Beginner's Luck by Alyssa Brugman Read Free Book Online Page A

Shelby used his leg like a climbing rope,
hand over hand, until she was upright. She put one
hand on the tunnel wall and gripped the stirrup
leather with the other hand, trying to get her breath
back. She could feel the water tugging at her, trying to
wash her legs away.
    'All right. We're going to be OK,' she panted.
    Very slowly, with six legs between them and only
one raised at a time, they moved step by tiny step
backwards and out. When they got to the shallows,
Shelby threw her arms around his neck. 'You are the
best and smartest pony in the whole world. I'll listen
to you next time, I promise.'
    Blue lifted his head up, as if shaking her off. 'What
is it?' she asked.
    He snorted, and she could see he was looking
away down the trail. She righted his bridle and then
led him back to the trail. She was about to climb into
the saddle when she saw Lindsey jogging around the
corner on one of the riding school palominos.
    'What are you doing here?' Lindsey asked, looking
Shelby up and down. 'Did you come off?'
    Shelby looked down at her clothes. She was soaked
through and one side was splattered with silty mud.
    Lindsey looked at the mouth of the tunnel and
back at Shelby again. 'You didn't try to go in there,
did you?'
    'No!' Shelby said. 'Do you think I'm crazy? No, I
just fell off. He shied. It was stupid really. I haven't
fallen for ages.' She brushed her hands on the thighs
of her jodhpurs. She wondered why she'd lied to
Lindsey. It might have been because she was embarrassed,
but it was more than that – she didn't want
Lindsey to know where she was really going.
    Lindsey nodded, but Shelby could tell that Lindsey
knew she was lying.
    Shelby noticed a coil of wire strapped to the side
of Lindsey's stock saddle.
    'What's that?' she asked, pointing.
    Lindsey looked down at the wire as though she
was seeing it for the first time. 'Oh. I found it in the
middle of the trail back there. It looked dangerous, so
I picked it up.' She looked back at the tunnel again
and frowned for a moment.
    Shelby had been along that trail not so long ago
and she hadn't seen any wire. Usually if the girls found
something dangerous on a trail they dismounted and
moved it, but Shelby had never taken anything with
her. If she'd found a roll of wire like that she probably
would have hung it on a branch of a tree, out of
harm's way. Lindsey had a strap on her stock saddle
for that kind of thing, but Shelby still thought it was
odd. She thought Lindsey was lying too.
    'You know you shouldn't go in storm water drains,
don't you?' asked Lindsey. 'It's really dangerous.'
    Shelby snorted. 'Yeah!' She put her foot in the
stirrup and threw her leg over Blue's back.
    'Even when it's dry,' Lindsey added. 'It might be
raining somewhere else, and the water will flood along
here before you know it.'
    'Do you want to go back together?' Shelby asked,
changing the subject.
    Lindsey's eyes flicked back to the tunnel for just a
second. It was so fleeting that Shelby wondered if
she'd imagined it. 'OK. I don't know why I'm out in
this weather anyway.'
    They rode side by side along the trail towards the
back paddock of the stables.
    'Erin said you're thinking about doing the Matchstick
Challenge this weekend,' Lindsey said.
    Shelby nodded. 'Are you?'
    'It starts from our back gate. I usually take a group
from the riding school, but we haven't had any
bookings this year, so I get to go by myself. I'm glad.
The beginners can get kind of boring after a while.
Erin said we could all ride together.'
    Shelby looked down at her hands. She wanted to
bring up the issue of the money, but she didn't know
how to begin.
    'Mum said Blue's moving in with us,' Lindsey said.
    Shelby grunted.
    'I didn't think you'd be too happy about that.'
Lindsey grimaced. 'I know what it's like. I have my
favourites too. Sometimes I see some cowboy turn up
and I don't want to let him near any of my babies.
You get used to it. At times it can be nice. You see
some little girl who's never ridden before