Pony themed books for 10 year old DD

[PerverseConverse]

Hi, my soon to be 10 year old has just got a glowing report from school which I'm really pleased about. One area she's not so hot on though is reading. She can read fine, is up to standard, comprehension fine etc but her reading isn't as strong as everything else. I'm a big reader as are our whole family really but she finds books "boring." She does read daily and always reads before bed but the love isn't there. She doesn't get wrapped up in the stories and imagine them in her head as scenes. She prefers factual books to stories unless she's being read to. She's pony mad and I'm hoping to find her some horse based novels to get stuck into. Can anyone suggest any please? I've bought her a factual horse book for Christmas which she asked for but I really want to encourage her to curl up with a book and get totally absorbed in the stories like I do. I feel so sad she doesn't have that experience but I know everyone is different.

Anything by the Pullein-Thompsons. Monica Edwards and Gillian Baxter are fab, too.

If she wants to branch out a bit from ponies, the Adventure Island series was a massive hit with my DD when she was that age. Possibly because there was a dog in them?!

If you're looking for something more recent, there is a a horse series Usborne do which they have recently revamped to be part of their level 4 reading programme of fiction, Sandy Lane Stables. I've never been into horse stories but actually do like these.

usborne.com/browse-books/catalogue/series/1/1478/young-reading-series-4/

@agnurse we can - I've watched the whole series on Netflix and read the books!

Horses of half moon ridge would be the best I could recommend.i loved then. Based on a usa dude ranch it's about a girl who's mum owns the ranch. Each horse has it's own story. They're amazing. I loved them as a kid and wish I still has them so I could re-read them now

Tilly’s Pony Tales by Pippa Funnel. My DD loved them and still reads the odd one.... ( she’s 14)....

Saddle club
Swallow series by k m peyton
Pony tails
Horses of half moon ranch series (I loved these, still have most of them)

Did someone call for me? 

Jill books are great - definitely escapism for a horse mad child. I always preferred the British books like that and the Pullein Thompson sisters - I found Saddle Club ones a bit annoying.

Has she read Black Beauty?

www.forelock-books.co.uk/ Fantastic horsey reads for children.

More recently published
The Pony-Mad Princess series, for younger readers but might be an easy taster for the reading habit, I don't like them much, bit twee.
Not specifically ponies but the Animal Ark series are reasonable well-written.
I was only thinking t'other day that books for little girls seem to feature fairies and princesses these days, I suppose kids are no longer allowed to go galloping about unsupervised!

The Black Stallion - Walter Farley
The Silver Brumby series

The racehorse who wouldn't gallop by Clare Balding. Great book, and there's a sequel.

The Saddle club by bonnie bryant
Pony Tails similar to above but slightly younger, set at the same stables etc
The Midnight Dancer series
Hollywell Stables series
Anything by KM Peyton especially the swallow series, fly by night series, the wild boy and queen moon, and blind Beauty.
I loved all of these series from about 8 onwards and recently re-bought all these KM Peyton's just so I could read them again and I'm 28!

Oh she must read A Home for Teasel by Margi McAllister. My daughter loves it.

If she doesn’t love reading, have you tried her with audiobooks? They’re amazing for vocab, story structure, comprehension etc. And they’re a nice counterpart to reading print books.

While you're all here... does anyone remember a story about a girl in Wales who gets a Mongolian pony and, somehow, she either returns to the steppes or its sent back and she goes and rescues it?? In my defence, it was a LONG time ago!

Hollywell stables are good ... like a more up to date version of follyfoot. There's a modern series by someone called Kate lattey set on the junior show jumping circuit in new Zealand- pretty fast paced and easy to read but they do all get boyfriends and girlfriends at various points which might be a bit mature for her.

The Walter farley books weeds n seeds mentioned were also a fave. Still have them , but they might be a bit too old for her if she's not keen on reading atm. Had a thought there was a book I had liket black beauty that wasn't black beauty but had books that were similar or based on it but I can't remember them for the life of me

Fly by Night by KM Peyton
A bit dated but any of the Pullein Thompson sisters books (Josephine is best) or the Jill books or Phantom Horse. Saddle Club are more modern but there are so many. Just put Pony Books for girls in the search box on Amazon.

There's a series of books called Chestnut Hill, about a horsey boarding school in America (same author as heartland I think?) they're good books for a ten year old.

Oooh... all the Pullein-Thompson books are wonderful, my favourites (still in the pile by my bed, and I'm over 60!) are Riding With The Lyntons, Three Ponies and Shannan, and Phantom Horse. Ruby Ferguson's 'Jill' books are lovely, but the language is even more old-fashioned than the P-T sisters' books.

Sheila Chapman's book A Pony and His Partner is my favourite ever. The Jinny books by Patricia Leitch, the series starting with For Love of A Horse, are fabulous and more recent. Ruby Ferguson's 'Jill' books, starting with Jill's Gymkhana, are lovely but the language is even more old-fashioned than the P-T sisters' books. It's quaint, 1950s, very correct!

Monica Edwards wrote some great stories, and I have a gorgeous book by Monica Dickens called Talking of Horses, a collection of musings and memories of her own life with ponies and horses, it's lovely. Black Beauty, of course, guaranteed tear-jerker. The Silver Brumby books, set in Australia, are brilliant. Ride a Cock Horse by Elma M Williams is an account of her life with ponies, not fiction, a delightful read. Saddle Club are a really fun series but American, my daughter loved them. Follyfoot....

Hope you find something suitable OP, sorry my list is full of my own memories!

Oh and Midnight Dancer, my daughter's absolute favourite book which lived under her pillow!

The Jill’s riding school books are very funny. Proper laugh out loud.

They were old-fashioned when I read them all the way back in the 90s TBF. And highly unrelatable to the modern suburban child. Also fair.

But bloody funny.

Aw, I love all these books! I want to be Jill and own Black Boy!

The Silver Brumby books are good uns. Wild brumbies, set in the Australian outback. Bit more complicated and sometimes sad, but she might be OK with that. I remember reading them quite young and being rather very confused (especially as at first I thought My Friend Flicka was part of the series - duh. I was clearly not a bight child) but kept reading them over and over again until it made sense and I could say their amazing and exotic names!

But you must start with Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Poor Joe!! How bad did he feel for what he did...

Flambards!!!
Horses and more. Stunning stories set preWW1.

I did read one about an arab horse that I don't think was the Black Stallion, but have never been able to work out what it was called. The Wind Horse maybe? Must find it.