Allison Estes
Allison Estes wrote the ten book Short Stirrup Club series, and also wrote some titles for the lengthy Thoroughbred series. The Thoroughbred series, nominally by Joanna Campbell had relatively few titles by her, with the majority being contributed by other authors.
The Short Stirrup Club series is about twins Megan and Max Morrison and their horses, and their adventures at Thistle Ridge Farm.
Allison Estes “grew up playing on Faulkner's grave”, but now teaches writing through the New York Writers Workshop in New York and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. When not writing, she plays softball and trains horses.
Finding the books: all her horse titles are easily found in the USA. Not published in the UK, they are nevertheless mostly easy to obtain here.
Sources and links:
Allison Estes’ website
A little biographical information on the author
National Library of Congress
Thank you to Lisa Catz for the pictures.
Bibliography -
Blue Ribbon Friends
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, 135 pp.
Megan Morrison and her twin Max, and their horses, Pixie and Popsicle, have just
arrived at Thistle Ridge Farm.
Megan meets Chloe, who dreams of getting a horse of
her own. Megan and Chloe click instantly, but there’s trouble
in the show ring when
Megan decides to turn Chloe into a champion and make her dreams come true.
The Ghost of Thistle Ridge
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, 129 pp.
Megan finds a grave, which belongs to a girl of exactly Megan’s age. 100 years ago,
she lived at Thistle Ridge Farm.
She is supposed to haunt the farm, and Megan is more
scared than she would like to admit.
The Great Gymkhana Gamble
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, 130 pp.
A review -
Max Morrison is not having a good summer. Megan , Chloe and Keith are practising
for the Thistle Ridge Gymkhana.
Max is just not as keen on riding as he was: he’s
been having nightmares about falling off.
Winner's Circle
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, 135 pp.
Megan and Pixie have been doing well with their Olympic rider trainer, Sharon Wyndham.
Then Megan’s grandmother
comes for a visit. She thinks Megan can be a champion, but
she doesn’t think Pixie can. Megan then has to choose
between impressing her grandmother,
or sticking with her own beloved horse.
Gold Medal Mystery
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, pp.
Max and Megan are going to the Olympic Games with their best friends Chloe and Keith.
The twins’ trainer,
Sharon Wyndham is competing in the Olympics on her dressage
horse Quasar, but horses are vanishing from the
Olympic Stables. Then Quasar disappears,
and the four friends decide to try and find them themselves.
Friends to the Finish
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, 129 pp.
Chloe’s horse has at last recovered from his injury, and now she can train on her
own horse, just as her friends
can. However, all is not going well in Chloe’s world,
as her best friend Megan has been spending
all her time with Amanda Sloane -
Legend of the Zuni Stallion
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1996, pp.
Keith Hill goes to a Native American campsite, and takes a little carved horse away
with him as a souvenir -
will bring him luck, he thinks. However, as soon as
he has the horse, everything seems to go wrong. His horse
becomes ill, and Keith
is convinced it is all to do with the little carved horse. A mysterious visitor
comes to the farm,
who knows the legend of the carving, but will Keith be able to
solve the mystery in time to save his horse?
Victory Ride
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1997, 127 pp.
There is a visitor to Thistle Ridge: Perry O’Neil. She needs experimenteal surgery,
and refuses to join the
riding programs despite the fact she wants to ride. The
Short Stirrup Club can’t make up their minds about her.
Playing for Keeps
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1997, pp.
Amanda is horrified when her father puts her horse out on loan instead of letting
her take part in the costume
contest. A careless rider endangers Prince Charming,
Amanda’s horse, and she has to stand up to her parents.
Pony Express
Minstrel/Pocket Books, New York, 1997, 132 pp.
The Short Stirrup Club are trying to raise money by re-
The Short Stirrup Club
Blue Ribbon Friends
The Ghost of Thistle Ridge
The Great Gymkhana Gamble
Winner's Circle
Gold Medal Mystery
Friends to the Finish
Legend of the Zuni Stallion
Victory Ride
Playing for Keeps
Pony Express
The Horse of Her Dreams (Thoroughbred Series)
Harper Collins, Pennsylvania, 1998
Christina has outgrown her pony Trib. She owns Wonder’s last colt, so can’t get
another horse, until, that is,
she sees abused Sterling Dream in a claiming race.
Convinced the mare can jump, she persuades her parents
to claim the horse, but someone
else has got there first. Christina trades something else for the horse.
Melanie's Treasure (Thoroughbred Series)
Harper Collins, Pennsylvania, 1998
Melanie doesn’t get along with her cousin Christina; she falls for the powerful and
unpredictable stallion
Black Treasure, and life goes wrong for the horse when he
is retired, and basically gives up hope. Can
Melanie bring him round?
Sterling's Second Chance (Thoroughbred Series)
Harper Collins, Pennsylvania, 1998
Christina loses her nerve when she falls from her horse, Sterling Dream. Cassidy
Smith gets the ride
instead, and claims both Christina and her horse are quitters.
Can Christina prove them wrong?
Cassidy's Secret (Thoroughbred Series)
Harper Collins, Pennsylvania, 1998
Cassidy Smith’s filly, Lady T, is running against a champion racehorse, Pizzazz.
Cassidy's family needs to win
the race so they have the money to keep Lady T. However,
Pizzazz’s owner is planning to run him despite the
horse’s injury, and Cassidy finds
this out. She is then torn: if she gets the race stopped, there’s no way she
can
keep her horse, but how can she let Pizzazz run w hen he’s hurt?
