Lucy Rees

Welsh author. Born in 1943. Ms. Rees is highly educated, having studied zoology and neuro-physiology to post-graduate level. After studying she went to live in Snowdonia to farm and break Welsh ponies which led in turn to her equine-centred writing and training career. She is also very widely travelled.

Lucy Rees is probably best known for her non-fictional works about horses which take a lateral look at the subject, focusing on the relationship between horse and human and the mind of the horse itself. Her book
The Horse's Mind probably best illustrates this approach. The book was the result of Ms. Rees extensive travels throughout the world observing different cultures' approaches to horse training combined with her scientific background and studies of equine ethology. It has become a landmark work of its kind and is studied in many horse care and horse behaviour courses. The author has also become quite famous as a horse behaviourist and trainer. She uses a natural approach, similar to that of Monty Roberts, working with a horse's natural instincts rather than against them. She gives demonstrations of her training techniques.

As well as her books on horse care and riding she wrote two unusual pony stories which explore the issues of growing up in conjunction with the usual horse and girl relationship.
Also wrote an account of her own fascinating journey on horseback through Arizona.

If you speak the language there is an excellent Spanish website devoted to Ms. Rees. If you don't however, I have summarised some of the main points above.

Pony Books:

WILD PONY
(FABER 1975)
Republished in paperback by Puffin in 1978.
SUMMARY: Set in Wales. Fifteen year old Pippa longs for a pony but money is short. She gets a job at a trekking centre and eventually her dreams come true and she can buy her own pony. But the pony is wild and needs breaking in. Can she do it?
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES

HORSE OF AIR
(FABER 1980)
As far as I know not reprinted, except for an American edition.
SUMMARY: A troubled teenage girl finds herself drawn to a temperamental Welsh Cob.

Collectors Info:
Her fictional works are quite hard to get hold of. The paperback edition of Wild Pony can however often be picked up for a relatively low price on auction sites or internet book sites from sellers who do not realise its rarity.

Non-fictional Works:
Although I don't normally add non-fiction works on the website, I have included them here due to the importance of the author's works.

THE HORSE'S MIND
(1984)

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RIDING
(1991)

RIDING
(1991)

KEEPING A PONY
(1995)

THE MAZE: THROUGH HELL TO HOPI
Aka THE MAZE: A DESERT JOURNEY
(BANTAM 1995)
Republished in the USA as THE MAZE: A DESERT JOURNEY
Reprinted in paperback.
SUMMARY: Non fiction account of the author's journey on horseback through the deserts of Arizona searching for a stone carving similar to one in Tintagel, Cornwall.

Collectors Info:
The author's non-fiction books are fairly easy to find.