Horsenapped!

Saddle Club #17

by Bonnie Bryant

Stevie, Carole, and Lisa are best friends and horse-crazy members of The Saddle Club. The three are looking forward to the combined-training event at Pine Hollow Stables, when all riders will compete in dressage, cross-country, and stadium jumping. It's a horse lover's dream!When snooty Veronica blames her bad performance on her horse, Garnet, and storms out of the ring, Carole follows, fearing Veronica's threat to give away her horse. But horse and rider have disappeared.Later, when Lisa finds a $10,000 ransom note in the stall, the possibility becomes all too Garnet has been horsenapped!Who would have thought that The Saddle Club would ever feel sorry for Veronica? The girls resolve to catch the horsenappers and soon find themselves in a daring escape that puts all their horse-riding skills to the test.

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Young Adult, Animals, Middle Grade, Fiction, Contemporary

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

American author of children's books. She is best known for creating the intermediate horse book series The Saddle Club, which was published from October 1988 until April 2001. The Saddle Club chronicled the adventures of thirteen-year-old Lisa Atwood and twelve-year-olds Stephanie "Stevie" Lake and Carole Hanson. The series was static in time; the girls never aged in 101 books, 7 special editions, and 3 Inside Stories.

Bonnie Bryant also wrote two spin-off series: Pony Tails, aimed at beginning readers, and Pine Hollow, aimed at teenage readers. The 16 Pony Tails books followed the lives of eight-year-olds May Grover, Corey Takamura, and Jasmine James. Pine Hollow featured Carole, Lisa, Stevie, and their new friends in a series set four years after The Saddle Club. Unlike The Saddle Club, Pine Hollow conformed to a realistic timeline. The 17 books took place over the span of less than a year. Later a television show called The Saddle Club, based on the books, was filmed in Australia.

Bonnie Bryant wrote at least 38 The Saddle Club books and 2 Pine Hollow books herself; after that they were taken over by a team of ghostwriters, a common practice in long-running children's book series. Ghostwriters for the Saddle Club and Pine Hollow books included Caitlin Macy (sometimes credited as Caitlin C. Macy), Catherine Hapka, Sallie Bissell, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Helen Geraghty, Tina deVaron, Cat Johnston, Minna Jung, and Sheila Prescott-Vessey.

Bonnie Bryant is also the author of many novelizations of movies, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Karate Kid, and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, written under her married name, B.B. Hiller. She also collaborated in the ghostwriting of The Baby-sitters Club Super Special #14: BSC in the USA, published under the name of its creator, Ann M. Martin.

Bonnie Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She met her husband, Neil W. Hiller, in college, where they both worked on the campus newspaper. They had two sons, Emmons Hiller and Andrew Hiller. Neil Hiller died in 1989. Many of Bonnie's books are dedicated to him.
***from wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was always a particularly exciting book in the series - there is a horsenapping plot taking place at the same time as a riding competition, leading to quite a lot of drama. Highly enjoyable and the conclusion leads nicely into the next book (and allows the girls to score a few victories against Veronica, who behaves quite appallingly in this one, which is saying something! )

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this decades ago. It was one of the first Saddle Club books I read. I was surprised it took 17 books before horse stealing became a plot device. I mean, horse stealing usually pops up in the first couple of books in a horse series aimed at tweens and whatnot. I'm afraid I can't remember details of this book except that I liked it. The Saddle Club books can be like a serving of sherbet after a heavy meal of heavy reading and helps clear the palette for more.

EDIT December 2024: Okay, I finally re-read this at Book Read Free, which has most of the series on its site. This is shorter than the previous books. I vividly remember poor Garnet being stolen, but totally forgot that two other horses were stolen (including Cobalt's full brother) with her AND that the Saddle Club solving this happened DURING A THREE DAY EVENT.

Really, kids -- eventing is exciting enough ... but it doesn't get THAT exciting.

I think this was the first Saddle Club book I'd read. Even though I was at least 18 when I read it, I enjoyed the kids being able to solve problems on their own, because adults can be fucking clueless. I knew the adults in my life were throughoughly undependable. I enjoyed some of the silliness, since heavy shit was going on in my life and this was a nice stress reliever. And, of course, I enjoyed how horsey the book was.

Veronica makes a good villan in the series. I'm sorry to see that the girls felt bad for her, and about a dozen books later even try to befriend her, since she killed a horse and wanted Garnet killed here, so does not deserve forgiveness.

[Leeanne G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t read a Saddle Club book in a while so it was nice to visit Carole, Stevie, Lisa, and the horses of Pine Hollow again. I’d forgotten how much I have always enjoyed these books, and still do. I was constantly laughing at the antics of Stevie, who I think has kind of always been my favourite! It’s hard to choose a favourite and I kind of love them all equally. Stevie’s so much fun though!

In this book, three really expensive purebred horses are “horsenapped” in the middle of Pine Hollow Stables’ combined-training event. First, a horse named Bodoni, then Saturday’s Child (aka Sat), and finally Veronica’s own Garnet! Carole, Stevie and Lisa discover a ransom note in Garnet’s stall for $10,000. The girls decide they must solve the mystery themselves because, if they tell anybody about it, Garnet, Sat and Bodoni might be put in danger.

There was a lot going on in this book, with the horse napping and the competition, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The girls participate in the competition in between looking for the missing horses, and it balances out well. The competition was fun to read about, and the author takes us through each of the girls’ performances of dressage, cross-country, and showjumping. It was really informative.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable, fun Saddle Club book that has reminded me how much I love this series!

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The One with the Girl Detectives

An absurd adventure featuring a ransom note, hijacked horses, and a trail of bubble gum wrappers that sees The Saddle Club not only compete in a three-part event, but - in between cross-country riding, dressage and jumping - also solve the mystery of the horsenapped horses and recover them without any assistance! (The horsenappers are never named and their motive - beside the $10k ransom - remains unclear. That's asking a little too much of this kids' book!) This was preposterous, of course, but a lot of fun.

[Sam Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable, if slightly more absurd than usual with the girls solving a horse theft with gum wrappers. But I really love the books that have shows in them. This was a fun, if very silly volume.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good series for horse crazy young teens. I loved it when I was younger.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combined training is taking place at Pine Hollow. Students are going to be schooled in dressage, jumping, and cross country riding. Veronica is back on her nonsense in this book, blaming her poor horse for her ineptitude. In the middle of all that, a horse goes missing. This was one of the better Saddle Club books.

[Filomena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tenhle dil mi prisel dost uhozeny - ale stejne se porad dobre cetl a vubec!

[The Mockabee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so good, and had so many mysteries, which I love!