I just read Horse by Talley English after my librarian excitedly gave it to me after his long search for a good horse novel. It centers around a young girl, but deals with mature topics, so it was not intended for the typical young horsey readers. I enjoyed it since it was so different from that typical overdone narrative.
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The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss.
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āFly by Nightā is one of my faves, too! I read it several times growing up while dreaming of getting my own horse and found a copy to keep as an adult. My daughter also loved it. I am reading āJust Afer Midnightā on my kindle, it was a daily e-book special for $1.99, really enjoying it so far.
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I liked Horse by Talley English. It was a random find at Barnes and Noble. It was in the adult section, but could probably have been at home in the young adult section. The main plot line (teenager deals with her parentsā divorce, bonds with horse, goes off to one of those horse centric boarding schools I used to pine over as a kid.) reads pretty young adult. The depiction of the horse/human relationship is lovely though, and the writing is elegant.
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The Natalie Keller Reinert books are all fantastic. She has a series on racing, a series on eventing, and one involving dressage. Eventually they all intersect (character-wise) which is fun as well.
I also ADORE the Jilly Cooper books (Riders, Polo, etc) they are a blast and also pretty accurate. Definitely not kids books. 
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I am surprised no on has mentioned āDark Horseā by Tami Hoagā¦who is an actual dressage rider based in Wellington. Dark Horse is a murder mystery in the spirit of Dick Francis style horse scene.
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The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West
Piper at the Gate
Dun Ladyās Jesse
Slow World
Brat Farrar
Ring of Fear
The Lady
Working Trot
Cobblers Dream
Riding Lessons Sara Gruen - Lead character is extremely irritating but it s well written.
Airs Above the Ground Mary Stewart oldie but goodie
National Velvet Not a childrenās book.
Horsemasters if you can find a copy.
On Ice
If you have Kindle then Toni Leland has several horse books . Havenāt read any but reviews seem to be good. Let me know if you read any and how you like them.
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That was a great book!
Sheilah
And thereās a sequel: The Alibi Man. Just as good as Dark Horse!
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Re-reading this right now - a favorite! Love all Mary Stewart.
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I recently read The Horse Dancer by Jojo Moyes and enjoyed it. It was a āhorseyā novel I stumbled upon.
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I enjoyed Carolyn Mcsparrenās āThe cart before the corpseā & āone hoof in the graveā they are mysteries and the horse aspect is driving horses which is a nice change from the normal. According to the bio on amazon the author rides & drives
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How was the horse stuff? Accurate?
Sheilah
Natalieās an incredible writerāshe has such depth of experience in the horse world and such passion for horses, but she also loves literature in general, and it really shows in her craft.
Not to be super-spammy, but Iām an author of a five book series of equestrian fictionāthe Fortuneās Fool series. It focuses on eventing, but other disciplines, including hunters, jumpers, timber racing, and the Mongol Derby have also found their ways into the narrative. Hereās its Amazon page.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseriesā¦_st_1512125350
I suppose I would characterize my series as NA (New Adult). The protagonist begins the series in his late teens, and heās (currently) in his twenties.
Kim Ablon Whitney has written a number of books set on the A-circuit that deal with that horse show culture in a realistic way, including its less-than-savory aspects. Although technically YA, Kate Latteyās Pony Jumper books set in New Zealand depict the relationship between her teenage protagonists and their horses in an extremely unsentimental fashion. Mara Dabrishus and Tudor Robbins also write horsey YA fiction thatās designed to be enjoyed by adults as well.
As for vintage pony books that still can be enjoyed by adults, Iāll put in a huge plug for Jean Slaughter Dotyās The Monday Horses, Dark Horse, and The Crumb. The Crumb has one of the most gut-wrenching endings Iāve ever read in horse fiction, one which I later learned as an adult was based on real events.
I actually think thereās quite a lot of horse fiction out there now that can be enjoyed by adults. Self-publishing in particular has proven to be a boon to equestrian fiction. It allows authors to focus on equestrian details to their heartās content and market their books as written by horse people, for horse people.
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If you have Amazon Prime, they have an Eventing series that is very accurate on the horsey stuff. I really liked it, even though it isnāt the best writing ever. The main characters are interesting and realistic, and kept growing on me more and more.
There are 4 books in the series and I read somewhere that a 5th is in the works! I think the first book is titled āPrideā but I canāt remember the authorās nameā¦
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Lord of Misrule by Jaime Gordon
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Forgot to put books by Carolyn Banks
Mystery series . They are older but you may be able to find them online.
Death on the Diagonal wss the first I believe.
about a dressage rider.
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With Vacant Possession? by Gillian Baxter is very good. Recently-widowed woman in her sixties moves from south of England to an older holding in Wales, with her two equines, an older pony and horse. Finding evidence that the former owner was a Welsh Cob breeder seems to disturb his lingering spirit. Quietly uplifting book. I just bought this one on my Nook, so it is available as an ebook.
Any K.M. Peyton is tops, regardless of the target audience of a particular book or the age of the reader! But Late to Smile is excellent and has adult protagonists.
But if you enjoyed Ruth in Fly-By-Night, follow her not just in The Team but also through her rocky teen years in The Beethoven Medal, early years of marriage in Penningtonās Heir, and finding her full self worth in Marionās Angels ā she and Patrick are somewhat secondary characters there, but you see how great both she and Patrick are as adults. BTW Ruth never lets go of Toadhill Flax, but horses are only a minor presence in the later books. Oh, and of course, Jonathan and Peter are older and going out on their own (in the horse racing world, training a steeplechaser) in Free Rein ā which has a different British title ā The Last Ditch.
Peytonās Flambards books takes all the characters into marriage and adulthood, though the fourth should be viewed as apocryphal, burned, and forgotten for us Dick fans (lol). But seriously, plenty of adult themes in those books imo, though of course the first one is very focused on more coming-of-age issues. But that first book is very much full of horses and hunting, the third and fourth somewhat ā though the second has only one solid horsey chapter but is still a great read.
Mary Pagonesās [Impractical Horsewoman] books should not be overlooked by anyone! She can correct me if Iām remembering wrong, but Simon is 18, or recently graduated anyway, in the first book, and striking out on his own as a working student in the early books in the series, then building his own eventing barn by a few books into the series.
Thereās a horsey mystery series that also has a young man building his own boarding/training business, and I think they are pretty good ā have to come back later with the name, though ā itās not coming to mind right now. In that one, the protagonist finds out that the owner of the barn he manages never expected the business to turn a profit ā he was happy to have the posh property as a tax write-off ā but then our hero manages things well enough to make money, and this is presented at least somewhat realistically. Though not graphic, these are more racy/gritty books rather than cozy mysteries. ā eta These are the Steve Cline books by Kit Ehrman, racehorse (and at least one show horse) books.
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The Lord of Misrule is such a fine novel. Definitely adult read but extraordinarily good at character development and race track atmosphere. Won the National book award, too.
I was gonna say Tami Hoag āDark Horseā, but I see someone has beat me to it.
āRidersā Jilly Cooper.
I like the Rita Mae Brown ones too, her different types of writing are interesting and fun. Her sense of humour makes me laugh.
I read the Dick Francis stuff decades ago, and I am/was a racetracker, and they just leave me coldā¦ fail to catch the true atmosphere of backstretch life, and fail to connect to the equine characters- typical jockey.
