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and counted the canter strides in her head, one, two…three!
    They were right in front of the fence when Issie tapped the mare with her heels and Tokyo took off into the air, picking her front feet up and beginning her arc over the jump. If Penny and Verity hadn’t lifted the rail, Tokyo would have cleared the fence easily. Instead, Issie felt the jolt, as the mare’s legs struck the timber.
    Tokyo hadn’t been expecting to hit the rail and the shock made her spook and lurch forward when shelanded on the other side of the jump. Issie tried to stay with her, but she got left behind as Tokyo charged ahead, and she had to fight to get her seat back. Issie had lost her grip on the reins and by the time she had regained control and pulled the big bay up, they were both rattled and tense.
    Ginty, however, didn’t seem to notice. “Take her through again,” she said. “Let’s see if she picks her feet up more this time.”
    As Issie rode a circle around the jump and gathered Tokyo up to take the fence again, she felt a tight knot of nerves in her tummy. It was a horrible feeling to take your horse towards a fence when you knew the poor thing was going to get whacked in the legs for its trouble!
    As they took off Issie found herself almost trying to lift Tokyo over the fence, willing the mare to lift her legs high enough to avoid the blow. But it was no good. Penny and Verity lifted the pole even higher this time and Tokyo’s legs smacked hard once more against the raised rail.
    “Take her around again!” Ginty called out. “And use the whip this time.”
    Use the whip.
Issie felt herself tense up even more asGinty said this. She never used a whip on any of her horses, and she didn’t care what Ginty said, she wasn’t going to start now. Tokyo wasn’t doing anything wrong — she didn’t deserve to be hit by a whip as well as the rail! Besides, mares were prone to losing their cool and panicking if they felt confused and Issie could tell that Tokyo was definitely getting anxious as she rode the horse in to the fence once more. Surely the whip would only make it worse?
    Coming into the jump this time Tokyo hesitated, and Issie had to put her legs on more strongly to keep her going forward.
    “Use your whip! Use your whip!” Ginty ordered loudly. The shouts made Issie panic that Tokyo was going to refuse. She felt compelled to do as the trainer demanded and so, ignoring her own instincts she raised the riding crop and gave Tokyo a thwack. The bay mare surged forward with fright as the blow struck, putting in a short stride before leaping like a startled fawn. It was an ungainly and ugly jump, but she went high in the air, clearing the fence with a huge bound. This time, there was no sound. Tokyo had cleared the raised rail with almost half a metre to spare.
    “There!” Ginty said brightly. “You see? It didn’t take long for her to learn the lesson, did it?”
    Issie knew the jump hadn’t been stylish or pleasant, and she felt awful about using the whip. But she had to admit that Ginty had got the result she was after. Tokyo had put extra air between herself and the rail. After that, the girls spent the next half hour schooling the horses over the jumps, and if Tokyo ever looked like she was dropping her hind legs, Verity and Penny would rap her again. By the end of the session the mare was leaping like a gazelle, always clearing the jump with at least twenty centimetres to spare.
    “Make sure you ice Tokyo’s legs when you put her back in her loose box,” Ginty told Issie as she left the arena. “Verity will show you how to use the iceboots.”
    The iceboots were made out of wetsuit fabric, with pockets fitted to the inside for the ice cubes. Verity showed Issie how to fill them with ice from the freezer, making sure to spread the ice evenly all the way down the boot before she wrapped the first one around Tokyo’s left front leg and Velcroed it firmly on.
    “What do they need these for?” Issie