THE BLACK STALLION'S COURAGE
When Alec is forced to fire the farm's foaling manager
due to smoking in the stable area, he has to attend a problem foaling leaving a frying
pan unattended in the sacked employee's apartment. A resulting fire destroys Hopeful
Farm's main barn - for which the insurance policy has lapsed. It will take $100,000
to build a new barn. When Black Minx, who has just won the Kentucky Derby, fails
to do better than third in the Preakness Stakes and, worse yet, finishes last in
the Belmont (because she has decided she "can't live" without Wintertime, one of
the competing racers) and won't pass Wintertime - who unfortunately breaks down in
the Belmont - hence the last place finish, there's only one way left to earn enough
money to build a new barn. The Black must return to the races. Alec and Henry work
to get The Black ready but fear the amount of weight the handicapper will put on
their champion. Meanwhile, Eclipse, one of the three-year-old competitors has come
to top form and is winning handily against all the horses his age and taking on older
horses as well with great success. In fact, he breaks a record which The Black had
just set in winning his first race after his return. Also, a handicap star, Casey,
is setting the racing world on fire whit his spectacular wins. When Alec and Henry
decide to enter a seven furlong handicap against Casey, The Black gets assigned 140
lbs. against Casey's 130. However, the race is a "no contest". In the midst of the
running, Billy Watts, another jockey, has his saddle slip and he gets hung up in
a stirrup. Alec, on The Black, manages to grab Billy and hold him steady until the
finish, preventing a disasterous accident. However, The Black is unplaced because
of this. (Probably the only time The Black is beaten!) That leaves the Brooklyn Handicap
and a three way match-up between Eclipse, Casey and The Black. Eclipse, despite his
fantastic record runs, gets off with 116 lbs. Casey gets 135 and The Black has to
carry 146, an almost impossible burden. Yet the handicapper is determined that these
weight assignments will bring all three horses to the finish line together. He almost
gets his wish. Eclipse and Casey dead heat but The Black just manages to get a nose
in front at the finish. Alec and Henry debate The Black's future - possibly racing
him overseas.
THE BLACK STALLION MYSTERY
While resting after winning the Brooklyn Handicap, Alec,
Henry and The Black have a brief visit from a stranger who just enjoys racing and
wishes to see The Black (and is apparently one of the "saucer people" from THE ISLAND
STALLION RACES). Meanwhile, as Alec and Henry are debating whether to travel to
Europe for international competition, they learn of three superb yearlings that have
been shipped in from Spain for the coming sale. They view the yearlings and find
they are exact images (except for color) of The Black which arouses their curiosity
since Spain is not noted for thoroughbred race horses and they's like to see the
sire of the yearlings. They decide to fly to Spain with The Black and visit Don Angel
Rafeal Gonzalez who is listed as the breeder of the yearlings. However, Gonzalez
seems to be more into the breeding of brave bulls and El Dorado, the supposed sire,
is described as what has to be an andalusian or lucitano. He's no thoroughbred sire!
Gonzalez invites Alec and Henry to a show of mounted bullfighting with Gonzalez riding
El Dorado in the corrida. When Gonzalez' courage fails after a near miss and El Dorado
panics, Alec enters the ring on foot and diverts the bull until Gonzalez can be rescued.
As a reward, Gonzalez confesses that he didn't breed the yearings and agrees to take
Alec, Henry and The Black to where they came from. After a flight to an undisclosed
location, somewhere in a mountainous country across the Mediterranian, Gonzalez abandons
the three telling them someone will come to meet them. After a harrying night in
the dark, they are met by none other than Abd-al-Rahman and Tabari, Abu Ishak's daughter.
