How Katy discovers a newborn Exmoor foal on her birthday and persuades her family that she can look after it launches a tender and convincing story of one girl’s passion for ponies. Victoria Eveleigh gives enough details of pony care and training to make the story essential reading for all those who are pony-mad and enough delightful general background about friends, family and farming to make it an enjoyable story for all.
Adopt an Exmoor Pony: Want the chance to adopt an Exmoor pony at the Exmoor Pony Centre for one year? All you have to do is email competitions@orionbooks.co.uk with the subject heading 'Exmoor Pony' and one lucky winner will win a year's pony sponsorship. Closing date for entry is 1st September 2012.
The first book in Victoria Eveleigh's enchanting pony trilogy. Katy's birthday doesn't feel very special, until she discovers a tiny newborn foal on the moor. It walks right up to her with wobbly steps, and Katy is spellbound. As she reaches out and touches its forehead, Katy longs for the foal to be hers. But how will she ever persuade her family?
'I picked this book up last night - just for a look - and didn't put it down until I finished it. ..I was pulled straight into the life of Barton Farm.' - The Bookbag
'What comes over straight away is that [Victoria Eveleigh] writes about what she knows' - Exmoor Pony Society
'Without doubt Victoria Eveleigh is the best contemporary writer of pony stories around.' Lovereading4kids
Author
About Victoria Eveleigh
Victoria Eveleigh was born in London, but her heart has always been in the countryside, and her stories are full of the things she loves: horses and ponies, countryside, farming and people.
She and her husband, Chris, farm sheep and cattle on Exmoor – and they also have a herd of free-living Exmoor ponies. Their children are grown up now, but when their daughter was a girl she had an Exmoor pony called Tinkerbell. Their eventful partnership inspired Victoria to write her first stories: a trilogy about a girl and an Exmoor pony growing up together on a hill farm. This was followed by a story set on the island of Lundy, based on a legendary stallion called Midnight.
The stories were initially self-published, but in 2012 Orion Children’s Books published these stories as Katy's Wild Foal, Katy's Champion Pony, Katy's Pony Surprise, and A Stallion Called Midnight. The books include author's notes, charming chapter illustrations by Chris and beautiful cover illustrations by Angelo Rinaldi.
Victoria's new trilogy - Joe and the Hidden Horseshoe, Joe and the Lightning Pony and Joe and the Race to Rescue - has involved some fascinating research about farriery, aikido, Pony Club mounted games and heavy horses. The stories still have horses and ponies at their heart, but this time a boy called Joe is the main character. Victoria feels that boys don’t feature enough in pony stories nowadays and she hopes that both boys and girls (and adults) will enjoy reading them.
