Riding Star by Stacy Gregg Page B

– you can tell!”
    Georgie frowned. “All I’ve got left is three hundred dollars for both horses,” she said to O’Malley. She dug her hands in her coat pocket and showed him the envelope. “Cash money.”
    O’Malley shook his head. “Not enough,” he said flatly.
    â€œWalk away now!” Alice hissed to Georgie.
    â€œWhat?” Georgie was shocked when Alice grabbed her arm and almost dragged her off.
    â€œFine by us!” Alice called back to O’Malley as she stormed off down the corridor with Georgie in tow. “There are other horses, you know!”
    The girls had barely gone halfway down the corridor when O’Malley called them back.
    â€œAll right, all right! You got yourself a deal.” Georgie handed him the money and the girls took a horse each.
    Georgie couldn’t believe what had just happened. She’d never bought a horse before in her life and today she had just bought three!
    â€œI hope this polo thing works out,” she told Alice, “otherwise I’ve just lumbered myself with three washed-up racehorses!”
    â€œYou’re not the only one,” Alice said. “Look!”
    Daisy and Emily were walking towards them, each of them leading two horses.
    â€œWe’ve bought them!” Emily was trembling with excitement.
    Georgie shook her head in disbelief. “I think we’ve all gone mad.”
    It wasn’t until she was loading her three new Thoroughbreds on the truck that it occurred to her: Badminton House now had its own polo team – and it would never have happened if Kennedy Kirkwood had kept her paws off Georgie’s Barbour!

Chapter Eight
    O n the road back to Blainford Georgie and the other girls were full of stories of their wheeling and dealing. It wasn’t until they were unloading the truck that the reality of what they had done finally struck them.
    As Georgie watched Riley leading the Thoroughbreds down the ramp she felt a wave of fear rising up inside her. These weren’t pony-club ponies – they were bona fide racehorses. They stood there twitching and trembling with nerves, their eyes out on stalks as they surveyed their new environment, and all Georgie could think was that this might be the biggest mistake of her life.
    She didn’t know a thing about training Thoroughbreds and transforming them into polo ponies. Daisy and Emily, both with two new horses apiece, didn’t have a clue either! Between them, the girls had seven skinny, young creatures straight off the track, all gangly legs and wild eyes.
    â€œThey don’t look like polo ponies, do they?” Georgie said.
    â€œNo,” Daisy agreed. “They don’t.”
    â€œOK, so they need an extreme makeover,” Alice said, “but that’s why they were so cheap.”
    Georgie wasn’t so convinced. How were they going to train these Thoroughbreds for polo when it was hard enough to handle them on the ground?
    The worst of the bunch by far was Marco. The chestnut gelding had been a nightmare to get on the horse truck in the first place and he came racing down the ramp tense and flighty. Georgie had to grapple with him to hold him still as Emily and Alice took the mares off to the other end of the stable block, and as soon as they were out of sight the gelding started going bonkers. Panicky about being left alone, he began whinnying, his head held high as he danced from side to side. It was almost impossible for Georgie to hold him as he swung his hindquarters about, trotting anxiously on the spot as if he had hot coals beneath his hooves.
    â€œGive him here,” Riley stepped in and took the leadrope out of Georgie’s hands. “He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with bad manners.” He squared up to the gelding and spoke gently but firmly to him, giving a sharp pull on his halter to get his attention. Marco flung a foreleg out, defiantly striking at Riley, but the boy