Today’s teaser looks at the second book in my Middle Grade series, Free Rein. Enjoy In Pursuit of a Horse! 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 grinned as she trotted along on the little grey pony Prince that Jan had helped to saddle up for her that morning. She was riding in a smaller paddock with Geordie and Hannah also trotting on their ponies. Jan stood in the middle, watching the three.

“Now I know that I said the main points to focus on whilst here are safety and fun, but that doesn’t mean that we should stop learning. In fact, learning is fun, especially when it’s about horses! So girls, do you each know about trotting diagonals?” she questioned, gaining a nod from the three.

Jacqui suddenly thought that she was glad Kara had taught her what they were and explained why it was important to rise to the pattern of a particular foreleg.

“Great! Now I want you to all look down at the outside front leg of your horse. Are you moving in time with it?”

Jacqui realised she wasn’t and so sat two beats of the trot before she started rising again. This changed her diagonal so that she was rising and falling with the outside leg.

“Good job, Jacqui! Now all three of you are on the correct diagonal.”

Jan encouraged the three girls to change direction and their trotting diagonal, one at a time. She reminded them about the importance of riding at a safe distance from each other, pointing out that Geordie and Hannah’s two ponies sometimes didn’t get along.

Geordie and Hannah wanted to jump, expressing this to Jan. With a smile she told them that there would be plenty of time for that in a few days. She wanted them to get to know her ponies first – and for the ponies to get to know the girls! Jacqui liked this idea. She’d done a tiny bit of jumping on Banjo with Kara, but the idea of jumping on a horse she’d only ridden once seemed a bit scary to her.

The girls rode for an hour before cooling out their ponies and wiping them over with a damp sponge. Jan pointed out that now that they’d tended to their ponies, they’d better refresh themselves!

The three were thankful for the fruit and cool drinks that Jan offered them.

“So what are we doing next?” Geordie asked curiously, munching on a piece of watermelon.

Jan grinned.

“How many riding ponies do I have?” she asked a question of her own.

“Umm… six,” Geordie replied uncertainly.

“And how many did you three ride this morning?”

“Three!” Hannah responded.

“So how many still need to be worked today?” Jan asked, earning exclamations of surprise.

“We get to ride a second horse? We’re riding twice today?” Jacqui asked.

Jan laughed.

“Of course! As much as you three might be having fun, I’m happy to put you to work and my ponies need to be worked regularly! Before it gets too hot, you might as well each try out another horse! Tomorrow you can each ride once, which will give three of them a rest, and then we’ll reverse that the following day. How does that sound?”

The three thought it sounded wonderful. Refreshed from their break, they took the head collars and leads offered to them and followed Jan back to the paddock to catch their next mounts.

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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.

This week’s Teaser Tuesday has a look at the fourth book in the middle grade Free Rein series, Learning to Fall. Enjoy!

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Hannah entered the classroom and sat down opposite Jacqui with a large grin.

“Guess what?” she asked excitedly.

“Is this about another party?” Jacqui asked, unsure.

“No! It’s about horses,” Hannah replied, waving impatiently to Geordie as she dawdled into the room.

Geordie continued slowly, taking her time to put her bag away and get to the table. Hannah frowned at her.

“You did that on purpose!” she accused her friend.

“Did what?” Geordie asked innocently, holding back an amused smile.

Jacqui wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to tell Geordie to be quiet. She wanted to hear Hannah’s news!

“So what’s your news?” she asked Hannah curiously, hoping her friend would share, now that Geordie was seated at their table.

“My Aunt Jan rang last night and asked when we’re next coming to visit her. Apparently she’s gotten a new pony, and she wants her three helpers to come and exercise her ponies over a weekend so that they all get worked. She said the spring grass has given them lots of energy and they need to be ridden instead of her giving them exercise by lunging them.”

“Can we visit her anytime soon?” Jacqui asked, surprised and pleased.

“Can I take Rose?” Geordie asked, talking about her mare.

“Yes and no,” Hannah responded to her friends questions, “she asked if we could come for a weekend very soon. I already asked Jan if we could bring our ponies and she said that wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Why not?” Geordie asked, surprised.

“Don’t you remember we talked about that last time we were there? Jan doesn’t have a lot of room for extra ponies, plus because they’ve been on a different property, she’d have to keep them separate from her ponies.”

“Just in case one of hers was sick and passed it onto Rose or Jasper,” Jacqui finished for Hannah, remembering the talk with Jan when they’d first visited.

Geordie sighed.

“Oh yeah, I remember now. I’m not sure I want to go if I can’t take Rose.”

Jacqui suddenly felt disappointed. If Geordie didn’t want to go, maybe Hannah wouldn’t either… and she couldn’t possibly go by herself.

“If it’s just for a weekend, you could spend time with Rose during the week and as soon as we get back, Geordie,” Jacqui suggested, keen to go.

“Yeah, Jasper could do with a weekend off, I think! I’d love to ride some of Jan’s ponies again and see the new one she’s recently gotten,” Hannah said, causing Jacqui to smile in relief.

“Please, Geordie? I’d love to go back to Jan’s. We had so much fun last time.”

Geordie sighed.

“I don’t know… I’ll think about it.”

Jacqui prayed her friend would do so, and change her mind about not wanting to go. She struggled to focus when the teacher had called the roll and started the day’s lesson. It suddenly seemed so important that the three girls went along to Jan’s for a weekend!

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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.