https://www.amazon.com/One-Hoof-Grave-Carriage-Driving-Mysteries/dp/1611940176/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dark-Horse-Campbell-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B004C44ET8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1472305469&sr=1-1&keywords=death+by+a+dark+horse and sequels https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Schreyer/e/B004CLPMUG/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884051226/ref=kinw_rke_rti_1
How does one get a threadlike this put on a reference section - it is a good one for future reference.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8817756]
How does one get a threadlike this put on a reference section - it is a good one for future reference.[/QUOTE]
That would be a good idea.
[QUOTE=hillary again;8817438]
@Angela Freda: “Hot Blood” is a stunning expose, but it’s not relaxing fiction ;). Whole 'nuther category! What an awesome tale, all the same, and still worth reading, since the people involved still show up from time to time. Thanks for reminding me about that one![/QUOTE]
Phooey, clearly I missed the ‘fiction’ part of the assignment, none of my three recommendations are!
Beautiful Jim Key – Excellent story! Morgan Freeman signed on for the movie a couple of years ago, but haven’t heard any more since then.
Ruffian – excellent book, lots of impressive detail. Seabiscuit is VERY similar in parts (about the jockeys), but Ruffian is a far better book.
Snowman: The Eighty Dollar Champion. Good story, but focuses a bit too much on the non-horse background parts.
ETA: Wait, was the assignment supposed to be fiction books only? The three above are all based on real horses, so … what do I call them? Equine biographies? Ghost-written memoirs? :lol::winkgrin:
DEFINITELY Heavenly Horse From The Outermost West and its sequel, Piper at the Gates. Also horse fantasy: A Wind In Cairo by Judith Tarr. One of my faves.
Jennifer
Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James. Also recently re-read Black Beauty and it was a great read. Seabiscuit is also wonderful and I really enjoyed Snowman.
[QUOTE=WoofNWhinny*;8818482]
Beautiful Jim Key – Excellent story! Morgan Freeman signed on for the movie a couple of years ago, but haven’t heard any more since then.
Ruffian – excellent book, lots of impressive detail. Seabiscuit is VERY similar in parts (about the jockeys), but Ruffian is a far better book.
Snowman: The Eighty Dollar Champion. Good story, but focuses a bit too much on the non-horse background parts.
ETA: Wait, was the assignment supposed to be fiction books only? The three above are all based on real horses, so … what do I call them? Equine biographies? Ghost-written memoirs? :lol::winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
I think at this point, all recommendations are welcome.
Tami Hoag; “Dark Horse” and the sequel “Alibi Man”
Jody Jaffe’s H/J novels. Jody is a poster here.
Dark Horse series by Mary Herbert
If you like some romance thrown in check out Bev Patterson’s books. Mystery romance but well written horse language. No tacky sex scenes either. Quick reads and the author writes well.
http://www.bevpettersen.com/books.html
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8712471]
Not a series, but “Horse Heaven” is still one of my favorites of all time. I just like Jane Smiley’s work in general.[/QUOTE]
Love that. I just re-read it last month.
Did anybody mention The Black Stallion series? Of course, we’ve ALL read those right?
I remember another one from my childhood called Hold The Rein Free.
How about the book called Valley Of The Horses, from the series by Jane Auel?*
I saw “Heavenly Horse of the Outermost West” and it sparked a memory. Around the same time I read that series (like Watership Down with horses, only less darkly depressing), I also read “Rider at the Gate” by C.J. Cherryh. It’s a sci-fi that reads like a fantasy. I was at a perfect age to ignore all the social and religious commentary in favor of just wanting my own black horse. 
There’s a second book in the series that I gobbled up as well - Cloud’s Rider.
If you haven’t read Black Beauty as an adult, you should. It was never intended to be a sentimental kids’ story, but was widely called “The Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the Horse” and added a lot to the humane movement and the founding of S.P.C.A.s in England and America in the l880s. The book was published by the ASPCA and was given away to schoolchildren, teamsters and anyone interested in promoting humane treatment of horses. It’s a mystery to me how a shy, proper Victorian Quaker lady who was a semi-invalid for most of her adult life learned so much about grooms, stables and horsemen, but she certainly knew horses!
