Wylding hall, p.1
Wilson Sisters Adventures 3, page 1
NINA FACES HER GREATEST CHALLENGE YET — WINNING OVER A FIERCE KAIMANAWA STALLION!
Nina’s and Lily’s wild horse adventures take off at a gallop when they get the opportunity of a lifetime to help Kelly Wilson save five wild stallions from slaughter.
All of a sudden, Nina is in charge of training a mature stallion called Allegiance, a huge step up from her little yearling Thunder! The stallions are flightier and fiercer than Nina and Lily could have imagined and they’re left second-guessing if they’re up for the challenge.
Will Nina’s hard work and determination pay off in time for them to compete in the Freedom to Friendship Challenge at Equidays, the nation’s biggest equestrian event?
From the author of the bestselling Showtym Adventures series, this novel is inspired by true events.
CONTENTS
Horses in this Book
1. An urgent appeal
2. The New Stallions
3. Settling In
4. Watch and Learn
5. Home Soil
6. FOMO
7. Black Mamba and the Great White
8. Flash Flood
9. Rapid Progress
10. Massive Milestones
11. First Rides
12. To the Beach
13. A Couple of Falls
14. Under Saddle
15. Next Steps
16. Future Focused
17. Learning to Jump
18. Exploring at Home
19. Beach Demo
20. Birthday Ride
21. Far North Adventure
22. Equidays Ahead
23. First Show
24 Equidays at Last
25. Freedom to Friendship
How to: Make your pony’s life fun & diverse!
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
Also by Kelly Wilson
Shyla, the Snowy Brumby
Thunder, the Yearling Colt
Sparkles, the Showjumping Pony
Follow Penguin Random House
This book is dedicated to Vicki, Kelly and Amanda Wilson — thank you for everything you have taught me, and for giving me the skills and passion to tame and train my own wild Kaimanawa horses.
— Nina Sutherland
HORSES IN THIS BOOK
KAIMANAWAS
JUNE MUSTER
ADMIRAL grey stallion (Kelly/Lily)
ALLEGIANCE, ALLY black stallion (Kelly/Nina)
CONCORD flaxen chestnut stallion (Kelly)
LIEUTENANT, LOUIE mealy bay stallion (Kelly)
RAFIKI chestnut stallion (Amanda)
APRIL MUSTER
CAPTAIN bay gelding (Kelly)
FERN chestnut mare (Lily)
PUMBA bay gelding (Amanda)
RATA chestnut, Captain’s lead mare (client)
THUNDER bay colt (Nina)
TIMON chestnut gelding (Amanda)
OTHER HORSES
DEE buckskin gelding, showjumper (Vicki/Nina)
DUEY grey mare, showjumper (Vicki/Lily)
SHOWTYM CASSANOVA, CAPPI pinto gelding, Grand Prix showjumper (Amanda)
SHOWTYM MOONLIGHT palomino gelding, showjumper (Kelly)
SHOWTYM PREMIER, NED brown gelding, Grand Prix showjumper (Vicki)
SHYLA chestnut Brumby mare, formerly wild (Nina)
SPARKLES grey and white pinto mare, showjumper (Lily)
CHAPTER 1
AN URGENT APPEAL
“DID THAT ACTUALLY just happen?” Nina Sutherland asked as she glanced around at her family. Everyone looked dazed as her older sister Lily hung up the phone, trying to process what Kelly Wilson had just asked of them. They’d known the renowned horse trainer for two years now and in that time she had become their mentor and friend, but never had she presented them with such a desperate plea.
“What were we thinking?” Lily said, hiding her face in her hands. “I can’t believe we just agreed to help Kelly train five wild Kaimanawa stallions!”
Twelve-year-old Nina laughed, though the sound was tinged with disbelief. “At least we’ve had a little bit of experience with wild Kaimanawas, after taming Thunder and Fern from the last muster — but training stallions will be much more challenging,” she said.
