HORSE BOOKS-What did you read as a child?

[The_Big_Bay_Mare]

[QUOTE=kateh;3648794]
I was so horse-crazy I even read this absolutely hideous series about a girl who’s simultaneously a world-champion reiner and a Jr Jumper or something insane like that. To top it off, the writer liked to randomly insert Christian teachings. It was something like Higher Flyers or something.[/QUOTE]

OMG, I Remember that series! The main character was DJ Randall and her horse was Major… I absolutely loved that series. I remember she went from REALLYREALLYREALLY wanting to learn to jump in the first book, and by the third she was competing in the jumpers at some ridiculously high height. Hahah I loved it.

Did anyone ever read The Perfect Distance by Kim Ablon Whitney? I can’t find my copy or else I would totally read it again… like 5 more times. It’s about this hispanic girl who’s father is the head groom at this Big Name Barn and she has to work really hard at the barn to take lessons from this Big Name Trainer and she rides the hardest horse in the barn in the Medals and the whole story takes place around the Maclay… it’s really cool, and realistic. I think the author actually rode in the Maclay at some point, so it’s legit. None of that Pony Pals sappy stuff (although I did love the pony pals!)
Here’s the link to the cover:
http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Distance-Kim-Ablon-Whitney/dp/0375832432
You have to read that book!

Seriously, you have to buy this book!

[freckles]

horse books

I, too, loved “Afraid to Ride”, but my favorite was “Blue Mare in the Olympic Trials”. I’ve looked in every antique store for a copy, but never found one.

[J_Turner]

Every Black Stallion book
Every C. W. Andersen book (The Blind Connemara was my first longer book besides the Blaze series.)

• I loved A Filly for Joan and the one about the steeplechaser who had to be reconvinced to jump with carrots - pre-clicker training
  Vicki and the Black Horse
  Vicki and the Brown Mare
  Winter Pony
  Summer Pony
  All of Marguerite Henry’s books

I have a very old (well '30s maybe?) called “The White Pony in the Hills,” which I loved. It was about a very cute, sensible grey/white Shetland pony named Greylight and his girl.

Working Trot
Prarie Lady
The Pony Problem (a Scholastic Book Fair number about a girl who lives in a subdivision and wins a pony out of girls’ magazine for naming it and thus has to find a place to keep it other than her front yard)

I had a lot of short story compliations some of which had excerpts of longer stories, some short stories. I remember a short story called “If Wishes Were Horses.” And there was another one about two rival sisters who rode saddle seat and lived on an army base where their father was a colonel or something.
Little Vic
C’mon Seabiscuit!
A Horse Called Summer (surprisingly juvenile illustrations)
National Velvet
International Velvet
My Friend Flika
Thunderhead
Green Green Grass of Wyoming (loved the romance in that and still love the name Kenny)
The Horsemasters
vaguely remember Fly-By-Night, but not sure
think I remember the Gypsy books
some series with a boy as the main character and a dapple grey pony named Cloudy or Stormy?

Is anyone else geeky enough to remember the Dewey Decimal codes for horses and riding?
636.6 and 798.8 I still can go straight to them in the library!

Non-fiction
Young Rider and First Pony
Show Pony
A Very Young Rider (of course)

[BlueBobRadar]

Lots! Of course, I’m still 15, so I’m still reading them all.

-Billy & Blaze
-Anything by M. O’Henry, Jean Slaughter Doty and Dorothy Lyons
-The Black Stallion Books
-National & International Velvet
-Pony Pals
-Saddle Club
-Thouroughbred series
-The Judge & the Junior Exhibitor by Eric Hatch
-The Horse Show by Pat Johnson
-A Very Young Rider
-The Perfect Distance
-Show Rider by Lynn Haney
-El Blanco-The Legend of the White Stallion
-The Wild Arabian
-The Ghost Pony/The Mystery of Pony Hollow (2 diff. titles)
-The Horse Lovers Handbook
-Casey the Utterly Impossible Horse
-Take Care of Dexter (or “Dexter”)
-Lost Pony or “Somebody’s Pony”
-Basil & Maggie!!! I love this book!!!
-The Horse that Brings the Milk Around
-Bonnie Bess the Weathervane Horse

Sorry, but I love to read so I went looking for my favorites! There are many more, I’m sure. I love old horse books!! Just curious, Show Rider was about a junior rider in the 1980’s, kind of like A Very Young Rider, who showed in Junior Hunters and was starting to show in the Big Eq. She had a chestnut named Cinema 1 and by the end of the book she moved to Joy Farms to ride with ride w/ Rita Tempanaro(sp?). I looked back through the book because I was wondering if anyone knew how she ended up doing in the rest of her junior career. Wow that was looooong! Sorry;)

[just_me]

Blaze and Billy
all The Black Stallion books
My Friend Flicka
Thunderhead
National Velvet
Black Beauty
Airs Above the Ground
Don’t remember the name, but it was about Man O’ War
and anything else that had a horse in it.

