Lightning's Last Hope

Thoroughbred: Ashleigh #1

by Joanna Campbell

Before Thoroughbred, Ashleigh Griffen lived at Edgardale, her family's farm in Kentucky. Nothing could be more perfect than life on the farm with her family, her favorite horses, and her best friend, Mona. Ashleigh loves helping with the horses--and dreaming of becoming a jockey some day... Can Ashleigh protect Lighning? Ashleigh Griffen thinks horses are the most wonderful animals in the world. She can't imagine why anyone would want to hurt a horse. So when Ashleigh discovers Lighning living in a filthy stall on a neighbor's farm, she can't ignore the horse's suffering. Ashleigh knows Lighning isn't her responsibility. But Ashleigh is sure that Lighning's life is in danger is she stays with her abusive owner. How far will Ashleigh go to save the beautiful horse?

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

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

About the author

See Jo Ann Simon

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

[close] I expected the Ashleigh series (a spin off of the Thoroughbred series) to be written for a younger audience, since it is a "prequel" series, but even though Ashleigh was younger the story was still good for readers who had watched Ashleigh grow up in the Thoroughbred series.

[Lauren S.]

The book is amazing. I really loved the book. I like quick reads, personally. When I read a long book that takes me longer to read I start to lose interest. . I love this book because it's a quick read book. When I read quick reads I feel like I don't have as many details to remember. The book tells some details that you wouldn't actually do. When you have a horse tacked you wouldn't leave it unsupervised because it could roll on it and injure themselves or ruien the saddle. I tried my best to ignore those but I'm always really cautios about those things because I have left a horse unsupervised and tacked and it broke my bridal.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read many books from the Thoroughbred series, and this is the one, for me, that stood out. A story of an abused mare, and Ashleigh going to rescue her, could be seen as cliche, but for me, it was a wonderful story of courage and love.
Of course, I did read this book many years ago when I was a lot younger, so reading it again I may see it differantly, but I'd prefer to see it the way I did when I first read it, as a child.

[Jana Henderson (Reviews from the Stacks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for middle-grade and middle- to upper-elementary readers, especially those who love horses. Campbell's series is well-written, engaging, and filled with enough horsey details to keep any young horse fanatic entertained.

[Rivkah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a sweet story.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fav book when i was a kid ! only because it related to me :)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this book. It was a quick read. Enjoyable. A little far-fetched, but the perfect type of book a little girl who is interested in horses would like to read. It would definitely hold their attention. Again, I forgot that Ashleigh is only TEN right now. The one annoying glaring thing I noticed was at the end, Mr. Griffen referred to DEworming as worming. I am a veterinary technician right now and it drives us crazy when breeders or even other veterinary clinics refer to deworming as worming. No, we're not giving worms to the animals, we're getting rid of them.

[Leah Wallin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really quick read

[Kino McFarland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a childhood favorite that I decided to revisit! It still holds up.