Good horsey fiction novels read?

I re-read National Velvet last year. It was completely different to when I read it as a child.
 
If you like a rom com too, try Fiona Walker's French Relations, followed by Well Groomed. If you like an autobiography (I don't usually but enjoyed this) read One Hundred and Four Horses.
 
One Hundred and Four horses - totally brilliant. I also loved Fiona Walker's "Kiss and Tell" - two townie girls decide to re-invent themselves on the hunting field. Very funny!
 
It's not fiction but I've just read "If wishes were horses" by Susanna Forrest and it was great, definitely a book I struggled to put down!

Another which is non-fiction but a real memoir is "Hoofbeats through my heart" by David Edelsten. It is beautifully written and really captures his immense love for horses from going through war as a Brigadier and up to the current day out hunting in Dorset.

Others on my bookshelf which I recommend are "Not quite a horsewoman" by Caroline Akrill, "The Hunt (Country Suspense)" by Jan Neuharth is a really good fiction murder mystery set amongst members of a hunt, "War Horse" is a really good read, I enjoyed the book more than the film, naturally Black Beauty, "Against the Odds" by Susan Millard, "My life and Arkle" by Pat Taaffe and my favourite horsey book (back onto fiction) when I was young and I still enjoy it now is "I rode a winner" by Christine Pullein-Thompson.

I hope you find something to get stuck into!

I'm off to get a copy of Kiss and Tell now as that sounds hilarious! :D
 
Spirit horses by Alan a Evans, the hearts of horses Molly gloss, the longest ride Nicholas sparks- love all his books! But the best has to be Horse boy by rupert issacson it's a true story but it's fantastic and so well written had me laughing and crying well worth a read :-)! Xx
 
Rough Ride by P J King!!!! Brilliant read in the same style of Fiona Walker, Jilly Cooper etc etc.
 
I have three massive shelves full of my kiddy pony books but adult ones seem much harder to find! I don't really get on with Fiona Walker's writing style but I've read the two that have been mentioned and they're kinda fun in the way I imagine eventing in the 80's to have been.

May I give an anti-recommendation? Don't touch The One Dollar Horse by Lauren St John with a bargepole. It's dreadful. Possibly only worth reading if you want to play a drinking game based around the eventing inaccuracies contained within it. You'd be mortal by the time you were halfway through :D

This Horsey Life by Simon Barnes is absolutely brilliant. It's non-fiction but I thoroughly recommend it.
 
While I was looking through the free kindle books I discovered Zane Grey's western novels. Written 100 years ago they are dated in a lot of ways but I really liked the descriptions of the life of the cowboys and horses in them.
 
The Horse Dancer by Jojo Moyes is fantastic.
May I suggest a trawl through the forum threads on Jane Badger Books' website - there are lots of recommendations on there?
Some of the titles I have got very cheaply on my Kindle include:
A Girl and Five Brave Horses by Sonora Carver (I haven't read this yet)
Led by the Grey by Peter de Cosemo (absolutely brilliant!)
Dark Horse and The Bluelight Special by J. Carson Black (American Dick Francis-style)
Racetrack Romance Box set by Bev Pettersen
Chantilly Dawns by Lissa Oliver
At Risk (Steve Kline Mysteries) by Kit Ehrman (another Dick Francis-style American who dunnit)
There Must Be Horses by Diana Kimpton (written for children, but I enjoyed it)
Warned Off (The Eddie Malloy Series) by Richard Pitman and Joe McNally
Walk. Trot. Die. by Susan Kiernan Lewis (not read yet)
Cloud Horse by Jill Pinkwater (not read yet)
The Opium Equation by Lisa Wysocky (another American horsey who dunnit)

Jane Ayers and Maggie Dana are childrens' authors who have a few books available on Kindle, but I haven't read any of them. Some K M Peyton books are now being issued on Kindle for £2.99 each and they are all good reads.

That might get you started!
TBH I surf Amazon on my laptop looking at reviews and then follow the Amazon recommendations to find more similar titles.
Happy holidays!
 
I think Jane Badger has stopped selling books now

Stranger than Fiction by Joyce Stranger is a fantastic book about a youngsters determination to work with horses and the string of jobs she has over the years, very well written and touching in places, I'm not sure but think it may be autobiographical

The January Queen by the same author is also a nice book, about a teenager that makes a mistake on the home farm and is sent away to force her to grow up, she has a cottage and a bit of land and has to make her own way in the world but then falls in love with a Shire mare that she cannot afford, this one is more of a teenagers read really but it doesn't make it any less enjoyable for an adult - again well written with characters you can relate to
 
WelshD said:
I think Jane Badger has stopped selling books now
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Yes she has, but her website is still a mine of information about old and new pony/horse books. She has a page with information about new print books and e-books being published each month, and the forum is also useful for finding out about what others have read and enjoyed and when free e-books are on offer.

I still look at her website every week to see what is new!
 
Shay said:
One Hundred and Four horses - totally brilliant. I also loved Fiona Walker's "Kiss and Tell" - two townie girls decide to re-invent themselves on the hunting field. Very funny!
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I think you must mean 'In The Pink', that's about hunting; Kiss and Tell is about eventing. There are earlier novels by Fiona Walker that involve the same characters and follow on from each other and they're all brilliant, light hearted and good stories. I've got most of them and can easily read them again. http://www.fionawalker.com/books/
 
Obviously its not my kind of thing as a guy but if you're wanting more chick lit type stuff, my better half read some stuff she likes. One of the series whe read was a bodice ripper type, very raunchy and explicit in places, not the sort of thing you'd lend to Grandma.

Also the classic Hunting novel - Handley Cross by Surtees
 
lots already mentioned

also Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart, any Dick Francis for a rollicking 'beach read'

One book that you are likely to either hate or find fascinating and thought-provoking is Brother Mendel's Perfect Horse by Frank Westerman.
 
Snowman - The $80 Champion. is a brilliant book all about an old plow horse who went to become a champion. based on a true story aswell.

Also the Jan Hardy series by Jenny Pitman i found really good aswell. oh and my personal favorite "Blind Beauty"
i could name loads as im a bit of a bookworm. Battlecry, a horse called Wanda, The forgotten Filly, Horses of half moon ranch...most of them are for children but i still enjoy them lol
 
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The Wild Heart by Helen Griffiths, suitable for adults. About a wild Argentinian mare who is both blessed and cursed by speed as she is a throwback to a TB grandsire. Gauchos, Indians, horses, beautifully written but a bit brutal.
 
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