Daisy and Dancer by Kelly McKain Page A

But we couldn’t go round squealing and jumping up and down or anything, because Lydia was leading them out on to the yard and that would have spooked them.
    This is who we got. I’ve made it into a puzzle for fun!

    Sally said Dancer is only here for this week, because she’s looking after her for a friend’s daughter while they’ve gone on holiday, so I’m extra-lucky to get her. She’s so elegant and graceful (completely the opposite of me!) and she’s really sweet too. When I took the reins from Lydia I gave her a big pat and she nuzzled into me straight away.
    Here’s my pony profile of her:

    Name: Dancer
    Height: 13.2hh
    Age: 5
    Breed: Maybe some New Forest pony in her, Lydia thinks!
    Colour: Lovely bright palomino – I can’t wait to groom her gorgeous mane!
    Markings: Cute stripe down her nose
    Fave foods: Yummy lush summer grass from the field
    Personality: Elegant and graceful, and really friendly!
    Everyone else loved their ponies too. In fact, there was so much cuddling and fussing and patting going on, Sally had to remind us a few times to mount up so we could get on with the assessment lesson!
    We all rode into the manège, and Sally got us warmed up with loads of turns, circles and changes of pace. I’m a bit higher from the ground on Dancer than Bailey, the cobby pony I usually ride at my stables. And Dancer’s slimmer as well, so it took me a while to get used to her and feel like I wasn’t going to slide off! She’s quite quick off the leg too – you only need to squeeze her into the next pace, rather than kicking on like I usually have to. I found that out the hard way when I asked for trot a bit firmly and she went skittering across the manège – I nearly did fall off then! Sally noticed but she told me not to worry, because the assessment lesson is meant for us to get used to our ponies.

    I already felt extra-nervous riding in front of a new instructor and new girls, as well as on a new pony, so it was good to know she wasn’t expecting to see anything amazing straight away!
    Saying that, Isabel and Rosie looked really elegant and effortless on their ponies from the moment they got on. They both have really good seats and seem to change pace and direction without even doing anything. I can’t believe they’ve only been riding for six months – I would never have guessed if they hadn’t told me. I’ve been riding twice as long and I don’t look like that!

    It was really exciting when we all got to have a canter to the back of the ride. Dancer did a big plunge into it and I nearly came off again, but I grabbed the pommel and managed to steady myself and we made it round.She was so graceful when she got going. Pity I was bobbling around on top, trying to get my balance – oh well!
    Oh, hang on, Sasha and Libby are showing everyone this cool routine they performed in their dance school show. Isabel and Rosie want us all to go and join in with it. I’m AWFUL at dancing so I’m kind of pretending I’m too busy concentrating on writing in here to notice, but – EEK! – they’re making me! Gotta go!

Monday still - in bed after lights out

    Me, Isabel and Rosie are in the same group – hooray! We’ve just been messing around in our room after our showers and they’ve been trying to teach me how to do a cartwheel. (I can sort of do one, but I can’t get my legs to stay straight up in the air.) Theirs look brilliant because they go to gymnastics every week. That also explains why they’re such good riders after only 6 months and why they were so quick at picking up Sasha and Libby’s dance routine, when I couldn’t get it at all. Honestly, my feet were going everywhere (not that I minded ’cos it was still loads of fun anyway!).

    Before our lesson, we had a talk about tack and tacking up from Lydia, and then wepractised on our own ponies in the barn. Millie tacked up Magic in about one minute, and then went round and helped everyone else – she’s probably done it about