can’t believe it’s the beginning of the season already!” Issie said. “I wish I only had one horse. Now I’m stuck with three of them at once.”
Stella rolled her eyes. “Issie! Just listen to yourself! Complaining because you have too many horses? Most riders would kill to have just one pony and you’re lucky enough to have three.”
“I know,” Issie checked herself. “I mean it’s amazing having three horses, but honestly, how will I cope? I was really looking forward to riding Blaze and Comet this season and now this great piebald lump from Blackthorn Farm has turned up and I have to train him too…”
“So Aidan just dropped him off and left him with you?” Stella said.
“Pretty much.” Issie nodded. She was still thinking about how odd Aidan had been when he’d turned up. Had he been trying to break up with her? If he was, she didn’t feel ready to tell Stella about it. Not yet anyway.
“What’s the piebald like?” Stella asked.
“He’s really tubby with a bit of a Roman nose and he’s got big black and white patches.”
“Does he have a name?”
Issie shook her head. “Aidan says I have to name him.”
“That is so cool!” Stella grinned. “I’ve always wanted to name my own horse.”
“What do you think I should call him then?”
“How about Tonto?” Stella said. “You know, like the Lone Ranger because he’s a cowboy colour?”
“What about Patchy?” Issie suggested.
“You’re kidding, right?” Stella pulled a face. “I tell you what, why don’t you come over to my house with Kate tomorrow night before the AGM. We can order a pizza and come up with pony names together.”
“OK,” Issie agreed.
“It must be awful for the poor piebald,” said Stella. “Imagine not knowing what you’re called! No wonder he’s a bit odd. I’m sure you’ll get on better once you’ve named him.”
Issie hoped Stella was right. Maybe her feelings about the new horse would change once he had a name, but right now the only thing she could think of calling him was a big fat nuisance.
From the very start, the following night was a disaster. First of all, the pizza arrived late and the girls were grossed out when they took a bite and discovered it had anchovies on it. Then the pony-naming session wasn’t a great success either. Stella and Kate’s list of suggestions all sounded like cuddly toys.
“I am not calling my horse Mr Snuggles!” Issie finally snapped.
“Geez, OK!” said Kate. “There’s no need to get grumpy.”
It was at that point that Stella’s mum, Mrs Tarrant, put her head round the bedroom door. “The AGM begins in ten minutes,” she said. “Pile into the car and let’s go!”
By the time Mrs Tarrant and the girls arrived at the Chevalier Point clubroom, most of the rows of fold-out chairs were already filled up with club members and their parents. There were loads of other riders that the girls hadn’t seen since last season and the first person that they bumped into was Morgan Chatswood-Smith.
“You’re back!” Issie said, giving Morgan a huge hug.
“How was the showjumping circuit?” asked Stella.
Morgan’s mum, Araminta, was a professional showjumper, and for the past season she had taken Morgan on the road with her, touring the country with her string of showjumping horses.
“Pretty cool,” Morgan said, “but you have to work really hard. I was doing loads of grooming for the other riders and I hardly ever got to do any riding myself.”
“At least you didn’t have to go to school! I would kill for three whole months without school work,” Stella said.
Morgan shook her head, “I wish! I still had to do the work—Mum home-schooled me. And you know how tough she can be about horse riding? Well, she’s even worse with maths!”
The girls nodded knowingly at this. When Issie first met Morgan she had been envious of her having such a famous horse-riding mum. But when Araminta put too much pressure on her daughter to compete Morgan started acting strangely—even sabotaging the other riders’ equipment at the pony club! Issie had found out what was going on and confronted Morgan and Araminta with the truth. Since then, things had been much better between them. Even so, Issie could tell that Morgan still struggled to live up to the high expectations of her competitive mother.
“Why don’t you guys come and sit with us?” Morgan said to Issie. “We’ve saved you seats.”
Issie looked across the clubroom and spotted Araminta in a seat in the front row next to Tom Avery. Two other riders, Dan Halliday and Ben MacIntosh, were sitting next to them.
Dan smiled and waved when he saw the girls. Issie grinned and waved back. It was hard to believe that there had been so much drama with Dan just a few months ago. He used to have a crush on Issie and there had been a stand-off between him and Aidan at the Horse of the Year Show as they fought for her attention. But that was all over now. Dan and Issie were back to being just the way they were before—really good friends.
“Hey, Issie!” Dan called down the row to her as the four girls took their seats. “What’s this I hear about you having a new horse? What’s he like?”
“Don’t ask!” Issie groaned. Everyone had taken their seats now and the meeting was about to begin. Issie glanced anxiously over her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” Kate asked.
“Natasha Tucker’s not here,” Issie said. She scanned the room again to be sure, but there was no sign of the sour-faced girl with the stiff blonde plaits. Issie couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“You want to know my theory about Stuck-up Tucker?” Stella said to Issie. “I think she has a love-hate relationship with you.”
“You’re wrong,” Issie sighed. “There’s definitely no love. She can’t stand me.”
Any hope that Issie had of ever being friends with Natasha had disappeared forever after the Horse of the Year Show. Bratty Natasha had been training on her horse Fabergé with her expensive private trainer Ginty McLintoch and she totally expected to win. No wonder then that she was furious when Issie and Comet beat her in the big competition that day.
It made matters even worse, when Natasha and Ginty McLintoch offered to buy Comet after the show, and Issie refused to sell him to them. Ever since then, it had officially been war between the two riders.
The meeting had been scheduled for 8 p.m. and at ten past, Mrs Tarrant stepped up to the podium. She tapped the microphone to make sure it was working and then began to read from the stack of papers in front of her.
“As your departing club president, I am going to take you through the minutes of our last meeting…”
“Ohmygod,” Stella hissed to Issie. “I’m bored already!”
Issie couldn’t help giggling, but she quickly pulled herself together again as Avery shot the girls a stern glance.
Stella was right though; it was hard not to fidget as Mrs Tarrant went on about club fees and equipment rosters. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she plonked her stack of papers back down on the podium in front of her. “That takes care of all our business from last season.”
“Crikey! About time!” Stella muttered. The girls tried hard to suppress their giggles again.
“As you know, we’ve already voted in the new committee for the year and tonight I’ll be ‘handing over the reins’!”