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.
—
“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.
—
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.
Leave a Reply