Destiny and the Wild Horses
The third gripping adventure in this exciting new pony-club series. With gymkhanas to win, rivals to defeat, mysteries to solve and ponies in danger to save – these books are perfect for all girls who love ponies.Issie and her horse, Blaze, are spending summer in the countryside instead of at pony club. But Issie doesn’t mind because she’ll be training horses for the movies!At her aunt’s farm, Issie hears of plans to cull a group of wild ponies. She’s determined to save them, especially the beautiful stallion Destiny.It’s lucky that Issie can call on her pony-club friends because she is going to need all the help she can get…
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Destiny and the
Wild Horses
STACY GREGG
www.stacygregg.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Childrenâs Books in 2008. This edition published in 2015 HarperCollins Childrenâs Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, The News Building 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
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Text copyright © Stacy Gregg 2007
Illustrations © Fiona Land 2008
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work.
EBook Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780007302208
Version: 2015-02-19
For my mum, who never liked horses at all, but loved her two horse-mad daughters. Thanks for everything.
Contents
One of the best feelings in the world is waking up and thinking, Ohmygod, Iâm late for school! That isnât the good bit obviously. The good bit comes in a sudden rush a few seconds later when you realise that you donât have to go to school after all because today isnât an ordinary Mondayâitâs the first day of the summer holidays!
Issie was savouring that exact moment right now as she lay snuggled up in bed. She gave her legs a big, wriggly stretch underneath the duvet. There was something so luxurious about lying there, knowing that she didnât have to hurry up and put her uniform on and pack her book bag. No school for two whole months. And this summer promised to be the best ever.
Issie had big plans for the holidays. And most of those plans involved Blaze, her chestnut Anglo-Arab mare. Summer meant pony-club season. There would be gymkhanas, ribbon days and one-day events to ride, and Issie had Blaze in perfect condition ready for competition.
Her pony had been schooling beautifully ever since Issie got her back from Francoise Dâarth. They had been having regular dressage lessons with Tom Avery and she was amazed at how responsive and clever her horse was. Now that Issie and Tom knew Blazeâs real backgroundâthat she had once been part of a famous troupe of dancing Arabiansâthey had begun to try new things with her. Under Averyâs tutelage, Blaze and Issie had easily mastered fancy moves like shoulder-ins and piaffes.
âThat mare is the perfect school mistress for you,â Avery told her. âWeâre going to make huge strides in your training this summer, Issie.â
Avery was confident that Blaze was ready to compete in the summer series dressage competitions at the Chevalier Point Pony Club which began that weekend. âYouâll only be in the novice section so there certainly wouldnât be any piaffes in your dressage test,â he said.
Still, Issie was nervous. She had never done dressage on Blaze before. What if the mare got all heated up and panicked in the arena? What if she forgot the test and got lost halfway through?
âDonât be ridiculous!â Stella had told Issie when she blabbed her fears. âYou and Blaze have practised your test, like, at least twenty times! I still donât know it and Coco is being so stubborn lately she wonât even lead on the correct leg when she canters. Sheâs being a total nightmare!â
With the competition looming, Stella, Issie and Kate all agreed that they needed more dressage practice, so Tom Avery had arranged a training session for the Chevalier Point riders at the pony club that morning.
Issie gave one last squirm under the duvet. It was so warm and comfy she still didnât want to get up. âOne, two, three!â she counted herself out of bed, jumping up on three and making a dash across the bedroom to the pile of washing on the floor. She pulled on her jodhpurs and grabbed a hair band off her dresser, sweeping her long, straight, dark hair back in a ponytail as she headed down the stairs.
Her mother had left for work early that morning but she had left Issie a note on the kitchen table.
Gone to Work (obviously!) Have to pick up groceries on the way home so wonât be back until six. We need to talk about the holidays-make sure you are home by seven for dinner. Mum x
Issie read the note, popped two slices of wholegrain bread in the toaster and poured herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge.
What did her mum mean âWe need to talk about the holidaysâ? Her holidays were already decidedâshe planned to spend every minute at pony club with Stella, Kate, Dan and Ben. What else was there to talk about?
