The heat from the radiators in the classroom made Louise drowsy. She leant her head on her hands and thought about the brumbies in the park. The screen saver came up on her laptop and mesmerised her, horses cantering across the monitor in an endless stream, manes and tails flying. It seemed wrong that she should sit in a boring lesson about how the Australian political system worked when horses starved out in the elements. She’d rather be throwing out hay, or even mucking out Honey’s stable.
The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough. Louise gathered her books into her bag and raced out to the cycle racks. Despite rarely seeing Ben at school as he was in the year ahead, she spotted him with a group of boys near the lockers. His conversation drifted over to her on the breeze.
“…were trapped in the old mine. We had to dig them out with our bare hands. Then I dragged the woman…”
Louise had enjoyed the attention on Monday when she had been welcomed at school as a hero in finding the lost hikers; now she’d tired of telling the story. No-one cared about the stallion with the broken leg that had caused them to contact the ranger in the first place. No-one asked about how the brumbies fared in the terrible weather. All the conversation centred on the stupid walkers who weren’t even where they were supposed to be.
She unchained her bike and, having pushed it to move through the slush, jumped on board. The cold air on her face made her skin tingle. She pedalled hard to keep warm, though her house was only on the other side of town.
Louise turned into her driveway. After propping her bike up on its stand in the garage, she went inside.
“Hello?” She dragged off her hat, scarf and coat as she popped her head into the lounge. No-one was there.
Mrs Hardy appeared from the music room. “Don’t leave your bag in the hallway. How many times do I have to tell you? You must be frozen. Do you want a cup of tea? I’m about to make one.”
“No thanks. I’ll make myself a slice of toast.” Louise picked up her bag and threw it through the doorway of her bedroom before heading to the kitchen.
“Did you get your test results today?” Mrs Hardy followed Louise and filled the kettle. She bustled about getting out cake and biscuits.
Louise fumbled in her back pocket for the crumpled envelope. “Here they are. I haven’t opened them.” Despite knowing what they said because her teacher had talked to her about the poor results, she didn’t let on.
The toast popped up, giving Louise a chance to turn her back on her mother. She took her time buttering the single slice and slathering it with peanut butter.
“If this is what comes of you going riding every weekend, you’ll have to stop going.” The tone of Mrs Hardy’s voice didn’t invite argument. “These results are terrible, Louise. Haven’t you been doing any work at all? It says here that you haven’t handed your homework in on time all term.”
Louise joined her mother where she sat at the table. “I’m sorry, Mum, I try. This school does things differently to the last one. I can’t seem to get the hang of what they want.”
Mrs Hardy made a disparaging sound as if she didn’t believe her daughter. “That may be, but you could always ask your father or me for help. Your brother doesn't have any trouble, even with all his band practice. In future, no more horses on Saturdays, and you can only go to Ben’s on Sunday if I see all your homework done beforehand.”
“But Mum! It's not the same as for Dean. I’m trying to break in Honey, and one day a week isn’t nearly enough as it is. And we lost all last weekend because of those stupid people getting lost.”
“Enough. If one day a week isn’t sufficient, you’ll have to get rid of the horse. Make up your mind which it’ll be. School work comes first.”
Saturday dragged by. Louise struggled at the desk in her bedroom to finish off her assignment on the chemical properties of cleaning fluids. Boring, boring, boring. Ben had obviously been disappointed when she spoke to him at school on Friday and explained she wouldn’t be able to come to the farm today.
She thought about what he would be doing. Was he working Brandy? Perhaps he had gone for a ride in the park? What was Honey doing? Would the mare have forgotten all her lessons from having a week off?
Lessons. The word reminded Louise she had to finish her homework.
The following morning, having gained her parents approval, Louise rode over to Mirraburra. A thick layer of cloud hung low in the sky though no wind rustled the trees. Despite Everywhere looked grey and dismal, Louise felt in high spirits. Hopefully by the end of the day she would have ridden Honey.
Brandy’s head stuck out over the stable door as Louise propped her bike up in the hay shed. She wandered over and stroked his nose. “Hello, boy. Where’s Ben?”
“I’m in here.” The voice came from behind the liver chestnut stallion.
Louise peered into the gloom of the stable. “What are you doing?”
Ben straightened up and came over to the half door. “Trying to get the mud off his fetlocks. They’re caked solid. I’d go and catch Honey if I were you, she’s filthy too.”
“What did you get up to yesterday?” Louise wanted to find out how far behind she was with her horse. She hoped Ben hadn’t already backed Brandy.
“Chores. Dad decided that if you had to do homework, I should do farm work. I guess I’ve been getting a bit behind with helping out. Come on, hurry up, let’s not waste today.”