They learn of a mystery as the sire of the yearlings is Ziyadah, The Black's sire,
but Ziyadah is dead. Yet, they see the "ghost horse" galloping over the mountains
leaving a trail of sparks. Alec tries to solve the mystery and unwittingly discovers
a hidden stall and schooling arena under the stable and residence. Returning to The
Black in his above-ground stall, Alec finds a ghostly rider and horse waiting for
him in the dark. Mounting The Black in pursuit, they are led on a wicked race through
the night over stone walls, ditches and mountainous hills. Closing on the ghostly
horse and rider, Alec finds himself facing a drawn gun as The Black rears to attack
a not-so-ghostly Ziyadah. As a shot rings out, Alec falls and is knocked out. When
he comes to, he discovers the unknown rider is Tabari who had sworn vengence on The
Black for causing the death of Abu Ishak, her father. Unfortunately, her attempt
to shoot The Black misfired and killed Ziyadah instead. She is inconsolable and the
true story comes out. Ziyadah had been hidden in this out-of-the-way location to
protect him and his foals from desert thieves such as had stolen The Black. Knowing
someone like Alec would see The Black's sire in the foals, she had waited for him
to show up so she could destroy the hated Black and get revenge for her father's
death. With her plans ruined, she will have to deal with her husband. Alec, Henry
and The Black are flown back to Spain. While in transit, they see a newspaper article
about a horse named Flame the had won an international race but no owner had claimed
the purse. (And that's where we leave them in this book.)
THE HORSE TAMER
Alec, Henry and The Black are delayed in Spain trying to get a transport
flight back to the U.S. Their tentative plans of racing The Black in Europe have
ended as The Black sustained a bad hoof bruise during Alec's wild ride after Ziyadah.
While waiting, Henry tells Alec a tale of his youth working with his oldest brother,
Bill Dailey. Bill was originally a carriage maker but he had a talent for working
with problem horses. When he and Henry come across a peddler beating his horse, Bill
stops to prevent the peddler from abusing the animal. The peddler, Finn Casperson,
agrees to let Bill take his young horse and see if he can't cure what's making the
animal baulk and then suddenly bolt with the peddler's wagon. When Bill cures the
horse by training it not to be afraid of buckets (it had apparently been scared by
one) and the noise of the loaded wagon, Finn thinks Bill's wasting his time building
carriages and should sell his services as a horse "tamer". Finn talks Bill into working
with an unmanageable mare which Bill cures successfully (using the old Rarey/ Jesse
Beery methods of control bridles and throwing ropes - methods which really do work!)
Finn, being somewhat of a promoter, wants Bill to advertise his services and "spice
it up" by pretending to be a "horse whisperer" - whispering in the subject's ear
and making believe he had secret talents. Bill refuses to resort to any skullduggery
and just wants to help horse owners with their problem horses and teach them how
to handle them properly. Finn, meanwhile, promotes his own business by selling bottles
of "Arabian Secret" lotion which he claims will allow anyone to tame unmanageable
horses and medicine man "cure alls" for any disease. Bill breaks off any relationship
with Finn. However, Finn has learned enough of Bill's "taming" methods to be dangerous.
Bill soon learns there are a lot of gullible horse owners as Finn gets quite a reputation
and travels to England, successfully curing Panic, a mankilling stallion owned by
Lord Oliver. When Finn returns from his triumph overseas, he brings Panic back with
him. By now, he has set up a regular taming "circus" performing every night and exhibiting
his successes. Bill knows it's all humbug. Meeting with Finn, he can tell the only
way Panic's been "tamed" is by starvation and literally doping or tying him down
- the same methods Finn's using on his other exhibits. To expose Finn's system, he
agrees to tame a killer zebra for the circus in town and has the animal brought to
Finn's arena the night of his exhibition. Of course, faced with having to deal with
a really dangerous situation, Finn bolts leaving Bill to deal with a real killer.
Bill is having a difficult time dealing with the zebra single-handed when Henry jumps
from the top of the circus wagon which carried the zebra and lands on its rump, knocking
it over. This gives Bill enough time to secure the zebra's lead rope to its tail
and let it fight itself out. Finn is exposed as a charleton and Bill triumphs and
does tame the zebra. As Henry finishes his story, he confesses to Alec that he didn't
come to his brother's rescue. He slipped from the wagon roof and fell on the zebra.
THE BLACK STALLION'S GHOST
I believe this is the book I've seen titled THE BLACK STALLION AND THE STRANGER but
I've never seen it in person so can't confirm that and Mr. Farley never wrote a book
by that title. As he got older, his books got a little more "way out". This story
begins in Europe with a Captain Philip de Pluminel performing at a circus with his
mixed breed gray mare which he has trained to do a solo liberty dressage act totally
cued by a weirdly haunting piece of music. The mare performs with no rider or harness
in a darkened arena with only a spotlight on her and gives a compelling performance.
The Captain then moves to the U.S. Meanwhile, seeking some R & R from their hectic
racing schedule at Hialeah in Florida, Alec and The Black are staying at a friend's
stable near the Florida Everglades - a massive swamp of sawgrass and low grassy hills.
Deciding to take a ride, Alec hops on The Black bareback and rides into the Everglades
where, despite a feeling of danger, he sees a strange rider on a gray mare performing
intricate dressage movements. Of course, it is the Captain. When Alec meets him,
the Captain invites him to stay for supper leaving The Black in the little stable
he uses for his mare.
During supper, the Captain tells Alec of his background in which an Indian ancestor
betrayed his people to the invading Conquistadores in return for a horse. The Captain
feels he is now under a curse from the ancient gods, especially the spirit Kovi,
since he, also, is a horseman. Alec's not sure what to think of all this, especially
with the Captain's spooky Indian servant. Also, the Captain wants to breed his mare
to The Black. Alec refuses for the present since The Black is due to travel north
to New York for more racing. However, when Alec wants to leave, a violent lightning
storm comes up forcing him to stay overnight. Waking in the night, he sees the Captain
taking The Black to breed his mare. When The Black becomes unmanageable, he fights
the Captain and runs off into the Everglades. Both Alec and the Captain attempt to
follow him in the dark. During the pursuit, Alec has a "vision" of a vengeful spirit
he assumes is Kovi which seems to be seeking the Captain. In the morning, Alec finds
The Black and also the Captain's body. Alec picks up a strange carved figure left
by the Captain. On the way back to his friend's stable, a large fire, apparently
started by the previous night's lightning storm, sweeps through the swamp destroying
all evidence of the Captain's body. Returning to New York, Alec reads of a performing
mare in the circus and takes Henry to see the performance. It is the Captain's gray
mare, now performing for another trainer. Knowing that she's in foal to The Black,
he buys the mare and the strange piece of music to which she "dances". As he leaves
the circus, he stops to toss the carved figure in a trash can - and then finds he
can't do it. A strange ending! The word voodoo is never mentioned, but this is indeed
a voodoo story.
THE BLACK STALLION AND THE GIRL
It's spring on Hopeful Farm and there's more than
enough work with foals, young horses to break and the racing season at Aqueduct.
When Alec discovers one of the workers beating a young horse, he fires him even thought
this leaves them short handed. In response to an ad for farm help, Pam Athena, a
young girl, turns up applying for the position. Alec is doubtful until he lets her
try to ride Black Sand, a young two-year-old son of Satan who was purchased because
his former owner had abused him with a whip and the horse was unmanageable. (Must
run in the family!!!) Pam is able to ride him with her sympathetic ways and Alec
hires her. Returning to the race track, Alec faces Henry about the help situation.
Henry is adamant! No girls allowed! He's the typical male chauvinist and Alec's caught
in the middle. Meanwhile, Pam continues to work at Hopeful Farm and is super with
the horses. Black Sand has progressed to the point that he's ready to race.
Alec is becoming very attracted to Pam. Henry has progressed to telling Alec "it's
her or me" and threatens to leave. Alec just can't fire Pam and instead takes her
to the track to meet Henry. Nobody's really happy, but because of Black Sand's disposition
and Pam's ability, she gets an apprentice license and is allowed to ride Black Sand
in his first race. Unfortunately, the weather is abominable - rain, mud, wind, etc.
During the race, Pam gets caught in tight quarters and when another "hungry" girl
jockey goes aggressively to the whip, Black Sand panics, bolts through the outside
rail and breaks his neck. Pam is devastated but doesn't want to leave racing this
way. Meanwhile, Alec has a race on The Black and also gets caught in a bind. The
Black becomes unmanageable, bolts through the pack badly interfering with some of
his competitors and, though he wins "by a mile", he's disqualified and Alec's "set
down" for a week causing The Black to be scratched from a major important handicap.
Rather than lose all chance at the big purse, Alec talks Henry into letting Pam try
The Black. When she is successful, they enter The Black, who, of course, wins with
Pam up. After the race, Pam decides it is time to move on as she had never intended
to stay at Hopeful Farm forever. Alec is smitten and doesn't want to see Pam leave
but she wants to see more of the world and plans to travel to Europe and work with
jumpers in Ireland. She promises to write and Alec reluctantly sees her leave.
