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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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.
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