Help me find this horsey fiction book - please

[WhoahThereCrazyHorse]

It’s a bit niche. There were 3 young women who were looking after a hunting /eventing yard and I think one of them had to ride in a point to point race to win some money. Possibly on a horse with one eye who may or may not have been a racehorse in his youth.

The name Henrietta rings a bell.

Please help me with my nostalgic hankering for books from my youth!

It was Jinny and Shanith.

Jill's pony's where Black Boy (her jumper) and something else.... can't remember

If you have not read them the Silver Brumby books by Elaine Mitchell are amazing.

They made them into so dreadful children's series. Ignore that. The books are very well written and stand up to adult reading.

Jill's other pony was Rapide, he was her second pony, bought to be her showjumper.

jane badger books on Facebook f
She has even attempted a sequel to the Jill books

I liked the midnight dancer series

Minor point of interest: I worked on a stud farm where lived the stallion who was on the front of the Jimmy/Shantih books. The editions with the photos, he had a v unusual blaze mark on his face. He was ancient by the time I worked there and we used to ride him bareback with just as halter on as he had such good manners.

Ah! Prince among Ponies was great, I think the horse was called Adonis? I loved Phantom Horse, the Jill books, the Jackie and Misty series too. My absolute all time favourite was Jinny and Shantih. If I could be any fictional character it would 100% be Jinny. I’d love to live in Finmory and have a chestnut Arab

@Otter46 MINOR POINT OF INTEREST MY ARSE! That’s amazing! What was his name?

This one @Otter46? There were a couple of horses used for the books depending on when they were published, iirc

I also had aaallllll the pony books as a child.

As an adult, I can recommend The Dressage Chronicles by Karen McGoldrick. (available on Kindle Unlimited, but are one of the few books on there worth reading!) I think there are 4 in the series (and one non-fiction side book) about a young work rider on a dressage yard in the US hoping to make it big. The author is a dressage coach in the states so she actually knows her stuff and there is a good amount of riding detail in the books, rather than just drama set on a yard.

Otter was that The Prince of Orange?

Knew I had it!

Thanks everyone, this thread has brought MUCH joy at the end of a tough week!!!! I’m going to thoroughly indulge myself with kids‘ horse-based fiction all weekend 😊

I loved all the KM Peyton ones

Flambards

The series about Ruth who then (in a magnificent merging of her characters from different books) married Patrick Pennington

Fly by night
The Team/Also called The Last Ditch

Yes that’s right, Prince of Orange was his name. When I was there he must have been about 30 ish and had a lovely life off in a field with some mares. I think only one edition of the Jinny books had a photo on the front, the others were drawings. Funny they chose a stallion when Shantih is a mare!

Wish there was a love button! I was thinking about the Jill series this morning strangely enough - I have them all somewhere in the attic. Was trying to remember all the titles. A pony for Jill, a rosette for Jill etc

My other favourite as a child was Fly by night I think it was called.

Wonderful memories- might have a look around Kindle to see what I can find.

Shantih was definitely from the Jinny at Finmory series. I read them over and over as a child, and re-read them a few years back when I found them at my parents' house.

@Otter46 Did you actually meet him?! I can see the blaze so clearly in my mind's eye - little chestnut circle near the top.

@Shannith no it was Shantih

I suppose they drew the cover for Horse of Fire because they wanted to get the white stag in, it’s the only reason I can think for suddenly changing style for one book.

Mumto, without googling I think it was:

Jill’s Gymkhana
A Stable For Jill
Jill Has Two Ponies
Jill Enjoys Her Ponies*
Jill’s Riding Club
Pony Jobs For Jill*
Jill and the Perfect Pony
Rosettes For Jill
Jill’s Pony Trek

*I think they changed these titles in later editions but not 100% sure to what.

All these books got me through my teenage years as a horse mad girl with a mum who wouldnt let me ride!

And yes with hindsight Pennington was utterly selfish! Still love those books tho.

Spiderlight, yes he was v gentle and well mannered, perhaps because of his age. We used to ride him out to his field bareback. He’d been the owner’s foundation stallion. Funny thing was when I worked there no one mentioned the Jinny books and I kept looking at his distinctive face marking and thinking it looked familiar. Till one day the penny dropped!

This brings back so many memories! The Three Jays books by Pat Smythe, the Pullein Thompson books, Phantom Horse, Kit Hunter and her horse The Wild One, K.M Peyton, Monica Edwards, the Silver Brumby books. And did anyone else read any of Hazel M. Peel's books - from memory Pilot the Hunter, Pilot the 'Chaser, Easter the Show Jumper and Night Storm the Flat racer?

That’s so lovely otter

I loved the Jinny books but I couldn’t STAND Jill, the character - I did enjoy reading the books, though.

Wow, I love this thread 😍 this was my childhood.
I adored Jinny and Shantih.
I read Fly by Night and the Pony club books and The Silver Brumby.
I loved another Pony Club book as well but not the American one. It was English and they were all a bit rubbish and the pony's were lazy or naughty and generally not under control. They all got better at the end though.
I wanted desperately to be a character in any of the books mentioned.

I adored the Jill books.

I also had a Canadian book by Bernice Thurman Hunter called A Place for Margaret that was a gorgeous book - a depiction of rural life in the 1920s with lots of horsey adventures. Would recommend it to any child who loves horses and nostalgia.