Madhead The Crazy Horse!

Why I decided to write a children's story. My 10 year old daughter Yasmin loves ponies and horses. She has her own pony, a Cob called Eclipse and he is six years old . We keep him in Broadmeadows Stables in County Meath. The best part about this is that Yasmin gets to socialize with lots of other girls and boys at Broadmeadows and she spends a lot of her time out doors in all kinds of weather. Eclipse is on DIY livery which means Yasmin has to muck out and tack and groom her own pony. We still help Yasmin with these chores just like the other Mammy's and Daddy's at Broadmeadows! Yasmin has always wanted to horse ride and has been taking riding lessons since she was five years old. This has been really good for her as she has Dyspraxia, which affects her fine and gross motor skills. In the early stages of learning to ride, Yasmin had a huge difficulty in balance and concentration. Show jumping requires core muscle strength and course calculation. Yasmin has to work very hard to achieve her passion and she never gives up trying! She has had many, many falls, but thankfully, she was never injured from falling off a horse and Yasmin has improved every day. Eclipse is also a willful pony and he likes to do his own thing. He often refuses a jump at the last minute and throws Yasmin to the ground. But Yasmin loves him so much, she won't give up on him, she says, "I'll make him jump Mam!" I think working with animals teaches children a lot. We are all very proud of Yasmin. Yasmin's inspiration comes from her sister Sarah 19 and her best friend Anna 18. The two girls have been horse riding since they were three years old and have competed in lots of competitions together. Anna has now gone to England to follow her dreams of riding in the Olympics while Sarah gave up competing for a while to devote her time to her 1st year in IADT Art College, Dublin. Although she still gets to ride the beloved horses in Broadmeadows Stables at the weekends! Sarah has just completed her first year and I am delighted to share Sarah's talent for drawing horses, as she is the illustrator for Madhead the Crazy horse! Synopsis; Madhead, Betsy and Cleo are my daughter Yasmin's imaginary pony friends. My husband Anthony created Madhead in a bedtime story when Yasmin was just four years of age. Yasmin began to love the Madhead stories so much that she soon added in her own ponies Betsy and Cleo too. I would often catch Yasmin giggling to herself and I knew it was because Madhead and his friends were with her. I began to develop Madhead as the main character for a children's storybook full of bright pictures and a funny story, to target children ranging from age three to thirteen. That seems like a wide age difference but as a mother of children with reading difficulties, I find that the age 8/10 books have a lot of small words in them and my kids would lose interest quickly. I wanted to create a character that children could relate to and I thought a pony would be great as most children love ponies. Madhead is my ADHD pony. He is hyperactive and instinctive. He likes to gallop instead of trot and he is always in trouble. The other ponies in Broadmeadows Stables don't like Madhead because he's a common cob and he has bad manners. Luckily Madhead has one friend called Betsy who tries to steer him clear of trouble with not great success! Madhead's days may be numbered at Broadmeadows Stables!