Glory Ride

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Fourteen-year-old Chloe Anderson thinks she has two enemies. The first
is Bronwen Smith, a cruel, sarcastic beauty who is Chloe’s only
serious rival for a spot on the Ontario Young Rider’s Eventing Team.
Chloe’s other enemy is time. No matter how hard she tries, she just
cannot seem to fit all her activities into a 24-hour day.

Chloe’s family is also pulling her in every direction. Her father is
determined that Chloe will someday make the Olympic equestrian team. But
her mother hates horse jumping—Chloe was nearly killed in a riding
accident two years earlier—and would rather see her daughter become a
concert cellist. In trying to please everybody else, Chloe ends up
despising herself.

At first glance, the novel looks a little like Dallas set in Don Mills.
All the glittering characters are there—the pushy businessman father,
the languid alcoholic mother, a rebellious sister who wants to shack up
with a working-class loser, and a snotty ice-queen rival who gets away
with everything. But deeper themes are woven into the main plot until
the story takes on a surprising heft. That the author knows her way
around a horse stable is evident in her background details. She also
shows a keen understanding of family relationships and how they can make
or break the best of us. Highly recommended.