Stake Night


Susan Archer - 2016
    For the owners, it is about wielding power through money in their quest to proudly hold the prestigious World Championship trophy. For the riders, it is about demonstrating technical skill and nerve by out-riding their competitors and maneuvering their horse in the frenetic ring so the judges notice it. For the trainers, it is about finding the key that makes your horse out-perform others that might actually be more talented and achieving the professional recognition that leads to new clients and financial security. For everyone, it is about settling scores and finding a way to win the championship. The central character is Jennifer, a young, relatively unknown trainer. She can’t believe her luck when a rich client brings her the reigning world champion horse and tells Jennifer to prepare the horse for her timid daughter to ride. Jennifer quickly learns that this horse and rider are a dangerous and doomed combination, and she must move carefully to find an alternative that keeps her important client from leaving the barn and ruining Jennifer’s chances to finally join the ranks of the most well-known and respected trainers.

Horses Don't Lie: What Horses Teach Us About Our Natural Capacity for Awareness, Confidence, Courage, and Trust


Chris Irwin - 1998
    Based on more than twenty years of working with, training, and observing horses, Irwin explains why trust and honesty are essential elements in building relationships with horses, and why the sensitivity and awareness that characterize a horse's perception of the world are qualities we can use to enrich our own lives. "A horse knows what you know," Irwin reminds us, and in Horses Don't Lie his message is clear: Horses have a great deal to teach us about how to communicate with empathy and patience -- not only with them, but also with each other.

How Good Riders Get Good: Daily Choices That Lead to Success in Any Equestrian Sport


Denny Emerson - 2011
    It's a smart, honest, on-target kick-in-the-pants, guaranteed to rev your engines as you see how a few changes in your life, a few smart choices and strategic moves, can transform you from a run-of-the-mill rider into a GOOD one. How does Denny Emerson know what makes a good rider? For one thing, he IS one—he is the only rider in the world to have won both a gold medal in international eventing and a Tevis Cup buckle in endurance. Plus, he's been around great riders, and taught those on their way to becoming great, for over 40 years. How will what Denny knows help YOU become a good rider? It's simple, really. He's boiled the whole thing down into seven broad "Areas of Choice" that collectively determine whether you are a "gonna be" or "you're going to get it done" or whether you'll be stuck in the "wannabe" category for decades. You'll examine how your choice of riding sport may or may not be the best for who you are and where you live, and how those frustrating hurdles known as "life circumstances" don't necessarily hold you back like you think they do. Plus, find out how to build a strong support team by winning people to your cause and choosing the right teachers and mentors. Analyze your physical self (your body, how it is formed and how you care for it) and your intellectual self (your "horse smarts" and how you are adding to them or not) and apply the results to your "gonna-be-good" equation. Learn to take a good hard look at your partner—your horse—and think critically about his ability to help you attain your riding goals. In addition, discover the nine key character traits of successful riders and how you can learn to call each one of them your own. Along the way you'll read the stories of 23 of the world's top riders from different disciplines and sports—including dressage, reining, driving, show jumping, endurance, hunter/jumper, and eventing—and how they "got good" despite the same kinds of challenges and setbacks you face in your own day-to-day riding. You'll get an inside look at their path to success, as well as their very best tips for how to "make it" in the horse industry.

Backstretch Girls


Dawn LeFevre - 2019
    A jockey tested by tragedy. A rejected racehorse. A three million dollar race. Teagan Sullivan is a golden disappointment in the show ring. To make matters worse, her family are big deal Olympic equestrians, so she skulks off to pony Thoroughbreds at a rundown racetrack. But while she excels at equine relations, she sucks at human ones—just ask her sexy blacksmith/sleepover buddy Screaming Wolf. And if she hadn't gone and rescued that stupid jockey wannabe Anne Simmons, she wouldn't be saddled with a new roommate, a broken down racehorse and a chance to prove herself to her family at last. Born two months premature to an anorexic mother, Anne was a longshot just to survive. Now eighteen, she arrives on the backstretch with nothing but a duffel bag and Derby dreams. But the horsemen don't trust the naïve newcomer, so she's stuck ponying horses instead of riding races. She is still chasing their respect when a near-fatal accident shatters her body—and her spirit. As Anne struggles to find the courage to ride again, Teagan wrestles with her feelings for Screaming Wolf. Horse racing's richest race, the Breeder's Cup Classic, offers them both a chance at redemption. Will Teagan and Anne conquer their fears in time to claim the things that they love most?

