Ponies at the Point

by Lucy Daniels

Being an animal enthusiast , I love reading stories about animals . About two years ago , I came across an Animal Ark book called Goose on the Loose at the library, I read it and liked it. Since then , I have read a lot of Animal Ark books which are extra special as they have facts about animals as well .

Mandy, James and Mandy’s parents were on holiday in Connemara ,Ireland. On their first day ,Mandy and James find a herd of wild Connemara ponies. One pony seems to be the leader ,a strawberry roan, who they name Rosie ,and her foal, Connie who had a very cruel head-collar cutting into her face. Mandy and James tell Mr. and Mrs. Hope , Mandy’s parents ,about Connie .They told them that they had to try and tranquillize Connie to get the head –collar off her.The next day they all try to tranquillize Connie but their attempt failed as a boy names Sean Malone spooked the ponies at the last moment as he feared that they were going to kill Connie.

Later,Mandy and James went over to Lough Caher where Sean lived and found him talking to a horse.When he was finished,Mandy asked him if he could talk to Connie as well.Sean said he would try but the next day his father Mr.Malone grounded him for a day.Sean being a smart boy,escaped to meet Mandy at the beach.At the beach he saw Mandy and the herd.They together found that Rosie and Connie were not with the herd and later found them at a dead end but Connie had a fever and could not walk.Sean talked to Rosie and lifted Connie onto Rosie’s back.When they got to the rocky path,Rosie and Sean went up and Mandy and Connie stayed at the bottom.
Mrs.Hope,being a very caring and kind-hearted woman,came down the rocky path and helped Mandy carry Connie by making a stretcher out of her jacket.

All the action which happens to find out who put the collar on Connie makes this book a very exciting read.The bonus about reading this book is that I got to learn two Irish words,kil means church and cashel means castel.