For Sale Or Swap (2 page)

'Absolutely out of the question,' Shelby's mother said.

'Aren't you even going to think about it?' Shelby
protested.

'What's to think about? You should be grateful
that you have one horse. Lots of girls don't have any
at all.'

'I might as well not have one,' grumbled Shelby.
'Blue is hopeless. He was good while I was learning, but
now I need to move on to something more advanced.'

Her mother leaned against the kitchen bench and
sighed. 'Then we'll have to sell him.'

Shelby's mouth dropped open. 'But you can't. He's
one of the family!'

Her mother shook her head. She took a cloth from
the sink and began wiping down the benches, collecting
crumbs in her hand. 'Those are your options,
honey.'

Shelby couldn't sell Blue. He was her best friend.

'I'll get a paper run.'

'That's a good idea,' said her mother, washing out
the cloth under the tap.

'You'll let me have another horse if I get a paper
run?' she asked.

'No, but it would help you get all the things you
want,' replied her mother. She wrung out the cloth
and began wiping around the stove hotplates.

'It's so unfair,' Shelby said, stamping her foot.

Shelby's mother stopped wiping and stared at her.
'Unfair? I don't think so, young lady. You have two
little brothers who don't have hobbies that are even
half as expensive as yours. You get more than your
fair share.'

'What about Dad? He has two cars!'

'Yes, and when you bring in as much money for the
family as he does, then you can have two horses.'

'Hayley Crook has three horses,' countered Shelby.

'Well, she hasn't got three bottoms, has she? She
can't ride them all at once. Maybe she'll lend you
one?' suggested Shelby's mother.

The next morning at the stables Shelby related the
conversation to Erin in full.

'I tried to explain to Mum that people don't lend
out their horses. It's just not done.'

Erin was sweeping out her storeroom with a
threadbare broom, deftly flicking dirt and wisps of
hay from around the drums of feed.

'Yes they do,' she said. 'It's called leasing.'

Shelby, sitting on a bale of hay, lifted her feet up so
that Erin could sweep under them. It irritated Shelby
when Erin talked about horses as though she knew more
than Shelby did. She didn't know anything about them
before she started hanging around with Shelby at school.

One Monday morning when they were sitting in the
playground and Shelby was telling Erin about what she
had done with Blue on the weekend, Erin had said, 'If
I get a horse too, we can ride together,' as if she'd only
just thought about it. Then, hey presto, Bandit turns up
at the stables. The next weekend, Erin's family had
arrived at Pony Club and started talking to the Crooks
and Mrs Hockings and all the other parents as though
they had known each other for years. It was so easy for
Erin. Shelby had had to beg for one whole year.

'But leasing is different. You have to pay.'

'Not necessarily. Some of them are free.' Erin leaned
her broom against the wall, the handle fitting neatly into
the galvanised groove. 'Look, I'll show you,' she said,
reaching into her bag to pull out a horse magazine. She
flicked through the pages, and then sat down next to
Shelby, handing her the magazine.

Lease/option to buy. Thoroughbred gelding. Off
the track.

Free lease. Pretty black mare going to waste in
paddock.

'That one looks good,' said Shelby.

Erin shook her head. 'It's in Victoria. You'd have to
pay to bring her up here. You might as well buy one.'

Another advertisement caught Shelby's eye.

For sale or swap. Eye-catching brown pony. Fully
educated. Royal quality. Consider swap for beginner's
mount.

'Look at this one,' said Shelby, pointing. 'It's a
mobile number, but it might be in Sydney.'

Erin took the magazine from her. 'Sounds perfect. It
could be a bit of a handful though.' She turned to face
Shelby. 'Would you really swap Blue? He's not the best-looking
horse in the world but he's quiet and great on
the roads. It's good to have a horse you can trust.'

Shelby scuffed her feet across the rough brick
floor. 'If he's in Sydney then I can go and visit him on
weekends. They might let me ride him sometimes, and
I'd make a rule that we have to swap back whenever
I want.'

Erin licked her thumb and flicked through the
magazine. She stopped and spread it out across her
lap. 'Have you seen this page? It makes me so sad, but
I always look through it, just in case.'

