“Right about Fence Five, I started to think, the movies lied to me. Roxie had her head up in front of me, so high I was almost looking between the black tips crowning her chocolate-brown ears. They perfectly framed the jump we were approaching. A jump I had thought would be easy—just a little row of barrels!—but my headstrong mare clearly disagreed.”
That’s the opening to Natalie Keller Reinert’s novel The Jump. The speaker is Brooke Haskell, a college junior whose lifelong dream is to be a champion equestrian. She doesn’t come from money, so this dream, along with a headstrong horse, seems almost impossible until she lands an apprenticeship with Eddie O’Neill, a famous equestrian.
In exchange for backbreaking, nonstop labor she gets a place to stay and, more importantly, lessons with Eddie. And she gains a new friend, who is also an apprentice with a wide following on social media.
The author has experience in many equine avenues, so the book is a glimpse into three-day eventing, where horse and rider run through courses of dressage and jumping. It’s jumping that Brooke’s horse, Roxie, is particularly resistant to. Just when Roxie seems to be improving, her personality worsens, and when Brooke discovers the reason, she’s horrified.
As the book jacket says: “Against the riveting high-stakes backdrop of the equestrian world, Reinert explores the passions that drive us, the love affairs that fuel us, and the partnerships—both animal and human that help us thrive and find ourselves.”
If you’re a fan of horses and the equestrian world, then you must read The Jump by Natalie Keller Reinert.
