Famous Horse Series

Balch, Glenn :  Indian Paint
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Little Falcom, son of the Chief, chooses an unborn foal to be his mount against his father’s wishes.  He hopes
to prove to his father that despite all the setbacks, his choice was good.”

Balch, Glenn :  Lost Horse
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“When King is thought to be Midnight Chief, a black colt lost eight years earlier by Andy Blair, Ben and Dixie
are torn between wanting King to remain wild and wanting to catch him themselves safely rather than let the
ruthless hunter Tom Sample catch him.”

Clapp, Estelle Barnes:  Laurie

Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Laurie has her herat set on the Morgan horse Fella, but her father is afraid of horses, and the fact that Fella has
been spoiled and is a handful doesn’t help.”

Cooper, Page : Amigo’s Circus Horse

Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Franz and hisi father work the well trained Lipizzaner stallions in their circus act, but Franz
longs for a horse of his own to train.”

Grosset and Dunlap’s Famous Horse Series is one of the few American equivalents to the Collins Pony Library.  Grosset and Dunlap was started in 1898 by Alexander Grosset and George T Dunlap as a pirate publishing enterprise, selling cheaply produced books without the expense of royalties.  Their formula was a success, and opened up books to the mass market.  Grosset & Dunlap moved into the legitimate market, and it became common for publishers to overrun their first printings, secure in the knowledge that they could cover their costs by selling the surplus to Grosset & Dunlap.  

In combination with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, responsible for such lengthy ghost written series as Nancy Drew, Grosset & Dunlap moved into the children’s book market.  Their Famous Horse and Famous Dog series were part of this push, continuing their aim of making books widely available, drawing on titles they already knew sold.  The rear panel of Mountain Pony and the Rodeo Mystery states:  “Here are some of the finest horse books ever written, now available in low priced editions for the first time.  Hundreds of thousands have been sold at higher prices.”   The Famous Horse series included entire series, thus making even more sure of sales by catering to a reader’s desire to read more books about characters they already knew.  Six of George Rutherford Montgomery’s Golden Stallion seven book series and all of Henry V Larom’s Mountain Pony series were published.  The vast majority of the stories in the series are from the Western ranch genre, though there are also horses about five-gaited horses, Lipizzaners in a circus and harness racers, to name a few.

Unlike the  English Collins Pony Library, there were no new titles in this series.  A few, like Amigo, Laurie and Spook were given new cover art, and  Dorothy Lyons’ Harlequin Hullabaloo, was re-titled as Bluegrass Champion, but those were the sole alterations.  Although some  early titles were published as hardbacks with dustjackets:  the majority appeared with pictorial boards.  When they actually appeared is hard to pin down:  although the original copyright of the titles is on the book, the date Grosset and Dunlap actually published it is not.  

I am lacking quite a few examples of this series, so if you can help with photographs . I’d be very grateful.  Many thanks to Lisa Catz, Susan Bourgeau and Fiona Williams for all their help with the photographs I do have..  

Finding the books:  this is generally an easy series to find in the US.  The slightly more expensive volumes are:  Hinkle’s Buckskin, Dapple Gray, Hurricane Pinto, Tornado Boy, Rutherford Montgomery’s The Golden Stallion and the Wolf Dog and The Golden Stallion’s Adventure at Redstone and Col Meek’s Frog, the Horse Who Knew No Master.

Sources and links:  

Wear:  Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987 - summaries

A history of Grosset & Dunlap

More on Grosset & Dunlap

Faralla, Dana : The Magnificent Barb
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

Everyone in Mare’s Nest, a Georgian plantation, lives and breathes horses, including Kevin.  Kevin dreams of the
Goldolphin Barb, and then some Irish horse traders turn up with a magnificent Barb stallion.  Kevin is determined
to own the Barb himself.

Foote, John Taintor : Hoofbeats

Grosset & Dunlap, NY

A collection of Foote’s racing stories, including Shame on You, about a harness racing horse.

Grew, David : The Sorrel Stallion
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Sorrell was a wild cot when the young woman saw him and wanted to capture him with the help of the rancher,
but after he was lost, he had many experiences and adventures before he returned to the rancher and his wife.”

Grew, David : Beyond Rope and Fence

Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“”The buckskin filly Queen is born into a herd of ranch horses and learns to value her freedom and longs for it
even after she is taught to carry a rider and work in the fields.”

Hinkle, Thomas C : Cinchfoot
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“The gelding Blaze Face and the young stallion Cinchfoot roam together on the range much preferring freedom
to being caught by either Clem or the Mexican rodeo stock suppliers.”

Hinkle, Thomas C : Mustang
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“”The bay horse Mustang is stolen from Sam and forced to obey several masters before his is free once more
and lured back to Sam’s ranch by Old Bill, a horse who shared Mustang’s pasture when Mustang was a yearling.”

Hinkle, Thomas C:  Black Tiger
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“After only a short time with Jim Summers, the big black colt Black Tiger is whisked away by his wild

Mother and then pursued by horse thieves for many years.”

Holt, Stephen : Wild Palomino
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

Des tries to capture the palomino ostallion Rocket for use as the new sire for his father’s palomino ranch,
but the Mexican El Gato has other plans for the horse.”

Holt, Stephen : Prairie Colt
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Leif’s orphaned twin colts are his key to winning the stockman’s race and thereby getting the money needed
to save his father’s business, but which colt will it be?”

Holt, Stephen : The Phantom Roan
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“A Cast-off rodeo outlaw horse with an injured foot inspires Glenn to pursue his original dream of becoming
a veterinarian instead of going into town to become a bank teller.”

Holt, Stephen : The Whistling Stallion
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Inspired by the strength of the palomino stallion Whistler, Roy refuses to give up the ranch when his
father’s medical bills use up all the money, and he plans to run the ranch along until his father is back
on his feet.” (Sequel to Wild Palomino)

Lang, Don : Strawberry Roan
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Roscoe believes in the strawberry roan trotter David Hal so much, that when the horse no longer wins his
races and is sold, Roscoe goes along with the horse as it goes from plow horse to circus horse.”

Hinkle, Thomas C: Buckskin
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Buckskin was tamed by Jim Carney, but he sufffered at the hands of many others before Jim and he were
reunited and Buckskin could show his devotion to Jim by saving his life in a flood.”

Hinkle, Thomas C: Dapple Gray
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Charley and his horse Dapply Gray set out with the other ranch hands in an attempt to kill a marauding
grizzley bear before it kills any more cattle or horses.”

Hinkle, Thomas C: Tornado Boy
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“The blue-roan Tornado Boy survives the heat of the desert, the severity of an ice storm and sickness

Caused by eating poison weeds before he is reunited in the middle of a cattle stampede with the boy who
owned him as a colt.”

Hinkle, Thomas C: Hurricane Pinto
Grosset & Dunlap, NY

“Pinto throws every man who tries to ride or break him except Joe Gunnison, and he and Joe make a
perilous trip through Death Valley in an attempt to escape from the horse thieves who want Pinto.”

Bibliography