Issie and the Christmas Pony by Stacy Gregg Read Free Book Online

the only horses that come up for sale at auction are the ones that aren’t good for anything except the knacker’s yard.”
    â€œWhat do you mean? What’s a knacker’s yard?”
    Avery looked serious. “There are some horses that even the ILPH can’t save, Issie. They’re either very old or they’ve been so mistreated by bad owners thatthey’ve turned wild and uncontrollable. Those horses usually end up being sold at auctions, which is why dealers from the knacker’s yards go along to bid, hoping to pick up a cheap deal.”
    â€œWhat happens to horses at the knacker’s yard,” asked Issie uncertainly, not convinced she wanted to know the answer.
    â€œWell, sometimes they get used for things like-like pet food,” replied Avery gravely.
    â€œThat’s horrible!” Issie said. “Can’t the ILPH stop it?”
    â€œNot really. These are horses no one else wants,” Avery said. “And honestly, Issie, they’re treated very humanely. Anyway, most of the yards have closed down now. Hardly anyone makes pet food like that any more.”
    Still, Issie felt so sick at the thought, she couldn’t bring herself to feed the cat that evening when she got home. She looked at the side of the pet-food can. “Mum? Do you know what sort of pet food we feed Mitzy?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” asked Mrs Brown.
    â€œWell…” Issie didn’t know how else to explain it. “Do you think it has ponies in it?”
    â€œLet me take a look…” Mrs Brown began to read the fine print on the tin. It turned out that the petfood didn’t contain any ponies, which was lucky for Mitzy who was very keen on dinner and couldn’t see what the hold-up was all about.
    That night, before Issie went to bed, she picked up the piggy bank and held it in her hands, trying to gauge how much money was in there by its weight in her hands. She had added another $15 in the past week-pocket money for doing chores. There must be almost $1300 by now. Enough to buy a pony at the auction maybe. After all, it wasn’t like Issie was expecting to get a fancy show pony with papers or anything. All she wanted was a pony that she could ride to pony club and groom and care for. A pony that would be her best friend in the world. It wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Yeah, right, Issie thought . In your dreams. In your dreams …
    The grey road snaked through the fields. On either side were tall trees, their spindly trunks reaching up like bleached bones towards the sky, casting long black shadows in the evening light.
    This is creepy. I want to turn back , Issie thought.But then came a stronger emotion, from somewhere deep inside her. No turning back. You must keep going. You have to find him.
    The fields surrounding the road seemed grey and watery, like a photograph with all the colour drained out of it. Up ahead, the red barn was the one bit of brightness on the horizon. It stood about twenty metres back from the road, accessed through a metal gate. The gate was shut and beyond it Issie could see well-worn tyre tracks that led past an old rusty tractor, with ragwort and hemlock sprouting up between its wheels, all the way to the open barn doors.
    This is the place , Issie realised. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest as she climbed over the gate and began to walk towards the barn. The sound of her heart beating in her ears made it hard to pick out the hoofbeats at first. Then she heard the unmistakable nicker of a horse calling out and there he was, trotting round the side of the barn to greet her.
    In the fading light it was hard to make him out at first, but as he came closer Issie could see that he was a dapple-grey pony, not much more than fourteen hands high. He had coal-black eyes which shone with a quiet intelligence as he came towards Issie with hishead held high. His mane, which was thick and long, was swept back by the