THE BLACK STALLION LEGEND
This is the last Black Stallion story written solely by
Walter Farley I don't know if this was his attempt to "end" the series or not. You
can decide. This story picks up where the last book left off. Alec is still missing
Pam. She has written him from France where she is working with dressage horses and
Alec has made plans to take a vacation and fly to France to join her. On the day
before his flight, he reads in the paper of a car accident in the Alps killing four
students who were travelling to see the Lippizans perform. One of the students was
Pam. Alec goes off the deep end, literally overcome with grief. Hardly knowing what
he's doing, he loads The Black into a trailer and just takes off, heading he knows
not where. From New York, after a number of days of meaningless travel, he finds
himself and The Black in a isolated spot in the southwestern desert. He unloads The
Black, hops on and rides off into the vast open sand.
Eventually, thirst drives him to find a water hole where he turns The Black loose.
When a herd of mustangs appears, The Black pursues them leaving Alec. Half out of
his senses, Alec wanders in the desert until eventually, The Black returns to him
somewhat the worse for wear. He has obviously taken on the mustang stallion and has
a number of cuts including a hoof mark on his forehead which has clipped off the
hair leaving a temporary "star" marking. Alec remounts and they attempt to find food
and water and eventually come on an ancient Indian who claims The Black is Black
Fire, a spirit horse that is to lead his tribe to salvation from disaster. The Indian
leads Alec and The Black through some underground pueblo-type ruins and out to where
his poverty stricken tribe is living. When the predicted Blue Star (meteor??) appears
in the sky bringing with it a tremendous explosions, fires, earthquakes and various
disasters, Alec mounts The Black and heads for the underground shelters with the
tribe members following him. (I don't think I'd particularly want to go underground
in a major earthquake! Oh, well---) The underground seems to be a safe haven as havoc
rends the outside world. After a day or so, Alec decides to leave and ventures outside
with The Black. He is greeted by a totally changed world. Mountains have been flattened.
The air is full of ash and vapor. All signs of where they are have vanished. Alec
rides on and eventually comes upon the wreckage of his truck and horse trailer. Continuing,
they eventually come to a road which he follows to a haven in the midst of the chaos
where various refugees have collected. World-wide disaster has hit. Communications
are out. Earthquakes have struck around the world. Finally, after a few days, Alec
is able to get a phone connection to Hopeful Farm. Of course, everyone assumed he
and The Black were dead. Alec's father, too stunned to talk, turns the phone over
to Henry who tells Alec to stay put. They'll get to him. And then the phone line
goes dead. And that's the end of the story, believe it or not.
THE BLACK STALLION AND FLAME
This story rather picks up from the last tale. Alec,
Henry and The Black have finally gotten air transport from Spain along with a number
of thoroughbred mares and yearlings. Unfortunately, the plane gets caught in a major
storm and is driven far off course and the crew is unable to get a reading on their
location. As fuel runs out and the plane battles the winds, it becomes obvious that
they are going to crash somewhere in the ocean. As the plane goes down, The Black
and the other horses are freed into the turbulent water and the flight crew, Henry
and Alec take to a small boat in hopes of being rescued. (Somehow, The Black always
has bad luck on airplanes!) Eventually, the humans reach Antago Island in the Carribean
and The Black and the mares (nothing is said of the yearlings) by great luck, reach
Azul Island and the hidden port that was used by the Conquistadores. They are now
sharing the secret valley "ruled" by Flame and his band of mares.
Meanwhile, Alec and Henry begin a search to see if The Black survived the crash.
A lone black horse has been seen running on Antago but when Henry, Alec and the local
veterinarian find the horse, it is dead and is determined to have died of rabies
from a bat bite. They go in search of the rabid bat in a bat cave and roust out the
sick bat but it gets away. Alec is determined to search the nearby uninhabited islands
in hope of finding The Black as he "feels" he is still alive. He hires a boat and
crew to take him in the search. Unknown to them, the sick bat has taken refuge in
the boat's cabin and when they near Azul Island, Alec discovers the bat. In the attempt
to kill it, it flies away to the island. It is now on the same island as Flame and
The Black. When the rabid bat appears, the two stallions unite in their attempt to
destroy it and race each other up and down the valley. Eventually, the bat lands
on one of the horses and The Black grabs it and stomps it to death. Now, Flame and
The Black have only each other to fight. The Black breaks off from a deadly battle
when he scents Alec as he and Henry circle the island looking for signs of The Black.
