Kate Lattey > Quotes

“She'd missed the way he walked, the way he shoved his hands into his pockets when he was nervous, the way his dark hair fell into his mismatched eyes. The way a smile would flicker across his face before he committed to it, the way he looked at her like she was the only person in the world.”
― Kate Lattey

“Never tell her that something is impossible, because she'll kill herself proving you wrong.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“You push people away, Marley. You don't realise it, but you do. You close yourself off to anyone and anything that doesn't fit in your perfect little hamster ball of life. But you can't experience love only on your own terms. It doesn't work that way.”
― Kate Lattey, Dream On

“Real is...just being you. It's not letting yourself be defined by other people's opinions of you, of who they think you are, or what they expect you to be. It's refusing to let them squash you into the box they've built for you, and just being yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. Because you're never going to matter to everyone, just like everyone's never going to matter to you. So you choose the people whose opinions you care about, and you be real for them.”
― Kate Lattey, Dream On

“The best kind of people are the ones that come into your life and make you see the sun where you once saw clouds.   The people that believe in you so much, you start to believe in you too.   The people that love you simply for being you.   The once in a lifetime kind of people.”
― Kate Lattey, Against the Clock: Clearwater Bay #2

“Because that saying about sticks and stones is a pack of lies. Unkind words hurt more than anything else. You end up carrying them around in your head, wondering if they’re true. Bruises fade, but self-doubt follows you forever.”
― Kate Lattey, Triple Bar

“She'd said jump, he'd said how high, and he'd never once thought of saying no to her. Trust seemed such a simple word for the strength of the bond they had shared.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“Goodbye," she told him, running her hand across his broad back one last time. "I love you. And I'll never, ever stop missing you.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“Don’t underestimate anyone else’s pain, Mar. Everyone goes through hard times. Life’s thrown us a lot of challenges, but we can’t back down from them. We’ve just got to keep going. Keep fighting, keep living, keep having fun and working hard and always doing the best we can.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“The restlessness and the longing, like the longing that is in the whistle of a faraway train. Except that the longing isn’t really in the whistle - it is in you.   -  Meindert DeJong    ”
― Kate Lattey, Jonty:

“In her dreams, she was always riding Cruise.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.   - Kevin Durant  ”
― Kate Lattey, Jonty:

“The future hovered in front of her, and she rode Cruise towards it, her hands steady on the reins and her head among the clouds.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“She’d said jump, he’d said how high, and he’d never once thought of saying no to her. Trust seemed such a simple word for the strength of the bond they had shared.”
― Kate Lattey, Dare to Dream

“It’s the show jumpers that I find the most interesting to watch. Small kids being taken around low courses by calm, professional ponies. Teenage riders on fit ponies with their show jackets slung over the front of their saddles and their feet dangling out of their stirrups, who call out greetings to Tabby as they ride past. All different shapes and sizes of horses, because all that really matters in show jumping is their ability to clear a jump. Thoroughbreds with weedy necks and tight martingales, clunky Roman-nosed horses that look like they’ll never be able to lift themselves off the ground, big Warmbloods being held back in gag bits, their shoulders slick with sweat.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“Everything around me goes suddenly silent, even the cicadas in the trees pausing in their incessant whirring, momentarily stunned into stillness. For a long moment I hear nothing at all, but stand frozen in a silent grey world.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“Spice, and the grey one, Barnacle.”
― Kate Lattey, Irish Luck:

“A ship in harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”
― Kate Lattey, Five Stride Line

“She grabbed at the edge of her pillow, trying to pull it out from under AJ’s head. I listened to them tussle for a moment, then Katy shrieked. “Ow! Did you just bite me?” “You don’t grow up with two older brothers without learning to defend yourself,” AJ told her as the door opened and the light came on. We all cried out and covered our eyes, blinded by the sudden brightness. Katy’s mum stood in the doorway, glaring at us. “Would you lot shut up and go to sleep?” “AJ bit me!” Katy told her mother, holding her wrist out for inspection. “Good for her. Go to sleep,” Deb said unsympathetically.”
― Kate Lattey, Four Faults

