Equestrian Memoir

After everything she’s suffered—and everyone she’s lost—Mia Ledger wants nothing more than peace. She spends her days teaching riding lessons and raising horses on her quiet Montana ranch. But when she steps in to stop a kidnapping that echoes her own haunted past, she paints a target on her back. The crime syndicate behind the attack sends enforcers to settle the score. When Mia returns home to find her barn burning and her horses slaughtered, she fights back with the fury of someone who’s got nothing left to lose.

In 2008, 26-year-old Tik Maynard faced a crossroads not unlike that of other young adults. A university graduate and modern pentathlete, he suffered both a career-ending injury and a painful breakup, leaving him suddenly adrift. The son of prominent Canadian equestrians, Maynard decided to spend the next year as a "working student." In the horse industry, working students aspire to become professional riders or trainers, and willingly trade labor for hands-on education.

Jo Anne Normile was not supposed to keep the foal, an exuberant Thoroughbred with only a few white hairs on his reddish-brown forehead. But she fell in love with the young horse, who had literally been born into her arms. The breeder finally said she could keep the colt, whom she nicknamed "Baby" - but only if she raced him. It was difficult to take Baby away from the safety of his pasture. But Normile had made a promise.

In the bestselling tradition of works by such authors as Susan Orlean and Mary Roach, a New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist explores why so many people—including herself—are obsessed with horses, riding, and the equestrian world. It may surprise you to learn that there are...

In the late 1980s, a spectacular three-year-old female racehorse named Winning Colors was being groomed for success under her famous Hollywood trainer D. Wayne Lukas and the billionaire owner of the San Diego Chargers pro-football team Eugene Klein. Meanwhile, three fun-loving gamblers Miami Paul, Dino Mateo, and Big Bernie believed that Winning Colors could be the unlikely female winner of the 1988 Kentucky Derby.

When her horse bucked her off at a rodeo, professional barrel racer Marci Powell shattered her neck and back in two places — injuries so severe doctors warned she might never walk again, let alone ride. But Marci’s story didn’t end in that arena. Through pain, fear, and the silent battles of PTSD, she learned that standing again isn’t about perfection — it’s about persistence. This book is for anyone who’s been broken — by trauma, by loss, by life itself — and is trying to find their way back.

The untold story of generations of Middle Eastern freedom fighters—horsewomen who safeguarded an ancient breed of Caspian horse—and their efforts to defend their homelands from the Taliban and others seeking to destroy them. "A breathtaking book that revisits nearly one hundred years of...

It was a cold and foggy February night in 1983 when a group of armed thieves crept onto Ballymany Stud, near The Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland, to steal Shergar, one of the thoroughbred industry's most renowned stallions. The thieves demanded a hefty ransom for the safe return of one of the most valuable Thoroughbreds in the world, but the ransom was never paid and Shergar's remains have never been found.

After nearly 130 years of trying, only 11 colts have swept the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes to earn the Triple Crown - the grand slam of Thoroughbred racing. These 11 were more than just magnificent Thoroughbreds - they were stars, and their stories are full of the drama, passion, and courage associated with stardom. These champions’ stories are found in The Most Glorious Crown, the most entertaining and comprehensive work on the Triple Crown winners ever assembled.

In this moving memoir, Maeve Birch explores the dynamics between traditional horse handling and her communications with horses, which often didn’t align with what she was taught. In the stories shared, human issues such as codependency, lack of boundaries, impatience, violence, and fear crop up again and again, shaping horse and human relationships. Standing in a Field With Horses provides a window into the mind, spirituality, and social undercurrents of a woman trapped between obedience and self-expression along with the horses

Thoroughbred racing was one of the first major sports in early America. Horse racing thrived because it was a high-status sport that attracted the interest of both old and new money. It grew because spectators enjoyed the pageantry, the exciting races, and, most of all, the gambling. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, author Steven Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing's heyday.

When asked in an interview what he most liked about rodeo, three-time world champion saddle-bronc rider “Cody” Bill Smith said simply, “Horses that buck.” Smith redefined the image of America’s iconic cowboy. Determined as a boy to escape a miner’s life in Montana, he fantasized a life in rodeo and went on to earn thirteen trips to the national finals, becoming one of the greatest of all riders.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "[A] poignant addition to the literature of moneyed glamour and its inevitable tarnish and decay…like something out of Fitzgerald or Waugh."—The New Yorker A parable for the new age of inequality: part family history, part detective story, part...

Barry Geraghty is an Irish horseracing legend. From his first win in 1997 he has gone on to ride almost 2,000 winners, making him the fourth most accomplished rider of all time. With more wins at Cheltenham than any other jockey riding today, he has worked with all the greats - Moscow Flyer, Kicking King, Monty’s Pass. But while they have retired, he has kept on going....

Isaac Burns Murphy (1861-1896) was one of the most dynamic jockeys of his era. Still considered one of the finest riders of all time, Murphy was the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times, and his 44 percent win record remains unmatched. Despite his success, Murphy was pushed out of thoroughbred racing when African American jockeys were forced off the track, and he died in obscurity. In The Prince of Jockeys: The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy, author Pellom McDaniels III offers the first definitive biography of this celebrated athlete.

David Watts and Johnny Winall have over 30 years’ experience as independent bookies. Their shocking story takes you behind the scenes that some in the horseracing world would rather not see the light of day. Their roller-coaster journey takes in some staggering tales from the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival, and Royal Ascot. Along with a refreshingly honest account of some calamitous business dealings, the book reveals how bookmakers think and hot to improve your chances of winning.

The story of one of racing's earliest dynasties, the historic Belair Stud, began with William Woodward's childhood memories of grand days at the racetrack, inspiring dreams of breeding a champion or two of his own. Woodward turned those dreams into reality, building Belair Stud on his family's Maryland estate, launching what would become the preeminent thoroughbred breeding and racing empire in America and chasing racing's biggest prizes in both the United States and England.

Laugh out loud as you hear about the author’s remarkable family and the legends of the rodeo world who illustrate life lessons.

Broken: Tales of a Titanium Cowgirl shares the journey of Michelle Scully’s calamitous riding accident and devastating injury. It also provides a panorama of her path of deep personal discovery as she unexpectedly finds herself in a joyful journey of recovery. Love of horses commingles with a personal quest to improve her horsemanship to spur on her healing.

At his three-year debut in June 1960, no one could know that Mrs. Allaire DuPont’s small, deerlike gelding named Kelso would come to dominate American racing like no other horse before or since. In Kelso: The Horse of Gold, Linda Kennedy tells the remarkable story of one of the greatest athletes of the ages, recreating the excitement of "Kelly's" unique and brilliant career while placing his unparalleled achievements in the context of racing history.