Showing results by author "Clare Balding" in Animals & Nature

Puffin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of The Racehorse Who Wouldn't Gallop, written and read by Clare Balding. Charlie Bass is a horse-mad nine-year-old who dreams of owning her own pony. So when her eccentric parents announce that they are going to buy a racehorse, Charlie is thrilled. The horse they buy, Noble Warrior, looks the part: strong, fit and healthy. There's just one problem - he won't gallop.

Charlie's racehorse has certainly earned the name Noble Warrior: he won the Derby against all odds and bested a bunch of nasty kidnappers. But now Noddy is facing his greatest challenge yet. Charlie's best friend Polly is still recovering from an accident that left her almost paralysed. But Polly has a real talent with horses - and she and Charlie are determined not to let it go to waste. Can the two best friends find a way to make Polly's equestrian dreams come true, and forge a new path for the racehorse who wouldn't gallop?

Life is slowly getting back to normal for Charlie after her reluctant racehorse, Noble Warrior, won the Derby and saved her family from financial ruin. But drama soon returns to Folly Farm when thieves break into the farmyard in the dead of night and kidnap Noble Warrior! With the police baffled and no trace of the prizewinning thoroughbred to be found, Charlie launches her own investigation but is soon distracted by trouble closer to home.

Who would win in a slow sprint, the Australian Tiger Beetle or the American falcon? Is the sperm whale built to be a great long-distance swimmer or is perseverance her winning attribute? What would a tiger look like in a bikini? Find out all of this and more in the Animal Games, a competition like no other, where the world's most fascinating animals go head to head to become champions in their field. Full of fascinating and surprising facts and motivational takeaways that show even the most understated animals have hidden skills, you can't always judge something by its appearance.