Comet and the Champion's Cup by Stacy Gregg Read Free Book Online

with her legs to get him moving.
    â€œTake him on a lap or two around the arena to get used to his paces,” Hester advised her. Issie nodded and asked Comet to trot. He did so immediately, his stride covering the ground in a floating trot with his hocks coming underneath him nicely. His canter too was bouncy and active. Issie felt a thrill of excitement tingle up her spine.
    â€œHe’s got lovely paces, Aunty Hess!”
    Hester smiled. “He’s still green, but he has loads of potential. I think you’ll get on famously.”
    As if to confirm this, Comet raised his head and let out another loud whinny, calling out to the other horses as if to say, “Look at me!” Issie laughed and gave Comet a slappy pat on his glossy neck.
    â€œWell, Comet already thinks he’s famous–I guess that’s a good start.”

Chapter 5
    What is a riding instructor supposed to look like?
Issie had fretted about it all morning as she got dressed. Today the riding-school kids would all be arriving and Issie, Stella and Kate had to look the part and impress their new pupils.
    She thought about Tom Avery. He always cut such a commanding figure at the Chevalier Point Pony Club in his cream jodhpurs, tweed hacking jacket and a cheesecutter cap on top of his thick thatch of dark, curly hair. A riding crop was permanently in his hand–not to use on the horses, but to thwack against his long leather boots for emphasis when making a point. Issie had flirted with the idea of wearing a cheesecutter cap like Tom’s when she was getting dressed, but decided that it lookeda bit too much. She had decided to go with the riding crop, however, and she carried this in her right hand as she walked into the kitchen.
    â€œOhhh, I wish I’d thought of that,” said Stella. Stella and Kate both had on their best instructor outfits too. Like Issie, they were wearing long boots and jods. Stella had on a pink Ralph Lauren polo shirt and Kate was wearing her short-sleeved shirt and her Chevalier Point Pony Club tie, which looked very smart.
    â€œWhen are they due to arrive?” Kate asked, pacing back and forth, too nervous to eat her toast, which was going cold on the kitchen table.
    â€œAny time now,” said Issie. “Hester went off in the horse truck an hour ago to pick them up at the train station.”
    â€œDo we need to go down to the stables then?” asked Stella. “Hester said we should meet her there to welcome them.”
    â€œI guess so,” Issie said, looking around nervously. “Hey, where’s Aidan?”
    â€œHe’s meeting us down there,” Kate said. “He said he had to finish fixing something. I heard him hammering.” It turned out that Aidan had been adding a new top railing to the paddock closest to the stables.
    â€œI’ve made the fence half a metre higher all the way around,” Aidan said with satisfaction as he threw his tool belt down in the corner of the stables.
    â€œSo you think it will hold him?” asked Issie.
    Aidan nodded. “With that new rail the fence is almost one metre fifty. It would hold a deer. There’s no way that little skewbald Houdini is escaping again.”
    â€œPoor Comet,” Issie said. “He’s been so fed up with being stabled all week. I bet he can’t wait to get back outside.”
    Since their arrival at Blackthorn Farm, Issie had spent all her spare time riding Comet. Not that she had much spare time. Hester hadn’t been kidding when she said there was a lot to get ready before the kids arrived. The ad on the
PONY Magazine
website had been successful. There were now eight riders signed up to arrive today at Blackthorn Farm Riding School.
    â€œThey should be here by now,” Aidan said. “It only takes half an hour to drive back here from the train station…”
    As he said this, there was a cacophony of barking as Hester’s dogs, Nanook the Newfoundland,