Chapter Eight

My poor Hannah. She cried floods of tears this afternoon when her mum arrived and told her that her gran was sick. Mrs Palmer had a pain in her heart and had to go to hospital in an ambulance.

It must be a scary thing, because hearing about it really upset Hannah. I stood in the yard trying to make sense of it all, but it was hard to understand with Hannah sobbing so much.

‘You’ll have to leave your lesson early and come with me, pet,’ Hannah’s mum said. ‘We’ll go check on Gran and then I’ll take you home.’

‘Is Gran going to be okay, Mum?’

‘I’m sure she will, love. But in the meantime you’ll have to give up your lessons. We need to spend time with Gran in the hospital.’

Poor Hannah looked as miserable as I felt. Her gran is ill, and on top of that she won’t even get to see me! It just isn’t fair. Gizmo’s rider Claire was trying to cheer Hannah up with cuddles and kind words, and Kate was doing her best, as always, to make things better.

‘Your gran is in the best possible place at the minute, Hannah,’ Kate said. ‘The doctors will do all they can to make her well, and she’ll be back with you in no time. And don’t worry about Daisy – we’ll look after her until you’re ready to come back.’

I watched Hannah go off with her mum and my heart felt like it was breaking. She’s the nicest rider I’ve ever had and I hate to see her so upset. Now I’m out here in the field grazing and I miss her already.

It’s a beautiful April evening and even though the countryside looks lovely I just can’t lift my spirits. There are grassy, green hills rolling into one another all the way to Saintfield, the sky is pale blue and the Mourne Mountains look like a purplish ridged roof in the distance, but all I can see are the weeks without Hannah.

Suddenly, I feel someone nuzzling me. Gizmo is nudging my face and making soft, low sounds. He tells me not to worry – which isn’t so easy – and that everything will be all right. Then we stand and gaze out over the fields around us as the sun sets, and just having him there beside me makes me feel a little bit better. I know how lucky I am to be here, at home with my family of horses and humans, and I just wish Hannah could have her gran at home with her right now.

Humans don’t think we ponies remember our mothers, but we do. When I had to leave my family to come and live at the Pony Palace I sniffed around after her for days. I was so sad at first, but I got used to it, because that’s what it’s like in the horse world.

It’s different for humans, though; they don’t leave their families until they’re all grown up, so poor Hannah must be devastated to be without her gran right now. I can’t wait to see her again and give her the biggest, sloppiest nuzzle in the whole world. I just don’t know when that will be.