Mystic and the Midnight Ride

Mystic and the Midnight Ride
Stacy Gregg

The first adventure in this fresh and fun new pony-club series for all girls who love horses.Issie LOVES horses and is a member of the Chevalier Point Pony Club, where she looks after her pony, Mystic, trains for gymkhanas and hangs out with her best friends.When Issie is asked to train Blaze, an abandoned pony, her riding skills are put to the test. Can she tame the spirited new horse? And is Blaze really out of danger?This is a fast-paced, action-packed new pony series for all girls aged 8-12.

Copyright (#u80a3d9fb-737f-532d-92ff-c66773bade9c)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollins Children’s Books An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2007

Text Copyright © Stacy Gregg 2007

Stacy Gregg asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of the this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007245192

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2009 ISBN: 9780007340668

Version: 2018-08-20

For Venetia

Contents

Cover (#ued1bb0a9-e861-591b-9550-8df7dc001d61)

Title Page (#u8deae7d3-deb6-5423-9400-3927291a3fd1)

Copyright (#ucb5d122c-8e06-5642-97ef-e5f953e98d80)

Dedication (#ud174e93c-50e2-5220-8799-fea88a430288)

Chapter 1 (#ufe766bb8-e06e-58a2-a4cb-9c6a1329a3d4)

Chapter 2 (#u5fc81d36-1842-5f99-8ee2-e34b215f70ed)

Chapter 3 (#ued7d7644-82a1-5f39-bd25-82f89ebd9d14)

Chapter 4 (#uc011186a-06d2-509e-8f4c-b385162d1e54)

Chapter 5 (#udb338b0f-6949-56c0-a7f4-61a589dc689f)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

The Pony Club Secrets Series (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER 1 (#u80a3d9fb-737f-532d-92ff-c66773bade9c)

Please, please let it be sunny tomorrow, Issie had prayed as she went to bed the night before the gymkhana. But when her alarm clock woke her at quarter to six the next morning and she ran to the window there were grey clouds covering the sky. Still, there was no sign of rain and when she listened for a cancellation on the radio nothing was mentioned, so she headed out into the pre-dawn light to prepare Mystic for his big day.

Stella and Kate were already down at the River Paddock. Stella was busily brushing out Coco’s tail, while Kate was sectioning out Toby’s neatly pulled mane so that she could start plaiting it into tiny knots along the top of his neck.

“You’d better hurry.” Stella smiled. “Tom said he’d be here by seven to help us load them into the truck and take them to the show grounds.”

Grabbing Mystic’s halter out of the tack room, Issie set off across the paddock. The grass was wet with dew and her riding boots were soaked by the time she reached the spot where Mystic was grazing. The pretty dapple-grey was chewing up great chunks of fresh spring growth and barely bothered to raise his head to acknowledge her.

“Here, Mystic,” Issie called hopefully, hiding the halter behind her back with one hand and holding her other hand out towards the pony.

She had forgotten to bring a treat to tempt him with, but perhaps she could bluff the gelding into believing she had a piece of carrot or apple in her empty fist.

No such luck. Mystic had spotted the halter. He gave a deep snort of surprise, shaking his mane and trotting off to the other side of the paddock.

“Oh, Mystic, no! Not today!” Issie cried in despair.

Of course these things always happened at the worst possible moment. Like today. Issie was nervous enough about riding at her first gymkhana. Now she was running late—the others were nearly ready to plait up their horses and she hadn’t even started grooming. Even at this distance Issie could see that Mystic had got himself into a right state from rolling in the long paddock grass. There were chunks of dirt matted into his silvery mane and his hocks were stained bright green.