The Adventures of Little Thunder and Friends

By Jean Dodge

The stories in the book are collected from events experienced by the author while running the riding centre and they give an insight to many lesser-known facts about horses and ponies and the way they interact with their riders and each other.
The author spent many years running a riding centre and came across some interesting characters both human and equine.
Most of the stories are based on actual facts and events but some are from sheer imagination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Apr 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528962988

Jean Dodge

Jean Dodge grew up in Manchester. She is grammar-school-educated, a retired civil servant and is a member of Mensa. She has owned various businesses including a greengrocer and florist shop, a licensed guesthouse and riding centre, and a takeaway fish and chip shop. She moved to Bala, North Wales, and opened a riding centre. For the past ten years, she has worked in publishing. Her extended family includes four grown-up children, ten grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Book preview

Season

About the Author

Jean Dodge grew up in Manchester. She is grammar-school-educated, a retired civil servant and is a member of Mensa. She has owned various businesses including a greengrocer and florist shop, a licensed guesthouse and riding centre, and a takeaway fish and chip shop.

She moved to Bala, North Wales, and opened a riding centre. For the past ten years, she has worked in publishing.

Her extended family includes four grown-up children, ten grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren.

Dedication

To Janette and Kevin.

To my loyal staff at the trekking centre, who gave me the human characters for these stories.

Finally, in memory of all the wonderful ponies and horses that passed through my stables and gave me the inspiration to write these stories.

Copyright Information ©

Jean Dodge (2021)

The right of Jean Dodge to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528920100 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528962988 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Sue who introduced me to the equestrian world.

Introduction

Some Useful Facts About Horses and Ponies

The height of horses and ponies is measured in ‘hands’. A hand is equal to four inches and the measurement is taken from the ground to the withers, which is the point where the base of the neck meets the back.

The only difference between a horse and a pony is the height.

A pony is any height up to 14 hands and a horse is any height over 14 hands.

A colt is a young male horse or pony.

A filly is a young female horse or pony.

A gelding is a male horse or pony that is unable to reproduce.

A mare is a female horse or pony over two years of age.

A stallion is a male horse or pony that is capable of reproducing.

Colours of Horses and Ponies

Appaloosa: Spotted usually white with black or brown spots.

Bay: Brown with a black mane and tail.

Black: Black with a black mane and tail.

Chestnut: Gingery brown with a ginger mane and tail.

Coloured: Skewbald or piebald (see below).

Dappled grey: Any shade of grey with darker spots all over.

Dunn: Sandy Coloured with a black mane and tail.

Grey: All shades of grey from white to nearly black.

Palomino: Sandy coloured with a blond mane and tail.

Piebald: Black and white.

Roan: Sandy coloured with many white hairs.

Skewbald: White and any other colour except black.

Chapter 1

The Horse Fair

For as long as she could remember, Little Thunder had spent all her short life romping in the fields with other ponies on the farm where she lived. However recently, times had changed. Most of her friends had gone as had the young children who played with the ponies and rode them while they, too, were still very young. Little Thunder and her foal had been bundled into a big horsebox that belonged to Di Harding, the horse dealer, who she had seen many times at the farm. She wondered where she might be going and if she would ever see her old friends again, but at least she had her foal for company.

The car park was packed with cars, horseboxes and Land Rovers towing trailers. How would they ever find room to park? The man on the gate managed to find a spot even though they had a big horsebox. There were horses being led, dogs on leads and some running loose, but nobody seemed to mind that. Groups of horse dealers bartering on an agreeable price for horses that seemed totally uninterested, unaware that it was their fate that was being decided. Familiar faces acknowledged each other with a single nod.

Di parked the horsebox and made her way towards the saleroom, constantly looking for prospective purchasers for the ponies she had brought to the sale.

Many stalls lined the pathway, which led to the enclosures holding horses and ponies that were waiting to enter the sale ring. There were stalls selling bales of hay and straw, sawdust bedding and animal feeds. Colourful displays of tack and horse clothing, pet toys and dog leads which swayed in the breeze. Jodhpurs and waxed jackets, a must for every serious rider, spun on wire coat hangers. All kinds of tools, new and old, spread on trestle tables. Nuts and nails in lines of boxes and freshly painted show jumps stood on display.

Fresh here today. You won’t find quality cheaper than this, boasted the meat vendor from his motorised shop. Surrounded by onlookers pushing to the front, not wanting to miss a bargain, he stood in an elevated position behind his counter so that he could see all his audience, even those at the back. An earpiece and microphone were attached to his head, leaving both his hands free to bring the attention of the crowd to the cuts of prime beef steaks and pork chops he was offering.

The aroma of fresh baking momentarily drowned out the smell of horses and leather as they passed the bread stall where baps, buns, Eccles cakes full of glistening currants and vanilla slices oozing custard were on display. The sweet stall, popular with little sticky fingered dirty-faced urchins pleading for a favourite, was the last one before the sale ring.

As Di entered the saleroom, which was inside a huge steel and asbestos shed. Two frisky foals were being herded round and round, showing them off to the crowded gallery. Cold concrete steps formed the spectator’s seats, and those at the back were so high they could touch the ceiling.

Who’ll make a bid on these pretty fillies? the auctioneer’s microphone echoed loud and clear. Some buyers stood by the ringside, leaning on the high metal bars to get a better view. A groom in the ring with the foals kept them moving while the seller stood in the box with the auctioneer muttering to him, out of the range of his microphone.

The sale was complete; the foals were ushered back outside to make way for the next lot on the auctioneer’s list. This time a smart chestnut mare gracefully entered the ring.

Oh, just look at that, the auctioneer drooled. "You don’t often see