Pony Club Secrets: Mystic and the Midnight Ride

Stacy Gregg's Pony Club Secrets: Mystic and the Midnight Ride is a pony story for 9 year olds that begins with a girl's very first gymkhana and quickly becomes something much sadder, and stranger.

What happens

Issie loves her little grey pony Mystic more than anything. He's old (her instructor thinks he could be twenty-five) and he's a nightmare to catch on a spring morning. But he knows his way round a jumping course better than she does.

Her best friends Stella and Kate are there with their ponies, and so is Dan, who bets her a week of grooming that he'll beat her time. Then there's the new girl, Natasha Tucker. She has a beautiful palomino called Goldrush and she treats her like a toy she's already bored of.

The jumping scenes are brilliant. You can feel Issie's nerves as she waits to go last, and then the rush as Mystic takes off over the final oxer. If your reader rides, they'll recognise every bit of it, from plaiting manes before dawn to the sweet smell of a sweaty horse.

It's worth knowing what comes next, because it happens very early. When the horses get loose onto the main road, Issie rides after them on Mystic. A truck comes round the corner, Mystic throws her clear, and he's killed. It's not a spoiler, it's the real start of the story. Issie wakes up in hospital and her grief is very raw for several chapters.

So this isn't one for a reader who finds animal deaths upsetting. The flip side is that it's written with a lot of love for horses, and what comes after is magical. Mystic keeps appearing in Issie's dreams. And he feels completely real.

A couple of other things for parents. Issie is twelve. She and Stella get their belly buttons pierced at the chemist without telling her mum (Stella's big sister takes them). Natasha whips her pony more than once.

What to read next

If your reader is horse-mad and wants more of that stable-yard friendship, try A Summer Without Horses. Three best friends from a riding club swear not to ride for three whole weeks, which turns out to be very hard to keep.