If you can splurge, look for The Annotated Black Beauty by Ellen Wells, with the unabridged book plus the author’s story, backstory to the book, illustrations and explanations of Victorian tack, vehicles and stable management, all about various editions, and best of all, all the wonderful illustrations from the great editions. It’s a treasure!
[QUOTE=Horse Rider;8821301]
I saw “Heavenly Horse of the Outermost West” and it sparked a memory. Around the same time I read that series (like Watership Down with horses, only less darkly depressing), I also read “Rider at the Gate” by C.J. Cherryh. It’s a sci-fi that reads like a fantasy. I was at a perfect age to ignore all the social and religious commentary in favor of just wanting my own black horse. There’s a second book in the series that I gobbled up as well - Cloud’s Rider.[/QUOTE]
I really liked Watership Down, and a few other books in that “series.” Is Heavenly Horses similar to that? Rider at the Gate sounds interesting as well.
[QUOTE=Old Grey Mare;8821340]
If you haven’t read Black Beauty as an adult, you should. It was never intended to be a sentimental kids’ story, but was widely called “The Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the Horse” and added a lot to the humane movement and the founding of S.P.C.A.s in England and America in the l880s. The book was published by the ASPCA and was given away to schoolchildren, teamsters and anyone interested in promoting humane treatment of horses. It’s a mystery to me how a shy, proper Victorian Quaker lady who was a semi-invalid for most of her adult life learned so much about grooms, stables and horsemen, but she certainly knew horses!
If you can splurge, look for The Annotated Black Beauty by Ellen Wells, with the unabridged book plus the author’s story, backstory to the book, illustrations and explanations of Victorian tack, vehicles and stable management, all about various editions, and best of all, all the wonderful illustrations from the great editions. It’s a treasure![/QUOTE]
I loved that book as a kid, I went back and re-read it for a book report and high school and my eyes were blown wide open. I had never realized before that point how political it was, and how it was really pushing the need for better treatment of horses in England.
[QUOTE=partita;8820616]
Did anybody mention The Black Stallion series? Of course, we’ve ALL read those right?
I remember another one from my childhood called Hold The Rein Free.
How about the book called Valley Of The Horses, from the series by Jane Auel?*[/QUOTE]
I gobbled all of those up in middle school. Bless my middle school librarian, she really pushed to get all of the books he had written into the library, and I was always the first one to check them out! That and the Thoroughbred series and the Heartland series. She was all about indulging my love of reading and my love of horses!
[QUOTE=Old Grey Mare;8821340]
If you haven’t read Black Beauty as an adult, you should. It was never intended to be a sentimental kids’ story, but was widely called “The Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the Horse” and added a lot to the humane movement and the founding of S.P.C.A.s in England and America in the l880s. The book was published by the ASPCA and was given away to schoolchildren, teamsters and anyone interested in promoting humane treatment of horses. It’s a mystery to me how a shy, proper Victorian Quaker lady who was a semi-invalid for most of her adult life learned so much about grooms, stables and horsemen, but she certainly knew horses!
If you can splurge, look for The Annotated Black Beauty by Ellen Wells, with the unabridged book plus the author’s story, backstory to the book, illustrations and explanations of Victorian tack, vehicles and stable management, all about various editions, and best of all, all the wonderful illustrations from the great editions. It’s a treasure![/QUOTE]
There are multiple annotated Black Beauties on Amazon, but most just list the original author. I tried using Ms. Wells name but wasn’t able to figure out which one might be the one you reference. Where did you obtain your copy?
[QUOTE=Draftmare;8821698]
I really liked Watership Down, and a few other books in that “series.” Is Heavenly Horses similar to that? Rider at the Gate sounds interesting as well.[/QUOTE]
I use Watership Down as a comparison because my book’s blurb compares the two. 
I would say they are similar. The horses interact and live with people in a way we recognize, and they don’t talk to people, but they talk to eachother, have their own mythology and gods, and go out into the world to deal with overarching badness/evil.
I read both series as a kid and they hold up as an adult, which makes sense considering they’re adult books. I do definitely recommend both to fellow horse people. I think you’ll like them if you like your horses mixed with fantasy.
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