Judy Waite is one of four children, and loved dogs and horses as a child, so much so that she would go to the local park and rescue any dog she found wandering alone, and would take it home and present it to her mother. She would, she said, have done the same with horses if she could have got away with it. She would write frantically too, and her mother still has many of the magazines she created, which Judy still uses occasionally when she goes into schools.
She started writing when her children were small, using a junk shop typewriter, but has now progressed to a computer. Her books have covered most age ranges, from picture books to teenage novels. Now she teaches creative writing to MA students at University College, Winchester, though she says on her website that writing is “just about rolling your sleeves up and getting on with it.”
Her Horse Healer series she describes as “A set of books for 9-12 year old readers about a gypsy boy with a gift for healing horses. Although these are about horses, I hope they are gritty enough and cover enough themes, to make them appeal firstly to boys as well as girls (particularly those boys who might turn their noses up at the idea of horse stories) and secondly to readers who don't even particularly like horses” (Wordpool interview)
The books are unusual in featuring a boy, and particularly a gypsy who is portrayed positively: historically gypsies have been the villains in pony literature, there only to steal the heroine’s pony.
Thanks to Hannah Fleetwood for all her help with photographs and blurbs.
Finding the book: none of the books are still in print, but all are easy to find.
Puzzle
Hippo, pb, London, 1999, 205 pp.
“When Nicky first sees Puzzle, he knows there's something special about him. Everyone
else thinks Puzzle's just
a no-hoper. Then the new stable manager, Lynette, discovers
Puzzle's surprising talent. Nicky has to decide
whether to help Lynette train Puzzle,
or whether to just walk away.”
Bibliography - pony books only
The Horse Healer Series
Puzzle
Eclipse
Sapphire
Starlight
Eclipse
Hippo, pb, London, 1999, 180 pp.
“Eclipse is one of the most beautiful horses Nicky has ever seen. But Eclipse belongs
to Edward who doesn't like
Nicky at all. He knows his secret night-time rides can
only lead him into trouble, but Nicky needs Eclipse. And
Eclipse might need Nicky,
and his special gift, too.”
Sapphire
Hippo, pb, London, 1999, 232 pp.
Fern can’t afford to keep blue-eyed Sapphire. New Age travellers have arrived, and
Nicky is supposed
to avoid them.
Starlight
Hippo, pb, London, 2000, 212 pp.
Nicky is brought in to use his healing skills on Starlight, a beautiful film star
horse, but Nicky hates the way
the film company treat her. Nicky doesn’t fit in to
the strange film world, and finds himself developing a
bond with Starlight.
