Anyone remember this book series?

[cattywampus]

I read it a hundred years ago through the scholastic book club, back when you had got the fantastic list of delights and gave your teacher exact change.

Protagonist is teen hunter rider who is not wealthy and works as assistant trainer to get lessons. Trying to make it to Maclay finals. Parents are divorced. Each book involves a mystery. Set in northeast US. One book is at a NYC multilevel barn.

There is requisite hot stable boy with shady past, wealthy friend with a horse named after Nat King Cole because she’s more into music than horses, and protagonist wants Hermes saddle.

[Limitless]

I do! I have them! 4 books by Claire Birch: Lucy Hill Mysteries.

[cattywampus]

Thank you! Off to order them.

[Spudsmyguy]

Anyone remember the book about a girl who bought a failed standardbred from an abusive owner when she caught him beating the snot out of him for coming in 5th in a race he wasn’t ready for. The girl retrained him as a hunter. The story was told both from the girl’s point of view and the horse’s. It was a good story.

[Laverne77]

Was the book you’re thinking of “The Winning Colt” by Louise Lee Floethe?

[Spudsmyguy]

Could be. That sounds right.

[SharonA1]

@cattywampus

There is requisite hot stable boy

Damn. Where’ve I been? I don’t think I’ve ever been at a barn that had a hot stable boy. I mean, I of course wouldn’t have noticed, as I have a mind above such things and would have been focused on my horse anyway, but still.

I do still find myself wanting to apologize to my instructor of 50 years ago, who was possibly gay and had to deal with all these adolescent lesson girls who probably thought he was hot (he wasn’t, but he was blond).

Oooh. Here we go. As Amazon apparently is reading over my shoulder, it has just suggested the following book:

Irish Thoroughbred.
For lonely but spirited orphan Adelia ‘Dee’ Cunnane, her uncle’s invitation is a dream come true. And so she leaves her home in Ireland to work for him in Maryland, at one of the most respected stables in the country. Starting as a groomer puts Dee in constant contact with the horses she loves -but it also brings her up close and personal with Travis Grant, the stable’s proud but handsome owner. And as the lush Maryland horse country begins to work its charms on Dee, so does Travis, pulling her into a turbulent passion with unexpected consequences…Irish Thoroughbred can be enjoyed as a gripping standalone. It is also the first in the Irish Legacy trilogy, which continues with Irish Rose and Irish Rebel.

Turbulent passion. Lush countryside. Hmmm!

[cattywampus]

I keep telling my (early teen) son he should do pony things with me and he’ll be a hot commodity by the time he’s into girls*. There was exactly one (1) boy in my Pony Club days, who was probably not objectively hot, but everyone wanted him, because only boy. In tight pants. With a horse.

I think fiction has a lot to answer for, because teen me neither met hot, moody stable boys escaping troubled pasts nor outcompeted the bitchy rich girl and her expensive horses with my backyard pony.

*I suppose argument is invalid if he decides he’s into boys. Right now, any talk of romance makes him squirm and run away.

[WavyRider]

If you like that type of story, I recommend “The Perfect Distance” by Kim Ablon Whitney!

[Montanas_Girl]

@SharonA1

Irish Thoroughbred

I read this trilogy, along with a whooooole lot of other Nora Roberts novels, in my teens/early 20s. If you like semi-smutty romance novels, they’re enjoyable reads.

[Renn_aissance]

@SharonA1

For lonely but spirited orphan Adelia ‘Dee’ Cunnane, her uncle’s invitation is a dream come true. And so she leaves her home in Ireland to work for him in Maryland, at one of the most respected stables in the country. Starting as a groomer puts Dee in constant contact with the horses she loves -but it also brings her up close and personal with Travis Grant, the stable’s proud but handsome owner. And as the lush Maryland horse country begins to work its charms on Dee,

Speaking of someone who grew up in the lush Maryland horse country… Dee, you’re wrong, turn right back around and go back to Ireland.

I’m going to order the Lucy Hill books. Horses + mysteries sounds right up my alley for fun brain candy reading!

[Destinywaitsaturdoor]

I laugh because as kids growing up at my lesson barn, ALL of us thought the “stable hand” who really just cut the grass and did the general manual labor and hardly rode, was the most HANDSOME man on the planet. We would hide in the tack room to watch him mow the lawn shirtless.

Que barn owner passing, us, all adults, see him again for the first time in years. Not at all attractive and 99% of us are taller than him.

[JBCool]

My dad always said the guys in band/chorus/helped cheer were the smartest ones in school!

[LCDR]

My longest experience with barns involved hottish young stable girls pursued by married male foxhunters. I suppose that environment would not make good fodder for a book series.

[swmorse]

@SharonA1

Travis Grant, the stable’s proud but handsome owner. And as the lush Maryland horse country begins to work its charms on Dee, so does Travis, pulling her into a turbulent passion with unexpected consequences

[ZuzusPetals]

Another Scholastic-y book. Set in England/Scotland. Girl sees a circus with an abused (Arabian?) horse. Horse van crashes. Horse runs into moorlands, where girl rescues it. Hottie barn bloke named Ken? Who has all the answers to everything? And 12-year-old you, reading, is all: Check my girth, Ken!

[LCDR]

Good place to post this again.

[Sammy_the_Saddlebred]

This one is For the Love of a Horse by Patricia Leitch. I have that book, yes, from a book order. I found out just recently it is a whole series!

[cattywampus]

I also have this series!

[Pep_n_Ann]

@SharonA1

Irish Thoroughbred

Just put this on hold at my library. We’ll see if it’s any good. Nora Roberts is prolific and popular, so it’s probably not terrible, lol.