Showing Off Read online

  Meg looked up at the sky, “They do a Pairs class.”

  “Yes, I know,” said Sam, staring at the trees. “And you can enter on the day.”

  Another pause. “Do you think we …?” Meg didn’t finish her question.

  Sam grinned. “I will if you will.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Flying!

  Meg and Sam put their names down for the Beginner Pairs Jumping. It wasn’t starting for an hour, so they rode around the showground together first, laughing and chatting about ponies as if they’d been friends for years. Merlin and Alfred seemed to get on as well as the girls did.

  And then it was time for the Showjumping to begin.

  The course was like a figure of eight with ten jumps. Everyone who was taking part had to walk it first so that they remembered each bit. You had to do the jumps in the right order.

  Suppose I forget? thought Meg. What if I take a wrong turn? Or fall off again? And even if I don’t, even if I get a clear round – what if I’m too slow? They take points off for that.

  Sam seemed to be as worried as Meg.

  “What if I get the jumps in the wrong order?” she said in a whisper.

  “It’ll be fine,” said Meg. “It’s only a bit of fun.” She knew she sounded confident, but inside she felt sick with nerves.

  They watched the first pair – a boy and a girl who looked so alike they had to be brother and sister.

  The girl went first, sailing clear over everything and cantering back to her brother. She slapped his hand – the signal that it was his turn – and he was off. But maybe his pony was more skittish or he wasn’t such a good rider, because his pony ran out at the fourth fence and didn’t jump it. The boy tried again and again, but each time his pony refused to go over the jump.

  And so the pair were eliminated. The boy looked as if he was trying not to cry, but his sister said cheerfully, “Never mind, Tom! Let’s go get an ice cream.”

  It was Meg and Sam’s turn.

  Sam was looking nervous, so Meg went first. Merlin was longing to get going and when the bell rang, giving the signal for them to start, he took off like a rocket before Meg had nudged his sides with her heels. He flew over the first fence.

  “Where next?” he seemed to ask.

  Meg fixed her eyes on the second fence and Merlin read her thoughts.

  “That one?” he said. “Got it!”

  He cantered towards it, taking the turn much tighter than Meg would have dared, and cleared it easily. The third and fourth fences were close together and in a straight line ahead. Meg kept her eyes fixed on them and Merlin followed her signal.

  Meg hadn’t done any Showjumping with Merlin, but his owner Isobel Hill clearly had. The pony was absolutely loving it.

  It was as if he was telling Meg, “I’ve been dying to do this for ages! What took you so long?”

  Meg had had a few jumping lessons at the riding stables before she’d met Merlin, but she hadn’t much enjoyed them. It had always been such an effort to get the riding-school ponies over the fences. Sometimes Meg had felt like getting off and leaping the jumps by herself to save them the effort.

  But with Merlin everything was different. To him, jumping was the most exciting thing on earth. He’d missed this. And now he was flying round and enjoying every second.

  He took the fifth and the sixth fences happily, but at the seventh a child in the watching crowd let their balloon go by mistake. The balloon drifted across the show ring right in front of Meg and Merlin. On a normal ride Merlin would have been spooked. But he was having so much fun, he didn’t even notice.

  Over the seventh fence, the eighth. The ninth. Almost there! Meg didn’t relax even though they were so close to the end. They leapt the tenth and cantered over the finishing line, Meg slapping Sam’s hand as she passed her.

  “Done it,” Meg said, giving the lightest squeeze of Merlin’s reins and sitting deep in the saddle.

  Merlin took a while to slow down.

  “Can we do it again?” he seemed to be saying, trotting on the spot. “Can we? Can we?”

  By the time Merlin had agreed to stand still, Sam and Alfred had reached the fourth fence.

  They were going well, clearing the fifth and sixth easily, but Meg wasn’t sure if they were as fast as she and Merlin had been.

  Alfred jumped the seventh with no problem, but when they came to the eighth he put in a funny little extra step before it, which threw Sam off balance. When he took off, Sam got left behind. Instead of leaning low over his neck as Alfred jumped, she was flicked back and the pair didn’t land properly on the other side.

  From the ringside Sam’s mother gave an angry yell that Meg heard right across the ring.

  “Oh, Sammy!”

  And after that, Sam couldn’t get it all back together. Alfred just about cleared the ninth fence, but at the tenth and last jump his hoof caught the pole, which rattled and then fell.

  “Sorry,” said Sam for the thousandth time when it was all over. “You were so fast! We’d have won if I’d jumped a clear round.”

  The two girls were riding home from the show together. It turned out that Alfred’s stable was only a mile from Merlin’s field. They were going to meet up next weekend and have a ride in the woods together.

  “Don’t be sorry,” said Meg. And she really meant it. “I’d never have even entered without you. It was brilliant.”

  What a day it had been, Meg thought when she turned Merlin out into his field. He had a good long roll and was soon as caked with mud as he had been that morning. It seemed like a long time ago now. Back then Meg had dreamed of coming home with a rosette. But now she didn’t care about that.

  She and Merlin had won something far better.

  Friends.

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  Copyright

  First published in 2022 in Great Britain by

  Barrington Stoke Ltd

  18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LP

  This ebook edition first published in 2022

  www.barringtonstoke.co.uk

  Text © 2022 Tanya Landman

  Illustrations © 2022 Sònia Albert

  The moral right of Tanya Landman and Sònia Albert to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in any part in any form without the written permission of the publisher

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library upon request

  eISBN: 978–1–80090–195–7

 

 

  Tanya Landman, Showing Off

 

 

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