“I clung to the dream like a lifeline, the only thing worth keeping going for. That was why I had agreed to come here. I'd always said I would sell my soul for a pony of my own.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“Dad diagnoses me as having a stomach bug, claiming that there’s a nasty one going around, but I’m fairly certain it’s the chicken he cooked last night, which was a bit squishy and pink in places. I’d barely eaten any and Dad had scoffed a whole plate of it down, which is why he says it can’t have been the cause, but he has a cast iron stomach, probably from years of inadvertently poisoning himself.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“you know what they say about paying peanuts and getting monkeys.”
― Kate Lattey, Five Stride Line

“I counted the numbers on the letterboxes as Squib spooked and bounded along the road, unable as usual to walk like a normal pony. Why behave sensibly when you can impersonate a carousel horse? had always been his motto.”
― Kate Lattey, First Fence

“Deb laughed at him. “He looks like he enjoys his meals.” “Food is all he lives for,” I confirmed to her.”
― Kate Lattey, First Fence

“He’s probably never ridden a horse in his life. He’s likely never experienced that moment of euphoria when you and an animal move completely as one, the indescribable sensation of grace and power running through your bones and settling forever in your heart. He probably won’t have felt a pony’s warm breath on his neck on a cold winter’s morning, or run his hand proudly across the soft sheen of a well-groomed coat. And he’s surely never rested his head against a pony’s warm neck, wrapped his arms around it and closed his eyes, and held on tightly to the one thing in his life that would stay solid and constant and true. So he couldn’t understand, not really, but I did.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“It’s a beautiful morning that’s promising to be stinking hot by the afternoon. We ride the ponies down to the warm-up ring, surrounded by horses and ponies of all shapes and sizes, Alec calling out greetings to people he knows. I love everything about the atmosphere of a horse show. The smell of crushed grass, the drum of hoofbeats across the ground, the clatter of the poles coming down, the scattered applause from spectators.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“I unhooked the partition and pulled it back, revealing the donkey’s shaggy coat and pot belly. She wouldn’t win any beauty pageants, but she looked to be in fairly good health. I clipped up her lead rope and led her to the top of the ramp where she stopped and looked around, swivelling her huge ears like antennae. Skip and Forbes were in the furthest corner of their paddock, staring in horror at the truck and snorting loudly at each other, clearly not impressed with the newest addition to the family. “What”
― Kate Lattey, Seventh Place

“apologise.”
― Kate Lattey, First Fence

“Alec is sitting deep in the saddle, holding the mare firmly between hand and leg, not letting her get away from him. After a couple of quick circles, she steadies her stride and gets into a proper rhythm, moving with ease and grace across the turf, turning easily and responding to Alec’s light aids. There’s not much muscle on her light frame, her neck is thin and held high, giving a slightly giraffe-like impression, and her unease shows in the slight roll of her eye. But I can see now, so easily, the pony she could be. I can imagine myself cantering her into the ring, her copper coat glistening in the sun and neatly pulled mane ruffling in the light breeze, her slender legs dancing across the grassy turf. I can feel my own legs against her sides, the thickness of rubber reins taut between my fingers. I hear the sound of the jostling crowd and know that all eyes are on us as we canter around the ring. We hold their attention and admiration as they watch us jump easily over the highest obstacles. In my mind, the chestnut pony’s neck is arched, tail proudly aloft, her dark eyes bright and full of life and enthusiasm.”
― Kate Lattey, Flying Changes

“Squib’s blood was up and he cantered excitedly to the crossbar, flinging himself over and racing the two strides to the vertical. Deb yelled to me to sit up and hold him, and I did my best as we made the three strides to the oxer. Squib never flinched at the height, seeming to view it as a personal challenge, and he flew over easily. I was grinning as we landed, but not for long. Squib was so thrilled by his own efforts that he gave himself a victory lap, pulling the reins out of my hands and launching into a series of triumphant bucks. I was thrown from the saddle, and as the grass came rushing up to meet me, all I could think before I hit the ground were two simple words. Worth it.”
― Kate Lattey, First Fence