Will I love The Horse Dancer?

Jojo Moyes is better known for writing romance than pony books, but The Horse Dancer has all the ingredients for the perfect pony book: a troubled but talented teen, a beautiful horse, and a dream of being the best.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah wants to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and join Le Cadre Noir French classical riding academy, but her hopes are dashed when her beloved grandfather falls gravely ill.

Suddenly alone in the world, Sarah is taken in by lawyer Natasha and her estranged husband Mac. Unfortunately, she omits to tell them she is the owner of a thoroughbred dancing… show more.

It is entirely likely that readers who are not dressage aficionados will not “get” this book at all. But for those who love the classical art of dressage, this is a novel that finally “gets” us. This complex story draws in the tragic losses of the young Sarah and the importance of her horse in a dangerous world. This theme recapitulates the story of dressage itself in that the training of horses for military roles throughout history gave a tremendous advantage to the soldier who was mounted, giving him power far beyond his own. For Sarah, the partnership with her… show more.

Before the enormous success of Me Before You, horse-lover Jojo Moyes wrote this gem of a story about London teenager Sarah, whose grandfather Henri once trained with the legendary French cavalry troupe, the Cadre Noir. Taught to ride by Henri and now mastering classical dressage, she’s determined to prove she can perform the difficult ‘capriole’ high kick on her horse Boo. But when Henri’s hospitalised, leaving her unable to pay the keep in Boo’s city yard, Sarah is forced to take drastic steps to hold onto her horse and keep her grandfather’s dreams alive. A roller-coaster of an adventure… show more.