“But Fern was only three years old, so I don’t think she was very good practice for a mature stallion,” Lily frowned, thinking about her chestnut mare, which she’d tamed during Kelly’s Wild Kaimanawa Workshop four weeks earlier. The Sutherland sisters had spent a month living at Showtym Stables while they’d tamed their Kaimanawas, and in between lessons they’d been able to watch as Kelly and her sisters Vicki and Amanda tamed the stallions.
None of the stallions had been easy to work with, especially in comparison to the juveniles, such as Nina’s yearling colt Thunder. Although Nina’s and Lily’s own Kaimanawas were adjusting well to domestic life, Nina knew the Wilson sisters’ stallions were still needing a lot of work, even after being handled for a couple of months.
But with the wild horse population still too high following the April muster, the Department of Conservation had just run another muster to reduce the number of wild horses living in the Kaimanawa Ranges and get the herd back to a more sustainable size. Trying to find enough homes for three hundred horses in one year had been challenging, though, and Kelly had agreed to take on five extra stallions at the last minute. To make things even more challenging, the horses were arriving in just two days’ time.
“I think you’re getting ahead of yourselves, girls,” their dad cut in. “By the sounds of it, you’ll mostly be helping Kelly with her domestic horses, as well as doing chores around the farm. Lightening the load will help free up time for Kelly to tame the stallions herself.”
Their mum nodded. “That’s the impression I got, too. I don’t think she’s going to put you in a situation you’re not ready for.”
“But you heard her — she said as soon as she thinks the stallions are safe enough, we can take over some of their training. And even help with Captain,” Nina said, doubly daunted by the thought of having to work with the bay stallion Kelly had tamed in April. With his strong fight instinct and air of controlled power, he sometimes reminded Nina of a prowling lion.
“Exactly — as soon as they’re safe enough,” their dad said firmly. “That could be months away, but in the meantime you’ll have the chance to observe their training and learn everything you need to know.”
Realising her dad was right, Nina felt her heartbeat settle. She and Lily had been riding with the Wilson sisters for more than two years now, and they’d never been put into an unsafe situation — not even with Shyla, a wild Brumby mare that Nina had helped Kelly train for the Australian Brumby Challenge.
“Even once you start working with the stallions, Kelly will still be training them in between your visits, too,” their mum pointed out. “And talking of visits, you’ve only got tonight and tomorrow to catch up on schoolwork, if you’re wanting to get out to the Wilsons’ in time to see the Kaimanawas arrive.”
Nina sighed, knowing exactly what was in store for them over the coming weeks. There would be a lot of double-study on the days they were home, if they wanted to spend full days at the Wilsons’ as horse trainers. At times like these, Nina was very thankful they were homeschooled. Without that flexibility, they’d never be able to drop everything with so little notice and head off to help Kelly save the lives of these Kaimanawa stallions.
“I’m so glad Kelly’s letting us take Sparkles and Shyla out to their place. We’ll have to find time to ride them in between helping with the stallions,” Lily said to Nina later that afternoon as they rode their ponies back to their paddock. The sisters had put in several hours of schoolwork before escaping outside to take their ponies for a bareback farm ride.
“I am, too,” Nina replied. “I really need to keep Shyla fit so we can work towards the winter Show Hunter series.” The little Brumby mare was her pride and joy, and they’d formed a special bond since they’d first met two years earlier.
Lily nodded, reaching down to rub the neck of her grey and white pinto Sparkles. “Same for me in the winter Showjumping series. If Sparkles and I are going to take on even bigger heights this season, we’re going to have to be on form.” Lily had been riding Sparkles for almost as long as Nina had Shyla, and in that time the talented showjumper had taken Lily from 90-centimetre classes all the way to Mini Grand Prix. In between helping Kelly with the wild horses, the girls were also mentored by the eldest Wilson sister, Vicki, on showjumping. “Hopefully we’ll find time for Vicki to give us lessons on Dee and Duey, too.”
