Riding The Wind (1995)

Riding The Wind

Barbara Garland Polikoff

1995, Henry Holt and Company

Thirteen-year-old Angie has been riding for three years at Smitty’s Good Luck Ranch, and she adores the grey Arabian mare Ardalila II, aka, Lila.  As the story begins, she’s estatic; an aunt has died and left her $2500, which is almost enough to buy Lila.  If she can earn the rest and convince her skeptical dad, she can have her dream horse. 

Standing in the way, apart from finances and dubious daddy, is Sage Summers, the perennially bad-tempered daughter of Smitty’s farrier. She’s also got her eye on Lila, who she thinks is the reason she lost a recent jumping contest to Angie. The rivalry between the girls reaches a head when Sage takes Lila out in a sleet storm and the mare injures a leg.

The tension over Lila resolve abruptly as Sage is revealed to have Very Sad Story and is simultaneously neatly removed from Angie’s hair by virtue of being distracted by an abused project mare, Starry.  Angie can then devote herself to obsessing over Lila, with intervals of neophyte flirtation with available and lovestruck Horatio.

Fun

Horatio?

Angie’s mother runs out of computer discs.  Oh, the 1990s.

Horatio uses his Siberian Husky (named Silver Chief after the hero of an old dog book) with a dogsled

Author

Barbara Garland Polikoff (1929-____).  A former teacher and editor, she has lived most of her life in Highland Park, IL and has 3 grown daughters. She is married to a lawyer famous for his part in a landmark Chicago public housing case in the 1970s.

Other Books - fiction

Life's A Funny Proposition, Horatio (1992) - a prequel of sorts, focusing on Horatio and non-horsey. 

Why Does the Coquí Sing? (2004) 

Her Mother's Secret (2012)

Other Books - nonfiction

My Parrot Eats Baked Beans: Kids Talk about Their Pets (1987)

Other Books - biography
James Madison: Fourth President of the United States (1988)
Herbert C. Hoover: Thirty-first President of the United States (1990)
With One Bold Act: The Story of Jane Addams (1999)