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we'll take the ponies to the yard and saddle up.’
    They were in time to wave goodbye to Joel's mother, Mrs Richards, who was taking two late-season holiday couples out for an hour's ride. Tamzin was glad Mrs Richards wasn't there to see her first efforts with Moonlight's harness. Putting the saddle on was easy enough, but the bridle was much more difficult. It seemed to be an endless tangle of straps and buckles, and Tamzin muddled the whole thing three times before Joel came to her rescue.
    ‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘The more you do it, the easier it'll get.’ He slipped the snaffle bit into Moonlight's mouth, pulled the bridle over the pony's head and buckled the strap called the throatlash. ‘Right. Just a hard hat, and we're ready.’
    With a borrowed riding helmet firmly on, Tamzin really felt ‘the biz’, as Joel put it. He showed her how to mount, gathering the reins and placing her hands on Moonlight's back, then putting her left foot in the stirrup.
    ‘One, two, three and up !’ He gave her a helping shove and suddenly Tamzin was sitting in the saddle, with the ground a lot further away than it had been a moment ago.
    ‘Wow!’ she said, feeling that if she smiled any more widely her face would fall in half. ‘This is great!’ She had forgotten all her earlier worries; forgotten everything but the fact that her dearest wish had come true. Joel clipped a leading rein to Moonlight's bridle, then sprang with an ease that Tamzin envied on to the back of a piebald pony called Dandy.
    ‘All right?’ he asked.
    Tamzin nodded eagerly.
    ‘Good. Then hold the reins like I showed you, press your heels gently against his flanks, and we're off.’
    With Dandy ahead and Moonlight on the leading rein, they rode slowly out of the yard. Tamzin's heart thudded with excitement and pride, and she tried to remember the instructions Joel had given her. Back straight, knees in, heels down. Reins not too tight but not too loose, so that she could just ‘feel’ Moonlight's mouth. As they turned on to the valley path she swayed to the swing of the pony's stride, gazing around and feeling – almost literally – on top of the world.
    Joel looked over his shoulder and nodded encouragement. ‘That's it! You're doing fine.’
    Halfway to the beach they met some walkers coming the other way. Joel edged Dandy into the heather to let them pass; Moonlight followed and Tamzin smiled at the walkers, trying to look as if she had ridden horses all her life. When they moved on again she dared to take one hand off the reins and pat Moonlight's neck where his thick white mane curved over. Moonlight's ears pricked and he made a small whickering sound, as if he was pleased.
    Soon they were in sight of the beach. The tide was low again. Two people and a dog were walking in the distance, but there was no one else in sight.
    ‘Would you like to ride on the sand?’ Joel asked.
    ‘Well, if you think I can.’ Tamzin gazed at the beach stretching away into the distance. ‘But we're not going to gallop or anything, are we?’
    He laughed. ‘Course not! It's much too soon for you. Though we might try a little trot, if you want to.’
    The ponies picked their way down the rocks, and Joel taught Tamzin how to lean back in the saddle, to make the slope easier for Moonlight. The wind was stronger on the beach and the sea was very rough after the storm, surf pounding in with a huge, steady noise that beat against Tamzin's ears and seemed to echo inside her head.
    ‘The lion's roaring today,’ said Joel.
    She was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
    He pointed to where the huge crag rose from the sea in the distance. ‘See that? People round here call it Lion Rock, so when the sea's really big like this, they say it's the lion roaring.’
    For some reason that she couldn't work out, a peculiar feeling fluttered in Tamzin's stomach. ‘It's a weird name,’ she said. ‘Why do they call it that?’
    Joel shrugged. ‘I don't know. Maybe they think