I didn’t ride as a kid, but I read every book in the public library about riding. When I started riding as an adult, I already knew in theory what I was supposed to do. I knew about posting, diagonals, leads, and the aids you use to get the desired result. Made my first riding instructor’s life a lot easier. :lol:

[Blinky]

So many good memories of reading all these books I’d forgotton about!

What is out there that is current?

[Jumphigh83]

“The Three Little Horses at the King’s Palace”…read it til it fell apart…got so nostalgic for the book I ordered it from Amazon Books today…Copyright 1959…can’t wait to get it and go back several zillion years!:)

[Roxy_SM]

I can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Windy Foot books!
I grew up in the Pony Pals/Thoroughbred/Saddle Club era, but my elementary school’s and public library’s horsey book collections were generations old so instead I read Windy Foot, Summer & Winter Pony, The Mystery of Pony Hollow, Old Bones, Can I Get There by Candelight?, the books about Crumb, A Very Young Rider, etc etc etc. I read them over and over and over again.

Also, I believe one poster said she traded a book of her own for a horsey book from the library. How honest of you! My high school had this awesome book about show jumping from 1975. It had photos and descriptions of all the current top horses and riders of the time, detailed course diagrams of big competitions like World Championships, and in the back it had all the results of the Olympics, Nations Cups, and major championships since they started. It was such an awesome book, and nobody except me had taken it out since like back in the 80s, so I asked the librarian if I could buy it from the library, and she said they weren’t allowed to sell them. So one day I was in there with my binder and some textbooks from classes, and just added the book to my pile, walked out, and never brought it back! I doubt they miss it/probably don’t even know it’s gone.

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=Blinky;3663191]
So many good memories of reading all these books I’d forgotton about!

What is out there that is current?[/QUOTE]

My daughter loves Keeker and the Sneaky Pony, which is a beginning chapter book series, but quite funny and true to life. I like them too.

[copper1]

I DID mention Windyfoot!
I was checking out books on Ebay and some of our favorites were on there for some major money!
I have another very old book(30’s) called “Skags the Milk Horse” my uncle had won it as reading prize way back then and I have read it and treasured it for many years!

[Spud_amp_Saf]

I am so excited about all of this good news! This is making my day! Hurray for Coobie and LSM!

MK - you must let us know what antics your horse pulls during the free lunge.

Ok, well I’m feeling like today will be a good day. Mr. Lazy Hunter has his new cushy runners on, so hopefully he will come out ok today. Can’t wait for work to be over :yes:.

[PaintPony]

I went to an online bookseller a few years ago and bought the following books that I used to read as a kid. I probably paid a few dollars each for them.

Everyday Friends
Ride a Proud Horse
Dark Horse
Last Junior Year

Also, does anyone remember The Short Stirrup Club series? And there was also a series about 4 girls at a boarding school - anyone remember the name. It think these are boxed away in my mom’s attic somewhere.

[MintHillFarm]

Freckles: if you want “Blue Mare in the Olympic Trials” , it is on Amazon; not cheap, $125.00!

ALSO: Does anyone remember the book that had a horse named Sir Summer Salt in it?

[just_me]

I recently bought two old paperbacks at a library’s used book sale:

Little Vic
Tall and Proud

[merrygoround]

Will James, and more Will James!!! My mother was positive I’d grow up speaking as he wrote. :lol:

Misty of Chincoteague. Every Black Stallion I could get my hands on, My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead, and that whole series by Mary O’Hara.

And Lassie , too, of course.

[I_m_Dreamin]

Pamela and the Blue Mare - Alice O’Connell I think
Blue Mare and the Olympic Trials
Challenger _ Patsey Grey I think - about getting to and competing in medal finals
Jump Shy
Horse Show Hurdles

[I_m_Dreamin]

AbeBooks.com has Pamela and the Blue Mare for $195. Guess we should have held on to those books!!

[BAC]

@I'm Dreamin;3664345

Pamela and the Blue Mare - Alice O’Connell I think
Blue Mare and the Olympic Trials

My most favorites, I loved all the specific details about training, etc. I bought both books about 10 years ago and they were quite expensive although in beautiful condition, one even has a perfect cover too.

[diKecnadnuS]

Bumble and Me and Billy and Blaze were my favorites. Weren’t there multiple Billy and Blaze books?

[Tackpud]

@Roxy SM;3663370

My high school had this awesome book about show jumping from 1975. It had photos and descriptions of all the current top horses and riders of the time, detailed course diagrams of big competitions like World Championships, and in the back it had all the results of the Olympics, Nations Cups, and major championships since they started. It was such an awesome book, and nobody except me had taken it out since like back in the 80s, so I asked the librarian if I could buy it from the library, and she said they weren’t allowed to sell them. So one day I was in there with my binder and some textbooks from classes, and just added the book to my pile, walked out, and never brought it back! I doubt they miss it/probably don’t even know it’s gone.

I still have that book in my house!!

Another couple:

Kentucky Derby Winner
Golden Lady - about a saddlebred if I remember right
Eventing in Focus
To Win the Hunt

And of course I have a couple of copies of Commonsense Horsemanship!