About the author
Ainslie Sheridan was born in Long Island, New York, and was horse mad pretty much from the word go. Although she didn’t have a horse of her own, she managed to learn to ride, and leased a horse called Red, owned by the family of the manager of Bethpage State Park’s grounds: at least she did until she and Red galloped across the park’s golf course. Educated at Hamilton College, she was also a keen photographer, which she carried on while she worked as an English teacher in Japan. Returning to the US, she joined the US Navy, and served in Japan, Hawaii, Boston, West Point, and Newport. She adopted a little girl, married a professor, had a son and decided it was time to stop travelling. Her first novel, Tropies, was published in 1990. To date, it is her only adult novel.
It features an Andalusian, as Ainslie herself began breeding them. She became interested in Natural Horsemanship after attending a John Lyons Symposium, and now runs Windflower Farm on natural horsemanship principles, teaching riding and sorting out problem horses. She also works as a professional photographer, and has written a children’s horse book.
Finding the book
No longer in print, it’s reasonably easy to find in the USA, but can be tricky in the UK.
Links and sources
Biographical information on Ainslie Sheridan (no longer extant)
Ainslie Sheridan on Fox Kit Press (no longer extant)
Bibliography (horse books only)
Trophies
Signet, pb, 1990
19-year-old Diana Winston can ride, but doesn’t have the money to train or compete, so she works at a show stable, until the owner’s daughter, jealous of Diana, makes her lose her job by making it look as if she injured a valuable stallion. A stable hand, Steve Rodriguez, is convinced of Diana’s talent; buys the stallion, heals him and trains Diana to ride him. She triumphs on the
Grand Prix circuit; is pursued and pursues various men and at last finds love with a surgeon who leaves his wife for her.
Kaleidoscope Pony
Fox Kit Press, Acton, Massachusetts, 2006
A children’s book
Hayley has just moved from sunny California to cold New England, and finds a starving pony in a field behind her house. She cares for the pony, but just as he’s getting better, she is hospitalised after an accident, temporarily blind. A mysterious stranger gives her a kaleidoscope with which she can see magical images of the pony.