The page was for 'Lost and Found', dedicated to
people trying to track down horses that they'd sold, or
looking for information about horses that they'd
bought. Erin and Shelby leaned forward with their
heads close together, poring over the page.

Seeking info on Caesar, bought from sale yard.
Possibly from Central Coast. Timid.

Stolen. Grey mare. Greatly missed by owner. Please
send our girl home.

History for Lara. Appaloosa mare. Crescent moon
brand. Any information good or bad appreciated.

Stolen from Southern Highlands, black Shetland
mare in foal. Dearly loved family pet.

'Isn't that the saddest thing?' asked Erin, pulling
the magazine towards her face for a better look at the
photo. 'I can't imagine it.'

Shelby mumbled in reply. She wasn't thinking about
lost and found horses. She was thinking about the eye-catching
brown pony for sale or swap. 'Can I borrow
this?' she asked.

'You can have it,' said Erin, standing up and
adjusting her jodhpurs. 'I've got to get ready for my
lesson now. Are you going to watch?'

Shelby nodded. At fifty dollars each, Shelby's
family couldn't afford lessons, so the closest thing for
Shelby was to watch, and then apply what she'd
learned on her own. Each weekend she rode Blue
across the gully to the stables, leaving him in one of
the spare yards. She would perch herself on the railing
of the arena while the other girls had their lessons.

Hayley Crook, who had her lesson earlier in the
day, joined Shelby at the side of the arena. She was
eating an ice-block.

'Where'd you get that?' Shelby asked.

'Mum's put a bar fridge in our tack room,' she
replied.

Typical,
thought Shelby. Her family didn't even
have ice-blocks at home, let alone in a spare fridge.

'How are your horses going?' Shelby asked.

Hayley nodded. 'Good. We sent Scamp up the gully.'

Shelby inhaled sharply. Up at the end of the gully
there was an abattoir.

Hayley let out a bray of tinkling laughter. 'No,
silly, to a trainer up there. He'll only be gone for a
month.'

'Phew,' said Shelby. She couldn't imagine sending
Blue away for a month, but Hayley had other horses, so
she might not miss him. Hayley's life was so different
from her own. Shelby always felt a little bit shy around
Hayley – she never really knew what to say. She
wondered whether she would feel more confident if she
had a better horse.

Erin came around the far side of the arena, and for
a minute she was in profile. Her leg closest to the
instructor was firmly against the saddle, with her heel
pushed down, but the one the instructor couldn't see
was flapping in the breeze. Erin saw Hayley and gave
a little wave. For a second she lost her balance,
tipping slightly to the side.

'Concentrate!' shouted the instructor, Miss Anita.

Erin rolled her eyes at Hayley, and Hayley smiled
back.

'I saw that!' warned Miss Anita.

At the end of her lesson Erin rode over to where
Hayley and Shelby were standing.

'Are you coming out again tomorrow, Hales?'
asked Erin, patting Bandit on the neck.

Hayley nodded.

'Do you want to go out on a trail?'

Hayley had finished her ice-block now and was
chewing on the stick. She shrugged. 'OK.'

Erin looked at Shelby. 'Want to come?'

Shelby grinned. 'Great.'

Shelby rode Blue home across the gully on a loose
rein. Above her head a flock of cockatoos screeched to
each other in their raucous voices, crash-landing in a
nearby tree like kamikaze pilots. She had tucked Erin's
magazine into the waistband of her pants, and it dug
into her back as she rode along.

She was looking forward to the ride tomorrow, but
she was also a bit self-conscious. She'd never been out
on a ride with Hayley before. Hayley's horses were
beautiful. Even Erin's Bandit, while nothing out of the
ordinary, was respectable-looking.

Blue seemed oblivious to Shelby's daydreaming. He
put one foot in front of the other all the way home,
stopping square in front of the sliprail, where he
waited patiently for Shelby to make up his evening
meal.

The downhill section between Blue's paddock and the
stables was rocky and covered with sharp pebbles that
slipped easily, but towards the bottom of the gully was
a long sandy patch, occasionally dipping into shallow
puddles.

