The Tugboat Chronicles Needs a New Name!

I have spent the last few years writing a middle grade pony novel which has been called The Tugboat Chronicles ~ Confessions of a School Pony. I now need a new name and am asking for your help.

The editors who have worked with me over the years say I need something a bit more "bouncy," and fun. Something that will say it is a pony story by the title, which will be seen only on the spine of the book. I am also told using Tugboat's name in it implies it is for boys, and my market will be more girls (although I would HOPE there will be some boys who love the book, too!)

The book starts out when Tugboat is 4 years old and arrives at a new farm to be trained as a school pony. He isn't quite sure what a school pony is, and he doesn't know why he was taken from his home to this new farm. He would have been terribly lonely except for the friendship he has with a young homeless girl named Elizabeth, who visits him only at night when everyone else has gone home.

Tugboat is trained by Joe, the manager of the riding school, and soon becomes the most beloved lesson pony ever to trot around the ring. But even with all the human adoration, what Tugboat misses the most is the friendship of another pony because the stall next to him remains empty.

When a new pony finally arrives , Tugboat is taken back by how ugly and old Rusty is. He initially feels disappointed, but soon realizes Rusty is good and kind, and Tugboat becomes his devoted student and friend. It is through Rusty's life that Tugboat learns about the special bond between a pony and a child, and it is Rusty's death that plants the seeds of longing in Tugboat's heart to find the one child who will be lucky enough to call him "mine."

Throughout the book several different horses and ponies move in and out of the stall next to Tugboat and become his friend. Each horse/pony arrives with their own history, and each ones life turns a corner and goes off in a new direction when they leave. Through it all, Tugboat watches as one person after another claims his friends as their own, leaving him to wonder why no one picks him.

Now it would be silly of me to tell you the ending, so I won't. But it isn't what you're thinking.

So let those pieces of information noodle around in your head for a while, and if something clever, bouncy and captivating comes up, why please let me know!