The Saddle Club (books)
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This page is about The Saddle Club book series. For information about the Australian TV series, go to The Saddle Club.
The Saddle Club is a series of intermediate children's books published by Bantam Books between 1986 and 2001. The books were created by Bonnie Bryant, although many were written by ghostwriters. Spin-offs include two other book series, Pine Hollow and Pony Tails, a TV show also called The Saddle Club, a club with a monthly newsletter, and a line of model horses manufactured by Breyer.
The books follow the adventures of best friends Carole Hanson, Stephanie "Stevie Lake," and Lisa Atwood, who live in the town of Willow Creek (fictional), Virginia and ride at Pine Hollow Stables. In the first book of the series, Horse Crazy, Carole and Lisa help Stevie with her mathematics project, which launches the girls' friendship and the title club. (For purposes of this article, "The Saddle Club" refers to the books and "the Saddle Club" refers to the three founding members of the club.)
At the beginning of the series, Carole and Stevie are twelve-year-old seventh-graders and Lisa is a thirteen-year-old eighth-grader. Although the characters live through several vacations and years of school, they do not age.
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[edit] Structure of the Books
The Saddle Club is written in a third-person style. In early books, the narration was third-person limited and shifted from character to character, often offering more insight into the thoughts and feelings of the Saddle Club and their friends; in later books, the narrative style became much more omniscient.
[edit] Titles
- For a complete list of titles, see List of Saddle Club books.
[edit] Main Characters
[edit] Carole Hanson
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Father Mitch Hanson, a Colonel in the United States Marine Corps; mother died of cancer when she was 11.
- Horse(s): Starlight, a bay part Thoroughbred and Quarterhorse gelding whom she receives as a Christmas gift in #13, Starlight Christmas
- Education: A seventh-grader at Willow Creek Junior High School, a public school.
- Personality: Carole is the best and most serious rider of the three; she began riding when she was five. Stable owner Max Regnery III selected her as the best overall junior rider in #6, Dude Ranch. She is very organized as far as horses are concerned, but she can be scatterbrained regarding anything else.
- Inconsistencies: In the first book, Horse Crazy, Carole's mother died "six months earlier" from cancer. Later books refer to Carole's mother having been dead for "a few years," probably because although time passes, the characters do not age. Also, in the original printing of the cover, Carole was Caucasian, later becoming black.
[edit] Stephanie "Stevie" Lake
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Father, whose first name is never mentioned, a lawyer; mother, Catherine, also a lawyer; brother, Chad, 14; brother, Alexander "Alex," 12; brother, Michael, 9.
- Horse(s): Belle, a bay mare whom she receives in #38, Horse Trade.
- Education: A seventh-grader at Fenton Hall, a private academy.
- Personality: Stevie began riding when she was eight. She is the least serious of the three; she excels at practical jokes, one of which is her first interaction with Lisa Atwood. Ironically, one of her strongest skills is dressage, a precise type of riding that requires great subtlety and poise. Stable owner Max Regnery III selected her as the best overall junior rider in Super Edition #3, Western Star. Stevie is the only girl in her family, and her feuds with her brothers are a major element of most of the series.
[edit] Lisa Atwood
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Father, Richard, 42; mother, Eleanor; brother, Peter, 21, who is at college or studying abroad for most of the series.
- Horse(s): Lisa never owns her own horse, although her father makes plans to buy Prancer, a retired Thoroughbred racehorse, for her in the spin-off series Pine Hollow. But in the tv series, Lisa's mother bought the horse Diablo, which was owned by her crush Refael, but released it and the end of the episode.
- Education: An eighth-grader at Willow Creek Junior High School, a public school.
- Personality: Lisa is the oldest of the three but the newest rider; she begins in #1, Horse Crazy, because her mother thinks that every "young lady" should know something about horses. She is extremely organized, a straight-A student, and a perfectionist. Although stable owner Max Regnery III often tells her that she has potential, her desire to "catch up" to Carole and Stevie is an element of most of the series.
