The remarkable true story of a champion horse by John Boam

HE was one of the most famous and most successful ponies of his generation. He partnered numerous young riders to the giddiest of giddy heights in their chosen sport of showjumping, including quite a few Whitakers and a couple of Squibbs.

Miami Bound will always be remembered by those lucky enough to witness him in action - a legend forever and deservedly so, yet when he was born in a storm on a windswept hillside in south-west Scotland there was absolutely nothing in his lineage to suggest he’d achieve such greatness.

The farmer who bred him has already captured the factual story of his amazing world beating colt in the book ‘Miami Bound – the remarkable true story of a Champion’.

Now John Boam has ventured back into print, but this time with a fictionalised version of the pony’s life and career, largely as viewed through his eyes.

The book begins in a stable in Norway as the pony – now renamed as Storm Chaser - is being made ready for a long journey.

He is no stranger to travel, having spent a considerable part of his life in horseboxes, so he assumes all the preparations simply mean he’s going to another show. But he has also overheard people talking about a thing called retirement and can’t help but wonder just what that means. Could it even be something to fear?

As the journey begins and the miles pass, Storm remembers some of the most important places and people in his long life – starting with the family who knew and loved him when he was a mischievous and wilful foal.

In his mind he revisits the glory days when it sometimes seemed as though he had the world at his feet and wings on his hooves to let him fly over the toughest jumps and obstacles.

But not all the memories are jubilant. Along the way he has known heartache and disappointment as well as triumph and he doesn’t shy away from confronting the bleaker times.

For me, the most poignant part of Storm Chaser’s story is that despite all his success, the thing he has most wanted in life is a home with a rider who loves him and will keep him forever and that’s the one thing he has never been able to achieve.

In a way he becomes a victim of his own success, because when the inevitable happens and his young riders outgrow him and move on to horses, there’s always another ambitious youngster waiting in the wings, eager to take over the reins.

Along the way he forges some incredible partnerships, only to be left bewildered each time when the applause and adulation of the showjumping arena dies away and he finds himself being moved on yet again, torn away from people he has grown to love and other ponies who have become friends.

Is it because of some failing in himself, he wonders – is he to blame?

Full disclosure - as they say in all the best dramas – I know this book better than anyone – probably even better than the author John Boam himself.

That’s because he asked me to proofread and copyedit it, a job which requires a lot of concentration and an eagle-eyed ability to spot a rogue comma or a split infinitive.

I went over every line countless times with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, but I can still guarantee I’ll have missed something somewhere.

But be that as it may, and begging pardon for any wee typos that managed to slip through despite my very best efforts, I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone with the slightest interest in ponies, be they child or adult.

It’s a lovely, thoughtful and tender story which really gets into the heart and mind of our four-legged hero.

John has done a great job of seeing life as Storm sees it, showing how he tries to make sense of the things he’s required to do by the various people he meets along the way.

It’s packed full of adventure and interesting characters both human and equine, and I guarantee you’ll be rooting for this plucky, charismatic lad to succeed, not just in the showring but in life itself.

And if you’re anything like me, his story will stay with you long after you finish the last chapter and lay the book down.

You may even – like me – look at your own pony differently too. And perhaps that’s no bad thing.

I won’t spoil things by telling you how Storm Chaser’s story ends, but I’m more than delighted to report that the real-life Miami Bound came home to John Boam’s farm near Kirkcudbright at the end of his incredible career.

He was even able to rejoin his mum Gypsy for the last years of her long life. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect conclusion to an amazing fairytale.

And boy does he deserve it.

I actually got my first pony around thirty years ago. She was, rather inaccurately, called Beauty. A 13hh-ish, Fell-ish, goodness knows how old, contrary mare who had been happily bumbling about in a field for several years expected to do nothing more taxing than keep the grass short.Having a saddle plonked on her back and expected to actually work for her living did not suit her one little bit and she wasted no opportunity to let me know as much,says Gilly.