Alec, still feeling The Black is near, is reluctant to leave and gets the boat crew
to spend the night near Azul Island. The Black, in search of Alec, swims back out
into the ocean and lands on the open land spit of Azul. In the morning, Alec lands
and discovers The Black waiting for him on the shore. (I could never figure out how
the loose horse on Antago managed to die of rabies before the sick bat????)
THE BLACK STALLION CHALLENGED
Since the previous book really didn't answer the question
whether The Black was faster than Flame, Mr. Farley wrote this one. Alec, Henry and
The Black are at Hialeah Race Track in Florida preparing for the races. The Black's
stone bruise (from his episode in Spain) is healed and Henry is getting him ready
for the Hialeah Turf Cup. Meanwhile, Alec receives a letter from a Steve Duncan who
says he has a horse that is possibly faster than The Black and he wants help getting
stable space at Hialeah in order to race his horse. Then Steve appears in person
and meets with Alec. Steve explains that he needs to get money in order to buy an
island and feels sure his horse can win it and states again that he feels his horse
can even defeat The Black. Steve says his horse is currently on Nassau and Alec suggests
Steve race him there and see if he can get a reputation. Then maybe they can get
a chance in the U.S.
The Black wins a prep race for the planned turf cup when news comes from Nassau that
an unknown horse has broken all the records there and even beaten The Black's time.
Hialeah picks up on this as potential PR if they bring this unknown, Flame, to Hialeah
and a possible match with The Black and do so. Alec sees Flame for the first time
and realizes this is no flash-in-the-pan and could be real competition. Meanwhile,
Steve talks Alec into allowing him to work Flame on the track at the same time Alec
and The Black are working to help prove Flame's ability. Unfortunately, Flame and
The Black match up and turn a work gallop into a runaway competition which does no
good for either one and forces The Black out of the Turf Cup due to stressing his
bruise again. Flame, of course, takes the Turf Cup in runaway form. This leaves Flame
and The Black due to match up in The Widener Handicap. In the final competition,
both horses have a rough trip but The Black wins by the narrowest nose from Flame. Steve
is upset as he still feels Flame should have won but was prevented by interference.
However, he now has enough money to buy Azul Island and, when Alec asks him if he
intends to continue racing and meet The Black again, Steve decides it's time to leave.
He invites Alec to visit his island someday and says the story he could tell would
be incredible. Alec says maybe he'll take him up someday but in the meantime, if
he tells his story, he should call it THE ISLAND STALLION.
MAN O' WAR
There's not much to say here unless I want to relate the history of Man
O' War who was termed the Horse of the Century. The story is told by Danny, a fictional
stable boy, who was supposedly Man O' War's groom. Otherwise, it is the story of
Man O' War and his almost undefeated racing career of twenty-one wins in twenty-two
starts, usually at incredibly high weights and in record times while being strongly
held in.
THE ISLAND STALLION'S FURY
Steve Duncan returns to visit his friend, Pitch, with whom he had discovered a series
of tunnels made by long-gone Conquistadors along with a herd of horses in a hidden
valley on uninhabited Azul Island in the Carribean. While Pitch is interested in
the ancient artefacts, Steve had made friends with the wild red stallion, Flame,
who was leader of the herd. Steve had been promised one of the island's horses on
his last stay, assuming it would come from the scrubby herd living on the accessible
portion of the island. Tom Pitcher, Pitch's cruel step-brother, has been in charge
of capturing horses from this small herd and cruelly breaking them in but had been
away when Steve and Pitch left for their second stay on Azul Island. However, while
the two are on the island, one of Flame's mares has twin foals and abandons the second
one. When Steve tries to "help" the mare accept the colt, she attacks it, breaking
one of its legs. To save the foal, Steve and Pitch have to take the foal to Antago
Island, Pitch's home, to get the needed vet care. When they return to Azul with the
foal, Tom sees them go and follows at a distance to see where they got the horse
from. Since Steve and Pitch dock in the hidden cavern the Conquistadors used, Tom
can't find them. In his attempt to follow, his boat is destroyed on the dangerous
rocky coast and, by chance, he makes his way ashore just where the hidden ventilation
hole leading to the tunnels is located. Of course, not knowing his way in the tunnels,
Tom soon becomes lost underground and, only by chance, is he found by Pitch. Though
Tom is unconscious, Pitch gives him water to save his life. Tom then is able to follow
his step-brother out to the hidden valley and discovers Flame and his herd. Tom,
unfortunately, has become mentally unbalanced and determines to keep Pitch and Steve
from leaving while he tries to capture Flame and break him. In the ensuing battle,
Flame drives Tom to the edge of the cliff that hangs over the accessible portion
of the island and, in his frenzy, Tom falls over the edge and is killed. Tom had
tried scaling this cliff on his first attempt at finding Steve and Pitch and his
rope was still caught on the rocks so when Steve and Pitch are able to leave the
valley and go to find his body, there is a logical explanation to the authorities
for how the accident happened. Of course, this allows Steve and Pitch to continue
to keep the secret of Azul Island's hidden valley, its ancient treasures and Flame
and his wild herd.
