SANDY LANE STABLES, BOOK 5 - DREAM PONY

CHAPTER 1 NO RIDING TODAY

"We could play a game of cards." Rosie Edwards wrinkled her nose as she looked up from the local newspaper she had been idly skimming through. "Boring," her friend Jess Adams answered. "Oh when will it ever stop raining?" She hunshed closer to Rosie and peered through the tack room window. Outside, the rain teemed down relentlessly. "Maybe it'll clear up this afternoon," said Rosie. Jess gazed doubtfully out of the window at the storm clouds gathering in the darkening sky. The two friends sat in mournful silence. They had mucked out endless boxes, filled mountins of haynets and groomed the Sandy Lane ponies till they could almost see their faces in their coats. For the moment, there was nothing else they could do. Jess sighed. On any other Saturday, they would have been outside in th yard, tacking up ponies for the 

11 o'clock hack, but because of the torrentail rain, Nick and Sarah Brooks, the owners of Sandy Lane, had called it off. Last Saturday's mid-morning hack had been rained off too, and Nick had got flu in the week and had to cancel lessons, so it really wasn't a good time for Sandy Lane Stables right now. "Rain, rain, go away," Jess sang grumpily. "I'm bored, bored, bored." She crossed the room and scrabbled around in her bag. "I was going to fill this in later," she said, pulling out a piece of paper. "But I may as well do it now." "What is it?" Rosie looked up. "That Browne's Department Store 'Win a Dream Pony Competition'. I picked up a form when I was in there last week buying school shoes with my mum." Jess smiled and held it up for Rosie to look at. "What do you think my chances are of winning?" she laughed. "Not much," Rosie admitted, grinning. "Anyway, you don't need to win a pony - not when you've got all the Sandy Lane ones. I can't imagine ever wanting to ride any other pony but Pepper." Jess shook her head. "You're very loyal Rosie," she said. Pepper was one of Sandy Lane's oldest ponies, a stubborn little piebald who Rosie adored. "Of course all the Sandy Lane horses are great, but it doesn't make up for having one of your very own," Jess sighed. "Well, it's a good enough close second for me," Rosie answered firmly. "Still, I suppose answering the questions would be something to do, and it's always good to test your pony knowledge. What do they want to know?" Jess laid the piece of paper down on the desk in 

front of he and, grabbing a pen, began to read the questions. "Name six points of the horse. Hmm - tendons, pasterns fetlocks, um..." She stopped and chewed her pen thoughtfully. "Withers, croup, hocks," Rosie finished quickly. "Pretty good," Jess said. "Hey, listen to this. 'The runners-up will win a year's supply of New Improved Mango Miracle Shampoo, and a bottle of Essence of Peach Perfume, courtsey of competition sponsors Vrai Vert Cosmetics, the Caring Cosmetics Company.' Yuk." Jess wrinkled up her nose. "Who'd want to win that? And what's a 'Caring Cosmetics Company' anyway?" she asked. "Natural ingredients blah blah blah, environmental concerns blah blah blah." Rosie skimmed the page, reading bits aloud. "No animal testing - that's good to hear." "It certainly is," Jess declared. "But Essence of Ponies is the only smell for me. I'm going to live in jodhpurs for the rest of my life and my hair is always going to be messy." Rosie looked at her friend and laughed. Jess grinned back and contemplated Rosie. They couldn't look more different if they tried. Rosie was always beautifully turned out - the buttons on her jacket were never missing, there were never holes in her socks, her hair was never messy or uncombed. Not like me, Jess thought. Strange then, that she and Rosie should be best friends. But there was one thing that bound them. They both loved horses and ponies - all shapes, all sizes. And they especially loved the horses and ponies at Sandy Lane Stables. Sandy Lane... Jess sighed heavily as she looked 

around the cosy tack room with its moth-eaten armchairs, faded but cheerful curtains, and tattered old pony magazines. This was where all the regular Sandy Lane riders congregated - a natural meeting place for Rosie and Jess and their friends Charlie and Tom, Alex and his sister Kate and, more recently, the new girl, Izzy Paterson. Only today it was just Rosie and Jess. The others in their little group were obviously far too sensible to hang around Sandy Lane in weather like this. Indeed, Rosie was only here because Jess had begged her to come. "It might clear up. You never know," Jess had observed optimistically. But of course it hadn't, and although Jess knew that Nick had been right to cancel the rides this morning, the 11 o'clock hack had been the only thing that had propelled he through a dreary week of school. Still, it wouldn't have been safe to ride in the howling wind, especially with all the wet mud under foot. "Oh no, I knew that there had to be a catch," Jess groaned, coming to the end of the competition form. "The dreaded tiebreaker. Why do they always put them at the bottom? And just when you think you've finished. It's the hardest bit of the lot." "My dream pony would be..." Rosie leaned over Jess's shoulder and read out the opening words. "Come on Jess," she said. "You can finish that in less than twenty words." "My dream pony would be.." Jess repeated the words and paused. Actually, having her own pony was something Jess didn't even dare dream about. It wasn't as if she would ever be able to afford one. Money was tight in Jess's 

family. She thought of her dad and his building job. He'd already been 'rained off' a lot this winter. Just like me today, Jess thought. But no work for her dad meant no money to spare in the family. The only way Jess was abe to ride at all was by helping out at Sandy Lane in return for free lessons. Not that she minded - anything that kept her near the ponies was reward enough in itself. "My dream pony would be one I could ride when I was awake, not just in my dreams." Jess scribbled quickly as she read the sentence aloud. "Hey," Rosie smiled. "That's not bad, Jess. You should send it off." "I might just do that," Jess said as she looked out of the window. "And what's more, Rosie - it's stopped raining. I think I can see the sun." Jess stuffed the competition forn in her pocket and followed Rosie happily out of the tack room, into the brightning stable yard.