Here’s an excerpt from the fifth book in the Free Rein series, A Dollar Goes a Long Way.

Sunday morning the King family headed off to church. As had become routine, Geordie joined them. Jacqui happily headed out to kids church with her redheaded friend, thinking once again how nice it would be if Hannah were with them.
Hannah didn’t think much of God, church or the bible. It seemed to make her uncomfortable anytime Jacqui would talk about it, so she’d learnt to not bring such things up in front of her other friend. Jacqui wondered if that meant Hannah would never learn about God.
This week they were looking at having the strength to do something, in spite of being scared. Jacqui was surprised to find that this was what courage was all about.
As their teacher talked about being obedient to God even though you’re scared, Jacqui realised she had recently had such a conversation with her mother. Jacqui’s pony Jaq had been getting difficult to handle and Jacqui had fallen off him a couple of times.
She was scared of falling again, and had decided it may be easier to not ride him at all. Kate had encouraged Jacqui to get back on her pony in spite of being scared of falling.
Under Kate’s instruction, Jacqui had been able to correct Jaq as he got pushy and disobedient. This had helped her confidence to grow a little. That afternoon Kate had had a fall off her horse Captain, and broken her arm.
Jacqui had been surprised to find that her mother would be getting back on a horse as soon as her arm was better and the doctors said it was ok. Kate didn’t seem scared by the idea at all.
Jacqui had come to learn that falls would happen every now and again, but if she learnt from them it would make her a better rider. She just needed to learn to protect her body in the event of a fall, and to correct her pony if his behaviour caused the fall.
Their teacher at church was talking about the many things that King David did in his life while being afraid. David was described in the bible as a man after God’s heart. Above all else, he cared what God thought of him and sought to do what his Saviour would want.
“It is understandable that we feel pressure from people at home, school or elsewhere, but we need to recognise that God is the main One whose opinion we should care about. Sometimes we may be scared to do something that we know is right. Or maybe we are being stubborn and we just don’t want to. It’s important to consider what the right thing to do is, and do it in spite of being afraid.”
A young girl put her hand up in the class. Brian nodded at her.
“Do you have a question, Sarah?”
“If we do something even though we’re afraid, because we know it’s good for us, does that mean we won’t get hurt?”
“Now that’s a tough question! We have to trust that God will look after us, but we also have to know that things can go wrong.
“Let me give you an example: if I was nervous about crossing a really busy road and I decided to cross it anyway, because I needed to get to the other side, that doesn’t mean I can’t get hurt. In fact, if I don’t watch the cars and wait until a safe time to cross, I can hardly expect that God will make it work out fine for me just because I want Him to!
“We need to be careful about how we do things, but we also need to trust God that He knows what’s best for us. If we do something because we know it’s the right thing to do, like apologise to a friend for a disagreement that you had, then at least we can be comfortable in knowing that we’ve done what God would expect of us. It doesn’t mean that the friend we apologise to will accept our apology, unfortunately! That is up to them.”
Jacqui thought about this. She realised that she was trying hard to respect Hannah’s discomfort about anything relating to God and felt this was the right thing to do. It didn’t mean that Hannah would recognise Jacqui’s attempt to be sensitive to her feelings and say thank you, or even decide that she wanted to know about God. That was tricky!
The young blonde decided she would make an effort to pray about her friend. It was lovely that Geordie was so receptive to the idea of church, but it would be nicer still if all three of them could go together.

Like what you’ve read? You can purchase A Dollar Goes a Long Way on Kindle or the paperback at Lulu.

Here’s an excerpt from the fourth book in the Free Rein series, Learning to Fall.

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 friend’s 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!

Like what you’ve read? You can purchase Learning to Fall on Kindle or the paperback over at Lulu.

Here’s an excerpt from the third book in the Free Rein series, Free Reign.

