I preordered the new Rite Mae Brown book from amazon a few weeks ago, I actually have a day off on Sunday so I can’t wait to curl up and read it!!
Some books from my horsey collection that I have enjoyed:
Bluegrass by Borden Deal: TB breeding in Kentucky
Dead Horses by Pat Hewitt: Standardbred Racing mystery. This one was written by someone in the industry
The Last Virginia Gentleman by Michael Kilian: Timber Racing and environmental politics. Set in Virginia
Enjoy!!!
Smoke Rings
[QUOTE=copper1;3532054]
About kids books: way back “in the day” when I was a mere pup, there were many, many, well written horse fiction books geared to the teenager. Many were illustrated by Sam Savitt or Paul Brown and were beautiful and so accurate. Names are hard to come up with now but I wonder if one were to Googel the illustrators… Pamela and the Grey Mare was a small series one of which the pair were trying out for the Olympic 3 day event but couldn’t make the actual team since in those days no women! Copper’s Chance is another book. The theme in these, even though but different authours, were of a young girl of less than great circumstances, was able to become a winner with a difficult horse. CW Anderson who was also and amazing artist, wrote some again, wonderfully accurate, Afraid to Ride comes to mind. (from his drawings, you want to OWN that horse! Think Billy and Blaze!!!) I remeber another series about the “Rose gray Arabian stallion” one where he becomes a top class cutting horse and another, Arabs being amazingly versitile, gets a spot on the 3day team, all of course with his teenage boy owner!
Fun reads all and probably would still be so these days![/QUOTE]
I think you are thinking of Smoke Rings. maybe by Dorthy Lyons. This was one of my favorites. The research was done by James Wofford’s dad I think.
[QUOTE=Larksmom;3559617]
I think you are thinking of Smoke Rings. maybe by Dorthy Lyons. This was one of my favorites. The research was done by James Wofford’s dad I think.[/QUOTE]
I didn’t know about Smoke Rings. I Googled it and found this synopsis:
Ginny Atkins’s quick thinking saved a stranger and the horse he rode in on, but little did she know this act of kindness would change the very course of her life. After her courageous actions, Ginniy found herself the new owner of Smoke Rings, the stranger’s Thoroughbred hunter, and actually approaching her dream to be a member of the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team.
Of course, it turns out to be another dreadfully expensive title.
Just for the fun of it I bought a couple of kids books off ebay, CW Anderson’s “Afraid to Ride” and “Lonesome Little Colt” and Jean Slaughter Doty’s “Summer Pony” illustrated by Sam Savitt. Books were so good in those days and simple and accurate!
I’ve got 2 more titles
Dorothy Lyons also wrote Bluegrass Champion (Harlequin Hullabaloo) which is about a girl with an American Saddlebred. Also, I remember reading Smokey the Cow Horse by Will James. Lastly, I remember a series called The Timber Trail Riders for young adults.
I just noticed that Jean Slaughter Doty’s “Summer Pony” and “Winter Pony” are back in print in new editions in a reading series labeled “Stepping Stones.” I’m glad to see that her stories will be presented to a new generation of readers… but my mind rebels at the new illustrator, after years of the Sam Savitt cover.
The good news is that it is a really nice new cover (and with an accurate pinto pattern), other than the fact that it’s different. 
http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Pony-Stepping-Stone-Book/dp/037584709X/?tag=widgetsamazon-20
Well how 'bout it. I loved Water for Elephants and had no idea the author also wrote horse-themed stories. Will have to check it out. Same with Traveller- Watership Down is one of my all-time favs as well, had no idea R. Adams had written a similar book from a horse’s POV.
Only read the first two and last two pages of the thread so apologies if already mentioned… I didn’t see Seabiscuit on here, by Laura Hillenbrand. I thought that was really a well-done book. A lot of my non-horsey friends read it and liked it as well (I disliked the movie though…)
Will have to check out Rita Mae Brown too since she seems to be getting rave reviews. 
So, I found a random book last night at Borders called “House Rules.”
Now, be warned. It is not for the reader who wants a light-hearted read…I’ve only gotten 50 pages in, but it’s dark and I believe it’s supposed to be kind of twisted. Definetly “R” rated.
BUT…it’s all about the “A” hunter/jumper circuit in Ocala, Tampa, etc. It’s about a 15 yr old girl who gets kicked out of boarding school and goes down to FL to work for her trainer. It was written in 1994 but seems to be set much earlier than that. Some of the details aren’t totally correct, but most of the stuff is right on. They even mention equine drugs by the right names and say things like “green working hunters” and “junior jumpers” and talk about lunging the horses before the first over fences class, etc.
So if anybody wants to read a dark novel about some things that probably shouldn’t be mentioned on the boards…House Rules is for you, haha.
Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen
My book club is doing this book right now; I am really enjoying it. Thought I might get Riding Lessons and Flying Changes…okay, how badly are the riding inaccuracies going to bug me? Will the quality of the writing help me overcome that?
Flying Changes was a bit better than Riding Lessons (IMHO) but both of them are very unrealistic regarding skill levels of the kid and horse etc. Ridiculous scene in Flying Changes when the daughter takes her first ride on the un-rideable Nakota horse and proceeds in 15 minutes to execute Grand Prix level dressage moves… bleh!!!
Okay thanks. You just saved me the cost of two books and shipping. No, I’m not going to be able overlook that. :no: That is just tooo much.
I came across a new one, courtesy of my time manning the Scholastic Book Fair for my daughter’s school.
Paint The Wind by Pam Muñoz Ryan
It’s set in Wyoming, with the main characters being an orphaned girl and the mustang mare her mother once rode. It’s a lovely book, a tearjerker, but well written, and it reminds me of the wonderful, well-written, standalone books I remember from my childhood and Scholastic. Definitely an adult-worthy read.
the best horse short story ever written
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2409/
It is a quick read and worth every second.
