THE story of a blossoming friendship between a young girl and her horse has been turned into a children’s book.

Riding teacher Claire Pendleton, who lives and works at Court Equestrian in Callow End, decided to turn the story of her own daughter and her horse into a children’s book.

Called Leon Finds a Friend, the story book, with photos taken by Miss Pendleton’s friend Wendy Barnwell, sees her daughter Tessa discover a new friendship with a pony that looks a little bit different.

“It was three years ago this Christmas when Tess was three that we got Leon, a Welsh pony with blue eyes that was looking for a home,” said Miss Pendleton, aged 42. “I had been contacted by someone asking me if we wanted this Welsh pony and initially I said no. At the time Tess, who is six now, wanted this stuffed pony toy for Christmas but they had sold out of it.

“So I panicked and ended up buying her the Welsh pony, Leon, for Christmas, who had bright blue eyes.

“He was quite wild when we bought him but she has done lots with him and now he is brilliant.”

After a while, Miss Pendleton decided to write down Leon’s story in a short book for kids with a message about being different.

She said: “I have three children and they like to ride, I thought it would be a nice thing to do to encourage them to ride, and has a message of acceptance.

“It is a short book with pictures and you can read it before bed in full, which is good.

“We have had good success, we had about 500 printed and some went into shops.”

And her literary path hasn’t ended with Le-on’s story.

“The next book is underway. It has been great fun doing the books. I am thinking about doing a little series of them now,” she added.

And the star of the book has also enjoyed the experience.

“Tess has taken the books into school,” said Miss Pendleton. “She was very proud but a bit shy about it.”

For information, visit the website at court equestrian.co.uk.