# What is your favorite adult horse themed book?



## MImares4

What's your favorite horse themed book for readers in their early 20s and up?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## BroInBreeches

I like the Bittersweet Farms series okay, mostly because the main character is NOT a plucky female who can't afford rated shows but is such an amazing natural talent that an A show barn trainer takes her on and she magically finds her own version of Snowball. Instead the protagonist is a horse lover/rich girl who hates showing and just wants to manage her barn and date the trainer Daddy hired to show their sport horses. The characters are likable and the situations are relatively believable. Truthfully I have yet to find a horse book for adults I actually love (I prefer witty characters and humorous situations over heart wrenching animal bonding stories), but Bittersweet Farms I consider readable at least.


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## cbar

I bought a book called The Eighty Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts. It's more of a biography....about a showjumper in the 50's. The horse was purchased dirt-cheap from a truck heading to the slaughterhouse, and ended up being a very gifted show jumper. Not a bad read.....true story of rags to riches.


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## karliejaye

Eighty Dollar Champion was amazing (and a true story)!
Any of the books by **** Francis are entertaining, most of them are mystery books, with horse themes.


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## MImares4

I've read The Eighty Dollar Champion! I can't wait for the movie to come out!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ShirtHotTeez

The **** Francis (and his son Felix Francis) are a great read. They all have a racing background, but not always directly involved in racing. **** Francis was a champion steeplechase jockey in England.


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## farmpony84

Blue Ribbon Summer was a good one. Saddle a Thunderbolt, Man O War, Seabiscuit....

I read a romance that was about a bronc rider and a barrel racer. The story was fun and light but it drove me insane because of the mistakes the author made such as constantly referring to the lead rope as the reins.....


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## bsms

**** Francis sort of finishing the the Grand National:








​ 






​ 
Former jockey and best-selling author **** Francis dies at 89 | Daily Mail Online​ 
I liked his books, though, regardless of who wrote them.

My favorite fictional horse book is "Frog: The Horse That Knew No Master". A kids book that I enjoyed as an adult.


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## Avna

I just bought an old paperback copy of The Horsemasters by Don Stanford -- a book I loved as a teen. It is long out of print and commands very high prices used, so my copy is not in the best shape. Looking forward to re-reading that. 

I also came here to mention Smoky the Cowhorse by Will James. Also National Velvet by Enid Bagnold (a quite literate and lovely book very different than the film). 

For short stories there is nothing to beat The Maltese Falcon by Rudyard Kipling.


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## bsms

IIRC, The Maltese CAT is about horses:

"‘True enough. No man can manage his stick and his reins and his whip that way,’ said the Maltese Cat. ‘I’ve fallen over every square yard of  the Malta ground, and _I_ ought to know.’ He quivered his little flea-bitten withers just to show how satisfied he felt; but his heart was not so light. Ever since he had drifted into India on a troopship, taken, with an old rifle, as part payment for a racing debt, the Maltese Cat had played and preached polo to the Skidars’ team on the Skidars’ stony polo-ground. Now a polo-pony is like a poet. If he is born with a love for the game he can be made. The Maltese Cat knew that bamboos grew solely in order that polo-balls might be turned from their roots, that grain was given to ponies to keep them in hard condition, and that ponies were shod to prevent them slipping on a turn. But, besides all these things, he knew every trick and device of the finest game of the world, and for two seasons he had been teaching the others all he knew or guessed...

...But the Maltese Cat stood with his head down, wondering how many legs were left to him; and Lutyens watched the men and ponies pick themselves out of the wreck of the two goal-posts, and he patted the Cat very tenderly.

‘I say,’ said the captain of the Archangels, spitting a pebble out of his mouth, ‘will you take three thousand for that pony-as he stands?’

‘No, thank you. I’ve an idea he’s saved my life,’ said Lutyens, getting off and lying down at full length."

https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kipling/rudyard/days/chapter9.html

Frog would have approved.


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## COWCHICK77

I will also throw in Will James. I read all of them as a kid and again as an adult. 
Fun fact: He was my great, great uncle by marriage.


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## Avna

Avna said:


> For short stories there is nothing to beat The Maltese Falcon by Rudyard Kipling.


Oh dear oh dear. You know what I meant.


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## Rain Shadow

Firehorse by Diane Lee Wilson is a bit more teen oriented but its very realistic. Its about a young woman trying to save a mare that was nearly burned to death in a fire and coming to the realization she wasnts to be a veterinarian in a time women, couldn't even go to college. Its got a touch of romance between her and the mare's vet but not much. 