This was Shelby's favourite place to push Blue into
a gallop. He enjoyed it too, flicking his tail, flattening
his ears, and stretching out that little bit more than he
was asked.

At the very bottom of the gully was a causeway
that dried up by mid-January, but for now it was
swollen with recent rain, and the water spilled over it
noisily – sounding like distant applause. Blue slowed
down a fraction as he splashed through it, but picked
up the pace again as soon as he hit the drier ground
on the other side.

Their sudden appearance surprised an elderly man
out for an early morning walk with his dog. Blue
skipped a beat, changing his leading leg. Shelby waved
in greeting and urged Blue on to the top of the hill.
There they stopped. Blue's sides expanded and contracted,
but he stood still with his ears pricked, looking
back the way they had come. She could see the whole
gully stretched out in front of her. She took a deep
breath, enjoying the fresh morning air that smelt like
eucalypt, earth and mineral water.

Shelby slapped Blue on the shoulder. 'Good boy,'
she said. She pressed her calves to his sides and he
walked down the shallow slope that led to the back
gate of the stables.

As she rode down the laneway between the two
stable blocks she could see the three stables that
Hayley's family hired. Erin had Bandit in the yard that
usually held Scamp. Mrs Crook was brushing Ditto
while Hayley sat in the doorway pulling on her boots.

'Morning,' Shelby said, swinging her leg over
Blue's back. She slid the reins over his head.

'Do you want a halter?' Hayley asked, reaching into
her storeroom and holding out a halter for Shelby.

'Not that one,' Mrs Crook said. She turned to
Shelby with a big smile. 'That's a good one. We don't
want to get it dirty.'

Blue's not dirty
, Shelby thought, but when she
looked at him she could see the grimy sweat stain
around the edge of his saddle blanket.

Hayley reached into the storeroom again, pulling
out an old ragged halter. Its buckles were red with rust.

'Thanks,' Shelby said, slipping off Blue's bridle.

Hayley's tack room was the fanciest Shelby had
ever seen. It had the same rough brick floor and corrugated
iron walls that Erin's had, but it was much more
spacious, because Hayley had three rooms in a row.
The feed was kept in large clear plastic bins and not
the corroded forty-four gallon drums that everybody
else used. There were four saddles, all wrapped in cloth
covers, and bridles in proper leather bridle bags. In the
corner was a small table and Hayley's bar fridge. Two
fold-out chairs stood against the side wall. Bales of hay
were stacked in the corner and filled the air with their
musty sweet smell.

On the back wall, draped across coathangers and
enclosed in plastic dry-cleaning bags, were masses of
ribbons piled on top of each other, some purple, some
green, but mostly red, white and blue striped with a
gold fringe – Champion ribbons.

Shelby looked out into the sunshine where Blue
was standing with his ears drooped. He looked like a
donkey. She thought again about the ad she had seen.
Fully educated. Royal quality.
Blue was hardly even
Pony Club quality. He was definitely a beginner's
mount. Still, he was
her
beginner's mount.

Mrs Crook stepped through the doorway, lifted
one of the saddles off its peg on the wall and carried it
over her forearm to where Ditto was tied in the yard.
The saddle was old, but its leather was soft and
smooth – not rough and rigid like Shelby's.

Hayley rubbed her face with sunscreen carefully,
so as not to smudge her mascara. She handed the
tube to Erin, who squeezed a small amount into
her hand.

Shelby watched as Hayley's mother saddled the
horse and wrapped his legs in protective bandages.
The idea of her own mother trying to get a horse
ready for riding made Shelby want to laugh. She
wouldn't know which end was which.

'Have you got your vest?' asked Mrs Crook.

Hayley rolled her eyes. 'Do I have to?'

'Yes, you do,' replied her mother.

'It's so ugly,' Hayley complained. She disappeared
into the tack room for a few seconds and came back
pulling her arms through a dark blue padded body
protector.

Hayley led Ditto out into the laneway while her
mother gave last minute instructions.

