A Holiday Memory // A Winter Memory — Lauren Brooke

Heartland is a horse farm nestled in the hills of Virginia, but it's much more than that. Heartland is a place like no other -- a place where the scars of the past can be healed, a place where frightened and abused horses learn to trust again.

It's December, and Amy can't help but remember the last holiday she spent with her mother. Back then, Amy was training Sundance, the feisty buckskin pony they had rescued from an auction. While Sundance had proven to be a talent in the show ring, he was still impossible to handle in the stable. Frustrated by the pony's attitude and her mother's rigorous training schedule, Amy is lacking holiday -- and Heartland -- spirit. But then, Sundance suddenly falls ill. And as Amy watches over him, she is finally able to glimpse the vulnerable pony's true heart -- and understand the precious healing gift she shares with her mother.