devastated. This completely ruined their plans. She couldn’t leave Storm behind with no one to check on him and care for him each day. And she couldn’t take the colt with her. There was no way he was old enough to travel all the way to Blackthorn Farm. The trip to Gisborne took most of the day in the horse truck, much too far for a three-month-old colt. There was only one solution, Issie decided. She couldn’t go.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Mrs Brown said when Issie met her back at the car and broke the bad news. “Of course you’re going. It’s all arranged.”
“But, Mum, I can’t leave Storm and Blaze alone.”
“I’ll look after them,” Mrs Brown said confidently.
“You? But, Mum, you don’t even like horses…”
“Oh, for goodness sake, Isadora,” Mrs Brown said. “OK, I think we’re all aware that I’m not exactly Pippa Funnell, but it’s not like you’re asking me to ride at Badminton, is it? I’ve been around them for long enough now and I think it’s perfectly within my capabilities to go and check on your ponies each day. I’ll make sure they’ve got food and water and that Storm hasn’t got himself tangled in the electric fence!”
“Really?”
“Absolutely,” Mrs Brown smiled. “They will be just fine, I promise you.”
Aunt Hester was thrilled that evening when Issie phoned her with the good news. “Aidan’s quite convinced that this riding-school plan will save our bacon–and I certainly hope he’s right,” Hester said. “Is your mum OK about you coming here for the holidays? I haven’t ruined any family plans, have I?”
“Mum’s been great!” Issie said. “And she talked to Mrs Knight and convinced her to let Kate come. She’s even looking after Blaze and Storm while I’m away.”
“Well, well,” Hester said. “It might not be too late for that sister of mine to turn horsey after all.”
“I know!” Issie said. “I can’t believe it’s all organised and we’re really coming. By this time tomorrow we’ll be at Blackthorn Farm.”
“We’re nearly there!” Issie pressed her face up against the window at the back of the truck cab and mouthed the words through the glass at Stella and Kate.
“What’s she saying?” Kate was frustrated. “I can’t hear her through the glass!”
“Issie!” Stella shouted back. “We can’t hear you! What are you saying?”
The cab of Aunt Hester’s horse truck wasn’t big enough for all the girls to fit up front so it had been decided that Issie would travel in the cab with Aidan while Kate and Stella rode in the back.
The girls didn’t mind riding in the back. The truck was fitted out a bit like a camper van, with a shower, kitchenette and bunk beds, and it was comfy enough travelling on the bench seats. Plus, from where they sat, Stella and Kate could keep an eye on Toby and Coco who were travelling at the very back of the truck in their stalls. The girls could see Issie and Aidan too by peering through the little window with very thick glass at the back of the truck cab.
Issie tapped on the glass and tried again. “I said…We’re nearly there!”
“Oh, give up, Issie!” Aidan grinned. “They’ll figure it out for themselves soon enough. We’re about to reach the turn-off.”
The six-hour drive to Blackthorn Farm had somehow seemed shorter this time. That might have been because she and Aidan hadn’t stopped talking from the moment Issie got into the truck. There was so much for them to catch up on.
“I haven’t seen Nightstorm since he was two days old,” Aidan said, “so that would make him…”
“Three months old!” Issie said. “He’s already almost thirteen hands. Avery reckons he’ll grow to sixteen-two, and he’s so beautiful. He’s losing all his foal fluff and he’s got the most amazing deep bay coat, with a thick black mane and tail and black points. He looks so cute with his white blaze. He’s exactly like his mum in some ways, but he’s kind of like Marius too. He has his own personality though–he’s really smart. I taught him to wear a halter in just one day.”
Aidan pushed his long, dark fringe out of his eyes and looked at Issie. “It must have been hard to leave him.”
“Uh-huh,” Issie said. She didn’t want to tell Aidan that she had been in floods of tears when she said goodbye to the colt last night. She knew it was only a month, but it seemed like such a long time to be away from him when he was so young.
“Well, I’m really glad you came,” Aidan said softly. Then he realised he sounded mushy and tried to make up for it by adding, “Ummm…cos Hester really needs your help.”
Issie smiled. “Hester says you’ve been schooling up a few of the Blackthorn Ponies that we caught when we were here last time.”
The Blackthorn Ponies were a wild herd that roamed the hills around Blackthorn Farm. On her last holiday at the farm Issie and Aidan had saved the herd from a cull. Most of the ponies had been sent to new homes, but Hester had kept a few of them with her at the farm.
“That’s part of the problem,” Aidan continued. “The cost of those extra ponies adds up fast. Hester has thirteen horses now–that’s a lot of farrier bills and hard feed.”
“So the riding school will cover the bills?”
“Uh-huh,” Aidan said. “We won’t make a fortune out of it, but hopefully we’ll make enough to keep the farm going until the next movie job comes along.”
Issie looked worried. “And what if another film job doesn’t come along?”
“Something will turn up soon,” Aidan said reassuringly. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”
“But, Aidan, what if it’s not fine?”
“Well, if things got really tight, I guess we’d have to sell some of the horses,” said Aidan quietly. “Diablo and Stardust are experienced stunt horses–they’re both worth quite a lot. But if that’s not enough…”
“Then what?”
“Then Hester will have to sell Blackthorn Farm.”
For the first time since they had set off on this trip, silence settled over the truck cab. Issie stared out of the windows at the road ahead and couldn’t help wondering if this would be the last time she would be making this journey.
By the time the horse truck came through the narrow Gisborne gorge and began to travel up through the green cornfields towards the high country, Issie had pulled herself together again. In fact, she was positively filled with resolve.
“You’re right. Things will be fine!” she said firmly, smiling at Aidan. The riding school would make enough money–or they’d think of something else. No matter what, there was no way her aunt was going to lose Blackthorn Farm.
Half an hour later, they reached the crest of a very steep hill. To the right, Issie could see the bright blue sea of the Gisborne coastline, and on the left was farmland and forest. Up ahead she could see a gravel road that veered to the left off the main highway.
“We’re here!”
Aidan turned off down the private road, slowing down a gear as the truck struck gravel. Issie watched as the trees closed in around her and the truck became cocooned in the dense native forest that bordered the sides of the driveway that led to Blackthorn Farm. Low-hanging pohutukawa branches scraped against the roof of the truck.
“I keep telling Hester we need to prune the trees back to get the truck through,” Aidan said as he heard the branches scraping