I love the fact that there is no magical bond. The mare doesn't care this girl saved her. She is a horse that's in pain and has been cooped up. 

Very interesting read.


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## Zexious

Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul <3<3


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## TXhorseman

Two books immediately popped into my mind.

"My Horses, My Teachers" by Alois Podhajsky. In this book, Podhajsky reminisces about his life with horses from growing up the son of a cavalry officer through his years as director of the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna. He shares experiences during his years with the Austro-Hungarian cavalry as well as the Austrian cavalry after the breakup of the empire. He tells of horses he rode as an international jumping competitor and how the performances of these horses improved after a general introduced him to dressage exercises. He also shares his experience giving Queen Elizabeth a session riding one of his Lipizzan stallions, his two trips to the U.S. with Lipizzaners from the Spanish Riding School as a “thank you” for General Patton helping save the breed near the end of World War II, and a brief comment regarding the filming of Walt Disney’s “The Miracle of the White Stallions” which is based on Patton’s actions.

The other book is “The Songs of Horses” by Paul Belasik. This book is a series of short stories told in first person by characters from several continents throughout several centuries. They each involve riders and teaching masters with different approaches to riding from the stern riding master in Europe to the riding artist to the Japanese sensei of Jobajutsu (the martial art of horsemanship). It also includes the tale of how a riding instructor in the U.S. learned more about horses when he was asked to help a rider prepare for the World Dressage Disabled Championship competition.


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## ChitChatChet

80 Dollar Champion

Sgt Reckless

Beautiful Jim Key

These are some of our favorites..... the best part? no fiction


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## kewpalace

Smoky the Cowhorse, Will James (as others have mentioned - but it's a tear jerker, LOL)
Wildfire, Zane Grey
$80 Champion, Elizabeth Letts (have LOVED Snowman since I was a child)
Ruffian: Burning from the Start, Jane Schwartz
Man O' War, a Legend Like Lightening, Dorothy Ours
Seabiscuit, An American Legend, Laura Hillenbrand
Secretariat, William Nack


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## thethoroughbredhorse

:cowboy::cowboy:I just brought a book about A Donkey Named Simon. It talks about how the donkey brought out his feelings and how the donkeys are related to Jesus and other spiritual stuff. It more about a biography.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582

Firehorse (read it in I think 5th grade), Man O' War, and Seabiscuit are all great reads! I've never seen anybody else who'd read Firehorse, lol.


I've read all three, and while the books are for young adults, I like the Black Stallion series a lot. I've read most of them and will probably do so again. 


Also one that is more kid centered but holds a special place for me is The Forgotten Filly by Karle Dickerson. It is part of the Thoroughbred series of books and it follows a girl raising an orphaned filly, which happens to be out of her show mare that died right after the birth. Interesting story, even if it's for younger kids.


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## thecolorcoal

the "Eventing Series" is VERY good and very, very well written. I find equestrian fiction for adults is sparse, but this one definitely is and it's too complicated of a read for youngsters.


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## SilverMaple

"Secretariat: The Making of a Champion" - William Knack
"Seabiscuit" - Laura Hillenbrand
"Man O' War: A Legend like Lightning" - D. Ours
"The Perfect Horse" - Elizabeth Letts
"And Miles to Go" (biography of Witez II) - Linell Nash

For fiction, I'm slowly collecting the books I loved as a kid-- "Skyrocket: the Story of a Little Bay Horse" by Margaret Cabell Self, the books by Jean Slaughter Doty, CW Anderson, and the Black Stallion series and Man O'War by Walter Farley.


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## thecolorcoal

We forgot "The Perfect Distance," about an equitation rider and her borderline abusive coach. VERY good. It's an absolute classic. By Kim Ablon Whitney.


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## knightrider

I loved Frog too!

My all time favorite horse book is a kids book, but so well written that adults would love it. It is Fly By Night by K.M.Peyton. I probably love it so much because the storyline is similar to my growing up with horses--a scrappy scruffy little kid with no money, no knowledge, and no help, determined to make something of the unbroken 2 year old that she scraped together enough money to buy.

My second all time favorite is non-fiction Horse Tradin' by Ben Green. Full of true stories of different horse trades he made in the '20's and '30's. It reads like Foxhunter's journal "Childhood Memories" and just as fun.

And we can't forget A Leg At Each Corner by Thelwell. It's a classic.

I did not like The Horse Whisperer. I saw a lot of inconsistencies in that book, and the movie was worse.


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## Foxhunter

A book I have read many times is Tale of Two Horses by Tschiffley, the story of his journey on horseback from Patagonia to Washington told from the horses view. 

