Top Ten Books With Horses

Today's Top Ten Tuesday theme was listed as Animal Companions (These animals can be real or fantasy!) (submitted by P.S. I Love Books). Back in August 2024 I did a Top Ten Literary Animal Friends list, which is basically the same, and I didn't think my list had changed since then. So instead of doing a repeat list, I'm doing the Top Ten Books with Horses. The horses will be both real and fictional.


1. American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Champion's Legendary Rise by Joe Drape - The true story about the life of the first Triple Crown winner after a 37 year drought.

2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin - A fantasy about a thief named Peter Lake, seemingly immortal, who is watched over by his guardian, a pure white horse depicted as a deity, Athansor.

3. Battleship: A Daring Heiress, a Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse by Dorothy Ours - A nonfiction about Battleship, the undersized son of Man O'War, who despite his failings at flat racing, rose up to become a steeplechase champion. 

4. A Horse Called Wonder by Joanna Campbell - Book 1 in the young adult Thoroughbred series, Ashleigh lives on a breeding farm and falls in love with a sickly foal who she nurses back to health.

5. King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry - Marguerite Henry has stamped herself of one of the greatest equestrian themed story tellers of all time, and that legacy is supported by her story of the Arabian that would someday be the cornerstone of the modern-day Thoroughbred.

6. The Black Stallion by Walter Farley - Shipwrecked on an island with a wild black stallion, Alec must fight for their survival and rescue.  

7. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - A story of the importance of animal welfare told by an abused carriage horse.

8. The Eighty Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts - The true story of a horse, bought off the back of a slaughter truck, who would become one of the most famous showjumpers of all time.

9. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon - A story about a couple trying to cheat at horseracing to make a quick buck, but everyone at the track knows they're cheating.

10. The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis - The fifth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, a boy teams up with a talking horse to save the land.

11. The Perfect Horse: the Daring US Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts - The Nazis had a secret eugenics program to breed the perfect horse; when the US military found out about it, they moved to foil the plan.


Okay, so that's a Top 11 not 10, but I couldn't make a decision on which one to cut from the list.

Can you name any books with horses in them?

Comments

  1. Live and LearnMay 27, 2025 at 7:19 AM

    Have you read, "Horse" by Geraldine Brooks? It's about horse racing during Civil War times and quite good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Idea-ist @ GetLostinLitMay 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM

      I haven't read it, but I'm going to add it to my list. it sounds really interesting.

      Delete

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