I started 2024 pretty rough, I won’t even pretend. Lost in my grief of losing my heart horse Bravo, I needed to find a way to escape. I had a friend recommend a horse related book she loved so deeply. My simple attempt to run away from reality for a little everyday, quickly became my obsession. Since then, I have connected with so many other women who have found themselves reading again.
I wanted to create a list of some of my favorite reads to inspire you to pick up a book and get lost in a beautiful story.
I’ve compiled a list of the best horse books, featuring award-winning fiction and heartwarming memoirs. Each of these books have a common theme – there is something special about the bond between horses and their humans.
November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses – a drab white former plow horse named Snowman – and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots – and their win was the stuff of legend.
Geraldine Brooks creates a powerful backstory for 19th-century thoroughbred racehorse Lexington, weaving a rich tapestry of historical and current-day narratives that aptly reflect how the legacy of slavery still ripples through America.
Horse truly does offer something for every reader. Brooks engineers a plausible biography for the horse, filling in the blanks with intriguing research as she traces the history of thoroughbred racing, including the impact of Black jockeys and the Civil War on the industry.
A curious boy, a greedy mole, a wary fox and a wise horse share adventures and conversations about vulnerability, kindness, hope, friendship and love.
Charlie Mackesy offers inspiration and hope in uncertain times in this beautiful book based on his famous quartet of characters. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse explores their unlikely friendship and the poignant, universal lessons they learn together.
In 1954, sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died.
Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didn’t even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorse, her faithful mutt, and her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness.
In the chaotic last days of the war, a small troop of American soldiers captures a German spy and makes an astonishing find—his briefcase is empty but for photos of beautiful white horses that have been stolen and kept on a secret farm behind enemy lines.
Hitler has stockpiled the world’s finest purebreds in order to breed an equine master race. But with the starving Russian army closing in, the animals are in danger of being slaughtered for food.
With hours to spare, one of the U.S. Army’s last great cavalrymen, Colonel Hank Reed, makes a bold decision—with General George Patton’s blessing—to mount a covert rescue operation. Racing against time, Reed’s determined force of soldiers, aided by several turncoat Germans, steals across enemy lines to save the horse.
Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Vast crowds have gathered to watch the threatened nation’s most prestigious sporting contest: the Grand Pardubice steeplechase. Notoriously dangerous, the race is considered the ultimate test of manhood and fighting spirit.
The Nazis have sent their paramilitary elite—SS officers on a mission to crush the “subhuman Slavs”.
Unbreakable is a story of endurance and defiance in an age of prejudice, fear, sexism, class hatred, and nationalism. Filled with eccentric aristocrats, socialite spies, daredevil jockeys—and a race so brutal that some consider merely taking part in it a sign of insanity—Unbreakable brings to life a unique hero, and an unforgettable love affair between a woman and a horse.
One day, Sarah’s grandfather gives her a beautiful horse. His hope is that Sarah will join an elite French riding school, away from their gritty London neighborhood. But then her grandpa becomes sick, and Sarah must manage horsemanship with school and hospital visits. And when she crosses paths with Natasha, a young lawyer, the secret she’s keeping will change their lives forever.
Fourteen-year-old Velvet Brown is determined: every night she prays to be the best rider in England, and every day she trains to win the world’s most famous steeplechase, the Grand National.
No woman has ever competed in the race, let alone won it. Velvet is skinny and frail, and her mount is a rough country horse that she won in a raffle. But she whispers her hopes and dreams into his ear, and the horse flies over fences at her command.
The Horse Whisperer is the story of Grace and her horse, Pilgrim. When they’re hit by a truck one snowy morning, both lives are traumatized. Then Grace’s mother learns about a “whisperer,” a man said to possess the gift of healing troubled horses. Gracie, her mom, and Pilgrim leave their lives in upstate New York and set off to Montana in search of this mysterious man and healing…
The extraordinary bond between Lissa Bachner, a young blind woman, and Milo, a neglected, frightened horse, helped them become one of America’s most inspiring, successful riding teams in the world of show jumping.
When blindness struck in her teens, it appeared her passion for riding would come to an end. How could she jump hurdles when she could barely navigate through her own home?
But success, trust, and love came to Lissa when her trainer convinced her to buy a “diamond in the rough” from Germany. On New Year’s Eve, Milo arrived at the barn, frightened and neglected. Taking one look at his shaking, filthy body, Lissa promised Milo that he would only know kindness. Through countless eye surgeries and the many months of training and work, Lissa and Milo formed a magic bond that made them inseparable.
With effortless humor and penetrating compassion, Lissa weaves a story of unfaltering faith in Milo, and the unconditional love they shared.
Maggie Atwood and Becky McCabe, mother and daughter, both champion riders, vowed to never, ever, go up against one another.
Until the tense, harrowing competitions leading to the Paris Olympics.
Mother and daughter share a dream: to be the best horsewoman in the world.
Coronado is Maggie’s horse. An absolutely top-tier Belgian warmblood.
Sky is Becky’s horse. A small, speedy Dutch warmblood.
Only James Patterson could bring you such breakneck speed, hair-raising thrills and spills.
First published in 1877, “Black Beauty” is Anna Sewell’s classic tale of a horse living in 19th century England. “Black Beauty” is a fictional autobiography told from the perspective of the horse.
The novel follows the story of a young colt through his life, from his early carefree days with his mother on an English farm, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, and ultimately to his happy retirement in the countryside. Black Beauty’s experiences are one of both cruelty and kindness as he passes from master to master.
The novel masterfully explores the relation between men and animals and strives to impress upon the reader that all animals should be treated with kindness and compassion.
All the Pretty Horses is the tale of John Grady Cole, who at sixteen finds himself at the end of a long line of Texas ranchers, cut off from the only life he has ever imagined for himself. With two companions, he sets off for Mexico on a sometimes idyllic, sometimes comic journey to a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
Riding Home:The Power of Horses to Heal, Horse Nation’s must read book of 2016, is the first and only book to scientifically and experientially explain why horses have the extraordinary ability to emotionally transform the lives of thousands of men, women and children, whether they are horse lovers, or suffering from deep psychological wounds.
Horses help us discover hidden parts of ourselves, whether we’re seven or seventy.
They model relationships that demonstrate acceptance, kindness, honesty, tolerance, patience, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. Horses cause all of us to become better people, better parents, better partners, and better friends.
Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome chestnut racehorse whose string of honors runs long and rich: the only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in 1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still unsurpassed; featured on the cover of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated; the only horse listed on ESPN’s top fifty athletes of the twentieth century (ahead of Mickey Mantle).
His final race at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack is a touchstone memory for horse lovers everywhere. Yet while Secretariat will be remembered forever, one man, Eddie “Shorty” Sweat, who was pivotal to the great horse’s success, has been all but forgotten–until now.
{Note: this post contains affiliate links. This means that I will make a small commission – at no additional cost to you – if you make a purchase using my links.}
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I really do hope this year you pick up a book and fall in love with these stories as I have!
Till next time.
XOXO,
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I’m Maria, a lover of furry things, coffee and anything creative. This blog is where I love to share affordable home decor ideas, great DIYs, yummy recipes, unique crafts and so much more.
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