Loving Spirit

fences, and then he changed the distance. ‘One stride at the first and second, two at the third now. Get them listening.’
    And so the lesson went on. After warming Barney up at the far end of the ring, Joe joined in.
    After a while, Len got them to halt and then took one jump out and raised the poles on the others to well over four feet. They looked very large. ‘Don’t worry,’ Joe said, glancing at Ellie. ‘This won’t be for us to jump. This’ll be for Luke. Dad won’t risk the ponies’ legs jumping that high.’ He patted Barney’s neck. The mischief in Barney gave him a wonderfulmerriness when he was being ridden. Ellie wondered when she would get to ride him.
    Suddenly the deal she had struck with her uncle didn’t seem quite so bad. She’d always loved going in shows on Abbey. Now she was riding for her uncle, would she get to ride Picasso or Barney, or maybe some of the novices in showing classes for him?
    Ellie watched as Luke cantered Gabriel round, getting him steady and ready to jump. Although the fences were big, Luke didn’t show a flicker of nerves. He cantered the horse towards the fences, effortlessly found the right place to jump from, and Gabriel soared over them.
    ‘Well done!’ Ellie called impulsively as Luke clapped a hand on the horse’s neck and cantered easily back to her and Joe.
    Luke pulled Gabriel to a halt. ‘Fancy a go?’ he challenged.
    Ellie met his stare. ‘Why not?’
    Her uncle’s voice broke in. ‘Not a bad idea. Let’s see what you can do. Hop up on Gabriel and have a try.’
    Ellie saw Luke’s face register astonishment. She swung round and looked at her uncle at the same time as Joe protested beside her.
    ‘Dad! You can’t get Ellie to jump four and a half foot on a strange horse.’
    ‘I’ll be the judge of that!’ Len gave Ellie an appraising look. ‘Come on then.’
    For a moment Ellie hesitated and then nodded. ‘Sure,’ she said coolly, throwing her leg over Picasso’s saddle and jumping off.
    She caught a flicker of surprise on her uncle’s face, and in that instant realized he’d been expecting her to refuse. The knowledge fired her up and she handed Picasso’s reins to Joe. It was a bigger jump than she had ever done before and she’d never ridden Gabriel, but she’d do it.
    ‘Ellie, you can say no,’ Joe whispered quickly, shooting a look at Len who had gone to stomp down some of the rough surface in front of the jump.
    ‘Don’t listen to him,’ Luke said, sliding off Gabriel. ‘Go on. Do it.’ An amused smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
    ‘Ellie, don’t be stupid,’ Joe said in a low voice. ‘At least ask Dad to put it down.’
    But pride and adrenaline were surging through her. ‘I’ll be OK.’
    She took the reins from Luke and mounted. After Picasso, Gabriel felt very big. Len was back in the middle now, watching her shrewdly, arms folded as she quickly adjusted her stirrups, checked her girth and then rode off. She concentrated on the horse’s long stride, trying to force her nervousness down. She could see from her uncle’s face that he was still expecting her to pull out. Luke probably was too. But that just made her even more determined – therewas no way she was going to give either of them the satisfaction. Just watch this , she thought.
    ‘Now?’ she called, glancing across at Len.
    He nodded. Ellie clicked her tongue and felt Gabriel surge into a canter. He might be big but he was obedient and, despite his size, he felt easier to ride than Picasso. Ellie remembered all her mum had ever taught her about jumping. Ride at the middle of the fence, look up, keep your legs on. Fear spiked through her for a moment. She’d jumped Abbey lots but this was different.
    You can do it , she told herself. You can .
    She turned the corner. As Gabriel saw the jump, his ears pricked and he increased his speed. ‘Steady, boy,’ Ellie murmured, taking a firmer hold on the reins. He’d been well schooled by Luke and he came back to hand straight away. The jump loomed up, massive, solid, mountain-like. Suddenly the fear faded. She saw where they needed to take off. She pushed Gabriel on, lengthening his stride to hit the spot. One, two, three …
    And they were over!
    But Ellie didn’t have time to even think. The next fence was right in front of them. She sat down in the saddle and pushed on again. One stride. Two strides and up …
    They soared through the air. As Gabriel landed cleanly and cantered on