sogood at running and swimming, he was still worried about his riding. We're all better at some things than others,' Nutty said to him. In fact, she thought that she was probably the worst of all of them at most things. True, she was good at riding, but that was only a quarter of the competition. The competition would be at Swallow Hall, house with its own lake and swimming pool. First there was the shooting, then the four-minute swim,the two-mile run, and the riding. In each part, only the best three scores in the team were counted. But Nutty suddenly realized that they had never tried all four parts ofthe competition on the same day, They continued to work hard, and in the summer Bean found some farms where they could try some real cross- country riding. Hoomey's horse Bones loved it. He seemed to remember his pastasa racehorse, and went over the jumps like an express train, nearly frightening Hoomey to death "You were wonderful, Hoomey," the others told him afterwards. Hoomey's face went bright red, and he forgot that he was afraid. Poor Jazz had problems. When Spot came to a jump, he stopped but Jazz went on, over his head. Then Nutty remembered something. Spot was in a circus. Perhaps he'll do it to music. So they brought some musicand played it, and Spot stood up on his back legs and Jazz fell off again! But, in the end, Spot jumped better to music.
Nails had no problems with Firelight. She did anything that he wanted, and when he was in the factory with her on a warm summer evening, he was really happy. He liked being with her and he was now a much nicer person. But he could not understand why he felt this way about an animal Firelight usually lay down and slept next to Nails, but one night she did not do this. Instead, she moved around her box all the time. Nails began to think that she was ill. He was very worried and thought of going to ask Nutty what to do about it, but then Firelight grew quieter and Nails cell aslecp He woke suddenly. Something was wrong. Firelight was ill again. "Oh, please don't die!' he cried silently. Then, suddenly Nails understood what was happening. Firelight was having a baby! When Nails saw the foal's little face appear, he laughed and cried at the same time. "You lovely baby!' he said softly. This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him. He had to go and tell Nutty Nutty's father was a little surprised to see Nails standing outside his door with a great big smile on his fac at a quarter to five in the morning! A sleepy Nutty appeared and Nail told her his wonderful news. To his surprise, Nutty was not as happy about the foal as he was. She knew that Nailscould not de Firelight in the competition now. And when Nails learnt that Firelight and her foal would have to leave the factory hecause they needed grass, he too was unhappy. Then Uncle Bean remembered that he had