- Inconsistencies: Lisa's brother is mentioned peripherally in two early books - #1, Horse Crazy, in which Lisa's mother wouldn'tlet Lisa borrow a tie from him, and #7, Horse Play, in which he's at summer camp. Since Peter is eight years older than Lisa and living away from home for the rest of the series, it is likely that these are errors.
[edit] Maximilian Regnery III
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Grandfather, Maximilian, who founded Pine Hollow Stables, deceased; father, Maximilian II, deceased; mother, Elizabeth, who is known as "Mrs. Reg"; wife, Deborah Hale, a newspaper reporter whom he marries in #45, Stable Groom; daughter, Maxine "Maxi" Hale Regnery, who is born in Super Edition #5, Before They Rode Horses.
- Horse(s): Max owns about 25 horses at the start of the series, a number that grows over the course of the books.
- Personality: Max owns the stable and also teaches classes for riders of all ages. He requires that all students not only ride but also take care of their horses, clean tack, and perform chores around the stable; he believes that these are all part of what it means to ride. In addition to being a respected teacher, he is also an accomplished rider.
- Inconsistencies: Max's full name has been spelled Maxmillian, Maximillian, and Maximilian at some point in the series.
[edit] Elizabeth "Mrs. Reg" Regnery
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Father-in-law, Maximilian, who founded Pine Hollow Stables, deceased; husband, Maximilian II, deceased; son, Maximilian "Max" III; daughter-in-law, Deborah Hale; granddaughter, Maxine "Maxi" Hale Regnery.
- Horse(s): It is implied that when Max II died, he left the stable to his son, not his wife. Mrs. Reg rides frequently, but does not own her own personal horse
- Personality: Mrs. Reg manages the stable, schedules classes, and coordinates orders and special events. She dislikes seeing people stand around with nothing to do and often assigns them odd jobs if they aren't already working. She is also famous for telling stories that are seemingly unrelated to the situations that the Saddle Club finds itself in.
[edit] Veronica diAngelo
- First appearance: #1, Horse Crazy
- Family: Father, a banker and the richest man in Willow Creek; mother, Barbara ,a prominent social figure.
- Horse(s): Princess, a pony that she owned when she was 11; Cobalt, a black Thoroughbred stallion who dies as a result of carelessness in #2, Horse Shy; Garnet Gem ,an Arabian mare that her parents buy for her in #11, Horse Wise; Go For Blue "Danny", a well-trained grey Thoroughbred that her parents buy for her in #49, Stable Farewell.
- Education: A seventh-grader at Fenton Hall, a private academy.
- Personality: Veronica is extremely spoiled and acts as the Saddle Club's perpetual enemy, particularly Stevie's, since the girls attend the same school. Earlier books are more generous toward Veronica, suggesting that she acts badly because her parents have little time for her and often agree to buy her something as a means of solving problems.
[edit] Recurring characters
- Dr. Judy Barker - equine veterinarian who treats most Pine Hollow horses
- John Brightstar - son of Walter Brightstar, a wrangler at the Bar None Ranch. John is often romantically involved with Lisa.
- Marie Dana - injured in a car accident that killed her father and left her unable to walk for months; the Saddle Club befriends her and Mitch Hanson dates her mother, Olivia, briefly.
- Dorothy DeSoto - former student of Max Regnery and an excellent rider; suffers an injury in #8, Horse Show, that prevents her from riding for the rest of her life.Marries Nigel Hawthorne in #27 Bridle Path.
- Katharine (Kate) Devine - former champion junior rider and a friend of the Saddle Club; her parents, Frank and Phyllis, know Mitch Hanson from when Frank was a pilot in the United States Marine Corps. They now own a dude ranch in the Southwest called the Bar None Ranch.
- Eli Grimes - wrangler at the Bar None Ranch, who considers the members of the Saddle Club "dudes" when he first meets them in #6, Dude Ranch.He starts a riding summer camp with his wife,Jeannie, in Ranch Hands.
