Ginny works at a rundown urban stable. The horses are underfed and overworked but Ginny can't see a way out. Then she meets Tamara, a dressage and stunt rider, and she offers Ginny a job.

Tamara gets through grooms at the speed of light. After a serious riding accident wrecked her looks, she cannot trust anyone, and deals with this by driving anyone close to her away.

At first Ginny blooms, even though Tamara is not a talented teacher, despite her brilliance at dressage. Gradually, Tamara begins to trust and like Ginny. Then she takes on Andras, who can teach in a way Tamara cannot. He has a plan to develop the stables, but Tamara sees this as a terrible betrayal, deciding to make life so unbearable he and Ginny will leave.

Can Tamara and Ginny ever understand each other?

The Stables at Hampton does have one hunting scene in it where Ginny joins the hunt when her horse tanks off.

At her last school, riding was on the curriculum, and Bobby used to ride Shelta, the chestnut Anglo-Arab mare for the school's owners. All that has changed. The school's owner was killed, the school has closed, and Shelta has been sold. Bobby is now living with her aunt and uncle, and has to go to a new school.

No showjumping here. The only riding is a weekly potter on Captain Roberts's tired and unenthusiastic horses. But there is another stable nearby: Bracken, owned by Guy Mathews. He is roundly despised by the headmistress and the girls of Bobby's smart school. Just a dealer. Selling useless horses.

Bobby is determined to do more than just potter, and she starts riding at Bracken. It's nothing like it's been painted – Guy wants to develop into a serious competition stable, and he buys Shelta when her new owner sends her to a sale. It's a fight for Bobby to be allowed to ride her more than the once-a-a-week school thinks is acceptable, and even more to...]]> Wed, 14 Sep 1977 16:06:49 +0300 https://romance.library.land/gillian-baxter/690546-the_perfect_horse.html https://romance.library.land/gillian-baxter/690546-the_perfect_horse.html

Surely no horse could really be as kind and reliable and as perfect a performer as Minos appeared to be? Sooner or later, surely, a fault must appear ...

Ellen, Bobby's cousin, wants Bracken Stables to find a horse for her, and not just any horse. Ellen wants to ride at Badminton.

They find a horse: beautiful, brave dun Minos. He never puts a foot wrong. If something's not quite right, he will sort it out. Bobby can't put her finger on what worries her about Minos. She knows perfectly well what worries her about Ellen. Ellen is not ready for Badminton, nor is she likely to be, but Minos is such a good horse it's easy for Ellen to fool herself about her abilities.

Why exactly is Ellen suddenly so keen? Despite Guy and Bobby's misgivings, Ellen and Minos are entered at Badminton. What will happen if Badminton asks Minos one question too many?

"I can't really believe this is actually happening," said Bobby. "It was only this afternoon that everything seemed wonderful ..."

A terrible freak air accident destroys part of Bracken stables, and leaves owner Guy Mathews in hospital, badly injured.

Bobby and Heath are left to try and keep the stables going. It is a battle. Bobby has a new horse to school: Phoenix, but she also needs to teach his owner how to ride him. And then there is a disastrous ride where one of their promising young pupils has a fall and loses her nerve ... Bracken Stables's local reputation is taking knocks from which it might not recover.

And Bobby is slowly realising Guy means more to her than she realised.

With a new introduction by the author, Gillian Baxter, this is the second of the much-loved Bracken Stables series, out of print for 40 years.