Today’s teaser looks at the fifth book in my Middle Grade series, Free Rein. Enjoy A Dollar Goes a Long Way! You can read the Kindle or paperback versions of this book and it is free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

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Before lunch the three again followed Jan’s instruction to wash over the little mare. They were to take turns in pairs; Jan pointed out that she didn’t want all three girls in her wash bay with a pony.

“It’s just too many bodies, not necessary and I feel, unsafe,” she’d told them.

When Geordie had asked how it was unsafe, Jan pointed out that one person needed to hold the horse and it was better if that one person was on the same side as the person doing the washing. If two people were washing, they were often tempted to be on opposite sides of the horse and the handler couldn’t be on both sides at once.

“If any horse you’re handling gets scared of something, it’ll try to move away. If there are people on either side of the horse, it cannot safely move away from whatever is bothering it and move away from you. You may find that one of you gets squashed! That’s why I want Hannah to hold and Jacqui to wash.”

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Jacqui said uncertainly, holding the hose that Jan had given her.

“That’s ok Jacqui. Let’s start with turning the hose on so that there’s a good flow of water, but not so that it’s really strong and splashing everywhere. Start by watering at the base of Dollar’s front left foot and work your way up her leg until you reach her shoulder. Then you can wet her back and belly and then work towards her hind leg. We’ll do one side at a time. ”

Jan pointed out that they wanted Dollar wet all over before they were going to use any shampoo. She also told the girls that with Hannah controlling the head of the mare; it was Hannah’s job to move Dollar’s head towards herself and Jacqui if the mare tried to kick out with her hind legs, push her hind end toward Jacqui or got nervous.

“If you two can stay on the same side and have her head near to you, that’s the safest way to get the job done.”

Once Jacqui had managed to thoroughly cover the mare with water on her near side, Jan suggested Jacqui hold the mare and Geordie use the hose to wet the mare’s right hand side.

Once this was achieved, the girls again switched positions with Geordie holding Dollar and Hannah getting the job of using a bucket of shampooed water and a sponge to go over Dollar’s body, mane and tail.

The mare’s white socks and flaxen mane and tail were given a really good scrub with the sponge, making sure that shampoo got worked in thoroughly. Jacqui was amazed to find that as they rinsed off the shampoo, that the white socks that had previously had green and brown stains were now a really bright white.

“She looks great!” Geordie enthused, earning a smile from Jan.

“She does indeed. You three have done a wonderful job. Now we need to work some conditioner through her hair and tail and then give that a rinse off.”

Again under Jan’s direction, the girls worked in alternating pairs to get the job done. Jacqui was pleased to find that she was familiar with a sweat scraper and how to use it to remove any excess water from Dollar’s coat. Although she’d never washed a horse before, she had seen Bob hose over and scrape off his mare Venetian at Genesis. It was nice to actually do something that she’d seen someone else do before.

Once a light cotton rug had been placed on Dollar to keep her clean and dry, Hannah placed her in one of Jan’s smaller yards, taking off the head collar before closing the gate securely after her. The three girls then followed the older woman inside for some well earned food.

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If you know of someone who may enjoy this novel, I encourage you to share this post with them And if you fancy securing yourself a copy, you can head along to Amazon for a Kindle or paperback version. It’s also free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

Today’s teaser looks at the third book in my Middle Grade series, Free Rein. Enjoy Free Reign! You can read the Kindle or paperback versions of this book and it is free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

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“Last one to the end of the paddock has to untack for all of us!” Geordie Smith called out suddenly, pushing her chestnut mare Rose into a gallop.

Caught unawares, Hannah Johnston and Jacqui King quickly raced after their close friend.

Although Geordie had a head start, Hannah’s taller gelding Jasper took longer strides and managed to just overtake the mare by the end of the paddock. Jacqui’s smaller bay pony put in a gallant effort but wasn’t able to catch up to the two in front of him.

The three girls laughed as they reached the end, a little breathless.

“That was great!” Geordie gushed out.

Jacqui nodded.

“You totally cheated though,” Hannah informed her red headed friend.

Geordie looked at her in surprise.

“How?”

“By not giving us any warning!”

“Of course I did. I told you the last one would have to untack all of our horses, how is that not warning you?”

Hannah frowned whilst Jacqui laughed.

“I guess we did follow after she said that… so maybe we can’t say that Geordie cheated, Hannah.”

Geordie grinned in triumph.

“There! If Jacqui says I didn’t cheat then I didn’t.”

“It’s a matter of opinion,” Hannah huffed, nudging Jasper into a walk back towards the tie up area on the property.

“Well in my opinion,” Geordie quoted her friend with a fiery attitude, “your attitude stinks! You won, isn’t that a good thing?”

