Summer with Horses: White Cloud Station, #2

By Trudy Nicholson

Suzy, Alexa and Lucy are spending a wonderful summer at the beach with their very own White Cloud horses.

Through a lucky escape the girls meet a new hero and Suzy gets a chance to return to White Cloud Station.
Pretty soon she is thrust into the busy world of a working station, but only in her wildest dreams could she imagine what excitement the end of summer would bring.
Second Edition, Horsecrest Press, 2014. Penguin Group, NZ, 2009
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Horsecrest Press
• Release date: Feb 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9780994116437

Trudy Nicholson

Trudy is an internationally acclaimed author and photographer of twelve books. 'Ripple and the Wild Horses of White Cloud Station', published by Penguin Group, NZ,  2009 -- NZ CHILDREN & TEENS BEST SELLER LIST, is the first book in the White Cloud Station series. Second Edition versions, and new books, published by Horsecrest Press, 2014-15.  There are 7 books in the White Cloud Station series. There is a club for fans www.whitecloudstation.com  

Book preview

PART 1

Horses at the Beach

1

Horse Heaven

The old hut, standing a hundred metres from the beach among the tussock grass, driftwood and sandhills, was the girls’ home for the summer holidays. Suzy, Alexa and Lucy were best friends, and they had this part of Wildwind Beach to themselves. They had all they needed - no shopping malls or movie theatres, just each other and their horses: Ripple, Liquorice and Hope. The girls lived, breathed and dreamed horses. They’d named the basic hut Horse Heaven thereafter known as HH. Hay, covered in old horse blankets, made soft, spongy beds and the girls had snuggled in for the night - knowing that if a storm passed through they could return to Lucy’s parents’ nearby holiday house. However, being with Dawn and Joe wasn’t really part of the plan as they relished the freedom of fending for themselves, and not having adult ears listening in on their conversations. This was their special time together with their horses.

Lucy was building a strong connection with her mare, Hope, who’d had some time off with a foal at foot. Lucy had missed being able to ride while the foal was on Hope. It was a great comfort to Lucy when Grandad Phillips, the owner of White Cloud Station, provided a home for Mystery after he was weaned. He was immediately turned out with two of the stations’ orphan foals that were being supervised by Grandad’s retired cutting horse, Bonnie, and later joined the herd of farm horses. Hope, Liquorice and Ripple were from the wild herd that lived in the White Cloud ranges, and although Mystery wouldn’t run with the wild horses he had the freedom of the lower ranges with the domesticated herd near the homestead. Now, more than ever, Lucy appreciated being able to ride and it was her intention to make the most of summer with her horse. Every spare moment, she’d decided, would be with her beautiful chestnut mare.

After a long, exhilarating day’s riding and being with their horses at the beach the girls were weary, and they had settled down early in their sleeping bags. Whether it was the full moon or the sheer excitement of being at the beach, Lucy was restless. Unable to sleep, she sat up in bed, fiddled with the bun she’d tied on the top of her head, and wondered if the other girls were asleep. The evening was still and she enjoyed hearing the horses munching on their hay in the yards alongside. The moon shone bright through the broken window of the hut so she reached for Alexa’s teen magazine and flicked through the pages - she was fourteen, the same age as Suzy and Alexa.

‘I can hear you...’ Alexa grumbled loudly, her long black hair draping over her eyes. She squinted. ‘You woke me up.’ She threw her horse book at Lucy before snuggling into her pillow. ‘Shh-h.’

‘Stop being so grumpy.’ Lucy whispered. ‘You’ll wake Suzy.’

Suzy at up, her eyes narrowed, and she tucked her blonde wavy hair behind her ears. ‘I’m already awake...’

‘Sorry,’ Lucy cringed. ‘I didn’t mean to wake you. I guess the excitement of being at the beach is getting to me. And I can’t stop thinking about the White Cloud wild horses. There’s so much I want to do...’

‘Mm, me too,’ replied Suzy. Her eyes lit up, ‘Imagine how exciting it would be to ride with the herd of wild horses.’

Alexa huffed, ‘You’re dreaming - that’s never going to happen.

‘We are allowed to dream, aren’t we, Lucy.’ Suzy chuckled. ‘Stop being such a grouch, Alexa.’

‘Well, it’s what I think. Chance would be a fine thing, and the chances of that ever happening are zilch in my opinion. Sorry, I don’t mean to be a spoil sport, but...’ Alexa sighed and snuggled under the blanket.

With her head resting on the pillow, Suzy imagined herself galloping, on her powerful bay gelding, alongside the wild horses. She heard the pounding of their hooves on the dusty ground, and saw their outstretched necks, flared nostrils and flowing manes, and she felt their speed...

Lucy interrupted her vision, ‘You’re right, Suzy, we are allowed to dream.’

‘That’s it! I give up trying to sleep - anyone for hot chocolate?’ Suzy wrapped her quilt’ around her shoulders and waddled toward the thermos she had filled earlier, trying not to trip over the edge of the rug. Lucy and Alexa sat up in their beds while Suzy made them hot chocolate and grabbed a packet of biscuits from the old tea-chest that served as their pantry.

