One More Pony
A&C Black, London, 1952, illus Mary Shillabeer

Pat and Jacky rescue a neglected pony whom they call One More.  An unusual story, this one combines
archaeology at the hands of Professor Pettigrew, who is exploring caves, as well as the usual pony adventures,
with two other ponies Starlight and Moonliglht.

Pony Trek
A&C Black, London, 1947,  illus Mary Shillabeer

Many thanks to Lisa Catz for the photograph.

John and Jennifer, and their mother Jane, plan a visit to Wales to buy two Welsh ponies.  Rather than
train the ponies back, they plan to ride them back home, with a bicycle for the person not riding.

Pony Boy
Lutterworth, London,1958

Colin finds his Welsh pony on the mountains.  As he’s black and beautiful, Colin calls him Merlyn, which means
Little Horse.  To learn how to train him, Colin gets a book out of the library, acquires tack by cleaning leather,
and then meets Lucy, who helps him to win the Best Pony class on Merlyn at the Summer Show.  However,
Lucy wants a pony like Merlyn for herself.

Hilda Boden wrote many children’s books as well as her pony titles.  Her Joanna books are a pair, about a a girl whose guardians who are supposed to be looking after her, and her farm, but have to say the least of it, evil designs.  The second book sees Joanna in much happier circumstances.  Hilda Boden wrote no other pony series, though her children’s Marlow Family series numbered several titles.  

Finding the books:  her Crown Pony Library titles are the easiest to find:  Pony Girl  in particular.  Pony Trek is very hard to find with its dustjacket, and probably the hardest overall to source.  Joanna Rides the Hills can be tricky. All the other titles are reasonably easy to find.  

Pony Girl
Lutterworth, Crown Pony Library, 1959

Molly Mallory and her family come from Ireland to live in London.  They live in small dirty
street in a tatty part of the city, but there is a pony there, though he lives in a field which
is under threat of being built on.  Molly seems to be the only one who cares for the pony.
 

Little Grey Pony
Lutterworth, 1960
Reprinted in paperback, Crown Pony, 1975

Sally is confined to a wheelchair and can no longer ride.  However, her sister buys the
little grey pony so Sally can drive him, and together they go on holiday to Hadrian’s Wall.
 

Joanna’s Special Pony
Burke, London, 1960, illus Lilias Buchanan
Reprinted in paperback, Burke, Junior Pacemaker, 1964
(together with 2 Sheila Chapman titles, reprinted as  Pony Adventure, Burke 1965)


Joanna inherits the family farm from her grandfather, but Mr and
Mrs Sythe, who are to run it for her and look after her are out only
for themselves. Joanna is not allowed to ride the wild ponies, and
Mr Sythe threatens to sell them. Joanna enlists her friends
to help her save the ponies - including her “special pony”.  In the
end, she is stranded on an uninhabited island but manages to
defeat the Sythes.

Joanna Rides the Hills
Burke, 1961, illus Lilias Buchanan

Joanna has let the farm she inherited, and is living with the Whitleys, whose son David and niece Shirley
are her friends.  She takes Sandy, her hill pony, with her, but although she’s happy with the Whitleys,
poor Joanna isn’t lucky with the people who look after her farm, and Mr Curtis soon proves he fully
deserves the apprehension Joanna feels when she sees him.




 

Bibliography - pony books only