88 Books Like Afraid to Ride

The animal is a number of racehorses. The human is a collection of owners, trainers, jockeys, and more, yielding a comprehensive look at human and animal behavior in the horse racing industry. A strong, intimate novel. I used to ride but never very well, and I’ve always wondered what a horse’s “thoughts” involved. Author Smiley gave me a feel for that as she applied her own assumptions to one horse in particular.  

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 horse called Boo. 

When Sarah rashly decides to run away to France with Boo I couldn’t help rooting for the pair.

This is a story of courage and determination that had me gripped from the first page to the last.

Few people in the world could render with so much humanity the backstreet stories of Coney Island and Belmont Race Track as Estep has in “Hex.” As main character/narrator Ruby navigates the down and out animals and humans of her neighborhood, we are made privy to the power of kindness and friendship in a carnivalesque world that continually threatens to fall into shambles. As a lifelong rider and trainer myself, I have often been struck by the proximity of extremes in the horse world. Estep’s revelations of a dark and pithy world, shot through with the dreams and aspirations of regular people, is a fascinating ride through streets at once familiar and strange. A treat for adventurous readers.

For readers who love fantasy, the story of Persephone and her discovery of the magical world of Equidona will be a favorite. After the sudden and inexplicable loss of her mother, who was a devoted horsewoman, Persephone finds herself swept into a world in which horses are at the center of a society at a crossroads. The widespread use of magic has put people at odds with some of the longest and most cherished traditions of horsemanship. Persephone must discover her own powers in order to help control the forces that killed her mother. I love this story for its careful sketching of the values of a life with horses. LGBTQ theme.

A gentler, kinder version of Inkheart and The Untold Tale, this novel is still thrilling. I love the idea of consuming a book as literally as we do figuratively. In this one, our protagonist absentmindedly eats a page out of his favourite bedtime story and wakes up inside it. He has to hop from story to story to get home, crossing through his sister’s horse books and many an adventure before making it safe to his own bed. I think it’s totally charming.

When Thea comes with her dad to the Double R Guest Ranch to help Tully open the place back up, she doesn’t expect to find a decades-old mystery hidden among the old records. She also doesn’t expect to reconnect with horses, the beautiful animals her mother used to train.

This novel is a fantastic coming-of-age story, with grief, loss, and reconciliation sprinkled throughout. An engaging mystery flavors it further, making this book hard for me to put down. 

This is an amazing book about a lonely horse who found a home and became a hero. It shows how God can use animals to heal us from the inside out.

Hopewell Ranch is a beautiful animal therapy farm in Michigan that was founded to help hurting children. This amazing ministry has also assisted in helping veterans, families, and individuals in their quest for healing. This ranch partners with several animals in a beautiful natural setting where people can connect to health in a peaceful and non-threatening atmosphere.

This book references an incredible Horse that encouraged many people who were going through struggles in their lives. Compassion, kindness, and God's grace were prevalent in this book. It is a true story and a must-read.

The title just made me laugh. Wade introduces herself and her co-partner in her adventures, Penelope Langley, as middle-aged women who refuse to surrender to age, and exhort themselves and others to reclaim their “yeehaw”—that feeling of freedom, wildness, that one we last had at the age of twelve. In this collection of short tales, her answer to the age-old problem of aging is a call to gallop. We follow her all very relatable equestrian pursuits through all her foibles and fun. A scene where she watches as Penelope makes friends with the most questionable character—why? because he owns horses—made me spit out my coffee. Hence the title of her book explained, they are horse sluts because they will do anything to pimp a ride.

Wade is honest about the challenges of riding as you start to get older. She is both fearful and fearless. She worries about hurting herself… show more.

Horses are central to human history, but they have a history of their own. Budiansky explores equine history using biological science, animal behavior, and evolutionary history. How did horses evolve? How did horses and humans come together to co-evolve? Why do horses and humans get along so well? What are horses like? How do horses do what they do? After setting horses in historical context Budiansky takes up issues of communication, social behaviors, intelligence, the senses, the mechanics of movement, and the production of power and speed. This book shows that horses are not magical or mystical creatures, but serious fellow beings who have co-evolved with us through biology and history.

This true story was one of my favorites growing up, and I’ve read it many times. Annie is a polio survivor with a limp, but this doesn’t stop her from riding the range.  Neither does being a girl stop her from battling a terrible situation: the slaughter of mustangs. Annie risks her life to photograph mustang roundups and then takes the fight to the US government, finally getting a bill passed to prevent the inhumane treatment of wild horses. So inspiring!