‘So what’s happening tomorrow, you two?’ she said as she stirred the hot chocolate.

‘Swimming with the horses?’ Lucy suggested, perched up in her bed as if she was waiting for room service.

‘Beach racing!’ Alexa put in.

Suzy passed them their drinks, then she sat down on the doorstep and sipped at her own.

‘The stars are so clear, and there’s an amazing reflection of the moon across the water. Wow, it’s like daylight - hey, anyone for a moonlight ride?’

‘Let’s go for it!’ Alexa shrieked, jumping out of bed.

They quickly finished their drinks, then they bridled their horses and headed down the path toward the moonlit beach. ‘Where else in the world could you ride in your pyjamas?’ Alexa snorted. ‘We have this whole beach to ourselves! Yay, I’m off - see ya!’

Hope shied at the white breakers and ‘floating things’ that sometimes drifted against her legs. ‘C’mon, girl,’ Lucy laughed as the horse splashed, trying to free a piece of debris that was clinging to her leg. ‘It’s just seaweed!

‘Oh, you’re a silly girl!’ she muttered as she rebalanced herself after slipping sideways. ‘It’s not a horse-eating crocodile, you know!’

But Hope wasn’t convinced, and kept spooking and snorting.

Suzy laughed from the safety of the beach. ‘Hey be careful, she might dump you in the water!’

True to form, Alexa and Liquorice were already cantering down the beach, clearly visible in the bright moonlight.

Ripple pricked his ears and stepped out with a long stride beside the water, where the silver reflection of the moon rippled over it. He seemed to be enjoying his trek. Catching sight of Liquorice galloping back, he stopped and stood with his neck high, watching and waiting for them to get closer. Suzy gazed up at the bright stars above, and her friend Mike’s words popped into her mind: ‘You can do anything you want, Suzy. You and Ripple can reach the stars if you want; you can make dreams come true.’

Suzy smiled, threw the reins on Ripple’s wither, lifted her arms above her head and reached as far as she could towards the sky.

‘This dream is true. Thanks, Mike, for giving me such an awesome horse!’ Then she leant down toward Ripple’s neck. ‘This is horse heaven,’ she whispered.

2

Sam

The girls were up early the next morning as they wanted to catch low tide so they would have plenty of room on the beach to gallop. The sand was so much smoother when it was wet, and it also meant they could keep clear of the deeper sand and driftwood higher up the beach where the horses risked pulling a tendon or tripping.

‘Maybe we should put the saddles on the horses today,’ Suzy said as she walked back into HH to get her tack.

‘Good thinking!’ replied Alexa. ‘It’ll give us a bit more grip, especially as we want to have a blat! Besides, Liquorice can become quite excitable when the heat increases so I need all the grip I can get!

‘Maybe we should get into our clothes too,’ she laughed. ‘Sticky-bum jods, in fact! Anything to help hold me on!’

Ripple was already tied up at the back of the hut, where Suzy had been grooming him. She liked him to be spotless and knew that grooming was good for toning him. She admired her horse when he pricked his ears and looked at her with both eyes while she rustled around sorting out the gear. Mike had told her it was good when a horse ‘gives you both eyes’. She knew Ripple was focused and attentive.

‘What a handsome boy you are,’ she whispered to him quietly. ‘Just the most handsome horse in the world. In fact, I’d go so far as to say you have a distinguished look about you, and you certainly have an intelligent look - you’re a true gentleman. Mike did such a good job of starting you.’

At that her thoughts were suddenly elsewhere, and she wondered how Mike was doing at Marble Arch Ranch. It must be so exciting to work with horses on that level, and to be able to ‘read’ them the way he does . . . one day, she thought . . . then her daydream came to an abrupt end and she was back to reality, beside Ripple who was pulling at her sweatshirt, playing, as if to get her attention. Nearby the other girls were saddling up their horses, and Suzy put Ripple’s saddlecloth on him, pulling it back to flatten the hair underneath. Next she placed her general-purpose saddle on top of the cloth. As she reached under his stomach for the girth Ripple suddenly lurched sideways, alarmed, yet careful to avoid Suzy.

‘What is it, boy? What are you sensing that I can’t?’

Ripple’s ears were pricked in the direction of the bushes behind them. He gave a high-pitched honk and his body turned as far as the rope would allow. His neck went rigid and his body trembled as he snorted again. In an instant Hope and Liquorice had picked up on the warning and were looking in the same direction, heads high, nostrils flared and ears pricked.

‘D’you think it’s one of those wild pigs Dad told us about?’ Lucy asked. ‘He said to keep an eye out for them.’

‘Damned if I know, but something sure is setting them off,’ Alexa replied as she mounted Liquorice. ‘I’ll take Liqui over and see what it is.’

She gave Liquorice a squeeze with her legs and the mare moved in the direction of the rustling bush. Suddenly the horse stopped and refused to take another step, arching her neck and pricking her ears in the direction of the bush. She pranced when Alexa urged her on, and Alexa knew not to pressure her horse too much or she would rear.

Alexa could just make out a shape in the bush, and the sun glinted off what looked like a pair of eyes . . .

‘Get back, it’s a beast!’ she shrieked.

She was just about to