but Isabel wasn’t sure about getting the bit in, so I showed her this thing where you put your thumb in the corner of the pony’s mouth.

    “Wow, thanks, Daisy, that’s a cool trick,” she said, and I felt really pleased. And when Rosie got the throat lash twisted round the cheek piece on Amber’s bridle, I just helped her undo it and start again.
    The lesson was fab. Us three and Libby and Sasha are Group A, and we’ve got Jody teaching us. She makes things really fun and says “well done” a lot, so that’s good! I’m glad she’s not too strict because although I’m more used to Dancer being flighty now, I was still having some problems. Like, this gate clanged somewherewhen we were trotting a twenty-metre circle and Dancer went skittering across the manège. I slid sideways and had to grab on to the pommel and pull myself up, which made me feel a bit flustered, especially because everyone else was still gliding round in these lovely flowing rising trots as if they hadn’t even heard a noise!
    Luckily, Jody just smiled and got me to trot Dancer round the manège to the other end, and then turn off the track at B to join the others. She reminded me to keep a really good contact through my outside rein and leg too, to keep Dancer on the circle and show her that I was in charge. That way if there was another noise, she’d be less likely to bolt off. I’ve never had to think about anything like that before, because Bailey tends to follow the track or the pony in front, but I will from now on, because I really want Dancer to feel safe and have confidence in me!

    I tried really hard, and although Jody had to keep reminding me to sit up tall and look straight ahead (I think I was hanging on to the reins a bit and looking down at my hands too much), things definitely got better. By the end of the week, me and Dancer should have it sussed, but still I’m glad we’re having the barbecue party rather than a gymkhana or anything because I don’t fancy trying to concentrate on all these new things while riding in front of a crowd!

    It was so much fun in the barn after the lesson, because we got to give our ponies a really good groom down and get them fresh water and skip out the pens and sweep the walkways. Me, Isabel and Rosie made up this game where we pretended we were at ponyboarding school, and Libby and Sasha joined in after a while, too. It was really fun and I wish it was true life!
    After tea and clearing up we all went swimming (Millie’s so lucky to have a swimming pool and her own pony!). Us lot carried on playing the boarding school game then too, pretending we had to practise for the school swimming gala. We put on posh voices and it was so funny!
    Right, my eyes are almost closing, so I have to stop writing now. I can’t wait for our trip to the horse show tomorrow!

Tuesday at almost 9.30p.m. – I’m writing this under the covers by the light of my torch
    What an amazing day! Our trip to the horse show was fantastic! We’ve been so busy I haven’t had a free minute to write in here.

    This morning after breakfast we got our ponies in