I liked the early **** Francis novels but the later ones had very little to do with horses. 

Although not horse related you have to go a long way to beat any of James Herriot's books


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## AnitaAnne

**** Francis books are great mystery books most with horses. Hard to put them down.

Seabiscuit, true story and fascinating read, especially for history buffs. Probably my favorite of all...

Secretariat, very good read

The Eighty Dollar Champion

Black Beauty, still good at any age (Just finished reading it again) 

Man O'War of course

The Black Stallion

National Velvet

Misty of Chincoteague 

I read the Fury series as a child, don't know if that is adult enough though...

Not exactly a horse book, But one of the books in the Clan of the Cave Bears series; Valley of the Horses is horse heavy and horses figure prominently in most of the books.


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## kiltsrhott

Judith Tarr writes some good adult historic fantasy novels involving horses. Lady of Horses was a good one. It's certainly different than other horse novels.


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## SilverMaple

The Ben Green books are good. So is anything by Mark Rashid.

Another interesting one is "Crusader: By Horse to Jerusalem" by Severin about a guy who rode the path of the Crusades several years ago, as is "Riding the Divide" by Al Quie about a journey riding the continental divide.


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## Smilie

Well, horse books have two main devisions, for me, those that are fiction and those that are non fiction, with books on training being a sub devision
As a kid I read books in the Famous horse story series, and collected one each Birthday. My mother, gave most of them away, after I was gone to college, as she did with alot of my stuff, like my huge collection of horse comic books and my stamp albums (no hard feelings,NOT )
Anyway, over the years, I have found some of them again, at second hand book stories.
So, here are some of my favorites in that series
- Ticktock and Jim
-Beyond Rope and fence
- Frog the horse that knew No Master
-The phantom Roan
- Cinchfoot
Kentucky Derby Winner

Smoky the cowhorse was one I read many times, and of course, Black Beauty

I have many of the true race horse books, tschilley's Ride, Seargent Reckless, snowman, Champions, and the list goes on and on.
Many training books in various disciplines, and too many horse books to list.


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## egrogan

I read a few horse-related books this year. Some I enjoyed:

-_Riding the Crest: Not a Walk in the Park
_-_Tschiffely's Ride: Ten Thousand Miles in the Saddle from Southern Cross to Pole Star
_-_The Midnight Cool: A Novel
-The Perfect Horse

_A couple I didn't like quite as much:
-_The Sport of Kings: A novel_ 
I simply didn't like what the author did with the characters and how she handled the racial element of the storyline. 
_-Mr. Darley's Arabian
_I was so excited to read this, but felt the author spent an awful lot more time on the pedigrees of the _humans_ rather than telling the rich story of the horse pedigrees; almost felt like the weight given to people vs. horses was opposite of what I expected from reading the preview


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## Smilie

SilverMaple said:


> The Ben Green books are good. So is anything by Mark Rashid.
> 
> Another interesting one is "Crusader: By Horse to Jerusalem" by Severin about a guy who rode the path of the Crusades several years ago, as is "Riding the Divide" by Al Quie about a journey riding the continental divide.


 Love the Ben Greene series on Horse tradin!


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## Foxhunter

A few years back I read a series of books about a horse dealer buying horses unbroken and driving them back to his place. He later went on to become a vet - for love nor money can I remember the author. Was it Ben Green by any chance?

One of the tales was when he bought a pair of mules at auction, they were meant to be younger, greys with dapples, only the dapples washed out. They had been marked with charcoal. He sold them back to the original seller by doing the same thing. 

Another one was driving a herd through some city only to find the traffic quite a hazard.


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## TXhorseman

Foxhunter said:


> A few years back I read a series of books about a horse dealer buying horses unbroken and driving them back to his place. He later went on to become a vet - for love nor money can I remember the author. Was it Ben Green by any chance?
> 
> One of the tales was when he bought a pair of mules at auction, they were meant to be younger, greys with dapples, only the dapples washed out. They had been marked with charcoal. He sold them back to the original seller by doing the same thing.
> 
> Another one was driving a herd through some city only to find the traffic quite a hazard.


You may be thinking of Ben K. Green's "Some More Horse Tradin'". The last chapter is entitled "The Last Trail Drive Through Downtown Dallas" and includes some hilarious events.


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## Foxhunter

TXhorseman said:


> You may be thinking of Ben K. Green's "Some More Horse Tradin'". The last chapter is entitled "The Last Trail Drive Through Downtown Dallas" and includes some hilarious events.



