Michelle Bates & Susannah Leigh

Michelle, together with fellow British author Susannah Leigh, wrote the popular Sandy Lane Stables series. These are good traditional type pony books which hark back to an earlier era and are therefore to be recommended to those who dislike either the pink sparkly books or the teen romance types.

Michelle began writing the series when in her twenties, inspired by her life-long love of horses. She now works as an author, book editor and TV script consultant. She lives in London.

Susannah Leigh was also horse-mad from an early age. I am not sure exactly how she came to write two of the books in the series instead of Michelle however! Although as far as I know these are the only two horsy books she has written, she has also written other stories for Usborne Publishers. She now lives in Norfolk with her equally horsy daughter.

Sandy Lane Series:
Adventures of a group of children who go to a riding school. Different books focus on different characters, although all are inter-connected.

ALL PUBLISHED BY USBORNE PAPERBACKS
All reprinted in paperback a number of times
Reprinted in the USA in paperback by EDC/Scholastic

1) A HORSE FOR THE SUMMER
(1996)
SUMMARY: Tom is loaned a prize-winning showjumper for the summer. But Chancey is wild and unpredicatble and Tom is forced to train him in secret. He starts getting close to the horse but at the end of the summer he will have to give Chancey back...

2) THE RUNAWAY PONY (by Susannah Leigh)
(1996)
SUMMARY: When Jess helps catch a riderless palomino pony she cannot imagine the consequences her innocent actions could have…

3) STRANGERS AT THE STABLES
(1996)
SUMMARY: Disaster strikes when the owners of Sandy Lane Stables are away. Can the children save their stables?

4) THE MIDNIGHT HORSE
(1996)
SUMMARY: Riding at the Hawthorn Horse Trials is all Kate has been dreaming of and this year she is in with a real chance of winning. But then the midnight horse appears in her life and everything changes.

5) DREAM PONY (by Susannah Leigh)
(1997)
SUMMARY: When Jess amazingly wins a pony in a competition she is overjoyed. But part of the prize includes free stabling at the local new posh stables which have just opened as a rival to Sandy Lane. Jess finds herself in an impossible situation and her loyalties to her old friends are tested to their limits.

6) RIDE BY MOONLIGHT
(1997)
SUMMARY: Charlie loses his nerve in a riding accident. Will he ever get it back again?

7) HORSE IN DANGER
(1998)
SUMMARY: Rosie makes a discovery that jeopardises her friendship with Jess.

8) THE PERFECT PONY
(1999)
SUMMARY: When Sandy Lane Stables is in difficulties Alex thinks he has found the perfect solution...but his well meant intentions go wrong...

9) RIDING HOLIDAY
aka RACING VACATION (USA edition)
The USA edition was re-titled.
(2000)
SUMMARY: It seems like a dream come true for Izzy and Kate as they set off for a vacation on an American horse farm. But when they arrive they are forced to spend all their time looking after the ponies and have no riding at all. It seems to be turning into a nightmare holiday for the girls.

Other Editions:

SANDY LANE STABLES OMNIBUS
(USBORNE PB 1995)
Published in the USA by EDC in 1998
SUMMARY: Contains: Horse for the Summer, Runaway Pony and Strangers at the Stables.

Collectors info:
All paperbacks. Reprinted more than once in both the UK and USA and very easy to find in both. Still in print in the UK at time of writing (2014), and also available as an e-book. They can be picked up a lot cheaper second-hand however. Not in print in the USA except as an e-book. There was also an omnibus edition containing the first 3 books in series. This was also published in both the UK and USA and again is easy to find.