How the Story Grew Exmoor ponies come from Exmoor, in the south-west of England. Our family acquired an ‘Almost Exmoor’ pony of our own some years ago, after we had moved to a town like 'Gillbrough' in North Yorkshire. Our pony's sire (dad) was a true Exmoor pony, but was not licensed for breeding. He was thought to be too young. Even so, he got together with our pony’s dam (mum) and eleven months later, our own pony was born. My daughter met her because her owner had several Exmoor ponies and wanted a hand looking after them. Our own ‘Sunny’ was about eighteen months old at the time. A bond seemed to form quickly between the filly and my daughter and the owner offered to sell 'Sunny' to us really for no more than the cost of the vet’s fees and inoculations. After that, the things our real pony did and the things Sunny did were very similar. At the time we were told that it was impossible to register our pony fully as an Exmoor because of the irregularity in her papers. It wasn’t until she was about eleven years old that the system changed and genetic evidence became acceptable as proof of parentage. The description of the process in the book is closely based on what happened to our own pony.
We have to bring our 'Sunny' in at night, partly to help control her weight and partly because she sometimes suffers from something like hay-fever, especially when there’s any oilseed rape nearby. If the weather wasn't cold, wet or windy, she would sometimes decide she wanted to stay out, rather than come in to the stable. It could take us half an hour or more to catch her. Then we found a trainer and instructor who taught us about Natural Horsemanship and Join-Up®. (If you would like to know more about Join-Up® and Monty Roberts, his website is montyroberts.com/.) Those methods really do work. Another Instructor taught my daughter – and our pony – about Enlightened Equitation. That really works, too. Our family is not like the Taylors'. They, and all the other characters are invented. (Though, like the sisters' parents, I did work briefly at the Carlton Television Studios in Nottingham, that was as a Director, not a Film Editor or Production Manager.) Two real people are mentioned, Heather Moffet and Monty Roberts.
Claus is rather like a real cat who lived on our Livery Yard, and Dyson is like some of the dogs that I have known or met. Our pony has spooked at various things, but not, so far, at a pheasant taking off.
In the story, one of the ponies at the Livery yard falls sick with ragwort poisoning. This incident is based on something that happened to my daughter's first horse. Horses will generally avoid ragwort growing in their fields - it tastes bitter. However, if the plant is uprooted or if it is killed by weed killer and left in the pasture, the dead and drying plant loses the bitterness and it may be eaten by horses and cattle. It is probably most dangerous if it is harvested with hay (cut, dried grasses) and fed like that to the animals. On the other hand, it should be said that ragwort is very useful to bees and other pollinators. |
About the Author At different times, I wanted to be a Vet, a TV Naturalist (like David Attenborough) or a Doctor. From the age of seven, I also wanted to write books. I did get to Medical School when I was 17 years old but soon realised my mistake and learned all about the wrong kind of Theatre. This experience led to my getting a job at the BBC where I ended up in television as a director of Children’s Drama, on the way adapting many children’s books for the long-running series Jackanory. My first four books were all about Television Production. After years working in Children’s Television, it’s been brilliant talking to my daughter and developing this story based on our own ‘Almost Exmoor’ pony. About the Illustrator The story is brought to life by photographs of the family’s real Exmoor pony and drawings of Sammy’s imaginings by Daisy May Collingridge, who spent many childhood holidays in the Yorkshire Dales. This is her first set of book illustrations, but she already has a brilliant portfolio of eccentric animal drawings and a large body of work as a textile artist. For more information about Daisy May Collingridge and to order prints of Sunny and other animals, please visit: Click here for link |
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