Free Horse

Marie St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

In Brave Horse, schoolmates Meg, Allison, and her cousin Becky continue
their adventures in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, this time on
Becky’s parents’ Mustang Mountain Ranch, which is quite isolated and
without modern amenities. Spoiled Allison is out of sorts about Meg’s
romance with Thomas and tells Thomas about a mysterious black stallion
called Diablo. Thomas rides off to find Diablo, not realizing he’s
chasing an imaginary horse. When he fails to return, the three girls,
along with Rob, Chuck, and ranch hand Old Slimgo, go looking for him.
Along the way they encounter some treacherous trails and high adventure,
forcing them to make serious decisions as a team.

In Free Horse, 15-year-old Meg is about to end her visit to Mustang
Mountain Ranch when Ruby Tucker, the owner of a nearby lodge, falls ill
and asks Meg to help his young stepson, Tyler, with the lodge. Tyler, a
bit of a handful, lets the horses loose, and Thomas, whom Meg really
likes, goes after them. Thomas soon discovers that someone is stealing
and selling the wild horses found in that area. He suspects that the
culprits are Tyler’s older brother Brett and his uncivilized friends.
When Thomas fails to return after a furious hailstorm, Meg and Tyler set
out to find him and the wild horses. Siamon builds an interesting plot
around the fate of the horses while portraying Meg’s gradual discovery
of her own feelings and the responsible choices she must make.

These latest stories in the Mustang Mountain series are written with
continuity and realism in both dialogue and plot. At the end of each
volume is a summary of other books in the series and a brief biography
of the author. The novels will be especially enjoyed by preteens who
love horses and believable adventure stories. Recommended.