Centered Riding 2


Sally Swift - 2002
    Rather, it is a way of re-educating a rider's mind and body to achieve greater balance in order to better communicate with the horse. Now, more than a decade after Sally Swift's revolutionary first book Centered Riding, she has written another that teaches riders all of her new concepts that have evolved since Centered Riding's inception.

Mary King: The Autobiography


Mary King - 2009
    In her two Caveliers—Call Again Cavalier and Imperial Cavalier—she has two of the very best event horses in the world. Mary Kings's success in the world of eventing has been hard won. She does not come from a privileged background. Her first pony was the ancient "cast off" from the local vicar's children—and success with this pony gave her an iron will to succeed. To support herself in the early days she had a variety of unglamorous jobs—including butcher delivery rounds and cleaning out toilets in the local campsite. Her talent was apparent from very early on and she first competed at Badminton in 1985, had her first win there on King William in 1992, and had her second on Star Appeal in 2000. Just when everything seemed to be going well she suffered a terrible fall in 2001 and broke her neck but she was back competing at the very top level the following year. Mary King's story is fascinating and inspiring for anyone with an interest in equestrian sports.

Paddock Paradise: A Guide to Natural Horse Boarding


Jaime Jackson - 2007
    The premise of Paddock Paradise is to stimulate horses to behave and move naturally according to their instincts. "This is the key," according to Jackson, "to having physically and mentally healthier horses." This unique and unprecedented model is adaptable to virtually all size horse properties, regardless of climate, and fits all equine breeds regardless of how they are used. Consider some of the following benefits for creating a Paddock Paradise for your horses: - Encourages constant movement, as nature intended. - Greater movement means natural hoof wear with fewer bills. - Protects horses from dangerous founder-prone pastures. - Minimizes the need for warm-up exercise time before riding. - Helps address neurotic behavior by providing natural outlets. - Provides an effective means for diet and weight management. - Adaptable for breeding, foaling, multiple horse operations.Paddock Paradise Includes:- Template for making your paddock - Hundreds of ideas - Sample paddocks created by practitioners and horse owners - ResourcesTrue Natural Boarding for Horses!What Horse Owners have to say about Paddock Paradise:"I could not be happier with my Paddock Paradise. The horses move all the time.""They keep their weight down easier than before and the top line muscles in my 20 year old has shown some development.""Their hooves are also better because they are on hard dry ground. I've seen improvement in concavity in both horses.""The horses seem to love it - they are always on the move!"

My Horses, My Teachers


Alois Podhajsky - 1967
    Timeless, inspiring, and full of valuable advice. A book every rider should read.

The Body Language of Horses


Tom Ainslie - 1980
    They express their needs, wishes and emotions to each other and to the rare human being who understands them. After reading this unprecedented, exciting and up-lifting book, you will understand the equine language. You therefore will know how to recognize:A happy horse. A frightened horse. An angry horse. A bored horse. A grieving horse. A frustrated horse. A horse horse in pain. A playful horse. A proud horse. An eagerly competitive horse. And many horses more!Moreover, you will know how to reassure the frightened, calm the angry, comfort the grieving, divert the bored -- and deal with most other human-equine difficulites. You will know how to educate a foal or rehabilitate a rogue. You will know how to look at race horses on their way to the starting gate and differentiate the likely winners from the losers.You even will know how to buy a horse.But best of all, you will finally understand what these grand animals are all about, and you will know better than ever before how they (and we) fit into nature's scheme of things.

Horse of a Different Color: A Tale of Breeding Geniuses, Dominant Females, and the Fastest Derby Winner Since Secretariat


Jim Squires - 2002
    What does it take to win the Kentucky Derby? The breeder of the 2001 Derby winner shows us that while a fast horse is necessary, a sense of humour and a boundless capacity for absurdity and humiliation are absolutely essential.

This is Gail


Gail O'Brien - 2016
    In 2008, inspirational surgeon Chris O'Brien published his bestselling memoir of his battle with brain cancer, NEVER SAY DIE. But he wasn't the only person in the O'Brien household with a powerful story to tell. Since Chris passed away in 2009, his wife Gail has gone on a journey of her own: from a busy surgeon's wife and mother of a picture-perfect family to a widow in her mid-50s, grieving not only her husband but also her son Adam, who died as a result of epilepsy a short time after Chris's death. Yet in the midst of her grief, Gail discovered resolve and strength deep within herself. When Chris was alive, Gail was the woman behind the great man. But after his death, she stepped forward to make her own mark on the world. While coming to terms with both a public and private loss, Gail took on Chris's legacy as steward of the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse cancer centre, navigating the often bruising politics of boards and committees to ensure his vision was realised. She also went back to work as a physio after being out of the workforce for 20 years, while still holding her shattered family together. She reinvented herself and found that she could survive and even thrive in a world without her soul mate. A moving, inspiring, deeply poignant and often joyous story of family, love and loss - and ultimately, about finding your purpose in the world.

