English Horses

In the rolling green hills of Kaipara, Scottish vet Rory Dean and his two fox terriers, Scrappy and Alfie, are on call day and night for whichever animal emergency awaits. In Adventures of a Country Vet, Rory shares stories of the livestock and pets he's cared for as a rural vet in New Zealand and southwest England. From calving in a blizzard to a dog wounded in a pig-hunt, a horse castration gone wrong and warming a baby alpaca in the footwell of his ute, life as a vet is all-go.

Hoof Beats transforms our understanding of both horses and humanity's ancient past and asks us to consider what our relationship with horses means for the future of humanity and the world around us.

Carleton Brooks and Traci Brooks share their decades of knowledge, expertise, and winning ways in their first book, With Purpose: The Balmoral Standard. Carleton is a widely respected horseman, a large 'R' judge, and member of the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame, and Traci has spent more than 30 years developing horses and riders, guiding them to victory at the biggest shows in the country.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota lie eleven thousand acres of breathtaking rangeland and rimrock, canyons and pastures - home to more than three hundred wild mustangs. This preserve was the vision of one man - Dayton Hyde - who conceived of a place where wild horses could live and die in freedom and dignity.

Golden Sun is a chestnut snowflake Appaloosa. In summer, he treks through the mountains with his rider, a Nez Perce boy named Little Turtle, as he gathers healing plants. But when Little Turtle's best friend falls ill, Golden Sun discovers his true calling. Here is Golden Sun's story . . . in his own words.

Brighty, a shaggy young burro, lives wild and free in the Grand Canyon of Arizona. He roams the steep cliffs with the squirrels and rabbits. But his favorite friend is Old Timer, the prospector who shares hot biscuits and calls him Bright Angel. One day Old Timer doesn't answer Brighty's loud "Eeeee-aw!" Instead, the friendly animal encounters a ruthless claim jumper. Will Brighty be able to bring the killer to justice and make the wilderness safe again?

From the beloved author of Horses Speak of God comes a warm and inspiring guide to the life lessons we can learn from horses. Laurie Brock, Episcopal priest, messy Christian, and horse lover, shares the experiences of love, grief, humility, joy, and deep wisdom that she discovers day to day with horses. From barely there trails in the Grand Tetons to muddy fields in the Kentucky Bluegrass, God is revealed in the simple ways of these magnificent creatures.

Twelve-year-old Silas is awoken in the dead of night by three menacing horsemen who take his father away. Silas is left shaken, scared, and alone, except for the presence of his companion, Mittenwool...who happens to be a ghost. When a pony shows up at his door, Silas makes the courageous decision to leave his home and embark on a perilous journey to find his father. Along the way, he will face his fears to unlock the secrets of his past and explore the unfathomable mysteries of the world around him.

"Every horse story is a love story," writes Jane Smiley, who has loved horses for most of her life and owned and bred them for a good part of it. To love something is to observe it with more than usual attention, and that is precisely what Smiley does in this irresistibly smart, witty, and engaging chronicle of her obsession. In particular she follows a sexy filly named Waterwheel and a grey named Wowie (he "tells" a horse communicator that he wants it changed from Hornblower) as they begin careers at the racetrack.

Learn what it means to have healthy biomechanics, the power of mind-set, setting goals, and the most important conversations you need to be able to have with your horse in order to improve the quality of his movement. This book is in-depth enough to explain the concepts yet short enough to easily listen to and remember. It is an excellent introduction to Karen Rohlf and her "dressage naturally" system.

On an early summer morning in 2001, Mandy Retzlaff received the phone call that she and her family had been dreading. Her farmhouse in northern Zimbabwe was being decimated at the hands of an angry mob of Robert Mugabe’s war veterans, who had been tasked with driving white farmers from their homes. In just a few short days, forty-five of Mandy’s neighbours narrowly escaped with their lives and decided to leave Zimbabwe behind.

Whether or not you see the Northern Lights in Iceland, it's still an incredible escape, and some things you can do in Iceland whatever the weather. (According to the Icelandic there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes.)

In the roaring '20s, adventurous young Sonora Webster sees an exciting act that will change her life forever. Hooves pound as a horse gallops up the ramp of a 40-foot-tall tower. A girl in a sparkly swimsuit waits at the top, and at the last possible second, leaps on its back as they dive through the air, falling to a tank of water far below with thunderous applause. Sonora is hooked. From that moment on, she is determined to BE that girl, despite the danger, and endeavors to join the diving horse troupe. This memoir follows her exciting career and life on the road as a traveling performer.

Now that Abby knows which of her so-called friends is the one behind the video of her talking “trash” on Emery, she’d love to do something with that information—if only her blackmailer didn’t know Abby’s one real secret, the one she can’t risk getting out. So, Abby’s stuck. And, to make matters worse, she’s so rattled by the drama that it’s affecting her performance on Beau. Abby wants to be as great a rider as Sasha Silver, but how can she do that when she’s making rookie mistakes?

Jules Thornton didn’t come to Florida horse country to make friends. With her beloved horse Dynamo and her ruthless ambition, she is intent on becoming a world-class rider and trainer. Chasing dreams this big doesn’t leave much time for things like friends or vacations or properly cooked meals. And she certainly doesn’t have time for Pete Morrison, the handsome heir to one of Ocala’s grandest horse farms who keeps beating her at events and, for some reason, asking her out to dinner. But even Jules has to admit that she is hanging on by a thread.

When it comes to men, Nealy is very content with her new husband, lawyer Hatch Littletree. When it comes to horses, she is never satisfied. Nobody can measure up to her standards as a trainer, not even her daughter, Emmie, who now runs the family's famous stables, Blue Diamond Farms. But returning to Blue Diamond Farms for a family reunion sends Nealy reeling. Emmie has let the farm slide, and she has picked a small, gutsy colt to send to the Derby - a nice horse but clearly the wrong one.

At an annual party to celebrate the success of the racing season, everything seemed to be running well to form, including the need for more champagne. Then a runaway horsebox ploughed into the marquee. A witness to the terrible death and destruction, wine merchant Tony Beach knows it is just one of those tragic accidents. But when his expert advice is called into play over sub-standard alcohol in a local night club, connections start to click, and another person dies, horribly.

Small town 17-year-old Vivienne Taylor is a talented equestrian with Olympic dreams and a little something extra going on - she is also an "equine empath", someone who has the ability to read horses’ minds and moods. When she receives a full scholarship to attend Fairmont Riding Academy, a prep school with a famous riding program, she struggles with homesickness, hazing by the school’s snooty drama queen, intense competition in the sport of three-day-eventing, and the not-altogether-unwelcome interest of a hot guy. On top of all of that the horse given to Vivienne via the scholarship is an animal that she cannot "read" or understand.

Princess Ellie is pony-mad! So when top designer Lord Leo arrives to give the palace a makeover, Ellie quickly escapes to the stables to avoid all the fuss. But she soon discovers that there's something strange about Lord Leo, and she suspects there's more to his plans than meets the eye. Can her pony, Starlight, help Ellie uncover the palace plot?

Mallory loves horses. She loves reading about them. She loves writing about them. And most of all, she loves daydreaming about them.