Some of my favorites:
Jean Slaughter Doty, Pony care and Horsemanshop for Beginners. Read over and over and over…
A Very Young Rider, Jill K.
Margaret Cabell Self, countless books!
Patsey Gray!
Wow, others too numerous to mention! 
Danza! by Lynn Hall. It is an awesome story about a champion Paso Fino and the boy who cares for him. A wonderful find in my middle-school library!
I just went to some of the links and realize there are so many versions of “Black Beauty” out there. Does anyone know this one, which is probably printed 1950’s or earlier, contains many black and white and color illustrations. The color ones include, to the best of my memory: Black Beauty peeking over the stall to look at Merrylegs next to him; Black Beauty and Ginger hitched up to the carriage; Black Beauty being led out of the burning stable with a cloth tied over his eyes. Any help appreciated!
Five O’Clock Charlie - Marguerite Henry, wasn’t that one? And “Old Bones the Wonder Horse” about Exterminator (I cried when his Peanuts the first died)
I’ve been to Chincoteague several times (it’s a great beach town to go to when it ISN’T pony penning) and took a side trip on our way to Cape Cod one year to stop in Goshen, NY at the Famous Track and to visit where Hambletonian was born and buried.
I have been trying for years to remember the title of a book that I read when I was 10 or so. I vaguely remember either a round barn or round indoor, an accident involving a horse in the past, and a reclusive woman who took a horse crazy kid under her wing. A New England setting seems familiar, maybe near the ocean. Does that jog anyone’s memory?
My favorite horse books of all time include:
King of the Wind (my ALL TIME favorite)
Black Beauty (so sad!)
Horseman’s Encyclopedia
Black Gold (about a famous standardbred trotter)
And any other Maurgauite (sp?) Henry Books (they are ALL good!)
lil orphan annie–Cool. Another Peyton fan! I also really like Monica Dickens’ books. Did you ever read “The House at World’s End”? A bunch of siblings (parents are gone–mom sick in hospital & dad sailing around the world) move into an abandoned house and end up with a menagerie, including the abused horse that gets nursed back to health (I always wanted to be on my own & get a free horse–has yet to happen! LOL!) Also, I think there was a sequel to “House” but I have yet to find it.
Medievalist–The ones you are looking for are “Black Beauty’s Family” and “Black Beauty’s Clan” both by Josephine Pullein-Thompson. I read the one with the piebald too (can’t remember which one that is–“BB’s Family” I think).
Baroni–“The Crumb” is by Jean Slaughter Doty. Excellent book!–one of my favorites. It’s also about show horse insurance fraud. Unscrupulous GP trainer tries to kill unsound GP horse for $$ but kills kid’s pony instead.
I’ve been able to interlibrary loan most of these books if my library didn’t have them. The ones that were originally by British authors (Pullein-Thompson, Peyton, & Dickens) are a little harder to get/find, but I seem have managed to get most of these at one time or another. Also doesn’t hurt that I’m a librarian! 
Becky
On another thread someone mentioned “Pamela and the Blue Mare”, and I immediately went back 40 years in time. Oh what memories!
That was my favorite. My second favorite was “Challenger” about 2 girls going to the CPHA Medal finals.
My third favorite was “Hobby Horse Hill” about a family who kept their horses at home and all the fun they had (a dream of mine when I was a kid.)
Of course, I also read every Black Stallion, Island Stallion book, and the Marguerite Henry books. But to have someone mention “Pamela and the Blue Mare” is just TOO MUCH!
Anyone know where such books might be bought?
does anyone remember a book called “Blitz?” i would love to know who wrote and many find a copy somewhere.
There was a collection of shorts by - - CJ Anderson comes to mind? - - only remember one, the last…about a old gray horse who had turned a millstone his whole life - they retired him, turned him out in a wonderful grassy field with shade trees and a creek. He moped and lost weight and was generally depressed because he felt worthless. One day, he heard the mill whistle blow as he was standing near a tree. He started walking around it…until he heard the next whistle… And he gained weight, felt good about himself again -
and I’m sitting here at work with tears in my eyes just remembering it. It is SO important to have value in your life - right up to the end…
a book called “The Monday Horses”. It was about a show barn. My understanding is that the barn in the book was based on Junie Kulp’s famous show barn All Around Farm in Pennsylvania (which is where I used to ride - after Junie’s time). Does anyone know who wrote the book and/or where I can find a copy??? If so, please email me at lisa@gfoldbecklaw.com.
Thank you !!!
Yes to the Bonnie books, Jean Slaughter Doty, Patsey Gray, etc.!
Patsey Gray lived in the East Bay and used to show her Quarter Horse at schooling shows at Heather Farms Park in Walnut Creek, for you East Bay’ers. When I was a kid, I was SO totally in awe of her. Once my parents parked our truck and trailer next to hers… I was WAY too shy to say hello, but I spent more of that show staring at her (and wishing I could be her when I grew up–a rider AND a writer) than looking after my pony.
[This message has been edited by LisaW-B (edited 11-30-2000).]
I love the book threads! Its probably the only time I usually post–too shy to speak up on the others…But somehow the librarian that I am can talk about this one!
My childhood library had tons of old kid’s horsey fiction that I just devoured. Some of the ones mention in the others posts I’ve read. Some, like Pamela & the Blue Mare, I have just caught up with–I’m keeping the Interlibrary Loan librarian very busy!
I especially loved K.M. Peyton’s books–the Flambards trilogy and the Fly-By-Night books (Fly-by-Night, The Team, & one other…). Petyon also wrote a book under another name that was kind of neat–a girl finds a racehorse on the beach and “appropriates” it for herself during WWII England. That one is called Sabre, the Horse From the Sea (by Kathleen Herald).