Angel Horses: Divine Messengers of Hope


Allen Anderson - 2006
    Whether used to give disabled riders a sense of freedom and mobility, to heal wounds of childhood abuse, to assist with work, or simply as loving companions, horses bond with people in ways that change them for the better. The stories, contributed by people from all over the country and from all walks of life, introduce Cholla, the horse who paints pictures; a veterinarian who was reminded of the importance of compassion by a dying horse and a Native American chief; Star, a horse who saved a teenage girl from suicide; the late-blooming rider who embarrassed a horse and learned an important lesson about respecting the feelings of others even if they have four legs; and many others. Whether running through fields or performing intricate dressage drills, horses carry not only riders but messages of unconditional love and hope."

Centaur


Declan Murphy - 2017
    His skull shattered in twelve places, he was believed to be dead, the last rites were read and the Racing Post prepared his obituary. Miraculously, and the word is not used lightly, he survived and defied medical thinking in recovering to the extent that eighteen months after his fall, he was able to saddle up for one more race. As usual, he won.For 23 years, Declan has been unable to tell his story, to bring to words existence on the frontier between life and death, to describe the incredible bond between man and horse. But now, in an extraordinary collaboration with Ami Rao, she has helped him find those words, a way to piece together what happened before, during and after, what it all meant and what it means to us all. It is a story of triumph, fear, love and loss, by turns primal, heartbreaking and inspirational, and ultimately, it is the story of hope, and of life.

Beautiful Jim Key: The Lost History of a Horse and a Man Who Changed the World


Mim Eichler Rivas - 2005
    Beautiful Jim Key, the onetime ugly duckling of a scrub colt that became one of the most heralded and beloved heroes of his day, was famous neither for his beauty nor his speed but instead for his exceptional intelligence. Said to have an I.Q. equivalent to that of a human sixth-grader, Jim exploded on to the national scene in 1897 by demonstrating inexplicable abilities to read, write, spell, do mathematics, tell time, sort mail, cite biblical passages, and debate politics.For the next nine years, Jim performed in nationwide expositions and world's fairs to wildly receptive crowds, smashing box-office records, overcoming hurdles of prejudice and skepticism, all the while winning rapturous praise from the press and leaders such as President McKinley, Booker T. Washington, and Alice Roosevelt Longworth.In this breathtaking saga, Jim's astonishing journey is coupled with that of his trainer and best friend, Dr. William Key, a self-taught veterinarian, former slave, Civil War veteran, prominent African-American entrepreneur, and one of the most renowned horse whisperers of his time -- a man who shunned all force in the training of horses, instead relying on kindness and patience.Masterful storyteller and bestselling author Mim Eichler Rivas at long last gives two cultural icons their due, not only unraveling the mystery of their disappearance but examining how, thanks to the rare and intimate relationship between horse and man that was championed by promoter and humane activist Albert R. Rogers, a dramatic shift took place in the public mind that made kindness to animals a cornerstone of modern civilization and helped launch the animal rights movement. Unveiled against the backdrop of American history, Beautiful Jim Key is their incredible tale.

Gold: My Autobiography


Nick Skelton - 2017
    No other rider has won so many major competitions on so many different horses and he is as popular at Olympia and Hickstead as he is at Aachen, Geneva, Paris and Spruce Meadows. Skelton has competed in eight Olympic Games. He was part of the gold medal-winning Great Britain team at London 2012 and made history by winning the individual Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016, riding at the age of fifty-eight his beloved horse Big Star.Nick Skelton began riding at the age of eighteen months on a Welsh pony called Oxo. At the age of seventeenth in 1975, Skelton took team silver and individual gold at the Junior European Championships. He has competed many times at the European Show Jumping Championships, winning numerous medals, both individually and with the British team. In 1980 he competed in the Alternative Olympics, where he helped the British team to a silver medal. He still holds the British Show Jumping High Jump record that he set in 1978.In 2000, Skelton was forced into an early retirement after he broke his neck from a serious fall. But following an amazing recovery he came out of retirement in 2002 to compete again. Now he tells the full story of his eventful life and matchless achievements.