Before I can get there, however, I catch sight of Tui over in the largest of the outdoor schools. She is up on the back of a stocky chestnut pony, her reins knotted to stop them trailing, and as I draw nearer, I see that her stirrups are crossed over the front of her saddle, too. Allie, who is standing in the middle of the arena holding a long lunge rein and whip, sees me and inclines her head in a brief greeting. Feeling thus encouraged, I pause to watch for a few minutes, my elbows up on the fence.

‘Try to deepen your seat,’ Allie instructs, cracking her whip on the ground so that the pony begrudgingly shifts into a loping trot.

Up in the saddle, Tui begins to bounce and flail, her usual merriness punctured by a frown. Gripping the pommel until her knuckles turn white, she starts to slip helplessly to one side, and Allie is left with no choice but to pull the pony up.

‘You need to relax,’ she tells Tui soothingly. ‘Don’t grip the saddle with your knees, make your legs go all floppy.’

‘All right, all right. Jeez!’

‘Now, shall we try that again?’ suggests Allie, and Tui promptly nods, which I remember could very well mean no. Before I have time to call out to Allie, though, the whip has cracked yet again, and this time the startled gelding sets off with more gusto, almost unseating Tui and bringing her rapidly to tears.

That’s it. I’ve seen enough.

Ducking under the fence and striding briskly to the centre of the school, I take the lunge rein from a shocked Allie and ease the chestnut pony to a walk.

‘Halt,’ I command.

The pony halts.

‘Tui, are you OK?’ I ask.

After wiping her cheeks with the bottom of her bright yellow Pokémon T-shirt, Tui shakes her head.

‘Yes, I think so, Genie, yes.’

She remembered my name.

‘Good,’ I say, wrapping the rein more tightly around my fingers. Allie is yet to say anything, but I imagine the hostility is radiating off her like steam off a pudding.

‘Now, wriggle your bottom backwards until you feel comfortable – that’s it. Then lift up that chin until you can see the clouds. Can you see them?’

‘Uh-uh.’ Tui shakes her head again.

‘Right, now I want you to imagine that there’s a really heavy stone in the heel of your boots – can you do that?’

Tui closes her eyes, her tongue poking out through her teeth as she concentrates, and as I hoped, she drops both her heels and lifts her toes into the correct position.

‘That’s brilliant!’ I say. ‘Now hold on to the saddle, and we’ll try a walk first – OK?’