Early ReviewersKathy Connell

For fans of Black Beauty and A Horse Named Sky, here’s a new middle grade novel by award-winning author and former horse trainer Celia Ryker, with illustrations by Kathy Connell.

Big Guy is about a show horse who has big changes to face, and who learns that friendships can last beyond the time you share together.

Big Guy is a big horse dealing with big changes. His looks and talent have helped him win blue ribbons at the biggest horse shows in the country. But when old age and injury make him unfit for winning prizes, his owner retires him to a position as a school horse, giving riding lessons to children. At the school horse barn, Big Guy meets Shorty, Kaiser, Slippy and many other horses who teach him about running in wide open fields and being part of a herd.

Uplifting, funny, and sweet, Big Guy is a simple story told from the horse’s point of view that reads like a night under the stars, or an afternoon racing to a hay field.