Wellington, FL–November 19, 2025—Cynthia Hankins was born to the saddle; her mom gave lessons from their backyard barn in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, while her dad worked part-time at Liberty Bell Park racetrack. She strode as evenly (flatting horses for Bert deNemethy and winning the 1975 AHSA Medal Finals) into the hunt seat horse show world as the horses and ponies she rode, developed, and later judged in the WIHS Equitation Finals and ASPCA Maclay Finals, and multiple USEF Hunter Seat Medal Finals and the USEF Talent Search.
Her equestrian girlhood is the inspirational inside leg to outside rein behind her sweet new pony novel, Baxter Bay, A Pony’s Tale, for Middle Grade readers, ages 8-12, coming out in June 2026 just in time for the summer vacation reading season.
Four In Hand Press, the hybrid publishing imprint of longstanding equestrian resource, Trafalgar Square Books (TSB), founded in 1983 and acquired in 2025 by The Stable Book Group, will publish Baxter Bay, A Pony’s Tale. The book’s illustrations are by 2019 Hampton Classic Horse Show program cover artist and former Operation Desert Storm naval aviator, Kelly Wilkinson Coffin.
“Baxter and Windy were once stars of the show ring: glamorous, graceful, and totally unbeatable. But now,” Hankins, a former junior equitation star, says, “they’re retired, furry, a little creaky and full of opinions. Living out their golden years on a peaceful farm in Virginia, the two spend their days munching hay and recounting stories of their glory days with a group of wide-eyed young colts and fillies.
“I think it could become today’s Black Beauty or Misty of Chincoteague, but with a horse show twist.”
Advance reviews have come from noteworthy show world names like top pony trainer Robin Greenwood, 2009 Hunter/Equitation Horseman of the Year and USEF Talent Search judge, Patricia Griffiths, as well as USEF ‘R’ judge and author Tricia Booker, and USEF ‘r’ judge, clinician and author, Shane Ledyard.
Hankins is also a clinician and contributor to The Chronicle of the Horse and Practical Horseman, and EquestrianCoach.com, the world’s leading online digital education site, led by Bernie Traurig.
She is available for interviews and/or to channel the pony spirits of Baxter and Windy for upcoming Spring/Summer 2026 editorial calendars. Please contact latheequinista@gmail.com for scheduling.
Media Contact:
Cynthia Hankins
cynnmick@gmail.com