I also liked one called “Everyday Friends” about a girl who takes up riding after she’s quit about every other hobby/sport she’s ever done. Darned if I can remember the author’s name right now.
Jessie Haas’ book “Working Trot” about a working student was also wonderful. She also wrote Keeping Barney and A Horse Like Barney.
I loved all of Jean Slaughter Doty’s books, Sam Savitt’s, C.W. Anderson’s, Nancy Caffrey’s, Walter Farley’s (his story about Man O’War is great!)…Just too many to count.
Another place to find used books is Alibris. I haven’t used it, but it was heavily advertised at the library conferences-- http://www.alibris.com/
Please keep all the titles coming–I feel the need to catch up on all the series & horse books I missed (how did I miss the Bonnie series that everyone’s posted about!) ILL will be getting a good workout.
Pamela didn’t make the Olympics (women weren’t allowed in eventing or sj til 1960)
Here are some previous book threads: http://www.chronofhorse.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001552.html http://www.chronofhorse.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001647.html
there are more, but I haven’t time to find them at this moment.
I have been putting Pamela into a pdf file for people to read. Email me directly.
And I am still looking for volunteers to help organize my book barn (I used to be a dealer)… hehe!
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rlclark:
I also liked one called “Everyday Friends” about a girl who takes up riding after she’s quit about every other hobby/sport she’s ever done. Darned if I can remember the author’s name right now.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
“Everyday Friends” has to be one of my alltime favorites… girl takes up riding, does medal classes with her friends horse. Eventually gets a horse of her own which she names Worth Waiting (barn name Richard). I used to get this one from the library on a regular basis. Thanks so much for reminding me of it! I must search for it now!
I realized the Black Beauty book I was looking for was probably good old Illustrated Junior Library, and bought a brand new copy at Barnes & Noble yesterday for $9.99. The hard cover is different, it’s full color with Black Beauty in a meadow (not the same illustrator as inside, who is Fritz Eichenberg). But, all the fabulour color illustrations inside and numerous black and white drawings as well. There was not a color picture of Beauty being led out of the fire, that must be a different version. Inspired by this thread, I picked up a hardcover of “King of the Wind” (Marguerite Henry), too.
I also picked up the following used books: “Blaze Shows the Way” by C.W. Anderson, “American Girl Book of Horse Stories” (illus. by Sam Savitt), “Cowboy in the Making” by Will James (great color illus. included), and another copy of Black Beauty which was inscribed “For Beulah from Aunt Jennie” Sept. 1899, so of course I had to buy it (Jennie). It’s very compact, just about 4"x6", and has about 5 b/w full page illustrations very different from others I’ve seen, incl. one of Anna Sewell at the front.
Other Black Beauty’s I’ve found are a 1946 illustrated by Wesley Dennis, and a current (1994) Longmeadow Press version with Lucy Kemp-Welch drawings.
I’m still kicking myself for coming across a pencil drawing many years ago in an antiques store of, I think a colt, signed “CWA” and didn’t buy it. It really looked like it was probably C.W. Anderson, don’t know why I was so reluctant to spend a few $…
Anyway, keep the titles and remembrances coming, what an inspiration and great memories!
The sequel is “The Team”. Ruth outgrows Fly, gets a new pony (remember Toadhill Flax, the gorgeous pony?), and goes to Pony Club Camp where, as usual, Ruth feels slightly overwhelmed.
There is actually a third book in the series but its not horsey–it’s called “The Beethoven Medal”. Ruth grows up & falls in love (this one combines the “Fly by Night” books and another of Peyton’s series about Pennington, a rather angry boy…)
BTW, just read “Blind Beauty”–Peyton’s new book–very good. About steeplechase yards.
Well, you guys have mentioned all my favorit true horsey books already, but did anyone else read the Trixie Belden books? They were mysteries but the kids all rode and lots of their adventures took place on horseback I still remember the horses’ names: Jupiter was the feiry big black gelding that only Jim could ride, starlight was the chesnut gelding Brian rode, Lady was Honey’s mom’s gentle grey mare that Honey rode, Strawberry was Honey’s roan gelding that Mart rode, and Susie was Miss Trask’s little black mare that Trixie rode. Boy, do I need a life or what? 
But I loved those books when I was little; it took me a long time to outgrow my ambition to be a Bobwhite, and I think it was mainly because of their horses.
Whew. Sorry for the rambling trip down memory lane. The real reason I got on was to give another HUGE thumbs-up for alibris.com. You can find ANYTHING on there.
You are a person after my heart. I have my tattered copy of Pamela and the Blue Mare!
How about “Fools over Horses”, or any of the Dorothy Lyons books? Rutherford Montgomery, Glenn Balch, Paul Brown, etc.
I use www.abebooks.com they search many used book stores and save your “wants” and will email you when copies are found. They are very good about the description of the condition of the texts and usually offer several choices in varying dollar amounts.
are my trainer’s favorite kids’ books. I’ve never seen them myself.
Pamela and the Blue Mare in the Olympic Trials sold for 125 bucks on ebay not too long ago.
Patsey Gray, Patsey Gray, Patsey Gray! Her “Horsepower” book is still one of my most dog-eared favorites. “Blue Ribbon Summer” and “Jumping Jack” are also good. Those are her main ones about “our” world, but she has several others worth checking out. (As with most old kids’ horse books, though, you usually have to settle for buying the ex-library ones … but that doesn’t seem to hurt the price or collectibility, since there seem to be so few of them around!)
After all the praise of Pamela and her mare, I will have to go looking for them … have never heard of them. Maybe it’s an East Coast vs. West Coast thing?
