Riding Star

“Parker.”

“What?”

“Give me the coat.”

Georgie couldn’t believe it. “I’ve taken it off, Conrad, I won’t wear it at school again.”

Conrad shook his head. “Not good enough. I’m confiscating it.”

He stepped forward to take the coat out of Georgie’s hands. For a moment she tightened her grip, but then realised that this was going to end badly for her, no matter what.

Conrad smiled as he snatched it from her and then left her with four spiteful little words. “Parker – you’re on Fatigues.”

Chapter Four (#ulink_1dc3f36a-b2ef-5954-a940-45508c80bd16)

It wasn’t the fact that Conrad Miller had given her Fatigues that upset Georgie. The war between Georgie and Burghley House’s head prefect meant that it was almost a Blainford tradition for Conrad to dish out punishment to her at any opportunity.

What really irked her was the jacket.

“He only confiscated my Barbour so he could give it to Kennedy,” Georgie told Alice. “She’s probably wearing it right now.”

“I always wondered what Kennedy saw in Conrad,” Alice said. “Now I realise she’s in it for the power trip. He has the ability to seize Barbour.”

The two girls were on their way to the stables to saddle up for their afternoon lessons and Georgie had some big news.

“I’ve dropped out of dressage.”

Alice was wide-eyed. “But, Georgie, you’ve only had one lesson!”

Georgie shrugged. “There’s no point in kidding myself. I knew straight away that I didn’t fit in. It was all so uptight. No one seemed to know how to have fun.”

Georgie knew that she needed to find another sport that got her adrenalin surging in the way cross-country did. And when she looked through her list of options, one leapt out at her. She was taking her first Rodeo lesson today.

“Georgie Parker?”

“Yes, Mr Shepard!”

“Call me Shep,” the head of the Western department said affably, pushing back the brim of his ten-gallon hat to reveal a weather-beaten face.

“Georgie, it says here that you’ve transferred out of dressage class?”

“Yes, Mr Shepard,” Georgie said. “Well, kind of. I was only in it for a day. Before that I was in Tara Kelly’s cross-country class.”

“Have you ever done any rodeo riding before?”

“No, sir, I mean Shep,” Georgie corrected herself. “Apart from cattle roping in your Western class in the first term.”

Shep raised a grey bushy eyebrow. “We’ll give you a try in the bronc chute and see how you go,” he said in his languid drawl.

Georgie followed Shep over to the round pen where his first-year Rodeo class were perched on the railings waiting for their teacher. In the bucking chute beside the round pen an unbroken stallion thrashed like a great white shark.

Shep paid no mind to the stallion crashing and banging alongside him as he addressed the class.

“We’ve got a new girl joining us today from dressage.” He drew the last word out as he said it – ‘drey-ssage’.

“This is Georgie Parker.”

Georgie waved to the other riders sitting up on the railings. She recognised a few faces from her other classes. She knew Bunny Redpath and Blair Danner, and the two boys that they always hung out with – Tyler McGuane and Jenner Philips.

“Georgie, why don’t you take the first ride today,” Shep said. “You step on up here next to me on the platform.”

Georgie sidled along the railings to the platform above the bucking chute. From here she could see the black stallion right below her. He quivered with barely suppressed terror as he stood trapped inside the railings of the tiny space. All his instincts were screaming at him to run, to escape. But instead he was forced to stand there, with the surcingle round his belly irritating him, and the girl hovered above him on the platform, making him even more nervous.

“Crouch down low,” Shep told her, “and swing one leg out over to the other side of the chute like you’re doing the splits right over his back.”

Georgie went to do as Shep had told her, and then flinched as the stallion suddenly surged forward and slammed his chest straight against the barriers. Reeling back, the black horse pushed up on his hocks, trying to rear and Georgie felt her stomach lurch in fear as the wranglers on either side of the chute quickly sprang into action and grappled with ropes on either side to keep the stallion’s head down.

“It’s OK,” Shep insisted, “he can’t get loose. You can climb onboard.”

Georgie felt her legs turn to jelly as she did the splits over the chute. She didn’t know who was more terrified – her or the black horse beneath her. She wanted to pull out of this whole thing right now. But all the other riders in the rodeo class were watching her take her turn. There was no way she could back out without looking like a coward.

Still hanging on to the railing with one hand, she slowly lowered herself down into the chute, straddling the horse and gently putting her weight on his back.

As soon as the black horse felt her sitting astride him he surged forward in a wild panic, but there was nowhere for him to go. The chute was still shut tight in front of him.

“Just sit tight,” Hank Shepard reassured Georgie as one of the wranglers took a tight hold of the stallion’s halter. “We’re nearly ready.”

Shep did a last-minute check of the rigging, making sure that Georgie had her hand in the right position with the rope wrapped round and clasped in her palm. “The rope is your safety back-up in case you lose your grip,” Shep explained. “When you get thrown, remember to open your hand. That way you won’t get dragged.”

Georgie didn’t like the way Shep talked about being thrown as if it was something that was certain to happen. She’d spent most of her life until now trying to avoid falling. But falling off seemed to be the whole point of this sport!

“OK.” Shep seemed satisfied. “Remember, hang on with your right hand and keep your left hand up in the air for balance. The chute is gonna open in just a moment and this horse here, he’ll come flyin’ out with his head between his legs ready to throw-in his first buck. Remember to lean back and go with him and you’ll be fine.”

“Ready?” Shep asked.

Georgie gave him a quick nod and suddenly the chute opened. The black horse flung himself forward and gave the most almighty buck that Georgie had ever felt in her entire life. Jacking himself up so that all four legs came off the ground at once, the black horse began to throw one buck after the other.

“Lean back!” Georgie heard Hank Shepard shout out.

She felt the stallion beneath her execute a full body twist in mid-air and the next thing she knew the soil was rushing up to meet her face.

“Stand up!” Hank Shepard was shouting at her. “Get to the rails!”

Realising the danger she was in lying there on the ground, Georgie rolled over to keep out of the way of the stallion’s lethal hooves as he slammed his forelegs down into the dirt right beside her.

She stumbled to her feet, her heart racing as she ran to the side of the arena where she could climb the railing to safety.

Still shaking with the shock of the fall, she looked up at the clock on the wall above the bucking chute. Her heart sank. One point five seconds!