“Hey, who are they?” Geordie asked of her two friends, looking toward the Genesis driveway.
“Who?” Jacqui asked, glancing up to where Geordie was pointing.
The young blonde frowned, not thinking they were expecting any more agistees. At least, her mother hadn’t said so. She shrugged helplessly at Geordie.
“I’m not sure. It’s great if we’ve got more people to agist their horses here… but it’d be better if they weren’t turning up just before our riding club starts!” she replied, causing Geordie to nod her head in agreement.
“Maybe that’s the point,” Hannah responded with a smile, causing both of her friends to frown.
“What’s the point?” Geordie asked, returning to brushing down Rose.
“Maybe they’re turning up for the riding club.”
“Can they do that?” Jacqui asked, causing Hannah to laugh.
“I think you’d know that answer better than me – it is your parents’ property!” she replied.
Jacqui continued to brush Matty but kept an eye on the cars that made their way into the arena paddock and then continued toward them at a slow pace. She was surprised to find that there were two vehicles, each pulling a float. Trotting bareback behind them was Alice on Sox.
“Hey, here comes Alice!” Jacqui said with a smile, starting to put the saddle on Matty.
Alice had said that her younger sister wasn’t yet up to the riding club but that she’d love to check it out. Apparently she attended a local Pony Club one Sunday a month, but was happy to try out one that ran on a Saturday. She’d suggested to Jacqui that maybe she could do both!
Kate came over to see how the girls were going with getting ready. Before they rode in their lesson with Kara, they needed to have Kate check that their saddles and bridles were on correctly.
“Mum, do we have new agistees?” Jacqui asked, doing up the throatlatch strap on Matty’s bridle.
“Unfortunately not honey. Alice spoke with me about attending the riding club and mentioned she had a couple of girlfriends from her Pony Club that would also be interested. She asked if it’d be ok if they came along to check things out. I spoke with both of the girls last night about their horse riding and their horses’ health and decided it would be ok if they came and joined us today. Kara seemed happy to have a few more people to instruct as it seems they ride at a similar level to Alice.”
“Oh!” Jacqui replied, surprised she hadn’t known sooner, “well that’s great, I guess. It’ll sure be different riding with three other people, two that we don’t know.”
“That’s true. But it’ll also give you each someone else to learn from. And it’ll be a good chance for Kara to gain some more teaching experience. I’d better direct the girls towards where they can get their horses ready,” Kate commented suddenly, turning toward the two floats that had just pulled up beside where the girls were getting their ponies ready.
Already tacked up, Geordie watched curiously.
“Hey, what a nice looking roan!” she stated appreciatively, watching the red and white haired horse that was backed out of the first float.
“Isn’t he gorgeous? That’s Bentleigh,” Alice informed the girls, sliding off Sox and landing softly with bended knees.
“I hope you guys don’t mind that three of us are joining in today!” she continued, causing Jacqui to smile.
“It’ll sure make things interesting!” Jacqui replied.
She didn’t mention she was a little nervous about riding with two strangers who were more experienced than she was.
“All ready!” Hannah exclaimed, having tightened the strap on Jasper’s girth.
Jacqui hurriedly turned her attention back to Matty, realising she was the only one not ready. Well, not the only one. She glanced back up at Alice.
“Alice, where’s your saddle?”
“In Tina’s float. Her parents drove me here today and I stopped at the paddock to get Sox here quickly so we wouldn’t be late. Where should I tie Sox so I can get him ready to ride?” she questioned with a smile.
Following Jacqui’s direction, she tied her chestnut gelding to a nearby rail. Then she headed over to the float that the roan gelding had been unloaded from and disappeared around the other side.
“So if these two girls ride at the same level as Alice, will they want to ride in the same lesson as us?” Hannah voiced the question Jacqui had on her mind.
The three girls looked at each other and shrugged. The day had taken an interesting turn!

You can purchase Free Reign on Kindle over at Amazon or Paperbacks at Lulu.

Below you’ll find a piece from In Pursuit of a Horse, book 2 in the series!  If you haven’t read this book yet, you can check out a piece to see what you think 🙂

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.
Geordie wondered aloud if this was what heaven looked like. Hannah nodded, thinking it must be. Jacqui grinned.
“I’m sure it says a lot in my bible about heaven. I’ll have to look it up,” she mused, putting a head collar on a little brown pony this time.
The girls enjoyed another lesson with Jan teaching them about getting their horses to lengthen their stride at the walk and trot. Jacqui realised after the two riding sessions that none of them had cantered yet. She was surprised to find that she didn’t mind at all – she’d been learning so much and enjoying trying out two of the ponies that it hadn’t felt like there was time to canter!
They chattered over lunch about the two ponies they’d each ridden. Jacqui couldn’t decide which she liked better. They’d both been well behaved ponies and she had really enjoyed herself. Geordie had preferred the second pony that she rode whilst Hannah felt that the first she rode had been a little bit more fun.
The girls were excited to think that they would be riding a different pony the following day.
“I can’t believe that in such a short space of time, we will have ridden so many different ponies!” Jacqui stated in wonder, causing Jan to smile as she directed the girls to put their dishes in the sink.
Once they’d done so, she took them outside to a wooden bench that was in the shade of a large tree. Hannah looked around, confused.
“What are we up to?” she asked her aunt.
Jan explained the discussion she’d had with Jacqui that morning about sunflowers.
“I know you will have lots of memories about your stay here, but I wanted to send you home with something concrete to remind you. So! I’m going to give you a pot, some potting mix and a few sunflower seeds each and we’re going to do some planting!” she announced.
Geordie seemed unsure at first, but shrugged her shoulders. Jacqui was thrilled. The three got to work filling their pots with potting mix before placing a few seeds in them, spacing them out well. Then they covered them over with some more mix, watered them well and placed them in a shaded spot that Jan said would get sunlight in the morning.
“Just you watch, by the time you three head home, they’ll have turned into little seedlings for you to show off,” Jan commented as she headed back inside to the cool air conditioned living room.
The three followed, Jacqui thinking how wonderful this would be. She realised too that it would also be sad because it would mean the end of their stay at Jan’s.