Louise didn’t need any further encouragement. Grabbing a headcollar from the hook in the tack room, she went out to the home paddock to look for Honey. She needn’t have worried about finding her; the buckskin mare stood at the rack tugging out long wisps of meadow hay. Ben had been right, she would need a lot of grooming. “Look at you. You must have been rolling in the muddiest spot you could find.”
Slipping the rope around the mare’s neck, Louise gave her a scratch on the crest before buckling on the headcollar. “I’m glad you don’t try to run away any more. I think you know where you’re well off.”
After leading her into the stable next to Brandy, Louise went and retrieved a grooming box and Honey’s saddle and bridle. Although Ben had made up a bridle for her, Louise used Ned’s saddle. Fortunately it fit the brumby’s broad back perfectly.
Ben came and looked over the stable door. “You can have the round yard if you like. I had a chance to work Brandy a bit in the week. Maybe we can try leading them out again this morning, and back them this afternoon?”
“Okay.” Louise quickly finished grooming her horse before saddling her up. She left the bridle off and led her out to the round yard.
Once in the rubber-sided enclosure, Louise left the mare and stood in the centre. She raised the lunge whip in her right hand and set Honey off at a walk anti-clockwise around the yard. After a few laps, she changed the whip to her other hand, walked in front of the horse, and turned her in the other direction.
After a few rounds in both directions, Louise urged Honey into a trot. The buckskin shot forward into a canter. “Steady girl, not so fast. Trrrrottttt.” She used her voice to try to slow the mare down. Unlike other days, Honey didn’t slow.
“Whoa, Honey. Whoa.” Louise didn’t want Honey cantering too fast before her muscles had warmed up. Instead of a nice rhythmic trot, the mare seemed determined to canter. Dropping the whip on the ground, Louise walked in front of the horse with her hands held up in front of her.
Honey dropped her head and came to a stop. Although she let Louise catch her and walk her around the arena, as soon as Louise asked her to trot again she shot off at a canter. Not knowing what to do, Louise left her to run herself out and went to ask Ben’s advice.
“She won’t slow down. I knew it would be difficult with only working her once a week. What should I do?” Louise felt angry at having to stay at home the day before when she could have been at the farm with Honey.
Ben left Brandy and came over to the round yard where Honey still cantered around in circles. “She certainly seems full of life. Maybe you should make her go a bit faster so she’s happy to slow down when you ask her? I’ve seen Uncle Graeme do that with his horses, and that’s a bit like what we did when we tried to catch these guys the first time in the ravine, remember?”
Louise nodded. The memory of those days working the brumbies in the park came back to her. She knew that without the help of Old Harry teaching them to keep the horses moving, they never would have caught them. “You’re right. I’ll try that.”
Going back into the round yard, Louise picked up the whip and flicked it to keep Honey out on the wall. She didn’t want to be trampled as the mare cavorted in circles. “If you want to run, run!”
As she chased the mare faster, Honey put her head down and kicked her heels out behind her. She started to buck and pigroot, squealing at each bound. Louise started to worry. This didn’t seem right.
Ben obviously heard the commotion as he hurried over. “Pull her up. Something’s wrong.”
Louise stopped chasing the mare and calmed her down. After several minutes, she managed to get the mare to stop. Each time she approached her, Honey moved away. The mare’s coat curled in sweaty patches. “What’s happened, Ben? She’s never been like this before.”
“Give her a few minutes to calm down and try again.” Ben opened the gate for Louise to come out. “Come and give me a hand with Brandy. When Honey started squealing, he started to fret. Can you hold him while I pick out his hind feet?”
Louise helped Ben with the young stallion before returning to the round yard. Honey stood quietly in the centre, her head down. This time when Louise approached her shoulder, she didn’t move away. “What’s wrong, girl? Let’s have a look at you.”
“Take her saddle off and lead her around. If things don’t work out, it’s good to go back a step and do something that she’s comfortable with.” Ben leant on the railing and watched Louise as she ran her hands over her body and legs to see if she had any injuries.
Louise unbuckled the girth. “Here’s the problem.”
Ben came and looked at what Louise pointed at. “What a massive sore. That must have been caused by those back packs she carried last weekend. The strap that we used to tie thm underneath her has rubbed the hair off. I guess all the mud has rubbed her raw.”
“The poor thing. I’m sorry Honey. That’s really hidden in the crease of skin under your elbow. I can’t have checked you properly when I groomed you.” Louise felt terrible at hurting her horse.
“You can’t work her with a saddle today. You’ll have to lead her out bareback. Come on, let’s pony them out. I’ll get Snifter to bring in Ned and Snip.”