Actually Flying Changes is loosely based on a Chester County Nokota horse named Moonshadow aka Max. Sara met him at the Equne Affaire in MA at this time of year since it’s going on right now. Maybe she’s up there looking for a future horse to write about. Smokey Joe is basically Max. Max has remarkable talent in fact. He’s an incredible jumper. He was used in a presentation at the American Gold Cup the last year it was held at Devon. To my knowledge he has not been used in serious competition but when being exercised and training him to jump he doesn’t bother with the landing between the in and outs, he just jumped the whole space according to his trainer. He’s a handsome blue roan and his owners are often seen lounging on him in the pasture. But this is not something just anyone can do with him. Nokota horses are unique in their personalities. Many of the Traditional types are more serious and take their relationships with people that way. These horses have had close relationships with their Lakota owners over 100 years ago in the late 1800’s. I have 3 Nokota horses. One is a Traditional type and he is definitely more serious about things that the 2 Ranch types I have. But all of them really bond to individuals and are loyal to death.
You can read more about them in www.nokotahorse.org and if you want to see the inspiration for Flying Changes go to http://www.willowmayfarm.com/boarding_services/max.htm
Nokota horses are unrideable unless the let you ride them. They are very willing and want to partner with you, but don’t cross them. They have incredible jumping ability which has never been put to the extreme test. They love open space, they tolerate ring work. I’ve never known a Nokota not to love to run in an open field and still have brakes when you want to stop. My oldest Nokota is 12 and when I seriously want him to stop no matter what he’s up to I firmly say NO, WHOA, HO or pretty much anything ending in O, LOL. I don’t have to have even a halter or be near him and it works but I’m not sure why. I just have to be firm and serious. I’ve seen him do some pretty cool dressage moves but he wasn’t asked to do them, oh well. He was actually avoiding doing something else.
It would be great to find someone to work with a very talented Nokota who can bring out the best in them but so far they only have a few of us who are not that high level.
http://www.nokotahorse.org/store/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=11
The Dressage Riders Survival Guide This might be a book for those DQ’s with a sense of humor.
I think maybe there’s a terminology disconnect on the jumping prowess of the Nokota. I can believe that a bounce might be jumped in one effort by an unusually athletic individual (not that you’d want to encourage that!), but there’s no way a 24’ one stride, at height, could be jumped in a single leap by any horse.
I think she said it was 8-9 feet apart which I thought was amazing. She set it up to try to force him to not take such large strides and to force him to land and jump again.
I wasn’t there but she’s said that he’s just done some incredible jumping at her barn. My point is that they have jumped some amazing heights and widths. That doesn’t mean what was in the book is accurate though. Not making any outlandsih claims. For drama I suppose there was exaggeration. But they are very athletic. The terrain they came from is very rugged, the Little Missouri Badlands of North Dakota. They’ve acquired extreme skills over generations for survival sake. But even when Sitting Bull’s people had them they chose only the most athletic to breed. They put them through extreme tests to find the most athletic horses. Then they were tested again by nature in the Badlands. Only the fastest, most agile and skillful at eluding danger and capture survived.
Now I’m embarrassed to tell you that my 16.2 H built like a brick Nokota has completely turned from facing front to back in my little 2 horse bumper pull but he did. My bad. He was such a pain to load and I had only 1 mile to haul him. My husband drove the trailer and I fought him to get on. As soon as he got inside I didn’t bother to tie his head just told my husband to get him out of here, down the road. As soon as he started driving away I followed only to watch him watching me in the car behind him. Yes, the trailer took a beating but this guy is so wide that you could not imagine how he did it. He had to almost bend in half. Believe me, I learned my lesson. I never imagined he could have done that. These are naturally very agile horses.
I’ve watched a stallion in ND try to get over a 12 ft. wall, he actually even tried. He got hurt by the pole at the top of the wall but he was determined. I think the reason some of the horses do amazing things is their determination to get away from danger. The roundups are evidence of that. It’s always been escape or die. So when a stallion called Nacona fought valiently during the auction after the round up then Dr. Castle McLaughlin had to out bid who she thought were kill buyers but it was actually the Kuntz brothers bidding on him to preserve the type. They’ve worked together for their preservation ever since. These horses don’t give up when faced with an 8 ft. obstacle, they will go for it. They may not make it but they will try. They also seem to enjoy jumping.
i am 2/3 of the way thru Riders, Recommended on this thread. I got it used at amazon for About $7 total for shipping and the book. And this is a FAT book. about 2x the size of a normal paperback. Amazon sells many used books, and it’s often worth the cost to get a nearly new book. I think i like the story, but not my favorite.
I am still putting Horseplay at the top of the list no book has made me laugh out loud as this one did. It made me think of my own stable friends and how we banter. i also love Carolyn Banks books, and i have all 5. They are hard to get now. I think they are all out of print.
I enjoyed Water for Elephants and then i learned she had written 2 horse themed books and bought them, Also used on Amazon. I was happy with Riding lessons and Flying changes. I have learned over the years, there are very few books that are exactly true to life, but i can overlook that, just for the story sake. If i didn’t, i would never enjoy any horsey books.
Thanks to those who recommended books, here.
AWESOME thread!! I am a book junkie, esp horsey books. I now have a list a page and a half long of books to read! I am a big fan of Rita Mae Brown. I currently getting ready to start reading Sourpuss (a Sneaky Pie book) and can’t wait to get her new Sister Jane book.
I do have to say, that I believe HorsePlay is the funniest book I have ever read! I don’t remember EVER laughing that loudly at a book!
I read “Riders” recently at the recommendation of this board and got soooo hooked. Couldn’t put it down. So trashy and delightful. (:
