Part One
This section gathers together authors who were best known for writing books that weren’t pony books. In particular, it’s for those authors who wrote series (often very long series) which included the odd horsy title. So far, the majority of authors I have are American, but if anyone can think of any I’ve missed, please let me know. It’s amazing how horses do crop up here and there: the Bobbsey Twins managed to take time off from collecting all that maple syrup and the Secret Seven from detecting to visit, if even only temporarily, the kingdom of the horse.
It is noticeable that many of these American series were written by several different authors, and that some were created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. It’s difficult to avoid supposing that horses were included in these series because horses sold.
This section is organised in alphabetical order by author. Some of the authors already have their own pages on the site: if they do, I’ve provided links.
Acknowledgements: thank you to Susan Bourgeau for doing much of the legwork on this section, and to Denise, Dawn, Hannah and Barb for providing pictures. I’m very grateful.
Authors included:
The American Biff Brewster series of boys’ adventures of derring do was written by
several different authors under the name Andy Adams. Three of the known authors
were Edward Pastore, Walter Gibson and Peter Harkins, this last being the author
of the one horse title, Mystery of the Arabian Stallion, number 12 in the series.
The Biff Brewster series of 13 books was published by Grosset & Dunlap, and came
out at the rate of 3 a year from 1960-
Further reading and sources
Reviews of some books in the series
The Connie Blair series, about a young American woman working in the advertising agency Reid and Renshaw, totalled 12 books. Betsy Allen was a pseudonym used by Betty Cavanna, who under that name wrote several horse books, so including a book with a horsy connection must have seemed a logical, and probably easy, step. The series’ heroine, Connie started her career as a model, graduated to a secretary, and thence to a solver of mysteries.
Further reading and sources
More on the Connie Blair series
Enid Blyton -
Enid Blyton was a phenomenal writer: phenomenal in the sheer number of books she
produced (around 800) and phenomenal in the hold she had over children’s reading
habits. Born in East Dulwich, she trained as a teacher and taught for a number of
years, whilst producing children’s poetry and several educational works. With the
publication of The Secret Island in 1938, her writing career was well and truly launched.
Although in no sense a pony book writer, some of her plots did involve horses.
Blyton’s daughter, Imogen, had a pony, and Blyton and her first husband once lived
in a place with a classic horse connection: Old Thatch, a sixteenth-
Further reading and sources
The number of Enid Blyton sites is legion.
The Secret Seven
The Secret Seven was a fifteen strong series about a group of children who solve crimes. Animals were something of a recurring theme in the books, with the additional Secret Seven member, the spaniel Scamper being a constant part, and animals cropping up elsewhere in the plots. Secret Seven member Peter lives on a farm, which has horses.
The Famous Five
The Famous Five series covered 21 books, as well as annuals and other spin offs. Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog solved mysteries far and wide as they spent their holidays firmly away from any adult supervision.
Malory Towers
Enid Blyton wrote two school series: neither was by any means as horsy as Mary Gervaise’s The Grange, but there was one particularly horsy girl: Bill, obsessed with her horse, Thunder. The series was illustrated by a famous equine illustrator, Stanley Lloyd.
Franklin W. Dixon -
The American Hardy Boys series is one of those that crossed the pond and, judging by the amount which still turn up secondhand, was epically popular here too. A creation of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, its heroes, Joe and Frank Hardy are amateur detectives with an uncanny ability to solve mysteries the police can’t. The series started in 1927, and was an immediate success, lasting for 58 titles, many of which are still in print now. It was written by several different authors, including Leslie McFarlane, but the one horsy title, The Sign of the Crooked Arrow, was the creation of Andrew E Svenson.
Further reading and sources
Leslie McFarlane
The Sign of the Crooked Arrow
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1949, 206 pp.
Harold Hill & Son, London, 1951
Collins, London, hb
Armada, London, pb, 1990
Rarity: it’s not going to be hard to find a copy.
The Hardy boys have a cousin who lives on a Mexico ranch, and who asks them to help
him. Although they have a
current investigation going on into jewellery store holdups,
they go off to Mexico, and discover that Arrow cigarettes
can knock people out.