Hannah nodded her head with a smile.

“That’s true,” she stated, a little smugly.

Jacqui shook her head and smiled. Her two closest friends were so competitive at times! She patted Matty’s neck, thankful that the little pony hadn’t resisted a gallop across the freeway paddock.

It was April school holidays and the three girls had been riding nearly every day of the week.

Jacqui’s mother Kate – who ran the agistment property – had insisted that the girls give their ponies a day off once or twice a week. They had reluctantly agreed to this, perhaps only because they were suitably distracted on Sundays with Geordie and Jacqui being at Church and on Wednesdays because it was a designated study day.

All three girls were in their final year of primary school and found they had been given a lot of homework to do over the first term holidays. The year prior they had set aside an afternoon a week for Jacqui to help Geordie keep on top of her schoolwork. It had been the only way for Geordie to secure a pony of her own.

Since then the girls had decided it was better to keep this tradition going, just in case Geordie’s grades slipped and her parents took Rose away from her. Geordie hadn’t seen the need to continue to put in so much time with her schoolwork after her parents had agreed to get her a pony, but Jacqui’s suggestion that a drop in school work may mean her pony got taken away had been incentive enough to continue the tradition of getting her school work done halfway through the week.

Geordie and Hannah had been bought their ponies at the start of the year. When Jacqui had travelled with them to Hannah’s Aunt Jan who bred and trained ponies, she’d fallen in love with a little bay gelding called Matty. As soon as Jacqui had a growth spurt, she would be too tall to ride Matty, so her parents had organised to lease him, knowing they could return him to Jan once Jacqui grew taller.

For now the young blonde was so excited at the idea of having a pony of her own to love. What made it even better was that her two best friends were able to keep their ponies at her parent’s place.

Kate King had offered the girls a chance to keep their horses at the property Genesis for free, as long as they helped out around the property for a number of hours each week. It meant that all three took great pride in their horses and where they kept them – it had worked out well.

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If you know of someone who may enjoy this novel, I encourage you to share this post with them And if you fancy securing yourself a copy, you can head along to Amazon for a Kindle or paperback version. It’s also free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

Today’s teaser looks at the first book in my Middle Grade series, Free Rein. Enjoy New Beginnings! You can read the Kindle or paperback versions of this book and it is free to read on Kindle Unlimited.

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Jacqui hurriedly finished her breakfast, keen to see all of the property that morning. It was half past eight already and her mother had told her that rain was forecast for the afternoon – she needed to get moving!

Pulling on a jacket and a pair of gumboots she stepped off the front porch, running to the back of the house. Here were the two paddocks she’d looked out at through her bedroom window. She unlocked the large gate into the first paddock, being sure to lock it after her in spite of there being no horses on the property.

Jacqui dodged puddles as she walked the perimeter of the paddock, looking at the fences. She patted the pen and paper in her jacket pocket, making sure that they were where she’d put them. The fencing looked old but ok to her, but she wasn’t sure what horse fencing should look like. She made a note to ask her mother if she knew.

Jacqui made it to the end of the first paddock and decided to go through the gate into the second. She wanted to turn right and continue around the perimeter of this first paddock she’d entered, but to the left of the next paddock in front of her it looked like there was an arena of sorts and a few figures riding horses.

Curious, she climbed over a small hill that was made up of a large concrete pipe covered over with soil. Water trickled through the pipe and into a large ditch that lined the paddock fence. Jacqui made a note on her piece of paper to tell her mum about it later.

She left the gate open to this second paddock, wanting to get closer to the arena quickly. She grinned as she watched three people riding their horses around an arena at the trot, being instructed by another figure standing in the middle of them.

A horse riding school? We live next to a horse riding school!

Jacqui ran closer, standing at the fence line to watch the three moving across the middle of the arena and then changing direction.

“Don’t forget to change your diagonal as you change direction!” their instructor called out, correcting one rider.

Jacqui looked at the three horses, two brown in colour and one a reddish colour. This she knew to be chestnut because of her mother’s gift of a horse book a year ago. The horses looked so lovely to Jacqui that she lost track of time watching them. She sighed when the lesson seemed to come to an end, the instructor letting the group of three out of the arena where they disappeared from view.

Jacqui watched for awhile longer but it seemed that no one else was coming to ride in the arena for her to watch. Shrugging her shoulders she continued on down the fence line, knowing that this paddock was the end of their property in one direction.

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If you know of someone who may enjoy this novel, I encourage you to share this post with them And if you fancy securing yourself a copy, you can head along to Amazon for a Kindle or paperback version. It’s also free to read on Kindle Unlimited.