A Horse of Her Own Paperback – 29 Sept. 2009

I love horses and I love to read horse stories. I wanted to like this, I really did.However, it mostly just irritated and confused me. Right from the start there's a whole bunch of characters introduced and it was difficult to keep track of who was who, and who was friend or foe. Their riding instructor is incredibly unrealistic, walking around with a riding crop glued to her hand and regularly smacking it against her boot. (including in the presence of horses) They have an unpredictable horse, but decide to lay a saddle pad on the floor if his stable, for a cat to sleep on. I guess they don't care if it gets trampled. At one point a horse gets colic, and they put down a thick bed for him, then actually incourage him to lie down and roll. One of the characters remarks that rolling won't do him any harm! This part REALLY annoyed me and to be honest, I ended up in tears as it hit very close to home. I lost my horse to colic, after he rolled and twisted his gut. (It was in the middle of the night, so I wasn't there to stop him from rolling) Anyone who knows about horses, knows you shouldn't let a colicing horse roll! I did read it right to the end, but I had to force myself. *Spoiler warning* The ending was terrible too, as the main character was gifted a mystery horse. The 'happy ending' could be short lived, if the horse turned out to be stolen and had to be given back to it's real owners. I usually keep my horse story books and enjoy to re-read them.. but not this one. It went straight in the bin. If you want a good horse story, check out what Jane Ayres has to offer.

Great books

My Granddaughter loved it and has passed it on to her friend to read - brilliant book.

Good buy

Lovely book for little girl to read

A*