‘I had a bruise,’ she explains, and is about to pull down the back of her leggings to show me her bum when a nearby Allie shrieks laughingly at her to stop.

Once the morning riders have been helped on to their mounts and are following Allie out of the yard, Kit strolls over to join us, confirming my immediate query about the name Keith and explaining that they also have a Pete, a Tim and a Bob.

‘No Kits?’ I ask, and he shakes his head.

‘Far too exotic.’

‘It’s a great name,’ I tell him honestly. Then, turning to Tui, ‘But I like your name even more.’

‘Bonnie reckons she named her Tui because she looked so much like a baby bird when she was born,’ explains Kit. ‘All pink and wrinkled, weren’t you, eh?’ he adds, and Tui cackles, as if she can recall the image herself.

‘Mm-hm.’

‘Oh, so Tui is a bird?’ I say, finally understanding.

‘I guess you might not have them in England,’ Kit replies, ruffling Tui’s already ruffled hair. ‘The best thing about a tui is their impersonations – they have two voice boxes, too, a bit like this little chatterbox,’ he adds, and Tui wriggles out of his grasp.

‘Bonnie told me that when Tui was a baby,’ he adds, ‘she would sit her in one of those bouncy chairs by her feet in the indoor school, and teach riding lessons while Tui just chirped away to herself.’

I become aware of a dull ache inside my chest. Anna must have done similar things with me – perhaps even more so, because she gave up her teaching job to raise me full-time, and I know she made a special effort to take me out to interesting places and play exciting games. But it still hurts to know that my birth mother did not deem me worthy of the love and attention she later showered on to her second child. What was it about me that was so hard for her to love?

‘She sounds like a perfect baby,’ I say, my tone thankfully betraying none of the torment that is going on inside my head.

‘Well …’ Kit pauses while Tui chases off ahead of us after Beavis. The little dog has pinched a dandy brush from somewhere and is carrying it proudly between his teeth.

‘I guess so,’ he says. ‘Until it became clear that she wasn’t like all the other kids, anyway.’

‘Why exactly is that, if you don’t mind me asking?’ I say quietly, and Kit stares for a moment into the distance.