Amy and Amber (3 page)

It's so great here, I'm having the most fantastic time EVER! The girls are lovely and it's been easy to make friends, and best of all I've got my perfect pony! It's exactly what me and Kayla have been dreaming about for weeks! I can't believe the first day's over already – it feels like our time here is going way too fast! I can't wait for…

Whoops, I nodded off while I was writing in here last night! Kayla tried to wake me and Millie up so we could have our midnight feast, but we were so fast asleep she had to give up in the end! It's a beautiful day for the beach ride, and Jody says it's going to be hot, hot, hot!

It was brilliant going up to the field to get Amber this morning. I loved walking up the lane with the other girls, all of us laughing and chatting, with head collars over our shoulders. Amber let me catch her straight away and I gave her a big pat and told her what a good girl she is.

Back in the barn, Sally explained that not all the ponies can come to the beach because there's not enough room in the horsebox, so
we have to share. Amber's coming, though – hooray! Sally's bringing her horse Blue, so she can ride along with us for safety, and Sarah's going to share Charm with James, who's coming along for the trip too. Shanika's sharing Jewel with Genevieve, Jasmine's got Magic with Millie, Lexy's sharing Monsoon with Ava, and I'm sharing Amber with Kayla. I think she was a bit sad for a while that Cracker wasn't coming, but everyone was so excited about the beach ride she soon got swept up in it too. And after a talk from Lydia about leg and tail bandaging (to protect against knocks during journeys) we all got to practise on our own ponies, so Kayla had a bit of extra time with Cracker.

Jody and Sally are coming in the minibus with us (Sally's driving) and James is going in the Land Rover with Johnny. It's a private beach a friend of
Jody's owns so that's why we're allowed to ride on it. How amazing – imagine having your own
beach
!

We've got all our stuff packed and Jody's reminded us about a million times to bring our sun cream, like my mum does whenever we go anywhere!

Sally's just come in and said the ponies are all loaded up and it's time to go!

We’re all really tired now so we’re just sitting here writing our diaries. The beach ride was BRILLIANT!!! I honestly think it was the best day of my life so far!

When we arrived we all got out of the minibus and stood back while the adults unloaded the ponies. The beach looked beautiful in the sunshine with the waves crashing on the shore. Then we took off the bandages and tacked up, all giggling and chatting, and led them down over the powdery sand to the firmer bit near the sea.

The people who were borrowing ponies got to ride first, so that was James, Genevieve, Jasmine, Ava and Kayla, of course. I gave her a leg up on to Amber and sorted out her stirrups
for her, and then they were off. I’d wanted Sally to take my camera with her and film them as she was riding along, but she said that might be a bit dangerous. So in the end I showed them going off up the beach into the distance. Then about twenty minutes later they reappeared and I got some fab shots of them trotting back towards us. The ponies’ legs were wet – they’d been in the sea as well! I couldn’t WAIT to ride when I saw that!

Kayla was grinning from ear to ear when she came back. “I loved riding Amber,” she cried. “I mean, I love Cracker too, of course, but she’s
so much easier to handle. She just did what I asked with no fuss and she really enjoyed being out in the open!”

“That’s great!” I said, and we both gave Amber a big pat for being so good.

The ponies had a drink and a little break, then Sally said, “Come on, girls, let’s get going before we melt!” I wanted Kayla to take over with my camera, but she wasn’t confident about using it, so James filmed our group instead.

Riding Amber on the beach was amazing! First we walked along to get used to the feeling of being on sand and then we moved up into trot. And then, fabbiest of all, we had a canter! It was brilliant thundering along the sand, just like being in a movie!

Then we slowed up and had lots of fun splashing in the waves, which Amber loved. Charm wasn’t that keen on getting his feet wet at first, but with a bit of encouragement from Sarah he was soon prancing about like everyone else. Lexy lost her seat at one point and she was just hanging sideways off Monsoon, desperately trying to pull herself back into the saddle before she plopped into the water. The problem was, she was giggling so much she didn’t have any strength in her arms! We were all laughing too and we gave her a big cheer when she finally made it up!

Sally had the great idea of giving James an action shot, so we came thundering back towards the group at full gallop! I watched the footage on the monitor afterwards and it looks amazing – it’s really going to make the film extra-fantastic.

We were SO hot after that and the second our feet touched the sand we all pulled off our hats (everyone’s hair was soaked with sweat – yuck!). We just wanted to get changed and jump into the waves, but of course we had to see to our ponies first. So we led them back up to the horsebox, untacked them and gave them a quick brush down with our partners’ help.

Then we tied them up along the shady side of the horsebox with some fresh water and hay nets to munch on. And I gave Amber another big hug for being such a star!

There was no stopping us after that! We all went to change into our swimming stuff in the horsebox and there was loads of giggling because we kept sending each other to the doors at the back to make sure James wasn’t looking! We ran out into the sea (after Jody had made us cover ourselves in even
more
sun
cream, that is!). The grown-ups all had their swimming stuff with them too, so they got changed and came in with us!

The lovely cool water was so refreshing after the hot ride, and we had fun jumping over the waves and trying to lift each other up out of the water! Then Johnny went to look after the ponies and James came crashing into the sea. Sarah and Genevieve were giggling loads and whispering to each other – I think they’ve got
crushes
on him. Yuck! Back on the beach we all dried off and put on even
more
sun cream!

And guess what…

There was Johnny lining up disposable barbecues next to the Land Rover. What a
brilliant surprise! No one had said anything about a beach barbie – I’d thought it would just be sarnies! Anyway, I was so hungry after all the riding and swimming I ate two hotdogs, two vegetable kebabs and a whole sweetcorn!

I thought
everyone
was having a fab time, but while we were all sitting on our towels eating, Kayla seemed a bit weird with me, like she was in a mood or something. When I asked what was wrong, she just shrugged. Then she sighed and said, “I don’t know. I suppose I wish Cracker had come on the trip, that’s all.”

I frowned. “But you loved riding Amber, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, “it’s just, it would have been nice to be in the galloping shot with you, for the film. At this rate, we won’t have
any
footage of us riding together.”

“But we couldn’t both ride the same pony at once, could we?” I replied.

Kayla gave me a frustrated look, like I wasn’t getting it, which I suppose I wasn’t. I mean, the ride wasn’t that long, and I was just concentrating on what I was doing, and having fun with Amber. Why couldn’t Kayla do the same? It was no big deal. Just then, Jody asked me to go round with a bin bag and collect up the paper plates, so we didn’t say any more about it. It was strange, though.