Aimed at both young readers and horse lovers of all ages, Show Strides is a series of novels about riding, horse shows, and what it takes to succeed in the sport we all love, written by The Plaid Horse publisher, Piper Klemm, and Rennie Dyball, an author, equestrian, and editorial coordinator for The Plaid Horse. 

Description of Book 3: 

After a successful trip to Devon, the Field Ridge team returns home to Oaks for the summer, where life at the barn is as busy as ever. A jumper rider named Jacob and his horse Carlo begin trailering in for lessons with trainer Ryan, and the girls learn that being a boy in the sport has its own unique challenges. Tally and Goose are improving with each show, and Mac struggles with body confidence as they head toward their big summer finale, Pony Finals.

Excerpts:

Tally watched as Jacob slowed Carlo to a trot and then a walk, the little bay gelding holding his head high and proud. Jacob glanced around the ring, turning to say something to Ryan, and the buzzer sounded again.

“What’s he doing?” Tally asked.

“The jump-off,” Mac said.

“Wait! He has to jump the first course and then the jump-off right after it? Like, remembering them both at the same time?” Tally could hardly believe it. She’d never stress about memorizing a medal course again.”

“Let’s watch a few of the larges go,” Ryan said, gesturing for the girls to follow him to where the Large Pony over fences class was underway in the Walnut ring.

The ring was a vast expanse of fancy-looking show jumps, greenery, and long stretches of, well, nothing. Tally watched the pony on course cantering down a bending line and balking at something he saw. There was no shortage of sights for a pony to spook at in this ring.

“You must be in here for a full five minutes to get over all the jumps,” she whispered to Mac.

Tally steered G to the diagonal line, closing her fingers on the reins when he got a little strong, backing it up with her leg so he wouldn’t break to the trot. He came back to her, jumping in quietly. Tally opened his stride just a bit to the oxer in order to get the correct number of strides. It almost felt invisible. Landing off the diagonal, G leaned to the inside, and Tally felt her mental chatter starting up again, but when she shifted her weight to the outside and redirected G off his forehand, he got a nice, clean change. They cantered the outside line, coming home like they’d both been showing in big indoors their whole lives.

About Rennie Dyball

Rennie Dyball is the creator and co-author of SHOW STRIDES, a middle-grade equestrian series published by The Plaid Horse. Her picture book debut, B IS FOR BELLIES, will be published by Clarion (Spring 2023). She has also ghostwritten and co-authored several memoirs