Favourite pony books from your childhood???!!!!

Dream of Fair Horses, I Wanted a Pony, The Perfect Horse, Janet must Ride and Show Jumping Secret were all great

My fave was Pony Club Cup which actually taught me an awful lot about XC courses, how to build and approach jumps as a child - very useful!
 
I LOVED the Jill books. Although remember not liking her in the second book (i think) when she gets Rapid and doesn't like him straight away. Seem to remember children laughing at her because he was going round the show jumps like a rocking horse? All I was thinking was, she's got TWO horses and I have NONE, she should stop whinging!

When I got older I then read another series. Can't remember what it was - about a girl called Alex who worked at a yard run by an eventer, who she then went on the have a relationship with!
 
Can anyone remember some books it was a series the cover was red and it was about a girl who had a crazy horse who i think was called Barney. She found a trainer who was in a wheelchair...

I can't find them or remember what they were called and it's driving me mad!! They were great books tho
 
No one's mentioned National Velvet (or did I miss it?)!!! I still love that book, there are bits I know off by heart! And of course I loved Black Beauty, although I hated the TV show (except for the theme tune of course!) because it wasn't the same as the book.
All those hours spent reading as a child stories of little girls rescuing ponies from the meatman, and the ponies are wild and dangerous at first but the girls win them over just by loving them and believing in them, then they go on to win a first at Olympia against all the odds... Those books are responsible for my unrealistic expectations of horse-riding...
 
Hechorsey said:
Can anyone remember some books it was a series the cover was red and it was about a girl who had a crazy horse who i think was called Barney. She found a trainer who was in a wheelchair...

I can't find them or remember what they were called and it's driving me mad!! They were great books tho
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Thats 'Riders' by Samantha Alexander. I loved those books and had many daydreams imagining I was the main character!

I also loved the Swallow books (cant remember who they were by), Sandy lane stables and The Saddle club.

I brought some of these books on ebay last week (bargain- £4.00 inc p and p for 6!) and eagerly awaiting the arrival of them to start reading :-)
 
Mine's hands down 'Dream of Fair Horses' by Patrica Leitch. Really made an impression on me as a kids as it was a story without the happy ending I wished for.

I also liked the Shantih and Phantom Horse books.

Oooh and another big favorite (and with my children now, too) was 'Mylor: The Most Powerful Horse in the World'. Loved that one :)
 
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VikkiL said:
Thats 'Riders' by Samantha Alexander. I loved those books and had many daydreams imagining I was the main character!

I also loved the Swallow books (cant remember who they were by), Sandy lane stables and The Saddle club.

I brought some of these books on ebay last week (bargain- £4.00 inc p and p for 6!) and eagerly awaiting the arrival of them to start reading :-)
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Yay thanks so much will have a look on Amazon x
 
Jill books for me!

Also, I read a book by Caroline Silver called Classic Lives, which followed a group of racehorses from birth through their career - it was based in the 70's. It was really well written about horses that actually existed - will have to toddle off to Amazon to see if it's still in print!
 
Horsesforever1 said:
all the Monica Edwards books.
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Absolutely agree (and loved the Punchbowl and Romney Marsh settings; they have to be some of my favourite places even now) and the KM Peyton books plus Jill of course and most by the PT sisters; you could learn such a lot from them too.
Couldn't abide the Jinny books at all they seemed so childish after the others.
There was a fabulous book called The Young Horse Dealers about 2 teenagers that start up their own dealing yard, would love to find a copy of that.
 
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Just the most beautiful poignant horse story ever told and way ahead of its time in being not just a lovely read for a child but a voice calling to adults to increase their awareness on horse welfare issues of the time.

A Pony to School by Diane Pullein-Thompson. Little naughty skewbald pony who kept rearing and children who lived the sort of lifestyle (private schools, nannies, rich parents, ponies, pony club, lashings of tomatoes, etc) that I envied at the time.

A Pony of Our Own by Patricia Leitch. 2 poor children get involved with a pony in Scotland. Liked this especially because they were ordinary children from ordinary working class urban backgrounds like me.

the Phantom Horse series. Who wouldn't want to own a gorgeous palomino horse and have him as their one constant in life when their family/career-minded father kept moving them from country to country to start a new life on a regular basis. Like the Leitch book, this also touched a nerve as my childhood also involved moving to new areas (albeit all in one country) on a frequent basis as a child, but I didn't have a real Phantom Horse so had to make do with a make-believe phantom horse.

The A-Z of PonyCare (or Horse and Ponycare) - can't remember author. It was a little red paperback and headings included Azoturia, Laminitis, Grooming, Feeding, Bits, Saddles, Stable Routine, Grass Routine, etc. Lots of line drawings. No photos. I adored this book and learnt it all off by heart during my last 2 junior school years. Every morning I'd go to the end of my bed and groom, feed and tack-up my imaginary horse that lived, tied in an imaginary stall, at my bed end. I did all the movements too, like miming. Then I'd go and have my breakfast, get ready for school, then collect him from the end of the bed, take him down the stairs and outside, I'd jump on board and then walk, trot and canter him to school always having a few showjumps over the low railings around the children's park. At school I'd turn him onto the grass quadrangle outside the headmistress's office for the day and leave the tack under her window although annoying all this bit had to be just in my head with no miming otherwise my classmates would have took the piss enormously out of me...
 
I loved the Eventer Trilogy by Caroline Akrill! I desperately wanted a horse like 'Legend'! I've recently bought the trilogy again for when my baby girl grows up a bit - had to re-read it 1st though, still love it!
 
I was always cautious about reading horse books in case something bad happened to them (still can't watch Warhorse) but I did love Sliver Snaffles by Primrose Cumming and Fly by Night.
 
