Horse Books As Gifts

Recommended Horse Books for Your Favorite Horse Nut

By Chris, Five Star Ranch Staff Writer

When it comes to gift giving, books are still tops in my mind. I love getting books and find myself re-reading favorite horse books over and over again. One really nice thing about
giving a book as a gift is that since there are so many to chose from, you can usually find a great book that the person doesn’t have.

Horse Care and horse vet books

There are horse care books targeting both adults and children. Horse vet books and horse nutrition books ar great ideas for those who want to deepen their knowledge of their equine friends.

American Girl puts out a “Girls and their Horses” book that is extremely good. I’ve bought several of the American Girl book series for my own
daughter and she has ACTUALLY read them. They do a great job of laying out the information in an interesting format.

A horse owners veterinary handbook might be much appreciated by the horse owner, perhaps one copy to keep in the barn and one at the house.

Children’s Horse books

Every parent wants to find ways to encourage reading. If the child loves horses, reading can be fun. Young children might like the My Little Pony books to accompany their toy ponies.

Inexpensive and classic horse stories like the Misty of Chincoteague series are timeless and make great bed time stories.

Breyer offers the Stablemates series that are oriented to young girls. A couple of books from the series would make a nice gift. You might even consider giving the books in conjunction with a Breyer horse toy to make it extra special. That would give the child something to play with immediately and the books to read later.

Horse Training Books

One horse training book I myself have given to several horse friends was Clinton Anderson’s horse training book. I have given that book out to three horse lovers in my life and all were delighted with it. I was so impressed with the book, I later went back and bought a copy for myself.
I have also enjoyed reading Mark Rashid and Pat Parelli books on horse training. I have given these to horsey friends at Christmas parties and they are always well received. The books below are informative and have lots of pictures to illustrate principles of training. These are a few of my personal favorites.

English Riding Books

Most horse people want to continue to grow in their knowledge of horses and riding. The more accomplished a rider you become, the more you can do with your horse.

There are a number of riding books that have become classic over the years and belong on any serious horse person’s book shelf. Sally Swifts book on centered riding
is something that would appeal to both the English and Western rider. George Morris’s books are a must if your horse nut jumps and does English showing. Dressage queens will love Olympian Isabell Werth’s book on Dressage School.

Here are some favorite riding books of mine that I consider classics.

Western Riding Books

If your little cowpoke is into western riding, there are plenty of great books available. I ride both English and Western so I have both type books in my personal library.
Here are a few of my favorites.

Horse Psychology Books

Understanding your horse is all the rage. Horse psychology books and books about why horses do what they do are very popular with the horsey set.

I could go on and on with great horse books, this is just a sample of the variety available. Hopefully you will get some ideas and find the perfect horse book for your horse lover.
If you have more than one horse person on your shopping list, you might want to look over our article on horse lover gift ideas. I also have some more indepth reviews of some of my favorite books on my bookshelf page.