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

having the
time of her life. It's easy to forget how fun riding can
be when you do it all the time.'
    They reached the gate and Lindsey slowed, letting
go of the reins to unfasten the latch and steering the
palomino through the gate using only her legs.
Lindsey rode naturally, as though it was just as comfortable
as walking.
    'How many horses do you have?'
    'Eighteen,' Lindsey replied. 'At the moment. We
don't use them all yet. Some have come from bad
places. They're in pony rehab.'
    Shelby nodded. 'You know what you're doing,
don't you?'
    Lindsey looked back at her solemnly. 'I've been
doing it all my life.'
    If Shelby had to trust Blue to anyone in the world
it would be Lindsey. The trouble was, it wasn't going
to be Lindsey doing the riding.

10 Signing Up
    On Saturday morning Shelby saddled Blue and set out
to the meeting point at the back gate of the stables. It
was a mild day so she had decided to wear her dark
green jodhpurs and a black tee-shirt. Blue's tobiano
hide would be difficult to disguise, but at least she
would be a little bit camouflaged when she tried to
sneak away.
    Shelby hummed the whole way. Her whole life was
going to be better after today. She had a little vision of
how it was going to be.
    Her parents would drop her off each morning and
she'd walk between the stable blocks. All the people
would smile and say hello, and she would wave back,
not as a visitor, but as one of them – a paying
customer.
    Just beyond the arenas were the spelling paddocks.
Blue would be there waiting for her. He would be the
most popular pony and all the other horses would
want to hang out with him near the dam, or under the
shelters.
    Lindsey's mum would call to her from the office
window. 'Morning, Shel.' She would call her 'Shel'
because they would be so familiar. 'Can you take
Diablo's rugs off?'
    'No problem,' Shelby would say.
    Standing seventeen hands, Diablo was massive and
scary, but also shiny and beautiful. Lindsey's mum
never let anyone else handle him – not even Lindsey –
and Shelby didn't really want to either. She had always
feared that he would pin her to the side of the yard,
squash her flat and stomp all over her, like an industrious
cook with a meat tenderiser – but not in this
daydream. This morning she imagined that he would
become gentle and responsive to her, and they would
form an unbreakable bond, like in The Black Stallion .
    Stallion owners would come from all over Sydney,
and then New South Wales, and then the world, to see
if she could help tame their feral monster stallions,
and she would go to them (always flying first class,
until she got her own jet), and hold out her hand. The
stallions would be nervous at first, but she would look
them in the eye, and they would become trusting and
compliant.
    They would do a special on her on Today Tonight ,
and Naomi Robson would ask, 'Shelby, why is it that
you can tame any horse that you come into contact
with? Is there a special technique that you use?'
    Shelby would blush. 'No, Naomi. It's not something
that you can learn. I suppose it's a bit like
telepathy. I think I was born with it.'
    Then Naomi would look into the camera with an
admiring and slightly surprised expression on her face
that told the audience she'd had a conversation with
someone unique in the world.
    After that her teachers would never bug her about
handing her assignments in on time because they
would understand that she had a special gift, and an
obligation to share it.
    The back paddock was crowded with horse trucks
and floats in raggle-taggle rows. They were different
from the kind she had seen at the horse shows. Many
of them had open tops, like cattle trucks, and the
horses tied to the sides were in stock or western
saddles. They didn't look like show horses either.
There were Arabs, stock horses and chunky quarter
horses. Their reins weren't buckled in the middle but
long, loose rope reins, hanging down on either side of
their shoulders.
    The saddlery had set up shop in