Totally unbalanced and unable to stop herself, Poppy did a complete somersault over Henry’s neck in awful slow motion. As the rest of the class broke into giggles, she found herself sitting on the sand with Henry gazing down at her, tickling her cheek with his bristly whiskers.
ILLUSTRATED BY
For my brother and my sisters and all of the other NHS heroes.
First published in the UK in 2021 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place, Crosby Row London, SE1 1YW, UK
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text copyright © Olivia Tufn, 2021
Illustrations copyright © Jo Goodberry, 2021
The right of Olivia Tufn and Jo Goodberry to be identified as the authors and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved.
978 1 78800 793 1
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Poppy smoothed down the soft green tweed of the hacking jacket, admiring her refection in the dusty tack-shop mirror. She liked the way the tweed complemented her hair and eyes. It was perfect!
“Mum, look at this!” Poppy called. Her mum was studying a list, ticking off the things they needed to get for pony camp. There were still a couple of weeks to go, but Poppy couldn’t wait to get everything organised!
“Oh, that’s nice.” Mandy, the owner of the shop, appeared beside Poppy. Poppy knew Mandy
well. She liked to go to the shop each week just to look at all the saddles, the brightly coloured rugs, different sorts of bits … and to breathe in that special tack-shop smell! Mandy was funny and chatty, and sometimes if the shop was quiet she let Poppy practise putting bridles together and would make her a hot chocolate.
“But that jacket is really for high-level competitions,” Mandy continued. “I’m not sure you’ll need it at Vale Farm.”
“Yes, that’s lovely.” Poppy’s mum joined them and stroked the jacket before picking up the price tag. Poppy saw a frown fit across her mum’s face and her stomach dropped. She knew that look.
“But I think Mandy’s right, it’s probably a bit much for pony camp.”
Poppy nodded.
“OK,” she said in a small voice. She would have to put the jacket on her wish list, something
to save up for and wear at her frst high-level competition with Silver Shadow!
“Ooh, look what I’ve found!” Mandy said cheerily, placing a pile of brightly coloured clothes on the counter.
Poppy tried to look enthusiastic as her mum rifed through the garments, a relieved expression on her face, and Poppy noticed the sale stickers. There were garish bright-pink jodhpurs with funny squiggles down the side, and a purple jumper covered in glittery sequinned horseshoes. She was grateful her mum was kitting her out for camp as she knew how expensive riding clothes were, but as her
mum held the pink pair of jodhs up against her with an approving nod, she felt her heart sink. She’d hoped for canary-yellow breeches, butter-soft leather boots and tan gloves, just as in her books.
“We’ll take these!” Poppy’s mum said happily. “Thanks, Mandy.”
“Lovely!” said Mandy, ringing the pink jodhs through the till. “They’ll be just fne for camp. I know there’s always lots of fun and games going on, and the beach ride too. You wouldn’t want to be wearing a posh jacket.” She looked kindly at Poppy.
Poppy tried to swallow her disappointment, and smiled instead, pushing a few strands of her blonde hair behind her ear.
“They’re brilliant. Thank you.”
“Do you know Elaine Sanderson who owns Vale Farm?” Poppy’s mum asked Mandy.
“Lainey?” Mandy replied. “She was only ever called Elaine when she was eventing. Yes, I do. She’s ever so nice! Did you know she jumped round the Badminton three-day event? You’re going to have a brilliant time, Poppy – her camps are very popular. It was a great idea of hers, opening up the stables.”
Poppy started to feel a little better. She’d been looking forward to camp at the local riding school for months – she couldn’t let the wrong jodhpurs spoil it now.
As her mum continued to chat to Mandy, another girl came into the tack shop. She was taller than Poppy, with a swishy ponytail that she ficked over one shoulder. Her mum held a list too. To Poppy’s growing dismay, the girl headed straight for the jacket – her jacket – and slipped it on over her T-shirt, doing a twirl in front of the mirror.
“Lovely,” said her mum. “Pop it in the basket.”
As the girl and her mum came near the till, adding in some scarlet hair ribbons and a gorgeous gold tie, Poppy grabbed the brightpink jodhpurs and threw them into a carrier bag, hoping the girl hadn’t noticed. She wasn’t quick enough with the purple jumper though. The girl laid the beautiful tweed jacket out on the counter, giving it a little stroke, before picking up the awful jumper between her thumb and forefnger as if she couldn’t bear to touch it.
“Here,” she said, her nose wrinkling, “you forgot this.”
“Thanks,” Poppy muttered, stuffng the jumper into the now bulging bag. She wanted to say something about how she loved the jacket too, but instead she put her head down and scurried after her mum.
In the car on the way home Poppy pulled her
battered copy of The Manual of Horsemanship from her bag, a present from her gran a couple of Christmases ago. Poppy read it every single day and even took it to school so she could study it during break times.
She turned to her favourite page, which showed a girl riding the most beautiful grey pony, so similar to Silver Shadow. The girl was wearing a tweed jacket just like the one in the shop and cream jodhpurs, with a navy riding hat and beautifully polished boots. Not a squiggle or glittery horseshoe in sight. Poppy never imagined pink jodhpurs when she dreamed about her grey pony. When she was riding Silver Shadow, everything had to be perfect, just like the girl in the picture.
“You coming to the rec?”
Evie, Poppy’s best friend, linked arms with her
as the bell rang on the last day of school. The warmth of the sunshine hit the girls as they bounded down the steps. For Poppy, the summer holidays now stretched ahead full of promise and pony adventures. She couldn’t wait!
Poppy shook her head. The recreation ground – where everyone hung around after school – was fun, but there was somewhere she needed to be.
“Another time,” she promised her friend.
“Ponies?” Evie grinned and Poppy nodded and gave her a quick hug before she hurried off.
The grey was waiting in his usual spot as Poppy made her way along the now familiar path. He lived in the felds surrounding Vale Farm, which was on the edge of town and where camp would be held.
“Hi, boy!” Putting her bag down, Poppy reached up and stroked the silken strands of Silver Shadow’s forelock, smiling as he breathed
his lovely warm pony breath on to her cheek.
“Not long until camp!” She leaned on the fence as the grey pony nibbled at her ponytail affectionately. “And I just know Lainey’s going to pair me up with you! We can canter and jump and we’ll be the perfect team. You and me, forever.”
She planted a kiss on the pony’s pink muzzle, his ears ficking back and forth as if he was really listening to her.
Poppy didn’t actually know what the pony was called, but Silver Shadow suited him perfectly and he came when she called that name. He was the most beautiful grey pony, with a smattering of darker fecks around his velvet nose and big eyes. His coat was almost pure white but Poppy knew that you never called a white pony white. It was always grey. They had come across each other by chance. Poppy had taken the long way home one sunny evening and – like something out of a dream – there he was, peering over the fence, his ears pricked. It was as if he had been waiting for her. Now she always took that way home. She’d think about him all day at school, doodling pictures of him across her workbook, writing poems about him in her lunch break, planning to ride him for the frst time just like the girl in The Manual of Horsemanship.
They shared a special bond. Sometimes Poppy stroked him and chatted about her day, and other times she simply curled up on the grass and watched him graze, lazily swishing fies away with his tail. She never gave him treats because Lainey, who was sometimes in the felds, had asked her not to, and Poppy knew from her books that too many treats could cause colic. Her heart thudded a little faster at the thought of Silver Shadow falling ill.
Lainey would often give Poppy a cheerful wave.
“Here to see the ponies again?” She’d laugh and Poppy would nod and smile, but there was only one pony she was there to see. Even without knowing his real name, let alone having ridden him, Poppy knew he was the pony for her.