Alice B Emerson -
The Ruth Fielding series numbered 30 books by the time it ended: it followed Ruth, a feisty girl, from her childhood, through college to marriage. Ruth is an orphan, sent to live with her Uncle Jabez and Aunt Alvirah. Jabez is something of a cold fish, but Alivirah loves Ruth. Ruth is determined virtually from the off to make herself independent from her uncle, and this she eventually manages, through what was then the last word in modernity, writing a scenario for a film. The series was written by three different authors; W Bert Foster writing the first 19, which includes the one horse title, Ruth Fielding &The Silver Ranch.
Further reading and sources
Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch, or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys
Cupples & Leon Company, 1913, 204 pp.
Rarity: despite its age, it’s surprisingly easy to find
Ruth and her friends Helen and Jennie travel to Arizona, where a new film, for which
Ruth is to write the scenario,
is to be shot at a mining camp. An accident causes
the train the girls are travelling on to separate, and their
part of the train arrives
after that in which the evil Edie Turner is travelling. She is obviously determined
to reach
the mine before the girls, but why?
Eileen Hill was a pseudonym used by Nicolete Meredith Stack (who wrote some of the Trixie Belden series). The Robin Kane series numbered six books, so was a positive baby by comparison with some of the series featured in this section. In it, Robin is challenged to solve various mysteries. The first and fifth books in the series, The Mystery of the Blue Pelican and Mystery in the Clouds, are those with some horse content.
Further reading and sources
Some information on the author
Laura Lee Hope -
Oh, the Bobbsey Twins. To one growing up in 1960s Britain, the American novel was something strange and exotic. Our local library, a fine example of 16th century architecture by Thomas Tresham, had some books amongst the ranks of traditional literature which promised a whole new world: amid the complete series of Dr Dolittle and Swallows and Amazons was a whole series of the Bobbsey Twins novels, and I worked my way through them. The thing that made most impression on me was maple syrup: an unobtainable luxury in our area then. I was consumed with curiosity about this ambrosial delicacy which exercised the Bobbseys: so much so that I entirely missed the fact there was some horse content in the series.
The Bobbsey Twins was yet another Stratemeyer production, written by a team of authors. The Bobbseys were actually two sets of twins: Flossie and Freddie, and Bert and Nan. There was far more general horse content in the early editions of the stories: the first Bobbsey story, Merry Days Indoors and Out, appeared in 1904, when the main method of transport for the middle class was the horse and buggy. The series was much revised over the decades, and so the general horse content was edited out as the car came to prominence. There is, however, at least one story which does use horses directly in the plot.
Further reading and sources
Wikipedia on the Bobbsey Twins
More information on the series as a whole
Some of the Bobbsey Twins books are available on Project Gutenberg
The Bobbsey Twins on the Pony Trail
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1944
Rarity: very easy to find
Bert and Nan have riding lessons from gypsies, so that they can go with their father
on a business trip into the
Rocky Mountains. There Nan hopes to learn the mountain
gypsies’ secret.
The Nancy Drew series is another Stratemeyer creation, written by a team of authors. One of them, Mildred Wirt Benson, said: “ It was a day's work. I did it just like I did my newspaper work,” but there was rather more to Nancy than just a workaday character churned out to meet a publisher’s deadline. The girl detective became immensely popular, and the series (although much revised over the years) is still in print today. Benson said: “I think Nancy was the character the girls were waiting for..... Most of [the fans] identified with her. In my fan mail that I receive, they say that they were inspired to go do things for themselves, to go build themselves careers. I think it was an incentive to go out into the world and to become someone as a woman, you know.”
Further reading and sources
Rehak, Melanie: Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.
A Nancy Drew website
An interview with Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the original writers of the series
The Ringmaster’s Secret
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1953, 214 pp.
Reprinted many times. Now available as an e-
Rarity: very easy to find
Nancy Drew joins the circus to investigate a mystery surrounding an orphan girl and a gold charm bracelet.
The Riding Club Crime
Aladdin Paperbacks, New York, 2003, pb, 151 pp.
Rarity: very easy to find
Elsa, a friend of Nancy and George's is a councellor at the Green Spring Pony Club's
summer camp. If the club
wins the regional pony club rally, they will go to a national
competition. However, Nancy’s horse is hurt, and it
becomes clear it was sabotage.
