The Horse Who Hated Christmas

By Hilary Walker

Paula’s mare gets colic every Christmas, but her owner has no idea why because she has to go away over the holiday. She always comes back to a very sick horse and a huge vet bill.

This year Paula doesn’t have to travel. Finally, she can get to the bottom of the mystery!

Enlisting the help of a friend, she gets down to some serious detective work. What the two riders discover at the barn is very bizarre and not at all what they expect!

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Dec 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781634865906

Hilary Walker

British born bestselling author Hilary Walker writes uplifting Christian fiction that transports readers into the healing world of horses. She lives on Hilton Head Island with two British bulldogs and her husband, who hopes she'll get interested in golf.  No luck so far. Instead she rides competitive dressage on her homebred Welsh cross gelding, and enjoys taking him on the trails.

Book preview

Morning

Chapter 1: Paula’s Problem

"I wish I didn’t have to go away over Christmas again Paula moaned. If only I had a brother or sister to go in my place!"

Her friend Melissa sympathized. I never thought I’d say how lucky I am to have siblings—or parents who live nearby!

It was Saturday in mid-December. They were brushing their horses in neighboring stalls, after taking advantage of the welcome sunshine to ride around the rural property of Farthing Boarding Stables.

The issue under discussion was the fact that something badly upset Paula’s mare every Christmas. But her owner was never here to find the cause, being expected to fly to her parents’ house three states away.

If only I could convince them to come here, she said with feeling, brushing her little chestnut’s flanks so hard that the mare turned her head round with ears pinned back to tell Paula that was too much. Sorry, girl! I’m taking out my frustration on you. She gave the horse a treat then stroked her face. Mollified, Peppi returned to ripping strands of hay out of her small hole net.

Still holding the body brush, Paula leaned across her animal’s broad back and sighed. As much as Peppi’s colics have cost me in vets’ bills over the years, I could have had her shipped to a barn near my parents’ place every Christmas!

Although her accounting job paid well, these costs were really hard to take. Thankfully she had colic insurance, which she could claim on if Peppi ever needed an operation. But she’d like to make sure it never came to that.