As a child, I was obsessed with horses. My parents still shudder when they tell the story of how, when I was three, I wandered into a field and climbed on the back of a horse napping in the shade. To keep me out of trouble (and to save their sanity), they finally got me a horse. Ben and I had many adventures as we rode through the bush and I let my imagination roam free. Years later, those meanderings of hooves and minds culminated in more than 30 novels about horses and humans bonding, caring for each other, and saving each other. I hope you enjoy reading my favorite horse books!
The Scorpio Races, inspired by elements of Celtic mythology, has one of the most vivid, mysterious, intense atmospheres of any book I’ve ever read. Add to that that I love the characters, felt true sympathy for their challenges, love the bond shown between human and horse, and felt terrified by the kelpies or “water horses” – and The Scorpio Races is a truly unique reading experience that has stayed with me. In fact, I think it’s time to read this one again!
A spellbinding novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.
Some race to win. Others race to survive.It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them. Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio…
This classic book was so important to me when I was a child. It not only was about horses, which I obsessed over at the time, but without me even knowing it, it solidified in me the belief that all creatures need and deserve kindness and compassion. As an adult, I see Black Beauty as one of the most influential books of my life, plus I absolutely adore how this book has been so instrumental in changing countless animals’ and humans’ lives for the better.
Continuously in print and translated into multiple languages since it was first published, Anna Sewell's Black Beauty is a classic work of children's literature and an important text in the fields of Victorian studies and animal studies. Writing to ""induce kindness, sympathy and an understanding treatment"", Sewell realistically documents the working conditions of Black Beauty, who moves down the social scale from a rural carriage horse to a delivery horse in London. Sewell makes visible and tangible the experience of animals who were often treated as if they were machines. Though she died shortly after it was published, Sewell's book…
I have to admit that I haven’t reread this one as an adult, but it was pure gold in my childhood. It never grew old, and no matter how many times I read it, it always thrilled me. I felt like I was going through the ups and downs of saving the mare and foal with the two characters. And there’s a donkey! There simply aren’t enough books about donkeys, in my opinion. My copy fell apart years ago, I read it so many times. It’s sad today to see that there are no new releases or ebooks – but thankfully, you can still find used copies.
What’s not to love about a fantasy quest novel with horses as true characters, instead of being mere transportation on that quest!? A girl and a mare head off on an epic journey to reunite the mare with her stolen twin foals, and along the way, they encounter a bunch of strange and unusual characters. The Blue Roan Child was also beautifully written, has powerful imagery of an unusual world, and I love the intertwining themes of trust and friendship. A future classic, maybe?
An epic adventure of love, trust, magic, and a very special friendship between a brave young girl and a remarkable horse.
Syeira lives in Haysele, a land of horses and horse-sensitives. Fate pairs her with the wild mare Arwin when Arwin’s two colts are taken from her, and Syeira decides to help Arwin rescue the colts. Their mission proves harder than they imagined, for the fearsome Lord Ran has taken the colts far away to Thruckport, his fortified city by the sea.
But despite his power, Lord Ran’s empire is less secure than he thinks. Rebel forces are gathering against…
Unicorns are almost horses, right? I bought this book and a few more in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn series for a child that loved them. What I didn’t expect was to love them too! The books are graphic novels, and Phoebe and Marigold Heavenly Nostrils (the unicorn) are a fun, fresh, and thoroughly entertaining pair that made me smile again and again!
A boy and his dog . . . a girl and her . . . unicorn?
It all started when Phoebe skipped a rock across a pond and accidentally hit a unicorn in the face. Improbably, this led to Phoebe being granted one wish, and used it to make the unicorn, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, her obligational best friend. But can a vain mythical beast and a nine-year-old daydreamer really forge a connection? Indeed they can, and that's how Heavenly Nostrils unfolds.
This beautifully drawn strip follows the unlikely friendship between a somewhat awkward girl and the unicorn who gradually shows…
Evy can telepathically understand horses, but she's not sure if it's a blessing or a curse. What she issure of: her secret "gift" gets her in lots of trouble! Living in a remote cabin with her far-too-secretive hermit mother, surrounded by mustangs and other wild animals, Evy works at discovering her mother’s truth as she tries hard (but not too hard) to avoid trouble.
Also available individually as paperbacks, these nine books have been enjoyed by both the young in age and the young at heart! “Blown away by such a wonderful series. I would recommend the series to all, even if they aren't horse lovers.” Ride along with Evy and her two horses, Rusty and Twilight, in this complete collection!
I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.
Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.
Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…
A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.
Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…
