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Treasured Horses Collection
The Flying Angels: The Story of a Vaulter Who Must Overcome Her Fear to Once Again Perform on Her Amazing Andalusian
Adela is excited to perform with the Flying Angels, the vaulting team to which her sisters belong, but her pride makes her quit when she falls while dismounting from her horse.
123 pages, Library Binding
First published July 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 19, 2026
The Flying Angels, part of the last quartet of books in the Treasured Horses Collection, definitely does not show Coleen Hubbard at her best. It lacks a holistic plot, sends mixed messages, and generally seems more like an advertisement for vaulting than a true horse-girl book. It has some positive elements and plenty of subject knowledge by the author, but it just wasn’t compelling to me as many of the books in this series are.
Twelve-year-old Adela Salinas has trained all her life to join the Flying Angels, the San Antonio horseback vaulting team that all three of her older sisters are part of, but when Adela takes an embarrassing fall during her first competition, she immediately quits the team and vows to never vault again. With the help of her understanding Abuelito, Adela starts training privately with her Andalusian Rio, but she is soon faced with another challenge: her sister Isabel takes on a new student named Daphne McFarland, a champion gymnast who wants to take up vaulting. While her sisters are captivated by Daphne’s abilities, Adela grows more and more fearful that her sisters are replacing her with Daphne, and that Daphne doesn’t know enough about horses to be trusted with Rio. Adela must overcome her own insecurities, however, before she can help Rio, Daphne, and the Flying Angels.
Following two outstanding installments to the Treasured Horses Collection, The Flying Angels was a huge disappointment. Hubbard’s featured horse breed here is the Andalusian, but unfortunately she only includes Rio on the outskirts of the girls’ dramatic storyline. Adela and Rio’s relationship showcases the importance of caring for your horse and not seeing him as a mere piece of equipment, but everything is rushed and glossed over in terms of their personal bond. Instead, Hubbard focuses on the horseback vaulting sport, which is entirely fascinating but overpowers the story to an unforgivable level. About 80% of the book is Hubbard showing off her knowledge of all the technical vaulting terms and describing each minute action the girls do, while the plot lacks a compelling storyline and just meanders between the beginning and end. The pacing is completely off, to the point that I started wondering if I was just half-asleep while reading it. I’m also not sure about the message here: The conclusion was obvious and was kind of unsatisfying to me, all things considered.
There are some good things about The Flying Angels of course — a Latina heroine with a strong family support system, Sandy Rabinowitz’s dynamic illustrations, etc. Adela is annoying at times but does learn some important lessons about teamwork, humility, and perseverance. Her dedication to taking care of Rio is admirable, especially as she continues to care for him even when Daphne is the one who’s supposed to be doing it; Adela never lets Rio suffer for her own personal grievances or Daphne’s carelessness. Hubbard highlights a few other, more positive lessons to be learned: it’s important to play a sport because you love it, not because you want to win competitions, and you can’t put too much pressure on yourself. Also, my personal headcanon is that Bright Star, the Appaloosa vaulting horse for a rival team, is a descendant of Morning Star and Starfire from Spirit of the West.
I’m being pretty rough on The Flying Angels when it’s a harmless little horse-girl book tailor-made for girls who are into vaulting, but it felt kind of inaccessible and boring to me. It mostly just seemed like Hubbard wanted to show off her knowledge about vaulting and neglected the plot, characters, and horses in favor of that. Still, it’s a cute story and has some good lessons for those who want to look for them!
Link to The Flying Angels on Internet Archive
Twelve-year-old Adela Salinas has trained all her life to join the Flying Angels, the San Antonio horseback vaulting team that all three of her older sisters are part of, but when Adela takes an embarrassing fall during her first competition, she immediately quits the team and vows to never vault again. With the help of her understanding Abuelito, Adela starts training privately with her Andalusian Rio, but she is soon faced with another challenge: her sister Isabel takes on a new student named Daphne McFarland, a champion gymnast who wants to take up vaulting. While her sisters are captivated by Daphne’s abilities, Adela grows more and more fearful that her sisters are replacing her with Daphne, and that Daphne doesn’t know enough about horses to be trusted with Rio. Adela must overcome her own insecurities, however, before she can help Rio, Daphne, and the Flying Angels.
Following two outstanding installments to the Treasured Horses Collection, The Flying Angels was a huge disappointment. Hubbard’s featured horse breed here is the Andalusian, but unfortunately she only includes Rio on the outskirts of the girls’ dramatic storyline. Adela and Rio’s relationship showcases the importance of caring for your horse and not seeing him as a mere piece of equipment, but everything is rushed and glossed over in terms of their personal bond. Instead, Hubbard focuses on the horseback vaulting sport, which is entirely fascinating but overpowers the story to an unforgivable level. About 80% of the book is Hubbard showing off her knowledge of all the technical vaulting terms and describing each minute action the girls do, while the plot lacks a compelling storyline and just meanders between the beginning and end. The pacing is completely off, to the point that I started wondering if I was just half-asleep while reading it. I’m also not sure about the message here: The conclusion was obvious and was kind of unsatisfying to me, all things considered.
There are some good things about The Flying Angels of course — a Latina heroine with a strong family support system, Sandy Rabinowitz’s dynamic illustrations, etc. Adela is annoying at times but does learn some important lessons about teamwork, humility, and perseverance. Her dedication to taking care of Rio is admirable, especially as she continues to care for him even when Daphne is the one who’s supposed to be doing it; Adela never lets Rio suffer for her own personal grievances or Daphne’s carelessness. Hubbard highlights a few other, more positive lessons to be learned: it’s important to play a sport because you love it, not because you want to win competitions, and you can’t put too much pressure on yourself. Also, my personal headcanon is that Bright Star, the Appaloosa vaulting horse for a rival team, is a descendant of Morning Star and Starfire from Spirit of the West.
I’m being pretty rough on The Flying Angels when it’s a harmless little horse-girl book tailor-made for girls who are into vaulting, but it felt kind of inaccessible and boring to me. It mostly just seemed like Hubbard wanted to show off her knowledge about vaulting and neglected the plot, characters, and horses in favor of that. Still, it’s a cute story and has some good lessons for those who want to look for them!
Link to The Flying Angels on Internet Archive
September 18, 2021
Turtle just re-read and said: great! Keep to read again. **She said this is her favorite book in the series! :-)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews