Brooke Haskell and her promising Thoroughbred mare Roxie are eventing. Brooke’s parents are paying for her college while she boards Roxie with her Aunt Pickle and participates in the Virginia horse trials. THE JUMP to working in the expensive equestrian world happens suddenly.

As a working student at a big horse show barn, Brooke isn’t in charge of her life any more. Every moment from 6 a.m. until after dark is accounted for, wearing herself out, riding both Roxie and other people’s horses and learning office and stable management too. Horse livery is expensive, as are competition entries, and these are covered by the barn. I laughed at how the horses get measured, supplemented feeds, while the students are left to starve, eat peanut butter on bread, or find their groceries somewhere, despite having no time or wages.  

Eddie O’Neill’s training stable currently has two working students, the other being trust- fund girl and Instagram star, Lenox Alvarez, there with her horse, Merlin. The barn manager and administrator is Anise Kincaid, who vetted Brooke’s application to work at River Grove Farm. She’s the older and wiser woman, and supposedly a chaperone, though she doesn’t do much of that. Hans St. James is the assistant trainer, a Dutch dressage rider, in the US on a visa. He isn’t averse to eyeing up pretty young nervous fillies, two- or four- legged. During winter, they will all head south to the alternative barn in warm Florida with just about everyone else in the equestrian life. Eddie O’Neill is well known. He sells expensive, trained horses. His mounts get priority at events. And the feeling that what Eddie wants, Eddie gets, grows steadily and uneasily on the reader.

This story is suitable for older YA readers and New Adult readers, designed to show the inner workings of the vastly expensive and inflated equestrian industry. Exploitation is at the top of the list of crimes. Young women, just twenty- one, are easier to exploit than young men, plus there are far more of them at horse shows. Aunt Pickle asks if this offer is Brooke’s dream, and of course, she says yes. Her mom, on the other hand, asks why this opportunity is being offered to her. She doesn’t know. But she and Roxie need a top trainer, and she can’t afford one. Her boyfriend Jacob is going to college in London. So, she’s free to go.

The questionable training methods Eddie uses begin to be apparent, and another eventer, Cat Trujillo, warns Brooke of manipulation. I would say there’s also what’s now called gaslighting. The young woman is being conditioned to do exactly as ordered, without questioning or complaining, and doesn’t have the energy or time to do anything else, and knows nobody else to ask. Isolation, indoctrination and more. At one point, Eddie is yelling at Brooke to jump a fence and immediately force her mare to halt in a couple of strides. And I’m asking what? What is he doing? There is no reason for that, none. And he’s making her do it continually, when eventers need a constant forward motion. This now-older rider can see how problematic the whole setup is, but you know, at Brooke’s age, away from home, I would have had to do as I was told. Like it or not.  

THE JUMP comes hard on the heels of the reissued Eventing series by Natalie Keller Reinert. The two complement each other perfectly, mirror images of the working student and barn manager, the ethics of being a trainer and simultaneously a horse dealer. About halfway through, I was actually reluctant to pick up the story again, because I could see matters were getting worse for the horses. That means the author did her job. The end of the story justifies the methods revealed, and that's all I will say. Good and bad sides are shown, and THE JUMP will be a must-read for many years to come.