Chapter 6

The Hard Yards

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, the horse truck pulled into the driveway of their neighbours’ farm. Vicki watched as the wild ponies hesitantly stepped down the ramp and into the waiting yards. The mare and foal were kept together, but both stallions were yarded separately.

As the chestnut stallion snorted and plunged down the raceway into his yard, he seemed to catch Vicki’s eye. If ever she’d seen hate expressed by a horse, she saw it then. Filled with guilt, she stepped down from the fence and turned away. She felt terrible for taking a stallion that was used to living free and imprisoning him in a small yard.

“He hates it here,” she said quietly to her mum.

“He’s just confused and scared from leaving the only home he’s ever known. Give him time to settle. And no matter what — don’t enter his yard, it’s not safe.” Glancing over at Amanda and Kelly, Mum added, “That goes for all of you. I don’t want to see anyone going into the yards. It’s OK to watch the ponies or hold out handfuls of grass through the fence, but don’t you dare mistake them for quiet kids’ ponies,” she said, holding up a stern finger.

Hoping her mum was right, Vicki returned to the yard. She sat on the top rail and watched the chestnut stallion as he paced.

“You’ll be OK, boy,” she whispered. “Everything will be just fine and dandy, you wait and see.”

“I think that’s a great name for him,” her dad said. Startled, Vicki swung her head around.

“What name?” Vicki asked, confused.

“Just Fine ’n’ Dandy,” he replied. “It’ll be good for him to hear you tell him everything is going to be OK whenever you call his name.”

Looking back at her pony, Vicki tried it out.

“Is that what you want to be called?” she asked. “Just Fine ’n’ Dandy?” To her shock, the stallion pricked an ear and raised his striking head, looking directly at her. “He likes it,” said Vicki, smiling.

“Yes, he does,” her dad agreed. “I’m sure he’ll settle in just fine.”

“What are you going to call your stallion, Dad?” Vicki asked.

“Exquisite. Kelly came up with it,” he replied. “But I think we’ll call him Squizzy for short.”

“It suits him,” smiled Vicki. “He looks much more relaxed than Dandy.”

“And your Mum has named the grey mare Jude — but she hasn’t named the foal yet.”

Impatient, Amanda suddenly called out, “Hurry up, Vicki! I’m hungry and Mum said we can’t go home for dinner until the horses have been fed.”

Vicki jumped down from the fence and followed the rest of her family down the long, winding driveway and out to the road, where the grass grew the longest.

“How much will the horses eat?” Vicki asked, as she snipped handful after handful of grass.

“We’ll start with a wheelbarrow for each horse twice a day, but if it’s all gone in the morning we might have to do more.”

“It’s much slower than I thought it would be,” complained Amanda.

“No complaints,” growled Dad. “We made a commitment to feed four horses, and we always knew it was going to be a lot of work. Complaining about it won’t make the time pass any faster.”

With a yawn, Amanda returned to tugging at the grass, her movements sluggish with exhaustion. Finally the first wheelbarrow was full, and Dad raced it up the driveway and emptied it into Dandy’s yard. They filled up the wheelbarrow again and again for the other horses, not finishing until after the sun had set.

“Good job, girls,” their mum said. “It’s been a long day, but worth it, don’t you think?”

Looking over at Dandy happily munching on the grass, Vicki had to agree.

“You always taught us that dreams could come true if we worked hard enough. I have a feeling Dandy is going to be worth it.”

“Remember that when we’re out here picking grass in the rain next week!” Dad said.

Vicki and her sisters slept in the next morning.

“The ponies are waiting for their breakfast,” their mum called, as she banged on the wall to wake them.

With a groan, Kelly looked at the clock beside her bed. She pulled a pillow over her head and grumbled, ‘But it’s still night-time!”

Vicki saw sunlight peeking through the curtains and jumped out of bed, hurriedly pulling on her clothes.

“It’s eight o’clock! Hurry up, guys — Dandy will be hungry!” she said.

A few minutes later, Amanda wandered into the kitchen and stretched sleepily before grabbing a bowl and asking her mum to make her breakfast. Whisking it away from her, Dad turned her in the direction of the door.

“There’s a new rule in this house: no one gets to eat until the horses are fed.”

Amanda dragged her feet. “But I’m starving, and I won’t be able to work if I’m hungry.”

Vicki smirked. Amanda loved her food and always got a little angry when she was hungry. “No complaining, remember?”

Looking around, Mum asked, “Where’s Kelly?”

“Tell her she’s got ten seconds to be in the car,” Dad replied.

The morning routine took even longer than the night before — not only did they have to pick grass, but their parents also had to muck out the manure from the yards, moving quietly so the horses wouldn’t get frightened. The palomino and the grey mare and her foal were quite settled, but Dandy started panicking as soon as Dad opened the gate.

‘Woah, boy,” he said. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“He looks like he’s going to jump the fence,” Vicki said nervously, as she watched from the laneway.

“I don’t think he’s ready for me to enter his yard. How about we move him into the next one over so I can muck out?” Dad opened another gate and slowly stepped around Dandy to encourage him into the opening. Seeing an opportunity to escape, Dandy darted into the next yard and stood trembling while the gate was relatched.

“Come in and help me, Vicki,” Dad said. “The sooner we get his yard clean, the quicker he can return and get settled.”

Kelly and Amanda helped their mum cut grass, emptying it into the yards for the horses to eat. Once they were done the family sat on the fence overlooking the horses, talking quietly to their new steeds. Their quiet voices lulled the ponies and they stood quietly eating.

Eventually all the jobs were finished and the family headed home for breakfast. Vicki felt as if she was half-starved and ate twice as much as normal. She was desperate to return to the yards to work with the horses. During the weeks there wouldn’t be much daylight in the evenings after school.

When they returned to the yards soon after lunch, Vicki was disheartened to see the horses had eaten all their grass.

“We can’t let the horses go that long without food, so we’re going to have to feed them three times a day,” Mum said. “You girls can help on weekends, but Dad and I will do the lunch feeds on school days.”

With a few groans, the girls collected the wheelbarrow and headed down to the road to cut more grass. It looked like they would be spending over two hours every day just cutting grass.

“No wonder people normally feed hay to horses!” said Vicki.

“If we were feeding hay they’d go through at least two slices each, three times a day. That’s fifteen bales every week, so it quickly adds up.”

“Ouch!” said Vicki, quickly doing the maths. “We’d be spending more on hay in one week than it cost to buy the ponies.”

Her dad nodded. “We could never have afforded that, so thank you for your genius idea to cut grass.”

When they finished, Vicki settled down to watch Dandy eat.

“So, how do we tame them, anyway?” she asked her mum.

“I have no idea,” she replied softly. “Let’s just take it one day at a time and let the horses be our teachers.”