It was written in 1971 or something like that. In this book, Alec employes a girl to ride the young horses and Henry is against it. Naturally, the girl is very good, Alec falls in love with her, she is injured in an accident when her favourite horse Black Sand is killed and in the end she rides Black himself in a race. I remember this book as a more or less feminist book. This comes in part from the fact that women KNOW they can't manhandle a horse.
Women have a love for horses that never dies.
Of course, it can't. In the show ring in my area, most of the stallions are ridden by women, most of them are trained by women. Of course, there are those males, like a farrier I used many years ago. He was always telling me he expected to find me dead - that women have no business handling stallions. My farrier, who is a man, agrees with you.