As well as competing their own ponies, Vicki had invited Nina to ride her buckskin pony Dee during the upcoming season, while Lily had been given the ride on Duey, a beautiful grey mare that had won several Show Hunter and showjumping championships with Vicki.
“Well, hopefully with only five stallions to train it shouldn’t be as hectic as the Wild Kaimanawa Workshop,” Nina said. Of the seventeen Kaimanawas that had arrived at the Wilsons’ following the April muster, fourteen had been for Kelly and her clients. To keep up with the huge workload, they’d been outside taming horses from sunrise to sunset.
Once both ponies had been covered and let go in their large hill paddock, Nina and Lily visited Thunder and Fern in the next paddock over. Both horses sported thick, fluffy winter coats. Having come from snowy high country, the Northland climate was proving quite mild for them, and neither had needed to be rugged over the winter.
Two days later, Nina clambered out of the car at Showtym Stables, the Wilson family’s home base. With the stallions due later that afternoon, they’d arrived in plenty of time to settle their ponies into paddocks and unpack. The scene was familiar, with dozens of horses grazing in the paddocks lining the river and arena. Nina unloaded Shyla from the horse float and the Brumby barely blinked at her surroundings — the Wilsons’ was basically her second home.
“Are you ready to meet the stallions?” Kelly said, coming out to greet the girls. Nina could see that beneath her experienced-trainer exterior, her mentor and friend was filled with the same nervous excitement that she was feeling herself.
Lily grinned. “I couldn’t be more excited!”
“As of this morning, I’ve talked Amanda into training one of the stallions, so you’ll only be helping me with four now — plus Captain and my other domestic horses, of course.”
Nina was pleased that Amanda, the youngest Wilson sister, would be joining in. As one of the country’s top showjumpers, she didn’t often have time to help with the wild horses, but hadn’t been able to bear the thought of horses going to slaughter. Wanting to do her part to help, she had already tamed two stallions, Timon and Pumba, from the April muster. “Only four stallions.” Nina laughed. “That’s still a lot!”
“I know, but hopefully it won’t be too overwhelming with both of you helping me out,” Kelly said.
“Where do you want Sparkles and Shyla?” Lily asked as the pinto mare rubbed her head on her shoulder.
“They can have the paddock above the round yard again,” Kelly said, pointing them in the direction of the paddock their ponies had stayed in during the Wild Kaimanawa Workshop. “Get them settled, and then bring your things in. Without any clients here, there’s plenty of room for you to stay in the house.”
Nina shot her sister a grin as they set off with their ponies. After camping in their truck for a month during the workshop, staying in Kelly’s cottage would feel like a luxury.
Half an hour later, after putting their ponies away and taking their bags inside, the girls waved goodbye to their mother and headed off in search of Kelly.
“What needs to be done before the stallions get here?” Lily asked, when they found her at Captain’s gate. Watching him now, calmly grazing, it seemed crazy to think that he’d been roaming wild in the Kaimanawa Ranges only ten weeks earlier.
“Thankfully everything’s still set up from the last muster, and the rain’s kept the water drums full, so there’s nothing else to organise,” Kelly said. The sisters were relieved — taking on extra stallions, with just forty-eight hours’ notice, was a hard enough task without having to prepare the stockyards from scratch too.
“What about hay and grass?” Nina asked, knowing Kelly liked to pick the wild horses fresh grass to eat while they were yarded.
“Already sorted.” Kelly grinned sheepishly. “I was too excited to wait for you guys.”
“Understandable,” Lily laughed as she turned her attention back to Captain. “How’s Captain been—”
At that moment Kelly’s phone rang. “Hello?” she answered. After a few moments she spoke up again, her voice harried. “That’s sooner than I expected — we’ll head straight down!”
Nina’s eyes widened as Kelly set off at a sprint, waving for them to follow. It seemed the wild stallions had arrived.