You can purchase the In Pursuit of a Horse on Kindle over at Amazon or Paperbacks at Lulu.

Happy New Year, everyone!  For 2017, I am going to be sharing an excerpt from each of the Free Rein novels on the first of each month.  So below you’ll find a piece from New Beginnings, book 1 in the series!

If you haven’t read this book yet, you can check out a piece to see what you think 🙂

Jacqui King let her eyes follow the flight path of a large pelican as it soared above their car, seemingly oblivious to the vehicles below it. She smiled at the sight. The ten year old was excited. This was dampened only as her older brother once again spoke negatively about their current situation.
“I don’t understand why we had to move from the country in one state just so that we could spend time in the country in another state. Seriously dad, couldn’t you have not accepted the transfer at work?” Ross King asked for what felt like the millionth time to Jacqui.
The family of four had been on the road for around 10 hours, travelling interstate to their new home.
Jacqui’s father had been offered a position at work that had excited both of her parents. Unfortunately it had meant moving interstate halfway through the year and leaving behind many family members and friends.
Jacqui’s apprehension had been made smaller when her mother had talked of the 100 acre property that they would be leasing in Victoria. Her excitement had grown further still when she was told that the property used to be set up for agistment and it was Kate’s hope – Jacqui’s mother – that this would be a future possibility for the whole family. After all, a large property would be expensive and needed justification by earning its keep, Jacqui had been told.
From a young age Jacqui had dreamt of horses. Whilst living in the country in South Australia with her family, she had had opportunities to be led on friends’ ponies but that was all. It seemed that only now would Jacqui be able to pursue her ultimate dream of having her own horse – and on their property!
Tuning out her brother’s ongoing list of complaints about their move, Jacqui took in the houses and land that they drove past, hoping theirs looked as wonderful. Large brick homes stood behind well manicured green lawns, roses lining driveways in full bloom. It looks so wonderful.
Half an hour later the Kings made their way down a dead end street, Kate excitedly telling Jacqui that their property was at the end of this road. Jacqui sat up taller in the back seat, eager to see their property as soon as she could. She chanced a glance in her brother’s direction, noting sadly that he had his eyes closed and the earphones of his ipod in place.
“Here we are!” Kate breathed out excitedly, opening her door as Tony put the car into park.
Accepting a key that her husband handed her, Kate made her way quickly to the gate that was pulled shut over the driveway, a large padlock keeping it closed. An old wooden sign half hung from the gate, the name of the property on it in faded white paint. Genesis. Jacqui smiled as it seemed that her mother almost skipped in her excitement.
The padlock was unlocked quickly and Kate got back into the car. Tony drove down the curved driveway, heading for where he knew the house was.
Jacqui didn’t notice the lack of carefully manicured lawns or roses lining the drive in bloom. She was too in awe of the large open paddocks that seemed to go on and on. Just how big is 100 acres? She grinned, already picturing herself racing across them on a little grey pony. This is going to be great!
Ross awoke in time to race his sister into the house, claiming the largest of the three available bedrooms for either of them. Kate and Tony had taken the main bedroom close to the front door. Jacqui chose the smallest of the three rooms left, concluding that a smaller space of her own meant less she would have to keep clean.
She placed her suitcase on the bed that had already been made up by their mother a few days prior.
Once things had been confirmed with Tony’s job and then with this property, Kate had flown over to Victoria for a day to clean up the dusty old house. She’d also made an extra effort to make the bedrooms ready for her two children. Jacqui hadn’t liked her mother being away for a night but that was over and done with now.
She opened up the curtains that covered the one window in her room and looked out over two large paddocks that were behind the house. This place really is huge! Glancing back at her bed, Jacqui grinned.
She ran to the end of it and sat back to face the window, swinging her legs happily. And I can see right out of the window onto paddocks that will have horses in them – all from my bed!
As far as the ten year old was concerned at this very moment, things were perfect.

Like what you read?  You can purchase New Beginnings at Amazon for $2.99 USD on Kindle.  A paperback edition is also available!