'Watch out for snakes. Don't let him drink
from any of those dirty puddles. Don't jump over
anything – you never know what's on the other side.
Keep on the sand where you can. You shouldn't really
be taking him out there. We have to be ready for the
next show, and we won't qualify for anything if he
spends half the season lame.'

'Yes, Mum.'

'Just be careful.'

The three girls led their horses to the end of
the laneway where it opened out into a paddock.
Mrs Crook boosted Hayley onto Ditto's back and held
the stirrup steady while she pushed her foot into it.

Shelby led the way towards the gate. Once she
was out of earshot, she asked, 'Is your mum always
like that?'

'Like what?' asked Hayley.

Shelby hesitated. 'Kind of . . . protective.'

'I guess so,' Hayley replied with a shrug.

'My mum wouldn't know the front of a horse from
the back,' Shelby said, giggling.

Hayley flicked her eyes at Blue, but she didn't say
anything. 'So did you watch
McLeod's Daughters
the
other night?' she asked Erin.

Shelby had watched it. It was one of her favourite
shows, and the only one she made an effort to watch
every week. She was glad that she and Hayley had
something in common.

'Yeah. That's such a cool show,' said Erin.

'You should come and watch it at my place,' Hayley
said. 'Some of the others usually come over. Do you
know Monica and Kim? They have the stables opposite
mine. A few of the others from Pony Club come too.'

'That would be fun,' said Erin.

Shelby wondered if she was included in the invitation.
Hayley hadn't actually looked at her while she
was speaking. She decided to test the waters.

'What time?' she asked.

Hayley blinked. 'It's on at seven thirty.'

That didn't make anything any clearer.

They made their way through the back paddock
of the property. The grass was tall and yellow, and
whispered as the horses stepped through it. Scraggly
eucalypts were clumped together here and there,
dappling the ground with shade, and providing relief
from the hot morning sun. There were about fifteen
horses congregated around the dam – mostly broodmares
and long-limbed racehorses being spelled between
racing seasons.

In the distance Shelby could see the riding school
ponies trudging along nose to tail, the beginners on
them clutching onto the front of the saddles. Lindsey,
the girl who lived on the property and was about
Shelby's age, was in the lead. Erin and Hayley waved
to her.

'Race you to the top of the hill,' said Shelby,
gathering up the reins. She and Erin usually raced up
this hillside.

'No!' said Hayley. 'Ditto's not warmed up yet.
Mum would kill me if he stretched a muscle.'

'What about you?' Shelby asked Erin.

Erin and Hayley exchanged a glance. 'Maybe in a
minute,' she responded.

'OK,' Shelby said. 'Meet you up there.' She leaned
forward and Blue bounded up the slope.

She heard a little yelp from behind her, and when
she looked back she saw Ditto hopping up and down
on the spot. Hayley tugged on the reins, trying to
contain him.

'What are you doing, you idiot?' Hayley yelled.
'You can't just go galloping off up the hill.'

'Why not?' asked Shelby, turning Blue around and
waiting for them to catch up. She looked at Erin, but
Erin looked away.

'Because it makes the other horses go berserk.
Don't you know anything?' Hayley snapped.

'Sorry,' said Shelby. She was surprised. She'd seen
Hayley compete at the Pony Club gymkhanas. Horses
ran around each other all the time there, but that
never seemed to worry Hayley. It was almost as
though out here she was scared.

They made their way at a sedate pace across
the paddock towards the far side, where it joined
the trails through the gully. Shelby didn't know what
to say so she kept quiet. She saw several logs on
the ground that normally she would have jumped,
but now she was worried about what the other girls
might think.

Erin and Hayley rode side by side, talking about
different movies that they had watched and about the
horse show that was coming up in a few weeks' time.

'I was hoping to take Scamp, but I don't think he'll
be back,' Hayley said.

'I'll have to get Bandit's mane pulled before then,'
Erin said, flicking at it with her hand.

Shelby hadn't decided whether to go to the show.
She'd gone a few times and been humiliated – coming
home without a single ribbon. Erin had consoled her
by telling her it was because Blue was a paint. 'It's not
your fault. You know that judges never even look at
coloured breeds.'

