Soul Music - Air Stand

There was a pattering across the cobbles and Susan swung herself up and on to the horse's back. She looked down at the astonished girls, and then at the paddock beyond the stables.

There were a few jumps there, just poles balanced on barrels. Without her moving a muscle, the horse turned and trotted into the paddock and turned towards the highest jump. There was a sensation of bunched energy, a moment of acceleration, and the jump passed underneath . . .

Binky turned and halted, prancing from one hoof to the other. The girls were watching. All four of them had an expression of total amazement.

'Should it do that?' said jade.

'What's the matter?' said Susan. 'Have none of you seen a horse jump before?'

'Yes. The interesting point is . . .' Gloria began, in that slow, deliberate tone of voice people use when they don't want the universe to shatter, '. . . is that, usually; they come down again.'

Susan looked. The horse was standing on the air. What sort of command was necessary to make a horse resume contact with the ground? It was an instruction that the equestrian sorority had not hitherto required.

As if understanding her thoughts, the horse trotted forward and down. For a moment the hoofs dipped below the field, as if the surface were no more substantial than mist. Then Binky appeared to determine where the ground level should be, and decided to stand on it.

***

Soul Music - p38-39