Alyssa Brugman
Alyssa Brugman grew up reading pony books set in England or America: with plenty of pony content, but things alien to Australia like hunting and ranches. When she grew up, she was determined to write pony books which Australian readers would recognise, and this was the start of the Shelby series.
She has written other, non-
Alyssa has her own website, but has kindly written something for this site on her books.
Lots of Australian books are set in the bush. My books have Australian kids living
in the outskirts of Sydney, so that might be something
a bit different for your readers.
With my series I had a number of aims – one was to write an adventure story featuring Australian girls riding the types of horses that are typical here. I wanted to include a number of disciplines and have the girls riding through landscapes, both natural and built that should be familiar to most Australian horsey readers.
I wanted to accurately describe equine management in an Australian climate, with a particular emphasis on barefoot hoof care and natural horsemanship techniques, while at the same time factoring in the limitations of an urban environment. It’s all well and good to apply natural horsemanship principles if you have 1000 acres and unlimited time, but what if you live in Sydney, and you have half an hour before school?
When faced with a horse care issue, which she does in each book, Shelby seeks a number of opinions from the adults in her life. They always provide varying, and sometimes contradictory answers. Shelby’s job is to take aspects of those answers and apply them to her own situation, which is a valuable skill in life, not only in animal care.
An undercurrent of each of the books is the differing financial situations of the families of the girls. Anyone involved in horses cannot help being aware of the influence money has over one’s capacity to succeed in competition. It’s a reality, and something that I wanted to explore without necessarily smacking readers around the head with it.
It has also been my aim to make the adults real, with faults, flaws and vulnerabilities, including the whole ‘soccer mum’ phenomenon, which is even more intense in equestrian competition because the financial value of the animal (which can run into thousands and tens of thousands) is determinant on the child’s ability.
The other realistic element that I have been at pains to include is school. Once you factor in the school week, suddenly you have homework, you have classes to write about, teachers, and incidents in the playground. It’s so much easier to set an adventure novel in holiday time, but the reality is that kids have to go to school most of the time, and so Shelby does too.
I do have an agenda with these books. Shoeing of horses is still widespread in this country. Most children would not be familiar with barefoot principles, and so I am introducing them in these stories.
The overwhelming response I get from readers (and most of the girls who write to me own ponies) is that the girls in these stories are ‘just like us’. That’s very gratifying.
So what are the books like?
The books come very highly recommended by the Australian members on the Forum. Stardust said:
To me, Alyssa's books capture the true essence of the love and bond shared between
a girl and her pony. This dedication is beautifully blended into plots that feature
true to life situations which we all at times encounter in the 'Horsey World'. Alyssa
has a light and entertaining style but is also adept at portraying humour, suspense,
compassion and intrigue.
The human characters are those you feel you may have met
before, or may already do so. You may even recognise parts of your own self in the
books somewhere! The horsey characters are a delight, you can feel yourself developing
a connection with them too.
Much as I adore our British counterparts, it was so refreshing
to read pony fiction from a great Aussie author who obviously knows horses, people
and how to concoct the two to ensure a fabulous read for the young, and young at
heart!