We had an old Black Beauty floating around. It was an edition from the 40's! My sister put it on a pile of stuff to throw away. I couldn't believe it! I rescued it in the hope i can read it to and pass on to my children when I get round to breeding.

Loved reading it again. So old fashioned!
 
Sarah1 said:
I loved the Eventer Trilogy by Caroline Akrill! I desperately wanted a horse like 'Legend'! I've recently bought the trilogy again for when my baby girl grows up a bit - had to re-read it 1st though, still love it!
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THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Love these stories and couldn't remember who had written them just read this whole thread in the hope of finding someone else who loved them :D

Also loved jinny, jill and the saddle club books in fact I read anything that remotely contained any reference to horses!
 
A while ago I bought some books that I had loved as a child,

I'd Rather Not Gallop - Caroline Akrill - Set in the showing world with a young going to stay with some relatives (I think) and learning to ride side saddle.

A Horse Called September - Two young friends grow apart when one is sent away to boarding school. The girl that remains at home ends up buying the other girl's old horse after the dad sold it.

Red rossette - Bernagh Brimms young friends qualify for Prince Phillip Cup, one of them falls for a lovely, but naughty black pony and they set up some schemes to try and raise the money to buy him!

Has anyone else read the One Dollar Horse? Fairly newly published but really is a typical "horsey" book! I loved it!!
 
casinosolo said:
I'm an English teacher and one of my Year 7s was actually reading a copy of this today:

http://childrensbookshop.com/images/bookimages/70/70579.jpg

It looked equally old and yellowed and she said it had been her mum's! It's so lovely to think kids still love reading what I did when I was their age :)

Did anyone else also subscribe to 'Horse Sense' magazine in the 80s/ early 90s? I think I still have them all in a ring binder somewhere at my mum's house!
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I had two copies of that book :D

And yes - I had Horse Sense too.
 
Elbie said:
I LOVED the Jill books. Although remember not liking her in the second book (i think) when she gets Rapid and doesn't like him straight away. Seem to remember children laughing at her because he was going round the show jumps like a rocking horse? All I was thinking was, she's got TWO horses and I have NONE, she should stop whinging!
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I got like that with Jinny when I read them as an adult.

She was a bit bratty at times :D
 
Silvermiyazawa said:
What was the one where the girl had moved house and the house came with a horse!!! After not being interested she ended up going for a ride and thought the kids who said she wasn't dressed properly (hatless) were laughing at her and ended up falling off. It's not at all as heavy as I'm making it sound, there were a few in the series and one of the characters was called Miles.
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A Pony at Blackbird Cottage by Jo Furminger....also one of my favourites.

http://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/misc/furminger.html

The pony at the house was Misty and Miles and his sister had ponies called Juno and Icarus ;)

The rest of the series is prefixed The Blackbirds......:)
 
This was a trip down memory lane!

Loved Jinny and Shantih (especially book 4!), liked Saddle Club but quit reading after being distressed by what happened to Cobalt. That spoiled girl in the Jill books who owned Havelock made me laugh. Liked the Silver Brumby and while I thought Arrow kinda deserved what he got, I was upset about him too.

One I haven't seen mentioned was the Bobbi and Shelta series (Jump to the Stars by Gillian Baxter being the first one). I really enjoyed reading my tattered jumble sale 60s copy! They were a bit more grown up though, I think Bobbi ended up dating the YO. Well played.
 
Just bought Caroline Akrill's Eventer and Silver Bridle trilogies! Have been meaning to for ages and this has reminded me!

Loved Dream of Fair Horses but 'twas sad :(
 
Spyda said:
Mine's hands down 'Dream of Fair Horses' by Patrica Leitch. Really made an impression on me as a kids as it was a story without the happy ending I wished for.

I also liked the Shantih and Phantom Horse books.

Oooh and another big favorite (and with my children now, too) was 'Mylor: The Most Powerful Horse in the World'. Loved that one :)
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I like Mylor too!
 
Aah this brings back memories!
I think that as a teenager I must have read just about every horse book in the library, and all the books from the book shops.
KM Peyton - Fly by Night was always a favourite
HM Peel - more young adult than teenager, but very gripping.
Gillian Baxter
My Friend Flicka
Elaine Mitcell Silver Brumby series
The Jill Enjoys her Ponies comedy books - I can't remember who wrote them
Follyfoot - but that was a bit grim in places
Pullein Thompson - 2 sisters I think, and Pat Smythe wrote some books too.
Black Huntin Whip and the like

Does anyone remeber a book about a racehorse called Dunfermline? I can't remember who wrote that.
 
I love pony books and still own practically all the books mentioned on this thread!! Way too old but cant bare to rehome them ..
 
King of the Wind
Silver Snaffles, Primrose Cummings
Ten Ponies and Jackie, Judith Berrisford
A Stable for Jill, Ruby Ferguson
All the Pullein-Thompson books (Phantom Horse was a fav)

and Moorland Mousie - does anyone else remember this lovely story about an Exmoor pony? I had a really old copy, and that was 35 years ago, so not sure when it was published. I'm sure I read somewhere it was being reprinted. Happy days...
 
tiggybeans said:
King of the Wind
Silver Snaffles, Primrose Cummings
Ten Ponies and Jackie, Judith Berrisford
A Stable for Jill, Ruby Ferguson
All the Pullein-Thompson books (Phantom Horse was a fav)

and Moorland Mousie - does anyone else remember this lovely story about an Exmoor pony? I had a really old copy, and that was 35 years ago, so not sure when it was published. I'm sure I read somewhere it was being reprinted. Happy days...
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The Moorland Mousie Trust have reprinted it, and I think there's reissues of Jill and Silver Snaffles out there too.
 
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