Hated Riders. I wanted to slap the main female character she was so stupid and vapid. And that main male character? What a smug a-hole who thought his horses didn’t do well to spite him so he’d beat the crap out of them. I finished it, barely, and gave it away.
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I’d almost forgotten about Heavenly Horse and Piper at the Gates! I read those when I was about 12 and remember being absolutely blown away by them. My copies got lost at some point, so I haven’t read them in ages.
I loved Jean Slaughter Doty’s books when I was growing up - she had some like ‘The Crumb’ that were YA, but dealt with issues of horse abuse and killing horses for insurance money that made them much more adult. Nothing explicit or graphic, but definitely adult-themed. There was another YA book published in the 50s, “The Grand Rogue,” which was really well done - I probably read it at least once a month during my teen years!
Not fiction, but if anyone wants a good nonfiction book, ‘The Perfect Horse’ by Elizabeth Letts is amazing. It’s about the joint efforts to save the Lipizzaner mares and stallions during WWII.
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Oh, I hated the way the abusive one, whatever his name was – Rupert I think – by the end of the book was accepted as almost more of a hero character (he was on the winning team event and painted in positive terms by that point), and apparently in subsequent books in which he appeared. And the way his wife, who did ultimately leave him, started out as an amateur abuse investigator but of course fell for him because of his “charm.” Ugh. He was seriously abusive, too, not just a little crop-happy.
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Does anybody remember the name of a book that came out like 15 years ago-maybe more, that was about a woman who basically had a midlife crisis, left her corporate job and moved to FL to be a working student for a german dressage trainer? I can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called but it was an entertaining read. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?
2Below, that sounds like Judy Reene Singer’s Horseplay.
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LOVE this book!!!
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@Rallycairn Thank you so much for the shout-out! And yes, although Simon’s eighteen in the first book of the series, I would say that especially after the third book, the issues he deals with are much more adult in nature, versus coming-of-age and identity-related issues. Although I guess, regardless of age, we’re all finding ourselves the best we can!
Thanks for reminding me about Peyton’s Free Rein. I also enjoyed The Team, but Free Rein in particular is enjoyably mature in its focus.
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In re: to The Horse Dancer, the horse stuff was mostly pretty accurate. Some of it a bit far fetched but it’s about a young girl whose grandfather rode with the Cadre Noir and taught her to ride dressage. I enjoyed it!
Jane Smiley’s ‘Horse Heaven’ is one of my all time favorite books! I look for it all the time when I’m in a second hand store, because I love to give it to other horsey people who have never heard of it.
In defense of Jilly Cooper’s ‘Riders’ and all subsequent books, I don’t think you are actually supposed to like Rupert! Or his soon to be wife. They are all twats. But I found the books to be such fun reads, and Rupert does eventually redeem himself novels later. They aren’t to be taken seriously, they are just silly fun, what I like to call ‘chocolate bar books.’
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I may be the only science fiction fan here, but I’ll mention Elizabeth Moon’s Heris Serrano trilogy anyway:
Hunting Party
Sporting Chance
Winning Colors
These are also collected into a single book called Heris Serrano.
I’ve seen it referred to online as “Fox Hunters in Spaaaaace.” :lol:
Yes, that’s right: spaceships and fox hunting. The author is a horsewoman, still riding in her 70s.
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I’ve read Elizabeth Moon’s “Paksenarrion” trilogy as the single book, but had no idea she had written more!
Paksenarrion, too, has a lot of accurate horsecare, and now I know why
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I second, or third, the Rita Mae Brown hunt series.
Riders, I also found irritating, although not as ridiculous as the Horse Whisperer.
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Horse Play, by Judy Rene Singer?
Sheilah
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Jilly Cooper is Jilly Cooper - you have to take her as you find her. The best part of Riders was trying to figure out who was who as the show jumpers were supposedly modelled on real show jumpers. Polo, the same, using artistic license rather liberally.
Books like Dick Francis make what I call good plane ride reads - you can be interrupted, and get back to them, and they are just about thin enough to be a quick read…like from Vancouver to Frankfurt!
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Oh - and has Hot Blood by Ken Englande been mentioned? Riveting true story of the disappearance of heiress Helen Branche (sp), famous show jumper, insurance fraud and a swindler.
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I hear you Scribbler - it must be hard to sound authentic when you are a horse person, but making fiction interesting enough to engage the general public.
What I really, really hate is newbies to NH, or horses, who get the ‘spiritual connection’ and then publish books on it.
How the heck do they manage that?
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Yes! Thank you!
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Nope, and now I need to go find my foxhunters in space. 
If you want more extraterristrial horse equivalents there’s CJ Cherryh’s Rider at the Gate and sequel; the horses come across pretty well.
Judith Tarr keeps (and teaches on) Lipizzans in Arizona and has at least one horse-centered book series which I read so long ago I don’t really remember it (Lady of Horses is the first one), as well as a book that more authors should read called Writing Horses: the Fine Art of Getting it Right.
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She ran a panel at a WorldCon on the topic of writing horses and riding into scifi and fantasy realistically. It was very interesting.
Sheilah
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Those are the ones by Natalie Keller Reinert! They’re Ambition, Pride, Courage and Luck. So good. And I love Impractical Horseman’s eventing series about Simon. Just read the latest one - sorry haven’t reviewed on Goodreads yet!
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