About the author
Victoria Eveleigh is one of the most traditional pony authors writing today. Her books are completely devoid of marketing department glitz or fantasy; what you get is a good, straightforward story, well-observed and with masses of accurate pony content.
Victoria Eveleigh lives and farms on Exmoor, and her books are inspired by her own animals. She and her husband Chris keep Exmoor Horn Sheep, North Devon cattle, and of course Exmoors. Chris illustrates her books, and they published the original Katy series themselves. The Katy series, and Midnight on Lundy, were picked up by Orion Books, and have been re-written and updated; quite substantially so with some titles, which have lost some plot elements altogether (but gained others).
Finding the books
Go to the Victoria Eveleigh titles available from the Jane Badger Books shop
The original books are now out of print. Orion’s Katy and Joe series are all in print. Midnight on Lundy is now available as an eBook from Jane Badger Books.
Links and sources
West Ilkerton Farm – the Eveleigh family farm
Victoria Eveleigh’s website
Victoria Eveleigh on her horses and how they’ve inspired her
Victoria Eveleigh writes on ponies, books and Lundy island
Series
The Katy Series
Katy’s Exmoor/Katy’s Wild foal
Katy’s Exmoor Adventures/Katy’s Champion Pony
Katy’s Exmoor Friends/Katy’s Pony Surprise
Katy’s Pony Challenge
Katy’s Pony Summer
The Hidden Horseshoe Trilogy
Joe and the Hidden Horseshoe
Joe and the Lightning Pony
Joe & the Race to the Rescue
Bibliography
Katy’s Exmoor
Tortoise Publishing, Exmoor, 2002, illus Chris Eveleigh, 96 pp.
Tortoise Publishing, Exmoor, 2005
Republished and re-written as Katy’s Wild Foal, Orion, 2012
The original book is reviewed here, and in its new incarnation here.
Katy lives on a farm in Exmoor, and she is desperate for a pony for her own.
She finds a newborn Exmoor foal, and is sure that the foal is the one for her.
Her family do not see it as that straightforward, however.
Katy’s Exmoor Adventures
Tortoise Publishing, Exmoor, 2003, illus Chris Eveleigh,111 pp.
Tortoise Publishing, 2006
Republished and re-written as Katy’s Champion Pony, Orion, 2012
The book is reviewed in its new incarnation here.
Katy dreams that her Exmoor pony, Trifle, will be a champion, but Foot and Mouth disease puts paid to all her hopes. It looks as if the restrictions brought in to combat the disease will put paid to Katy’s home, Barton Farm, too.
Katy’s Champion Pony: Katy and her friend Alice go off on a long distance
ride over Exmoor.
Katy’s Exmoor Friends
Tortoise Publishing, Exmoor, 2005, illus Chris Eveleigh,128 pp.
Tortoise Publishing, 2006
Republished and re-written as Katy’s Champion Pony, Orion, 2012
Katy is now a teenager, and life is challenging, as well as surprising.
The surprise she gets on Christmas Eve turns out to be the best one of all.
Katy’s Pony Surprise: Katy and Trifle are off to Pony Club Camp.
MIDNIGHT ON LUNDY/A STALLION CALLED MIDNIGHT
Tortoise Publishing, Exmoor, 2009, illus Chris Eveleigh, 190 pp.
Republished and re-written as A Stallion Called Midnight, Orion, 2012
Jane Badger Books, Northamptonshire, 2019, eBook and paperback
Read a review of the original book here.
12-year-old Jenny lives on the island of Lundy. Now she is 12, she is too
old for the island school, and must move to a school on the mainland. She
will leave behind everything she loves, including the wild Lundy stallion
Midnight.
JOE AND THE HIDDEN HORSESHOE
Orion Books, London, 2013, 151 pp. Illus Chris Eveleigh
Read a review of the book here.
Joe and his family are moving from Birmingham to the country. Joe’s mother and sister are thrilled because they’ll be able to have horses. Joe’s not so keen. He likes horses, but aren’t they a girl thing? When Joe’s mum falls off new pony Lady, Joe has to step into the breach.
joe and the lightning pony
Orion Books, London, 2013, 170 pp. Illus Chris Eveleigh
Read a review of the book here.
Joe and his family are now settled in the countryside. Lightning’s no longer lame, and Joe finds out that she is a whizz at gymkhana games. After some misgivings, he joins the local Pony Club, and decides to try out for the Prince Philip Cup team. It’s a long learning curve for Joe, but he’s a fighter. Along the way, he learns more about Lightning and her past, and helps his little sister Emily cope with tragedy.
JOE AND THE RACE TO THE RESCUE
Orion Books, London, 2014, 128 pp. Illus Chris Eveleigh
Read a review of the book here.
Joe loves all horses. He’s now moved on from his first pony, who he’s outgrown, and is trying to get to grips with new pony Fortune. He meets Velvet and Sherman, two Shire horses, who open his eyes to the entirely different ways in which you can enjoy horses. The Shires come into their own when Joe, and his friends and family, are threatened by floods.
katy’s pony challenge
Orion Books, London, 2015, 144 pp.
Read a review of the book here.
Katy discovers horse agility, which is a big help to her as she tries to train her foal, Tinkerbell, with whom Katy has made some pretty major mistakes in her upbringing, not realising that a foal rearing up and putting its hooves on your shoulders might be cute when it’s only weeks old but is an entirely different thing when the foal weighs several times more than you do.
katy’s pony summer
Orion Books, London, 2016, 112 pp.
It’s summer, and Katy is looking forward to the holidays with her best friend Alice. Nothing works out as they planned: they find an injured foal, and that leads to a mystery Katy and her friends need to solve.