She listened to their banter, but she was disappointed.
She'd thought that going out with superior
riders – the Pony Club's 'Rider of the Year' even –
would have been more fun, but it was boring. She was
also still smarting from Hayley calling her an idiot.

They reached the back gate and Shelby drew Blue
alongside it, reaching through to unclasp the latch.
'Come on,' she said, manoeuvring him through the
gap. The other two passed through.

The trail narrowed as the scrub crept up on
either side. They walked single file with Hayley in
the lead.

'Shelby's thinking about getting a new horse,'
Erin said.

'Yeah? What are you going to get?' Hayley asked,
turning around. She rested her hand on Ditto's rump.

She might be excellent in the show ring, but she's
not good on the trails
, Shelby thought. Anything could
jump out of the bush – a kangaroo, or a lizard – or
there could be a low-hanging branch. When you were
in the lead you needed to watch where you were going.

Shelby shrugged. 'Not sure yet. I was thinking of
leasing something.'

'Are you going through a broker?'

Shelby shook her head. 'I was going to swap Blue
for something a bit more . . .' She trailed off.

Hayley nodded. 'Getting rid of your first horse is
really hard. I cried for ages when we sold my first one,
but after a while you get used to it.'

'How many have you had?' asked Shelby.

'I don't know,' said Hayley, smiling. 'Ten, maybe?'

'Wow,' said Shelby.

'At first I just had one, and then we decided to get
two so I could compete in different classes. Then we
sold the first one and got two more, and so on, and
now we have these three. I don't mind any more, as
long as they go to good homes. We'll probably end up
selling Echo soon.'

'Maybe you could buy him, Shel?' suggested Erin.

Hayley shook her head. 'He's not really for trail
riding. He'll probably go to someone who'll show him.'

'I'm thinking about getting into showing,' said
Shelby. 'How much do you want for him?'

Hayley curled her lip. 'About ten grand.'

'Ten grand!' Erin let out a low whistle. 'Are you
serious? That's
way
out of your price range, Shel.'

'Not necessarily,' said Shelby, tossing her head.

'What do you mean not necessarily? Ten grand!
If your parents had a spare ten grand lying around
they'd get a car that actually worked – or two new
cars. They'd get a new house!'

Shelby frowned. 'Dad would never sell his car. He
loves it.'

'Yeah, but what about your mum's heap of
rubbish?'

Sometimes she wished Erin would shut her trap.
'Is Ditto warmed up enough for a trot yet?' she asked,
changing the subject.

Hayley nodded and primly pushed him forward
into a trot. Erin and Shelby followed. Blue threw his
head up, straining at the reins.

'Cool it,' Shelby said, and he settled down behind
the other two horses.

As they came around the bend the trail widened out
again. Shelby could see a long, thick tree trunk had
fallen across the path. It rested about fifty centimetres
above the ground and she could see daylight underneath
it. She pushed Blue forward, past the other two
horses. He tucked his feet up and skipped over it. Erin
and Bandit popped over too, but Hayley reined in
Ditto just shy of the trunk.

'Are you coming?' asked Shelby, wheeling around.

Hayley looked left and right, trying to find another
way around, but there was nothing but thick scrubby
bush on either side.

'Just jump it. There's nothing on the other side,'
Erin said.

Hayley shook her head.

'You're not going to get around it,' said Shelby.

'I might go back then. You two can go on ahead if
you want.'

Shelby raised an eyebrow at Erin, who sighed and
jumped Bandit back over the other side. 'You go, Shel.
I'd better be getting back anyway.'

'No, I'll come with you guys.'

They walked all the way back to the stables. When
they reached the laneway, Mrs Crook came out of the
tack room and helped Hayley with Ditto's saddle.

'Do you want to go for a real ride now?' asked
Shelby, lowering her voice so the Crooks couldn't hear.

Erin shook her head. 'I'm going to have some
lunch. How about later in the week?'

Shelby said goodbye and took Blue home. She
went the long way, around the edge of the gully past
the Pony Club grounds, and looping back again, but
still arrived home in the early afternoon. Her father
was lying on the driveway under the car.