One Man’s Horse
Rand McNally & Company, NY., 1950 & 1977, 103 pp., illustrated in black & white by Wesley Dennis and including numerous art reproductions and black & white photos
This is the identical story which was included within the story of Born to Trot.
Marguerite Henry later brought it out as this separate book and added a final chapter
on the history of the Standardbred breed and the growth of harness racing. It has
many portraits of famous Standardbreds including many of George Ford Morris' works
-
[Info from Fran Fignar]
Our First Pony
Rand McNally & Company, NY., 1984, n.p., illus Rich Rudish
I believe this is a fictional story. Justin and Joey Franklin, twin boys, live on a farm with dogs, goats, cats and other "critters" but they want a pony. When Mr. Wolter of Oak Creek Farm offers a piebald pony mare to a good home, the Franklins check out "Midge" (Miniature Heirloom) and fall in love with her. Midge is loved and ridden and cared for by the boys who enter her in the local pet parade show. However, Midge does not place well because the judge thinks she is too fat. However, the judge (a vet) suspects there's more to Midge than meets the eye and a checkup determines that she is in foal from an unplanned visit by a Welsh stallion. The boys care for Midge until she foals one night presenting them with twin pintos. Unfortunately, one baby is a runt and is too weak to nurse so the boys work with the vet to save Teeny, the foal, while Midge cares for Friday, the stronger foal. Of course, with much care, they are successful. The book was issued in both hardcoveer and paperback and is in the same format as FIVE O'CLOCK CHARLIE. Lovely illustrations!
[Info from Fran Fignar]
A Pictorial History of Misty
Rand McNally & Company, NY., 1976, 140 pp., illus Wesley Dennis (some from previous books) and color and black & white photos)
Here is the full story of Misty, especially of her life with Marguerite Henry, her promotional tours for the movie MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE, her return to the Beebes and her many foals, grandfoals and great grandfoals. There are photos of the final "life" of Misty, stuffed and exhibited on the Beebe farm and many photos of her children. Interestingly, there are a few photos of Sunshine, the dam of Misty's Twilight.
The book is a slightly oversized hardcover with an illustration on the cover by Wesley Dennis of Misty running with one of her foals.
[Info by Fran Fignar]
Illustrated Bibliography 3
1993 Album of Horses: A Pop-
Misty Makes a Movie -
Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, NY., 1996,
79 pp., illus in b&w by Bonnie Shields.
I believe this is a fictional story but it doesn't really state in the book. Molly is a young girl who loves horses and badly wants one. Her neighbour, Freddy Westover, has a Tennessee Walking horse, Strolling Joe, a show winner. When Molly's father takes her to a horse sale, she is thrilled, but the only horse they can afford is an old mare, Lady Sue. When Lady Sue proves to be in foal, Molly is excited but surprised when the expected foal turns out to be a mule. However, Molly loves the baby despite Freddy's jokes about her "show horse". Molly names the foal Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley. As Brown Sunshine grows and is trained, he proves to be an exceptional mule and is chosen as the King Mule in the Tennessee State contest. Even Freddy is converted and helps Molly get Brown Sunshine ready for the celebration and mule parade. A nice story with excellent illustrations. Bonnie Shields is known as "the official Tennessee Mule artist" and does a wonderful job in this book. The end paperers are in color and the cover is a full color picture of the head of Brown Sunshine.
[Info by Fran Fignar]
The Illustrated Marguerite Henry
Rand McNally & Company, NY., 1980, 128 pp. Illus
Wesley Dennis, Robert Lougheed, Lynd Ward and Rich Rudish.
This is another totally factual book with data on the four major artists that illustrated
Marguerite Henry's books. The major portion covers Wesley Dennis but there's lots
of background on the other three as well and reproductions of black & white and color
illustrations from the various books they illustrated. The format is slightly larger
than the usual Marguerite Henry hard cover editions. The cover illustartion is the
Wesley Dennis illustration of Sham fighting Hobgoblin from King of the Wind. The
book also briefly covers Little-
[Info by Fran Fignar]
Misty’s Twilight
Macmillan Publishing Company, NY., 1992, 143 pp., illus by Karen
haus Grandpre'
This is the story of Dr. Sandy Price who grew up loving Marguerite Henry's Misty stories. On a trip to Chincoteague for Pony Penning Day, she visits what's left of the actual Beebe farm and sees many of Misty's decendants. Enamored of one mare named Sunshine, she manages to buy the pony and take it to her Alabama home. The pony is eventually bred to a son of Bold Ruler and produces a pinto filly which Sandy names Misty's Twilight.
During the next few years, Twilight is broken in (poorly by an inept trainer) and
retrained by a more capable horseman. With her unusual agility, Twilight is trained
as a cutting horse and becomes quite successful in local competition. When Sandy
tries to place the horse with a prominent trainer, she runs into intense discrimination
as Chincoteague ponies (and pintos) aren't supposed to be able to compete against
quarter horses. When her trainer fails to take Twilight out to compete rather than
face the taunts of other cutting people, Sandy brings Twilight home and trains her
as a jumper -
[Info from Fran Fignar]
