The Dream of a Horse
The Dream of a HorseTess 1
Pia HagmarWhat happens when the dream comes true…
A book about friendship, loyalty – and horses.
It’s the summer holidays, and Tess recently moved out into the country. And then one day it happens… In a meadow Tess sees her dream horse. The pony from so many daydreams! Perhaps it’s not quite as impressive and well looked after as she’d imagined – it’s more of a scruffy, dirty, skinny little brown pony. But still! Tess gets to know Staffan, who was give the pony as security for a tractor he sold. He isn’t interested in the pony and hasn’t the money to look after it, so he agrees that Tess can come and look after Malte, as the pony is called. She washes and brushes Malte, cleans out his stable and feeds him. She gradually learns to ride.
But her happiness comes to an abrupt end one stormy summer’s day. Malte becomes seriously ill from the oats Tess persuaded her father to buy.
The vet who comes out to see Malte tells Tess about his granddaughter Majsan, who lives not far away and also rides. Majsan talks a great deal, at high speed. And she laughs a lot. Majsan doesn’t have many friends, and is a victim of bullying.
But Majsan does have a secret: her pony Ludde is really good at jumping. In order to build up Majsan’s poor self-esteem, Tess insists that she enter a show jumping competition.
A period of intensive training begins in order to get Ludde ready for the competition. The girls build jumps and practise hard. Tess gets scared when she realises that Majsan is pinning all her hopes on the competition. A win means everything to her: the approval of others.