- May Grover - eight-year-old rider at Pine Hollow; she and her friends become the main characters of the spin-off series Pony Tails.
- Nigel Hawthorne - Dorothy DeSoto's British husband; also a rider.
- Jasmine James - eight-year-old rider at Pine Hollow; she and her friends become the main characters of the spin-off series Pony Tails.
- Christine Lonetree - Native American Indian whom the Saddle Club and Kate Devine first meet in #6, Dude Ranch; her German Shepherd, Tomahawk, dies saving Stevie from a rattlesnake.
- Philip (Phil) Marsten - Stevie Lake's boyfriend; he lives in Cross County, which is fifteen miles away from Willow Creek. Early books spelled his last name Marston.
- Denise McCaskill - Pine Hollow stablehand and Red O'Malley's girlfriend.
- A.J. McDonnell - Phil Marsten's best friend and a fellow rider at Cross County Stables.
- Redford (Red) O'Malley - head stablehand at Pine Hollow.
- Cameron (Cam) Nelson - young rider from Arden Hills whom Carole first meets over an Internet message board. He moves to California in #49, Stable Farewell.
- Skye Ransom - seventeen-year-old actor whom the Saddle Club meets and teaches to ride in #8, Horse Show.
- Corinne (Corey) Takamura - eight-year-old rider at Pine Hollow; she and her friends become the main characters of the spin-off series Pony Tails.
- Lady Theresa "Tessa" - titled English Lady whom Lisa meets in England when Tessa falls off her horse.
- Emily Williams - young rider with cerebral palsy; the Saddle Club meets her in #52, Riding Class.
[edit] Spin-Offs
[edit] Books
Two additional types and two series of books were spun off following the popularity of The Saddle Club.
The Saddle Club Super Edition books also focus on Carole, Lisa, and Stevie, but are longer and occasionally written in a different style. For example, Super Edition #1, A Summer Without Horses, is broken into four sections, and the first three are about Lisa, Stevie, and Carole's personal experiences. Other Super Editions follow the same third-person narrative style of the regular series. For more information about the Super Editions, see the List of Saddle Club books.
The Inside Story books are written as diaries or journals. In each, the premise is that the title character - Stevie, Lisa, or Carole - is doing a project or writing a journal that requires her to explain her impressions of events in regular The Saddle Club books that involved all three girls. For more information about the Inside Story books, see the List of Saddle Club books.
One peripheral book, called Just For Girls: The Saddle Club: Happy Horse Day, was published by Jean Naté and bundled with a short peripheral called "Just For Girls: The Fabulous Five: Friends Forever, based on Betsy Haynes' book series The Fabulous Five. The books were part of the Petite Naté line. In the story, which is only 20 pages long, the girls plan to have a sleepover and use Jean Naté products, which strains credibility for anyone familiar with Stevie and Carole's personalities.
The Pony Tails series is similar in style to The Saddle Club and follows eight-year-olds May Grover, Jasmine James, and Corey Takamura, who first appeared in The Saddle Club. The girls form a club called the Pony Tails because, as May explains, the Saddle Club is the head of Pine Hollow, so they must be the tail. Sixteen books were written in all.
The Pine Hollow series is about the same characters but is set four years later, beginning in the summer that Carole and Stevie are sixteen and Lisa is seventeen. Although horses and riding are still a major part of the series, the focus is on the girls, their friends, and the problems that teenagers face. Two new characters, Scott and Callie Forester, joined the series, and Phil Marsten, A.J. McDonnell, and Emily Williams gained much bigger roles. Seventeen books were written. In April 2001, the last Pine Hollow book, Full Gallop, signified the end of all The Saddle Club and related books.
[edit] TV Show
In 2001, The Saddle Club was adapted into a TV series called The Saddle Club, which was filmed and set in Australia. It has been broadcast on ABC and FOX8 in Australia, on Discovery Kids in the United States, on YTV network in Canada, and on CITV in the UK.Episodes are available on DVD. There has been news of a season three.
- Main article at The Saddle Club
