My little piece of Scotland: Poracco Riding School

I am in primary four. My teacher is called Mrs Hare. I have a sister, she is called Eilidh and is in primary six. We share a bunny called Daisy and we have a fish each. Eilidh's is called Tom and my fish is called Terry – they love food.

My favourite place in Scotland is the riding stables called Poracco Riding School. It is an amazing place. You can learn different things. I have been riding for two years. So far Eilidh and I have learnt to walk, trot, canter and jump. My favourite thing to do is cantering because you go fast, and I like to go fast.

My sister rides a tall, elegant pony called Papoose, and the one I ride is a small, speedy pony called Queenie. She is brown with a white snip and she has a very nice temper. I love her so much.

The stable is run by Dawn and Sharon, and they have a horse each called Fly and Lo. They take you on hacks, and on Wednesdays they let you untack the horses – this is when you brush down the horse and put a blanket on it.

One summer, Eilidh and I were helping out – which means getting the horses and ponies ready and leading them in the lessons. We also mucked out the stables, filled the haybags and untacked the horses. We also both got a lesson on Queenie and Papoose every day, which was the best part.

What I like is to have all day to spend around horses, because horses are my favourite animals. The horses and ponies are called Queenie, May, Jack, Ginger, Papoose, Sammy, Donald, Louise, Rosie and Polly – Polly had a foal. The foal is called Vegas.

There is a big lake nearby. At the lake you can feed the ducks and go on boat rides, but recently the lake has been frozen because of the bad weather. I haven't been on a boat ride but I would like to go on one.

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, March 14, 2010