CHAPTER 2
THE NEW STALLIONS
FROM THE MOMENT the girls arrived at the stockyards and parked beside the waiting stock truck, they could tell the stallions were far more wild than any of the horses from the previous muster. Nina watched nervously as a black stallion in the truck reared up, his hooves striking the air in panic as the driver began to open the cattle door.
“That black sure is fiery,” Kelly said, frowning as she watched the stallion struggling to regain his footing in the tight space. His front legs were now trapped over the back of one of the other horses. “He must be the one that Kaimanawa Heritage Horses warned me about.”
Lily shot Kelly a glance. “What did they say?”
“That he was in light condition because he had to be mustered further than any other horse. It took three hours for the helicopters to bring his band in as they were living near the Desert Road, about thirty kilometres from the yards.”
“I thought the wild horses didn’t live near the road.” Nina frowned as she watched the truck driver encouraging the horses to exit the truck.
“Usually they don’t,” Kelly said, wincing at the sounds of hooves banging and the horses clashing as they started to panic, unwilling to step out of the open doorway and down the stock ramp. “His band had ventured out of Zone 20, which is a live firing zone several kilometres east of the Desert Road. The horses there aren’t used to seeing people, which will also explain why he’s so unsettled.”
As the first horse’s head cautiously appeared through the open doorway, the girls fell silent. First off the truck was a chestnut stallion, who stepped tentatively down the ramp, snorting as he made his way into the yards. A powerful grey stallion followed, with the black Kaimanawa close on his heels. The last horses to emerge were a mealy bay stallion, with cream points on his flank and muzzle, and a handsome flaxen chestnut, who came out tail first and rushed down the stock race backwards. When he reached the end, he spun in a panic, searching for the other stallions.
With all five horses unloaded, Nina looked over the new arrivals with both shock and awe. Although six of the seventeen horses from the previous muster had been stallions, these ones were in a totally different league. As they paced around the yard anxiously, she could see that several were marked with fresh blood. A network of older battle scars scored their bodies, and most of the stallions had heavy dreadlocks hanging from their manes and tails. The black stallion even had a notch missing from his ear, most likely bitten off during a fight.
“That black doesn’t look good,” Kelly said. “The stress of being mustered that far, then being yarded for two days, before being trucked nine hours north has really taken a toll on him.”
Nina watched as the black stallion retreated to the furthest yard and stood anxiously alongside a battered chestnut. Kelly climbed into the yard and shut the gate, leaving those two stallions together in the back half of the yards, and the other three in the front.
Nina turned her focus to the closest horses. The mealy bay looked to be the most relaxed.
“That one isn’t as old — maybe three or four,” Kelly said, rejoining the girls on the rails and seeing which of the horses held their attention.
“How do you know?” Lily asked.
“You can tell by the teeth bumps under his jaw,” Kelly said, pointing. “That happens when the permanent teeth are trying to push out the baby teeth.”
“What about the other two?” Nina said, gesturing to the grey and the flaxen, who were drinking from a muddy puddle in the yard, too timid to approach the full water drum. Spooking at Nina’s movement, the flaxen chestnut’s head raised and he snorted loudly before wheeling around and taking flight. The grey, who was the bloodiest of the lot, held his ground though, and Nina thought he seemed both wise and sensible.
“I think I photographed the grey in the Kaimanawa Ranges a few years ago,” Kelly said. “Remind me to look through my old photos when we’re back at the house.”
“Wow, how amazing would that be?” Nina said as she watched the magnificent stallion. His arched neck was covered with old scars, laced by fresh cuts, and a single long dreadlock hung from his mane. He looked like a noble war horse, unlike any Kaimanawa that Nina had ever seen.
“What’s the plan now?” Lily asked as she looked to the west, where a rainbow had formed against the dark grey sky. Taming horses in the heart of winter would no doubt be wet and muddy, and she was thankful there were only five horses in the yards to deal with this time round.
