Silverstone: Perfection is Not Enough

Chapter 24

The yard near Tabitha's house is a world away from Sunny Creek Stables. Although not quite matching up to the grandeur of the Silverstone barn, the clean-swept yard, neat rows of large, roomy, air-conditioned stables, lush, rolling green paddocks, and huge indoor school certainly put it up there. 

Even with all the picturesque-ness of it, the atmosphere is warm, with people rushing around everywhere, flashing us smiles. And just as a man leads his gleaming Warmblood across the yard, a little girl gently brushes the thick mane of her little skewbald pony. Clearly, it's not just a posh show stables. 

Tabitha leads us over to a building at the end of the yard, with a low sloping roof and white walls. Inside, large cork boards are stuck to three of the walls, with photos of ponies and people alike, rosettes in every colour possible, certificates and yard certifications. In front of the other wall is a wide desk, neatly arranged with stacks of paperwork, and an open door reveals another room containing lockers, with muddy boots and helmets strewn around the floor. 

"Abbie?" Tabitha calls out, and at that moment, a pretty, bronzed face appears round the locker-room door. 

"Tabbie!" Abbie is a slim, tanned woman, who looks about twenty. Her long ebony hair is done up in a ponytail, and her smart blue jumper is covered in hay. "We missed you! How's the posh school going?"

"It's great," Tabitha grins. "These are my friends, Jess, Bertie and Rose."

"Hi!" Abbie gives us a little wave. "I'm Abbie, I run this place."

"It's really pretty here," Bertie comments, examining a certificate on the wall. 

"Thanks," Abbie grins. "So, I take it you want the usual, Tabbie? The useless old thing?"

"My horse happens to be very capable, and he's only seven, thank you very much," Tabitha rolls her eyes. "Do you think we could loan three others for the week, for these weirdos?" She waves a hand in our direction. 

"Why, thank you," Rose smirks. 

"Sure, do you want to pick?" Abbie directs her question at us. 

Three eager grins tell her all she needs to know. 

•  •  •

"So, do you always keep Sam down at the yard?" Bertie asks. 

Tabitha shrugs. "Whenever I'm not here, he has to, because as much as I love my dad, I can't say much about his equine knowledge."

I raise my voice. "Okay, does anybody else have any more mysterious horses I don't know about? Cause this is getting ridiculous."

Tabitha smiles sheepishly from the back of her grey gelding, Sam, who has the fine bones and long legs of a horse from Arabian descent, but the stockiness of an English-bred. "Nope. Just the two. I think I'll bring Leona home for the summer, but there wasn't any point just for the two weeks."

Rose yawns and stretches her arms down around the neck of the little strawberry roan mare, Loula, that she picked out. Although the little pony was the smallest of the four, she'd almost ran away without Rose when they cantered. Bertie nicknamed her 'the tank'. 

"It's so pretty here," Rose looks around at the surrounding countryside, and I have to admit, it's breathtaking. We're hacking back to Tabitha's, to put the loaned horses away in her stable block, and it's currently sunset. After the long schooling session we did, and some stable chores, the time's flown by. 

"Yeah," Bertie murmurs, taking her feet out of her stirrups and relaxing, letting her reins lengthen through her fingers. The horse she picked out, Adele, is a chestnut thoroughbred, and is so chilled-out that if Bertie stood on her back and started dancing the can-can, I doubt she'd flicker an eyelid. "Where I live, we're in the valley, so all I see is hill."