Here’s your mandatory summer reading list, brought to you and approved by Horse & Style and Shiny Ponies. Just kidding, it’s not mandatory. But really, read these. They’ll make you happy.

Pony people. HOW cute is the cover of Jumping Jack? 21 hands cute, that’s how cute.

It’s the children’s story of Jumping Jack and Roger Trotter, show jumping champions. “They were a perfect pair, practically invincible. You could almost say that Jack and Roger were two halves of the same person. Or two halves of the same horse. Or something.”

When Jack suddenly begins to stumble and tumble over fences, Roger is determined to discover the cause. It’s a charming little mystery and a lesson in friendship and horsemanship. And the illustrations are the best. Ever.

Just the title is compelling. I want to attend the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. Please, Mom?

I will confess, I still have 32 pages left to read, but this has been one of those books that I haven’t been able to put down. There are horses. And competition. And drama. Lots of drama. Anton DiSclafani’s descriptions of riding and adolescence are so spellbinding and familiar. The story gets a little bit (okay, maybe a lot) sexy, a little bit weird, but gosh, it’s one really great story.

Clare Balding, you brilliant woman, you. My Animals and Other Family is on my list of Top Five Very Most Favorite Books. And Clare, well, she’d be on my list of Top Five Very Most Favorite People, but I should probably meet her first. Call me, Clare.

This fine British writer and rider wrote an autobiography about her odd and wonderful and horsey childhood. For anyone who didn’t grow up with horses (ahem, yours truly), it’s an envious read, but one that left me loyally rooting for Clare and all of her animals.