WHEN you are sixty years old, overweight and used to working in an office, becoming a stable hand in the depths of winter is a bold career choice.

Jenny Loweth’s latest book Forking Off! charts her nine months working at Farfield Livery Centre, near Bolton Abbey, before returning to her job as court reporter with the Telegraph & Argus in Bradford.

As well as falling in the mud, getting trampled on (by her own horse!) and being terrified of the huge horses in ‘The Paddock of Doom,’ the book is a coming of age journey into a seventh decade. It is laced with hope and humour as Jenny looks back at her childhood in The Lake District, while coming to terms with tragic losses and her father’s sudden debilitating illness.

Forking Off! tackles issues of lack of self-esteem and confidence in late middle-age. Jenny hopes it will strike a chord with nervous horse riders as well as appealing to anyone who finds life a struggle and feels that time is passing them by.

The following extract describes Jenny’s first attempt at competing her lively little mare, Sprite, in a mini hunter trial.

‘Standing on the sidelines, I looked longingly at the miniature fences in the smallest class, dotted invitingly over the meadow. I wished I was brave enough to take Sprite round, but I was a lardy, frightened lump of a thing, drained of all hope and confidence. Then, after years of watching friends conquer their nerves to brave the tiny course and earn rosettes, it was my turn. I vowed to win a prize by my sixtieth birthday in August. Sprite and I were dressed in matching scarlet for our debut in May. I was so terrified that I was in tears in the horse wagon as I clumsily struggled to zip up my chaps and wrestle my body protector round my bulging waistline. Sick with fear, I was the first out on the course, desperate to get it over with. We circled to start and then we were off.’

Jenny is one half of a personal and writing partnership with Steven Wright, who until two years ago was the crime reporter on the Telegraph & Argus. Steven’s decision to take voluntary redundancy gave him the opportunity to ride his ex-steeplechaser, Adelphi Warrior, known as Alexander, in the charity Flat race at Skipton. With a combined age of 71, the pair trained hard for their big day – with Steven desperate to get his beloved thoroughbred, who had failed on the race track, into the Winners’ Enclosure. Now Steven has relaunched his book, Race To My Dream, which relates their seven-year rollercoaster ride of dramatic falls, uplifting triumphs and strange adventures, leading up to their greatest challenge.

Woven into Steven’s story are his meetings with Yorkshire racing legend, Mister McGoldrick, both before and after the Cheltenham Festival winner retired. Steven’s admiration and support for the New Beginnings charity where Mister McGoldrick lives led to one of the proudest days of his life when he was allowed to ride him.

Race To My Dream is the uplifting tale of a middle-aged man, two wonderful horses and one ambitious dream.Steven, 60, now works as a residental carer in Ilkley. He and Jenny have three horses, Alexander, Sprite and Dixie, and share their Silsden home with Lily from the Greyhound Trust.

Forking Off! and Race To My Dream are self-published on Amazon Books in Kindle and paperback.