Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Wild Magic is the first book of four in the Immortal series by Tamora Pierce. In this book you meet Daine a young girl who was orphaned by bandits and is looking for a job at a fair. Daine has a Gift of talking to animals but it is like no regular Gift anyone else has, and she keeps quiet about it because it is so odd. At the fair she meets Onua who buys ponies for the Queen's Riders. Onua had just lost her helper and was looking for another one. When she meets Daine she has doubts that she is really an orphan and uses her Gift to she if she lies when she asks her questions about who she is. When Onua finds out that all she lies about is her age she asks Daine to come and look at the horses to see how well she handles them. When she sees Daine interact with the ponies she was interested to see how Daine made dominence over him like a real horse. Afer this she takes Daine on and they head off to the capital. On the road to the capital they encounter mythical creatures that aren't suppose to be alive, encounters heros, and discovers that there might be more to her Gift than she ever thought. This book will become your favorite after you read it. Trust me.