Who is trying to hurt the campers and the camp, and why?
The Incidental Pony Book
Mystery of the Arabian Stallion
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1964, 176 pp.
Bancroft Library, London, 1964, pb, 188 pp.
Rarity: not the easiest of books to find.
Biff has a new friend: Ahmed. Together they investigate the disappearance of a
golden stallion, Suji.The two suspect
that the horse’s disappearance might have something
to do with the problems their fathers are investigating in the
oilfield nearby.
The Secret of Black Cat Gulch
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1948, 206 pp.
Tempo, paperback, 1965
Rarity: findable, though pricing varies.
Connie has been sent down to Mexico to help with research for a textile campaign.
She makes friends with an
archaeologist called Jeff, who is on the track of a mysterious
man with a limp and a missing finger, who may just
have the answer to finding an historical
treasure. Connie helps Jeff, and also finds that someone is trying to keep
them from
exploring a nearby mine.
The Secret Seven
Brockhampton Press, Leicester, 1949, illus George Brook. 96 pp
Reprinted many times
Rarity: first editions with dustjackets will be expensive: paperbacks are very easy to find indeed.
A comprehensive history of the title
The Secret Seven help find a missing racehorse.
The Secret Seven Mystery
Brockhampton Press, Leicester, 1957, illus Burgess Sharrock. 120 pp
Reprinted many times
Rarity: first editions with dustjackets are reasonably priced: paperbacks are very easy to find indeed.
A comprehensive history of the title
The Seven hunt for a missing girl who has run away from home. They find out that
she likes horses, so spend
some time at the local stables gathering information.
Fun for the Secret Seven
Brockhampton Press, Leicester, 1963, illus Burgess Sharrock. 120 pp
Reprinted many times
Rarity: first editions with dustjackets are reasonably priced: paperbacks are very easy to find indeed.
A comprehensive history of the title
The Secret Seven are told about a suffering horse, Brownie. His owner, Farmer Dinneford,
has injured him by making
him pull an overloaded cart, but refuses to pay the vet’s
bills, and insists the horse has to be put down. The Secret
Seven decide to raise
the money to keep the horse and pay for his vet’s bills.
Five Go to Mystery Moor
Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1954, illus Eileen Soper, 183 pp.
Reprinted many times
Rarity: first editions are findable; paperbacks are very easy to find indeed.
A comprehensive history of the title
Anne and George are staying at a riding school where Anne is learning to ride. Dick
and Julian join them.
A gipsy boy brings a lame horse into the stables for treatment,
and the Five soon discover there is a mystery
involving the gipsy camp.
Third Year at Malory Towers
Methuen & Co, London, 1948, illus Stanley Lloyd, 159 pp.
Reprinted many times
Rarity: first editions will be expensive, but paperbacks are very easy to find indeed.
One of the mistresses, Miss Peters, clashes with Bill, and as a punishment, informs
her Thunder must be sent
home. Most of the action though is concerned with girls
who think rather too much of themselves: new girl
Zerelda and her acting ambitions,
and Mavis the singer.
The Mystery of the Blue Pelican
Whitman Publishing Company, Oregon, 1966, illus Sylvia Haggander
Rarity: very easy to find
Robin and some of her friends are appearing as extras in a film, The Changeling,
which stars a famous teen actress,
Moira Rafferty. The horse Nugget is supposed to
appear in the film, but he is stolen. Robin follows the trail, which
leads to a castle
rustler. Mr Hunter is so delighted when Robin manages to recover the horse that
he gives him to
her as a reward.
Mystery in the Clouds
Whitman Publishing Company, Oregon, 1971, illus Sylvia Haggander
Rarity: very easy to find
Robin Kane rides her palomino, Nugget, in the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade.
The Secret at Shadow Ranch
Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1931, 203 pp.
Reprinted, with an introduction by Mildred Wirt Benson, Applewood, 1994, 203 pp.
Rarity: easy to find as a reprint
The Secret of Shadow Ranch
Grosset & Dunlap, 1965, 175 pp.
Note: this, the third edition, has a title change from "of" to "at" and is a completely different book.
Nancy sees a ghostly horse galloping among the trees.
