Can you recommend a book? I would love to download a new horse novel for holiday reading.
I recently read these two and loved all the horse details, both of them chronicle the life as a working student on a dressage farm:
(1) Dressage Chronicles (and the sequel)
(2) Courtney’s Quest (not a novel, but sometimes it reads like one!) Courtney King Dye’s autobiography
Well, that is a difficult task, as I have many horse books that all hold a special place in my heart
Some are just works of fiction, while others are factual stories of real horses
Pharlap the race champion
Champions-true story of a horse that won the Grand National, with his rider beating cancer and the horse also overcoming a difficulty
many others of well known race horses
Then there is the story of Snowman, rescued from the meat wagon, that became a Show jumping champion, ridden by 'the Flying Dutchman
Fiction:
War Horse
Smoky the Cowhorse
Beyond Rope and Fence
Wildfire
and many, many more
Jilly Cooper’s Riders, Polo, and Jump.
My all time favorite remains Smoky the Cowhorse, by Will James.
[QUOTE=Highflyer;7905182]
Jilly Cooper’s Riders, Polo, and Jump.[/QUOTE]
Haven’t read Jump yet. Can’t wait!
One of my all time favorites is Horse Heaven, by Jane Smiley.
Horse Heaven as mentioned.
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold.
I liked the Dressage Chronicles series too, although I find the characters all a bit stereotypic and overdrawn. But love the insight into high level dressage: the author is a judge and rider too.
Didn’t Walter Farley write a novel about Secretariat called Big Red or similar? I loved that book as a kid.
I thought it was Man O’War and not Secretariat. But CW Anderson also wrote a lot of stories about famous racehorses and I may have mixed them up.
Not fiction but Day at the Races by Jane Smiley
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Also Jane Smiley has a series of 4 horse novels with same characters for older children.
Starts with Georges and the Jewels. I enjoyed them very much and I am well beyond the 6th grade.
Flying Changes and Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants author) not her best works but readable.
Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West (Very Watership Down like - check it out)
Black Beauty
Man O War (Yes by Walter Farley)
There’s about a million that I read in my teens, relatively unknown books that were amazing.
Somebody’s Horse
Whisper Goodbye
Anything by Jean Slaughter Doty
Danza
Vicky and the Black Horse
So forth and so on.
I’ve never read a Dick Francis novel that I didn’t like - mystery stories with horses interwoven.
An oldie, but a goodie, not already mentioned - Bluegrass Champion by Dorothy Lyons.
And there are the Marguerite Henry books - King of the Wind, Born to Trot, etc.
If you’re brave and don’t object to what are basically 1st or 2nd drafts, download the Wattpad app and search “Horses” and then refine by tag. (#riding will give you what I think you’re looking for)
Be warned: Wattpad is very popular with teenage girls, and it is filthy with fanfiction and just poorly written, awful, trite drivel. Frequently popularity has inverse correlation with quality, so don’t be seduced by “oh, this is really popular, it must be good.”
BUT there are also good writers on there, and even successful authors with legitimate publishing contracts, and even writers who have gained publishing contracts when they were “spotted” on Wattpad. So if you are willing to kiss a lot of frogs until you find a fish, Wattpad is a good option. (Wattpad is 100% free)
[QUOTE=Highflyer;7905182]
Jilly Cooper’s Riders, Polo, and Jump.[/QUOTE]
These. My all time favorites. The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous is also a little horsey.
Fiona Walker is like a watered down Jilly Cooper - Good filler while we wait for Jilly to come out with her next book.
Is Dressage Chronicles for adults or pre-teens?
Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West is one of my absolute favorite books ever!! May have to reread that one after I finish grading final exams next week!
Becky
Pamela and the Blue Mare may not be my favorite horse novel, but it is certainly the most useful. I read it at the same time I got my first pony when I was twelve. I named that red-roan mustang Frosty Morning after the filly in the book and still use the moniker for my on- line name. BUT, what was useful about the book was the excellent descriptions of training Frosty Morning, which were textbook applications of Vladimir Littauer’s method of “stabilizing” a young horse. My Frosty was a quick learner and we were jumping 2’6" and hill-topping on fox hunts within a few months. Unfortunately, she colic-ed and died one night.
She was a great pony and that book was a great training guide. I used what I learned from it training other horses for my junior showing days and career as a pro trainer/instructor.
Black Beauty is my favorite horse novel. I’ll be on the lookout for the Jilly Cooper books. I can’t wait to read them.
Based on the ones you mention, I think you would like Natalie Keller Reinert’s Ambition (eventing), or any of her racing books.
I really enjoy Bev Petterson’s books. Most set in a racing background, pretty accurate. I think she was a trainer.
Georgina Bloomberg’s novels are ok for a light read. I almost did not put them on my Kindle after all the negative hype but I did not think they were that bad.
My favorite is The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss.
I read one Jilly Cooper novel, based on all the COTH love. It was really trashy. I will never recover the brain cells I lost reading it. But it was my jet lag book for the last time I went to Europe, so I had nothing else to read.
I read one a few years ago that was about an adult working student fleeing a bad marriage who gets a job at a dressage barn. I can’t remember the title or author, but it was hilarious light reading.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