Yes, that's the one. I read the whole series when staying with a friend in the US I brought one or two back with me and then mailed them to her.

I will try to get copies.

Another good hunting book is by Robert Surtees, Handley Cross, Jorrocks Jaunts and Jollities.

All about Fox Hunting from the 1800s, some very amusing chapters


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## Smilie

Foxhunter said:


> A few years back I read a series of books about a horse dealer buying horses unbroken and driving them back to his place. He later went on to become a vet - for love nor money can I remember the author. Was it Ben Green by any chance?
> 
> One of the tales was when he bought a pair of mules at auction, they were meant to be younger, greys with dapples, only the dapples washed out. They had been marked with charcoal. He sold them back to the original seller by doing the same thing.
> 
> Another one was driving a herd through some city only to find the traffic quite a hazard.



Yes , that would be the Ben Green books:
Horse Tradin

some More Horse Tradin

I have them both. 

I also have another book of his, when he became a vet. More interesting reading, as he often practiced by the seat of his pants, involving a lot of his own experimentation on toxic plants, where sheep esp grazed,in a desert area,finding ways to treat them.If I find it on my book selves, will give you the exact title

I thought that horse trading was his entire career, but apparently not. Found the one where he practiced veterinary medicine at a second hand book store


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## Smilie

If you want a really interesting true read, Hot Blood is very good

It goes into the Show Jumping Scandal , when A hittman was hired by some rich
show jumpers, to kill horses that were heavily insured, but not winning, in a way that would make it look accidental, so they could collect the insurance money
Some of the horses were electrocuted, and others had colic induced. The hitman was finally caught in action, breaking a horse;s front leg with a bat
There is also the un solved disappearance of Helen Brach, an heiress, who became suspicious



https://www.amazon.ca/Hot-Blood-Money-Heiress-Murders/dp/0312143583


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582

Smilie said:


> If you want a really interesting true read, Hot Blood is very good
> 
> It goes into the Show Jumping Scandal , when A hittman was hired by some rich
> show jumpers, to kill horses that were heavily insured, but not winning, in a way that would make it look accidental, so they could collect the insurance money
> Some of the horses were electrocuted, and others had colic induced. The hitman was finally caught in action, breaking a horse;s front leg with a bat
> There is also the un solved disappearance of Helen Brach, an heiress, who became suspicious
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.amazon.ca/Hot-Blood-Money-Heiress-Murders/dp/0312143583



Do you by chance know the name of one with a similar story, except the person was putting in "decoy" horses, killing them to pass as the expensive horse dying, then keeping the actual champion to sell? I read it several years ago and can't seem to recall what it is.


It starts out with a chestnut mare, and a girl is remembering her prancing around the show ring, showing off as if to say "Look at me, aren't I wonderful?"


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## farmpony84

I'm sure you've read the Horse Whisperer. I wasn't crazy about it. It was very well written but the accident scene freaked me out...


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## Smilie

Was that story fiction?
The one I posted about, was true, and I first heard about t at a horse breeder;s conference
What was shocking, these horse owners were not poor an done was an Olympic rider.
The horses themselves, had won in the past, thus were insured for big bucks. When they were no longer competitive, theses same owners, who those horses had won for, who were not desperate for money, not that is an excuse, had these horses killed by the 'Sandman', an equine Hit man, so they could collect on the insurance money.
Just shows that no discipline is free of people that don't care a dam about the horse, will do anything to win, or for money

some reading on the subject

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/th...-for-the-insurance-money-patrick-1454556.html


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## Knave

I love the Ben K Greene books!!! I also really like the Horse Tales From Heaven group of books. They are religious books, so if you’re not you probably wouldn’t like them, but they are stories from a woman mostly during her working for a guide company with mules and horses.


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## BlindHorseEnthusiast4582

Smilie said:


> Was that story fiction?
> The one I posted about, was true, and I first heard about t at a horse breeder;s conference
> What was shocking, these horse owners were not poor an done was an Olympic rider.
> The horses themselves, had won in the past, thus were insured for big bucks. When they were no longer competitive, theses same owners, who those horses had won for, who were not desperate for money, not that is an excuse, had these horses killed by the 'Sandman', an equine Hit man, so they could collect on the insurance money.
> Just shows that no discipline is free of people that don't care a dam about the horse, will do anything to win, or for money
> 
> some reading on the subject
> 
> www.independent.co.uk/news/world/th...-for-the-insurance-money-patrick-1454556.html


Yes I think this one was fiction. I know yours is true, just wondered if you may know due to the similar stories.


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