Free Foxy: Rivalry at Summer Camp by Belinda Rapley

squeezed with her legs, her eyes fixed on the fence. She filled her pony with confidence and after just a moment’s hesitation he soared over it.
    “Good, Holly,” Freddie called out, smiling as Holly proudly patted Skylark.
    Rosie aimed for the lower option, too, then groaned as Dancer ground to a halt in front of the smallest log pile at fence one.
    “She’s so embarrassing,” Rosie said, shamefaced.
    “I’ve come prepared for Dancer today,” Freddie announced, lifting the long whip. He waved it behind the strawberry roan cob on the approach next time round. Dancer’s eyes goggled, Rosie grabbed a handful of mane and the pair launched over from canter. After thesame approach at fences two and three – the tree trunk and the brush fence – something clicked in Rosie and she began to ride into the fences more firmly.
    “Wow! Dancer’s verging on energetic!” Rosie puffed, red-cheeked, as they regrouped after fence three.
    Freddie then sent them out over the next three jumps – the hay rack, sloping rails and the stone wall. The ponies all flowed over them, one after the other, with Copper leading the ride once more. With each fence he was getting stronger and Amber was having difficulty holding him. He took off on the approach to each fence and jumped so enthusiastically that Amber was almost unseated at the sloping rails.
    “You can always jump the smaller fences until you get your eye in,” Freddie shouted, cupping his hand to his mouth. “Come round again, everyone.”
    But the second time round, Amber still stuck to the bigger options, ignoring Freddie’s advice. As Copper sped up into the stone wall, he took off a stride early. Amber only just stayed on over the fence and landed back in the saddle with a thud. Copper flung up his head, ears back, charging forward until Amber yanked on the reins and finally got him back under control.
    “Remember what I said yesterday,” Freddie called out. “If your pony takes off early don’t use his mouth for balance!”
    Phantom showed his massive scope as he tackled the bullfinch. It had tall brush, which the ponies were meant to skip through, but the first time round Phantom cleared the full height of it, taking Charlie by surprise. She kept her balance – just – and slipped her reins, allowing Phantom his head.
    “
Very
well ridden,” Freddie said, patting Phantom. “Now take him round again at a faster canter so that he doesn’t try to showjump it.”
    The second time round Phantom was hoof perfect as Charlie squeezed him and he picked up his speed, skimming through the top of the brush.
    Next, Mia took Wish round sedately, despite Freddie trying to get her to move into a faster canter. Mia wanted Wish to have fun jumping, but she was still anxious about letting her go too fast in case she bashed the solid, fixed fences. If Wish picked up any knocks or bumps on her legs – even with tendon boots on – they might count against her in the show ring. There was no way Mia would let that happen.
    Alice felt butterflies for a second as she turned Scout towards the bullfinch. Riding down to it, it looked ridiculously huge. Alice half closed her eyes in the last stride, but Scout could see through the tall, thin reeds and he jumped over the solid bottom section, brushing through the top. Alice felt the reeds knock against her painlessly before theylanded safely on the other side.
    “That was awesome!” Alice laughed. She turned in time to see Skylark jump. He was far springier than she’d expected and the expression on his face changed from one of surprise, to one of delight. As he landed he even squealed and put in a playful buck.
    At the next fence, the hedge, Alice noticed that Freddie sent Holly out first. Skylark attacked the bigger hedge and Holly balanced easily on her pony. Holly was grinning in the air, and reached down to pat Skylark after they’d landed.
    “I can’t believe this is the first time she’s ridden over cross-country fences,”