The fourteenth book in the Saddle Club series is titled Sea Horse.  In this novel the three Saddle Club girls Carole, Stevie and Lisa find that they will be spending New Year’s apart.  It’s not an appealing thought, even though they each have something to look forward to.

Carole has recently acquired her first horse and plans to invest her time in training Starlight.  He is young and green with some bad habits and she wants to turn him into a reliable mount.

Stevie is dreaming about the New Year dance she will attend with her boyfriend Phil.  She just has to find the perfect dress to wear… and the funds to secure it!  This proves to be more challenging than she anticipated.

Lisa is excited to be visiting San Marco, spending the New Year on a gorgeous tropical island thanks to her parents.  She even gets to ride here but quickly finds that trail riding on the gorgeous island isn’t anywhere near as fun without her friends to guide her.

There are a lot of horse riding moments in the aspects that relate to Lisa and Carole.  Readers learn about the importance of getting back on a horse after a fall as well as persisting for the right reaction from a horse. Each of the girls battle through issues that arise whilst they are on holidays.

Although they are able to find a resolution to the problems they have, it just isn’t the same as working to solve the problem with their friends.  As they catch up after the New Year, the three acknowledge that life is easier when they do it together, even though they were thankful to be able to problem solve issues alone.

Author: Bonnie Bryant
Fiction – teenagers
In My Library? It is, along with others in the series.

I have so many books by the Pullein-Thompson sisters.  And yet, I hadn’t yet touched on the Phantom Horse series by Christine Pullein-Thompson.  Named Phantom Horse, the first book in the series explains how Angus and Jean come to live in America with their parents.  English born and bred, the two horse fans are surprised by the news of them moving to America because of their father’s work.

Young Jean is not thrilled with the news.  She hates the idea of leaving her friends. There is also their trusty ponies that will be left behind.  Although their ponies are to be leased out to other people rather than sold, Jean isn’t happy.

Once they’ve arrived in Virginia Jean and Angus are quickly introduced to some nearby neighbours.  Their father’s friend Charlie has three children older than Jean and Angus.  Phil, Pete and Wendy are super friendly and bring along some horses for the brother and sister pair to ride.  They also introduce the news of a beautiful palomino colt that is running wild on the local mountains.

Suddenly Jean and Angus dream of capturing the colt for themselves.  And so starts an adventure to secure a beautiful young horse whilst learning the many differences between English terms in England and English terms in America.

The story touches on many horse events including jumping and hunting, going on hacks in the local wilderness  and even schooling in paddocks.  Jean aptly describes different terms as she learns them from her American friends.  And although the beautiful palomino seems elusive, the story ends on a note that sets it up well for future adventures of the British brother and sister in America.

Although the book was an interesting and enjoyable read, the 1985 print edition had many grammatical errors which I found distracting.  Otherwise a good read.

Author – Christine Pullein-Thompson
Fiction – middle grade
In my library – indeed it is.

I was contacted by Anna to see if I might like to read her book Challenger.  She indicated that I was one author she’d come across who promotes being a Christian horse book author.  In light of that, I was curious to read her book!

Challenger has a main character that appears to be too young to go through a mid-life crisis.  And yet it seems that Joanna needs to reassess her life and the direction she’s headed.  She is stuck in a rut and when a childhood friend reappears after a long absence, Joanna questions if she can regain a friendship that was pivotal in her childhood years.  But it seems that Diane’s appearance isn’t set to make things comfortable – quite the opposite.

Joanna is used to a life where she and her father depend on and confide in each other.  It seems that Diane’s return unusually upsets this dynamic.  In Challenger, the small door that leads out of the house into the servant’s quarters shows a drastic difference between Joanna’s life and her father Ray’s.  The story looks at family relationships, the benefit of equine therapy, dog training and even the Christian faith.

For two girls who lived and breathed horses, their lives have gone in very different directions.  Diane’s interest in equine therapy has Joanna cringing as her comfortable life and routine are suddenly filled with the one animal that she has shied away from.

As Joanna seeks to fill a void with some canine friends, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn to a man that can help her to train them.  But his aloof nature has her questioning if it’s possible to really get to know him.  This challenging friendship is at times more than the young woman can handle alongside the dramatics of Diane and her new love life.  Challenger is an interesting read where the benefits of equine therapy really come into the story in the second half.

Author – Anna Rashbrook
Fiction – adult
In my library – a digital copy.

Twelve year old Mary has a passion for horses.  She dreams of riding them and being a great horseperson.  But there’s one thing standing in the way of Mary’s dream – legs that won’t work.  After she caught a virus as a young child Mary lost the use of her legs and has become quite proficient at getting around in a wheelchair.  Mary’s Song is the tale of this twelve year old’s endeavours to get her legs back and to save a lame foal.

Mary and her father live next door to a horse breeding facility.  Mary is rapt when one day her neighbour, another twelve year old girl – Laura – turns up with a horse and buggy.  She is there to make friends.

As Mary learns that her favourite foal has something wrong with its leg and may need to be humanely put out of her misery, she is devastated.  With Laura they formulate a plan to save the foal.  On top of this, Laura is persuaded to help Mary get up in the saddle on a horse.

Mary struggles with an overprotective father whilst Laura just wishes her parents would notice her.  As the two build a friendship, they find that with Mary’s determination and faith in God, that it is possible to get her on horseback.  And it even seems that Mary’s legs are strengthening.

Mary dreams of herself being restored to full functioning legs.  She has the same prayer for her young horse friend.  As she fights for what she believes in, it’s hard for her father to ignore her determination.

Mary’s Song explores a little bit of the Christian faith, horse care and riding as well as young girls standing up for what they believe in.  It is very horse focused and is bound to engage young horse fans.  Recommended.

Author – Susan Count
Fiction – pre teen
In my library – I have an electronic copy.

I’m not sure if I downloaded this Kindle book after finding it from my search term of horse or Christian, but either way it looked like it had both of these things! Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart tells the tale of 25 year old AJ. AJ lives at home with her mother, father and younger sister. She lives in an abusive home and feels like a child in spite of her age, based on the way her father treats her. Her best escape is her beautiful warmblood gelding, Midnight.

Although she helps out with the youth group at her local church and has a belief in God, she struggles to understand how He could let bad things continually happen to her at the hand of her father.  Only her best friend Brenna is aware of the abuse and AJ works hard to keep the façade of a happy family.  But when a snow storm shuts her in at the Cooper family’s property where she keeps her horse, AJ finds herself coming to know Mac the Youth Pastor beyond a superficial level.

When Mac suspects what is going on with AJ, he is keen to step in and help her, but she refuses. It is only through offering her a job with the horses as the barn’s head trainer that the two connect. As she accepts the job and escapes the dangers at home, AJ finds herself drawn to Mac’s reliable, safe character.

But just as things appear to be turning around for AJ, it seems that gossip and pride have the potential to ruin things.  Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart is a very Christian focused story that addresses issues of purity, abuse, poor motives, gossip and pride.  It addresses well the issues of judging a book by it’s cover and examining one’s true intentions.  On top of this, horses feature highly in the book and it’s lovely to read about the horsemanship that AJ utilises to try to bring around an ornery mare.

There is a sweet romance amongst the story but also the chilling topic of family violence.  Right toward the end I didn’t see how the story was going to be wrapped up when such a devastating event occurred.  The Christian faith follows throughout the whole story and it focuses on how often doing the right thing isn’t the easy way out.  An engaging read.

Author – Anne Perreault
Fiction – Adult
In my library – as a Kindle.