Synopses & Reviews
Hannah Gale starts volunteering at a horse stable because she needs a place to escape. Her father has returned from the Iraq war as an amputee with posttraumatic stress disorder, and his nightmares rock the household. At the stable, Hannah comes to love Jack, Super Dee, and Indy; helps bring a rescued mare back from the brink; and witnesses the birth of the filly who steals her heart. Hannah learns more than she ever imagined about horse training, abuse, and rescues, as well as her own capacity for hope. Physical therapy with horses could be the answer to her fatherÕs prayers, if only she can get him to try.
Review
"Everything comes together here—setting, dialogue, horse details and, most impressively, voice—so that the near-fairy-tale ending works; like the rest of the book, it feels absolutely true. A standout."
—Kirkus, starred review
"Girls and horses never go out of style. . . . Lyne fills her story with details about various breeds, horsemanship, and horse-riding competition, immersing readers into this very specialized world. The setting of a small town that is hard to escape rings just as true."
—Booklist Online
"For many girls, it isn't truly summer without a great horse book—Jennifer H. Lyne's Catch Rider fits that bill."
—Newsday
"[A] riveting story."
—Common Sense Media, (4 stars)
"I'm no horse expert, but this tale sure feels and smells like the real deal. It was a real page turner for me. Perhaps you know a book where there is resolution to the story but you are so into the characters that you are not ready to say goodbye. . . I'm sure hoping to see another book out of this debut author."
—Richie Partington
Synopsis
After her father returns from Iraq as an amputee with post traumatic stress disorder, Hannah escapes by volunteering at a horse stable. There, she learns that physical therapy with horses could be the answer to her father's prayers.
Synopsis
In this powerful story of horse people, Sid pursues her dream of becoming a catch rider—a show rider who can ride anything—despite her poor background and ferocious competition from more privileged girls. An authentic behind the scenes portrayal of a show barn and the elite, demanding world of equitation.
Synopsis
Tough-as-nails fourteen-year-old Sid may not have expensive boots like the privileged teen riders in Virginia, but she knows her way around horses. Working with her Uncle Wayne since childhood, shes learned to evaluate horses, break and train them, care for them . . . and ride like a professional. Amid turmoil at home, she dreams of becoming a catch rider—a show rider who can ride anything with hooves. In this salty, suspenseful teen novel, an unexpected opportunity to ride a top-notch horse in an equitation show takes the small-town girl all the way to Madison Square Garden.
About the Author
Ginny Rorby was born in Washington, D.C., but spent her first twenty years in Winter Park, Florida. She now lives close to nature, on the northern coast of California, supporting the appetites of five cats (the fourth and fifth appropriately named Spare Cat and Extra Cat), three birds, and a snake named Rosie. Because she does some wildlife rehabilitation, she frequently has an assortment of critters staying with her (past residents have included a bat, a hummingbird, a raven, a turkey, and numerous baby birds).
She writes by hand under a plum tree on a deck overlooking a creek, facing a redwood forest (with at least one cat in her lap). She had been working as a flight attendant for fifteen years when wrote an editorial about an abandoned dog and sent it to a local newspaper. An editor at the newspaper encouraged her to continue writing. Ginny has since received her MFA in creative writing. She was still flying when she wrote Dolphin Sky, so most of it was written while she was standing up in the lower galley of a DC-10 airplane.