I think Four Faults is my favourite of this series so far! This story is told from the point of view of Tess Maxwell, the younger sister of Hayley. Tess has lived in her sister’s shadow her whole life. She feels it’s just easier to do as Hayley wants, rather than get on the wrong side of her.

That is, until Hayley insists that Tess rides Misty, her talented but difficult to control Grand Prix Pony. Hayley can no longer ride ponies and Tess is fearful about the idea of riding him again. When their parents offer an ultimatum – Tess rides him or they sell him – the young teen finds that the pressure from her sister increases.

She is battling her fear of riding Misty whilst also trying to work out her friendships at school. When she finds out one of her friends is interested in a boy who lives on their farm, things are further complicated. Tess learns the hard way that the girls she felt were her friends at school aren’t at all. When she finds herself spending time with AJ, Katy and Susannah, she quickly comes to realise what true friendship is about.

Four Faults has a little bit for everyone. There’s a budding romance, sibling rivalry, lots of horse scenes and even a health scare that makes you question your own mortality.

The Pony Jumpers series is well told from the different points of view of four uniquely different girls. Each has their own faults and endearing qualities and all of them love horses. Four Faults is another great read by Kate Lattey.

For the fans out there or those interested in the series, did you know you can download the first novel, First Fence for free at Kate’s website?

Author: Kate Lattey
https://nzponywriter.com/
Fiction – teen
In my library? I was able to download the first four recently, so as an eBook it is!
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

This children’s book is made up of eleven different short stories revolving around horses. Each of the stories features a young horse rider or owner as the main person in the story. This helps to make the stories relatable to young readers.

Keeping things interesting, the stories are varied. They cover boisterous ponies, those who misbehave, searches for the right dressage horse and even a horse rescue. The location of the stories varies too. You’re invited to travel with riders across plains in South Africa where antelope and zebras aren’t uncommon. Then you travel to England where ponies gallop across fields. And on further again to Germany and some beautiful dressage horses. The topics of carriage driving, playing polo and competing horses are all covered, too.

The short stories covered in this book collection include:

• Dangerous Journey
• The Empty Field
• Catch as Catch Can
• Rustlers on the Moor
• Count Your Blessings
• The Lie
• Coming Up Trumps
• A Spectacular Pony
• Circus Tricks
• Champions
• The Search

Rosemary Simmonds does a great job of depicting a variety of horses within each of the short stories. Horse information is correct and written in nicely. One story I struggled to comprehend when a young girl spent all her savings bidding on a pony and then told her parents! Other than this, the stories are quite believable and a great mixture of adventures that can happen when you own and ride horses.

All the stories contained within Dangerous Journey provide great descriptions of the characters and also the places where they feature. The words are followed up nicely with beautiful illustrations by four different illustrators.

Author: Rosemary Simmonds
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2896274.Rosemary_Simmonds
Fiction – children
In my library? Yes!  I picked it up second hand in an op shop 🙂
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.