Millions of books have been written about horses and travel, and you realistically will not be able to read them all! Below you will find a list of my six personal favourite inspirational horse and travel books ever written. Take these with you on one of your horse riding trips, read them in the sun, in a park or by the fire, it doesn’t matter where but make sure you read them!
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An incredibly inspiring story written by Mandy Retzlaff of Mozambique horse safaris. A story of undying love and passion for horses, exile and resilience. An absolute must read for anyone who loves horses and Africa. It’s the exceptionally moving background story of Mozambique horse safaris and how they came to be, from having to pack up everything they had in Zimbabwe to flee to the coast of Mozambique.
The ultimate horse girl classic! Didn’t we all want to be Amy Fleming when we were kids?! These books actually teach kids and young teenage horse lovers a lot about horse behaviour and techniques. Filled with teenage drama, the perfect book for teens and the perfect guilty pleasure for us nostalgic grown-up horse girls. There is also a series which has been running for 15 years (!), so if you want to see Amy Fleming galloping around fields and taming wild horses in 2 seconds, head on over to Netflix!
This is one of the first autobiographical travel books I’ve ever read. The story is about Christopher, who graduates from university as a top student and athlete. He gives away all he has and burns the rest, to hitchhike into Alaska. There are extremely varied opinions on Christophers story, some doubt his sanity, some despise him, saying he is entitled and stupid. Others are inspired by it, the adventure and the courage to change your life radically to explore. Whatever might be your opinion on Christophers story, it is a must read and will make you think about lots of aspects of travel and life.
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My all time favourite kids book. A love story between kids, for the love of nature and wildlife. It truly is a must read for kids and for any adult that has not read it when they were kids. The book is set in a fantasy forest filled with all kinds of magical animals and horses! They tame two wild horses they found in the forest and go on all sorts of adventures. Every horse kid’s dream fantasy book!
Most horse people probably know this tear jerker, either the book or the movie. An incredibly inspiring story of broken hearts, broken families and the bond between humans and horses. Set in World War One, the story of Joey and his heart-human sure does hit the heart.
Written by trainer Mark Rashid, this book describes his sensitive and thoughtful method of balanced horse training. The perfect book for anyone looking into training horses and for anyone who is already a trainer but looking to grow as a trainer. Besides his in-depth explanation of his methods, Rashid also goes into detail about his philosophy regarding horses, and about the delicate balance between human and horse to create the ultimate partnership. He does not follow and he challenges the conventional alpha leadership or dominance method and describes how to be a passive leader to your horse in order to form a healthy partnership. He describes a lot of his experiences with horses that lots of readers are able to learn from.
Hopefully this blog post was useful and has inspired you to start reading one of these books! If you have any questions or would like help with anything, don’t be shy and contact me here, or on Instagram! Don’t forget to subscribe to HATW’s newsletter to stay up to date on new rides and more advice and tips. Please share this post with your friends that would love to curl up with a good book too!
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