Black Beauty

“As a horsey young girl, it was a wonderful book to have read to you. It was written in 1877, in the first person – ground-breaking at the time.Basically it is the memoir of a horse called Black Beauty, who starts off as a happy young colt on a farm then gets sold to pull cabs in London and isn’t treated very well, but finally ends up in a happy retirement.” Read more...

The best books on The Equestrian Life

Mary King, Sportspersons & Sportswriter

“There are times that he is loved and admired, and times when he is beaten and abused. Then he’s loved and admired again, and then beaten and abused. In his head, in his heart, he always remembers the times he’s loved and admired and in the end, of course, he’s given his freedom and he’s loved and admired. But he’s got so much heart, and so much will.” Read more...

Audrey Penn recommends her Favourite Teenage Books

Audrey Penn, Children's Author

“I find it odd that people don’t realise how revolutionary this book is…It was the first book that gave consciousness and personality to an animal, which is the horse, Black Beauty. It is narrated in the first person and is supposedly his autobiography. Black Beauty starts off life with a loving mother and great happiness and a good owner. Then he gets sold from one person to another and it is a terrible tragic story of the erosion of happiness and health, until finally, when broken-down and near death from ill-treatment, he is rescued. So it is a story of paradise lost, and regained.” Read more...

Books that Changed the World

Amanda Craig, Journalist