Amy and Amber (7 page)

She looked really scared about that. “But, Amy, what if they think I'm a thief and hate me?” she gasped.

“It'll be OK,” I said, squeezing her hand. “We'll explain what happened. They'll understand.”

She didn't seem very sure, and neither was I to be honest, but we went into the TV room anyway. We explained what had happened and Kayla apologized to everyone a LOT for not giving me the camera straight away. They were pretty moody about it, and Shanika was annoyed that she'd had to search through the muck heap for no reason. I could see how much that upset Kayla and I squeezed her hand.

Then Jody sent everyone upstairs to have their showers, but us two hung behind. And, with a lot of encouragement from me, Kayla told her about struggling in Group B. Jody was really nice about it (phew!) and she's going to have a chat with Sally tomorrow morning.

She also had the idea that we should think of something to do for the film, so that we'll have some shots of us two together after all. We both thought that was a good idea and we're going to come up with something. That seemed to cheer Kayla up a bit, and when we came down in our PJs for hot chocolate the other girls gradually started chatting to her again, so that was a big relief, for both of us.

Well, I'm totally shattered now. Not too tired for a midnight feast though! It's all quiet
now, and Jody and Johnny have gone into their sitting room. I'm just going to give Kayla the secret signal to sneak down to my bunk, and then see if Millie wants to join in too.

It’s absolutely bucketing down (what a change from Tuesday!), so Jody suggested we stay put for a while and catch up on our diaries instead of heading straight down to the yard to do jobs. It’s really cool ’cos we’re all sitting round the kitchen table together sharing our glitter gel pens and things.

Our midnight feast (well, 10.21p.m. feast!) was really fun. We tried to get Millie to join in but she was fast asleep, so it was just us two. We hung our towels down from the top bunk to hide our torchlight and we had to remember to whisper. We kept clamping our hands over our mouths every time a giggle came out, but that just made us laugh even more! We chatted for hours – and I can’t believe we scoffed that whole big packet of cola bottles!

This morning when we were in the barn brushing our ponies down, Sally came and had a chat with Kayla. She was really nice, luckily – Kayla had been worried she’d be cross. “I actually think you’re doing really well,” Sally told her. “Cracker’s not the easiest pony, and you’ve made a lot of progress with him.”

Kayla gaped at her. “You honestly think I’m doing OK?” she asked.

“Yes, brilliantly,” Sally promised her. “And I’m sorry if that hasn’t come across. You should have confidence in yourself. But saying that, I’ll leave it up to you which group you’d like to be in for the rest of the week. We just want you to be happy here and have fun.”

Kayla looked at me and I gave her an encouraging smile. “I’d like to stay in Group B, please,” she told Sally. Good for her!

After our lessons, when we were untacking in the barn, Kayla was really excited because they’d had a go at dressage and she’d managed to get Cracker to go from walk straight to canter! So she definitely made the right choice! I know I’m not ready for that sort of thing myself just yet, but I was SO pleased for her.

We had loads of fun in our lesson as well – we did some jumping today, first working over trotting poles and then a small cross pole before trying an upright. Amber just loved it, and she was so steady I even managed to clamber back up when I lost my seat on my second go and nearly came off!

I love being here and it’s fantastic that Kayla’s enjoying herself so much more too. It’s just going to be fun, fun and more fun for us two
from now on, starting this afternoon… If we ever get out of here, that is! We’re supposed to be having our hack, but we probably won’t be able to go out if it carries on pouring down.

Oh, Sally’s just come in and said we can skip yard work altogether and have our Pony Care talk in the barn now and then see what happens with the weather, so gotta go!

Where was I? Oh, yes, Sally called us into the barn to have our Pony Care talk first, because of the rain. It was so cool being in there because we could hear it absolutely pelting down on the roof, but we were all cosy and warm squashed up together on the hay bales.

When Lydia talked about the points of the horse and conformation, she used my lovely Amber to demonstrate on! Of course, she stood really nicely, and I gave her a big pat afterwards for doing so well.

Then we got sheets to fill in, and we had to look at all the ponies in the barn and see how many different colours and markings we could find. I went round with Kayla and we found loads. By the end the rain had eased off – only
a bit, but Sally said we could go on the hack – hooray! I dashed back into the farmhouse and grabbed my camera, tucking it into the pocket of my wax jacket to keep it dry.

The hack was fantastic and we didn't care at all that we were getting SOAKED. Sally rode at the front and Lydia at the back, with the rest of us in single file in between. Everything was really green and fresh, and Amber loved being out in the open.

Kayla was a bit nervous at first about Cracker bolting off because he kept going into trot and breaking out of the line, but Sally moved them to be behind Ava and Star (who is really chilled out), and showed her how to keep her outside leg on and use the reins so he stayed put. As we turned into this beautiful lane at the edge of a field, the rain stopped, and a bit later the sun came out and guess what? There was a rainbow!

Sally let me ride ahead with Lydia so I could get a shot of all the girls trotting up the lane with the rainbow arching up behind them. She even let me film without having to dismount because Amber was so calm and stood so still. Then she said she'd take some footage of me and Kayla doing something, so there would be some shots of us two together (Jody must have mentioned that to her too).

As we turned into the next field, there was a track going uphill, so me and Kayla hung back with Lydia while the other girls trotted to the top with Sally. Then Sally filmed us cantering up together. It was so much fun – we were neck and neck, racing each other, with Lydia behind. Even though Amber tried her best, Cracker's so speedy that they beat us! All the girls cheered when we reached the top and Sally said how good it was going to look in the film.

We had a canter up the next hill all together and that was great fun too – though of course me and Kayla had to go much slower that time because we were part of a bigger group.

On the way back, the rain came pelting down again and we were getting so wet that Sally let us stay in trot all the way back down the lanes and on to the yard, instead of going into walk. We were all squealing and giggling as we led our ponies into the barn.

After we'd changed and towelled down our hair in our rooms we had honey toast and hot blackcurrant round the kitchen table to warm up – yum!

We're having a disco tonight, and everyone's already talking about what they're going to wear. Genevieve's doing our hair because she's really good at it. She's got a huge washbag full of clips and bands and even her own curling tongs!