off as if she were the world’s best rider. Well, she had paid the price for it. She straightened up, giving her limbs a shake to check that everything was in working order, and looked around for Blaze, who already had her head down munching a patch of long grass as if nothing had ever happened.
Why had Avery given her this horse? It was obvious that Blaze was too spirited for her to ride. She had overestimated herself. She should never have given up on her vow.
“Maybe I’m really not meant to ride after all,” she sighed, reaching for Blaze’s reins. She led the mare back to the pen on foot, not willing to suffer another fall on the way home. Then she unbridled Blaze, gave her some feed and refilled the hay net and cycled home, her head stuck in a cloud of gloomy thoughts.
She should have known better than to take on this horse; she realised that now. Blaze was moody and unpredictable, not at all what she was used to. If only Mystic were still alive. With Mystic, it had all been easy, she had known what to do. The little grey had been so sweet, like her best friend. With Blaze, it was like she couldn’t do anything right. In fact, the mare didn’t even seem to like her!
Was it too late to change her mind, she wondered, and give the horse back to Avery? Issie knew the answer. Avery would probably take Blaze back but he would be so disappointed in her she wouldn’t be able to stand it. No, she had to stick at it. Things would get better with Blaze. They had to.
“Isadora! Wait! What is that sticking out through your shirt?”
It was a quarter to four. Issie had just charged in through the front door to make herself a sandwich and change into her riding gear before heading out to see Blaze. She hadn’t counted on running into her mum. Or that her new body piercing would be so visible through the thin white weave of her school shirt.
“Ummm…” Issie wasn’t sure what to say. Lying to her mother would probably just make things worse. Best to tell the truth and get it over and done with. “It’s a belly-button ring. I got it done a couple of weeks ago,” Issie admitted.
“What? What were you thinking? Let me see it!” Mrs Brown made Issie pull up her shirt to show her navel, still red and puffy from where the ring had pierced the skin. “Oh, Issie! Why didn’t you talk to me before you had this done? Look at it! It could get infected!” Mrs Brown was furious.
“It’s only a belly-button ring, everyone’s got them these days,” Issie stood her ground.
“You know very well that you don’t charge off and do things like that without talking to me first,” Mrs Brown countered. “Honestly, Isadora. Since your father left it hasn’t been easy looking after you by myself. But at least I always thought I could rely on you to behave like a grown-up. And now you go off and do this! I’m really disappointed in you.”
“It just sort of happened,” Issie tried to explain. “Stella was having hers done and—”
“Stella! I might have known.” Mrs Brown was livid. “And I suppose if Stella was jumping off a bridge you’d be racing off to do that too, would you?” she snapped. “For God’s sake, Isadora, I thought you had more common sense. I hope you checked the equipment they used was sterilised? Heaven knows what diseases you could get from this. Where did you get it done?”
“At Lacey’s chemist. Penny went with us.”
Mrs Brown calmed down a little. “Well, even so, that doesn’t automatically make it safe. There’s still a chance that you could get an infection or blood poisoning. Have you been putting antiseptic on it?”
Issie nodded quietly.
“Isadora, I just wish you would talk to me before you race off and do these things, OK?” Mrs Brown fretted. “There are some decisions that are too important to make on your own.”
Issie took a deep breath. Now was obviously not the time to tell her mother about Blaze. After all, if she thought Issie was irresponsible getting her belly button pierced without her permission then how would she feel if she knew her daughter had gone ahead and agreed to look after a new pony without even asking her?
Mrs Brown gave her daughter a stern look. “You realise I should probably punish you for this, don’t you? It looks like you’ll be spending your time after school helping me out at the office so I can keep an eye on you.”
Issie’s blood ran cold. This couldn’t be happening. If her mum dragged her in to work with her every afternoon then how on earth was she going to get to the horse paddock to look after Blaze? With just a few weeks of school left before the summer holidays, Issie had been counting the days until she was free to spend more time with her horse. Until then, she could only sneak away for a couple of hours each day after school. And now she wouldn’t even be able to do that!
“No, Mum!” she squeaked. “Please don’t. I won’t ever do anything like this again. I promise. I was going to ask you first, only Stella made me go there straight away and…oh, Mum, please don’t ground me, please!”
“Well,” Mrs Brown considered, “I really don’t know…” She furrowed her brow and let out a deep sigh, examining her daughter’s pleading face. “OK, OK. But I don’t want to see you walking through that door with any more body piercings, is that clear, young lady? I want no more surprises out of you.”
“Oh, thanks, Mum!” Issie gushed, giving her a hug before bounding up the stairs.
Five minutes later she reappeared again in a sweatshirt and jeans.
“Where on earth are you off to now?” Mrs Brown asked.
“I won’t be long,” Issie said as she headed for the door. “I’m, umm…going down to the paddock to help Kate pull Toby’s mane.”
“All right, but be back in time for dinner. No later than seven, OK?” her mother yelled after her.
No more suprises? What would happen if her mum found out about Blaze? Issie thought about how she had lied to her mum. She felt bad not telling her about Blaze, but the time wasn’t right. Not yet. For now, the horse had to be her secret.
Kate and Stella were in the tack room when Issie arrived at the River Paddock. “I can’t find them anywhere!” Stella was grumbling as she rummaged through a pile of numnahs and old blankets on the floor.
“Find what?” Issie asked.
“The keys to the paddock gates,” Stella said. “You know how we always keep a spare set here in case we need to undo the padlock and get the horses out? Well they’re missing. And not only that, when I came down to the paddock this afternoon the tack room was wide open—and I could have sworn I locked it last night!”
“Maybe another rider was here after you and they left the tack room open?” suggested Kate as she straightened up the messy pile of horse blankets that Stella had strewn everywhere.
“Anyway,” Stella sighed, “the keys to the paddock are gone. What are we going to do? I wanted to go ride out today.”
“Let’s saddle up,” Kate said briskly. “We don’t even need to leave the River Paddock. We can head down to the back paddock and take a ride through The Pines.”
The Pines were a glade of tall pine trees at the far end of the back paddock. In winter the ground there was boggy, but in summer it was perfect for riding. A dirt track ran between the trees, scattered with pine cones and covered in a thick blanket of dark brown pine needles, which filled the air with their fresh scent.
The Pines had been Mystic’s special place. Issie had loved cantering him through the cool of the trees on a hot summer day. But she wasn’t so sure about Blaze. The path between the trees was narrow with low branches over it, hard to navigate on such a headstrong mare.
“Ummm, I don’t think Blaze is ready for that,”