Victory and the All-Stars Academy. Stacy Gregg

Floyd up and sat, watching in astonishment, as Dee Dee rode Victory in a serpentine down the arena in the most beautiful collected trot Issie had ever seen. Then she turned Victory down the centre line and pushed him into a perfect extended trot, finishing off with a leg yield across the arena.

      It was unbelievable! Clumsy, ditzy, goofball Dee Dee, who didn’t even seem to be able to pick up nail polish or pack a bag without causing total chaos, was a total genius when she was on a horse!

      Issie watched as once more Dee Dee guided Victory expertly between two other horses and riders, cantering him easily around the arena. Dee Dee’s timing, her sense of cadence, was exquisite. As she steered Victory, her hands remained perfectly still and steady on the reins, her legs tapping along lightly in perfect rhythm with the horse’s stride. Her face showed how totally focused she was as she worked her horse with the deceptive ease of a true professional rider. Issie was stunned. How could anyone be so useless on the ground and so brilliant in the saddle?

      “Hey!” A shout brought her back to reality. It was Tara Kelly. “Come on, Isadora,” she snapped. “Are you daydreaming or are you riding? You’ve only got fifteen minutes and then you’re swapping horses. I suggest you get Floyd moving!”

      Moving? That was the problem! It was hard to stop Floyd. His paces were so huge and free that at times he could be terrifying to ride, and at best he felt like he was a little bit out of control. He was strong too. He pulled so hard on the reins as Issie took him through the trotting poles, she felt her arms were being wrenched from their sockets and she had to use all her strength to keep him in check.

      “Give him his head and go with him, Isadora,” Tara called out to her. “You’re being left behind over the jumps.”

      Issie wanted to explain that she wasn’t being left behind. Floyd was rushing his jumps and she had no choice but to hold him back. But she didn’t get an opportunity to explain to Tara, or even the chance to try the cavaletti again.

      “Twenty minutes is up. Can you all change horses, please?” Avery called out to the riders.

      And suddenly it was like a frantic game of musical chairs. Only instead of chairs, everyone was trying to get themselves up on to the horse they wanted, before the music stopped! The girls were all in huddles, trying to negotiate their swaps so that they would end up with their preferred horse.

      But where was Dee Dee? Issie wanted desperately to swap Floyd for Victory. Typical, Issie thought. I’ve spent all this time avoiding her and now that I actually want to find her…

      By the time she spotted Dee Dee way over on the other side of the arena, Issie was too late. Dee Dee had already dismounted and was swapping the brown gelding for Morgan’s dapple-grey. Before Issie could do anything about it, Morgan had mounted Victory and was finding a space in the arena to begin working in her second horse.

      “Is there a problem, Isadora?” Issie turned to see Tara Kelly eyeing her up suspiciously.

      “I was going to swap with Dee Dee,” said Issie feebly. “But she’s already swapped with Morgan.”

      “Trade horses with Stella then,” Tara instructed briskly. “You can try Woody.”

      Stella didn’t want to swap either. “The Woodsman here is a dream horse to ride,” she enthused. “Honestly, I’d keep riding him all day if I could. He’s such a honeybunch, aren’t you, Woody?”

      When Issie got on Woody, however, she didn’t think he was sweet at all. The little dun was just like Issie’s last horse, Fortune, used to be. The piebald plodder had been part pony and part slug when Issie first got him and Woody seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Issie tried to be subtle with her aids, but in the end it took a big kick in the ribs before Issie could even get Woody to trot. His canter was even worse and when she rode him at the cavaletti, Woody was so slow he didn’t so much jump as slither over them.

      The twenty-minute trial seemed to Issie as if it lasted forever. She had to work really hard to make Woody perform and at times she felt like she was flapping about and getting nowhere. And whenever Issie messed up, Tara always happened to be looking her way. At one point Tara caught her putting in a particularly abysmal performance over the cavaletti and Issie could have sworn she saw the instructor shaking her head in disbelief!

      By the time Avery called out to the riders to swap again, Issie’s legs had turned to jelly from trying to make Woody move forward. This was the third swap and her last chance to try out Victory. She could see Morgan not far away, and trotted straight up to her the moment that Avery made the announcement.

      Morgan didn’t look thrilled to have Woody as her third horse, but she made the swap. Issie was up on Victory’s back before Morgan could change her mind.

      “Wait!” It wasn’t Morgan stopping her. It was Tara Kelly.

      “I watched you on Woody just now,” Tara said. “Was there a problem?”

      “He’s too slow,” Issie mumbled.

      Tara nodded. “I see. And the problem with Floyd was?”

      Issie felt embarrassed. “Well, he was too fast.”

      “Who are you?” Tara said wryly. “Goldilocks or something? The first one’s too fast, the second one’s too slow. Well, let’s hope the third one is just right!”

      “I didn’t mean it like that…” Issie protested. But Tara wasn’t listening.

      “A horse is a horse, Isadora. You should be able to ride anything I put you on. Any of these horses here today should be good enough for you. If a horse is too fast, it’s up to you to use your seat to slow down. If the horse is too slow then you push on with your legs and get it moving.”

      Tara lowered her voice as she spoke, so that only Issie could hear her. “You have a good instinct, an eye for horses. Victory is the best horse here. You and I both know that. I can spend some time with you over the next twenty minutes and help you to work him in, but it’s up to you to really focus your energy. When I watch you right now, I’m seeing what I call a fifty per cent effort. I think you’re holding back. I expect my riders to give one hundred and ten per cent! Do you understand me?”

      “I think so,” mumbled Issie.

      “Do you understand me?” Tara snapped.

      “Yes, Tara!” Issie said.

      “Good.” Tara seemed satisfied. “Come on. This is your chance to show me that you deserve this horse—so let’s go!”