THE BLACK STALLION'S FILLY
This story starts with the retirement of Satan from his successful racing career
and his return to Hopeful Farm to enter stud duty. Not having any other horses in
training for racing as Hopeful Farm is just getting established, Henry Dailey is
rather at odds without any training duties while Alec is more than busy with brood
mares and now, two stallions. Therefore, when Henry sees a catalog for a November horses-in-training
sale in Kentucky, he spots a black filly sired by The Black. However, the filly,
Black Minx, has a bad reputation as she ran through the track rail in an early race,
badly injuring her jockey. Henry still decides to attend the sale and see if he can't
buy the filly cheaply. He is successful and brings Black Minx back to Hopeful Farm
along with details of her past. She was raised rather as a pet and spoiled badly.
When her baby "tricks", like putting her forefeet on a person's shoulders, were no
longer fun when she was considerably bigger, she would be punished and the children
handling her became afraid causing her to become a vicious bully. Unfortunately,
when she was being rushed into a stall, the children slammed the gate on her tail
causing it to be injured, requiring it to be mostly cut off and making the filly
extremely gate-shy. Henry has his work cut out for him! Alec starts working Black
Minx on the farm track but can't get any speed out of her until one day, due to bad
footing, he tries to hold her in and she grabs the bit and takes off. Black Minx
can run! But only when she wants to and only when she can grab the bit. Rating her
doesn't work. Nonetheless, Henry is convinced he has Kentucky Derby potential on
his hands. The next major problem is getting Black Minx to behave in the starting
gate which has been her bugaboo due to the tail injury. Henry solves this by making
her a false tail to attach to her remaining stump. Meanwhile, most of the book is
concerned about all the other potential Kentucky Derby horses and the races they
are running in, successfully and otherwise. Meanwhile, the Derby is getting mighty
close and Black Minx still hasn't started in anything! Finally, Alec and Henry ship
her down to Kentucky and enter a preliminary race, if for no other reason, to get
her cleared for gate behavior. Unfortunately, in the start, there is a big mix-up
with horses falling and Black Minx goes down dumping Alec. Luckily, both are uninjured
and Henry is still determined to enter the Derby since Black Minx took off on her
own and beat all the other entries "by a mile". Of course, she was disqualified but
it proved that she could run without being held in as if she was running away from
her jockey. Only one guess as to the finish - it's Black Minx in the Derby by a nose
in a photo - and Hopeful Farm is off to a successful start. Does this sound a little
impossible? Just a bit! In today's world, Black Minx would never have made the Derby
as now, horses have to qualify by the amount of money won in previous races. Oh,
well - this was fifty years ago.
THE BLACK STALLION REVOLTS
The Black is restless. With the addition of Satan to the
stallion ranks at Hopeful Farm, The Black feels challenged as top horse! One night,
The Black finds a jumpable spot in his paddock fence and breaks out to take on the
new upstart stallion. In the midst of the battle, Henry is roused and races to try
and separate the two fighting horses. When The Black gets Satan down, Henry attacks The
Black with whip and pitchfork to draw him away from Satan and The Black turns on
Henry. A potential disaster is averted when Alec appears and is able to get The Black's
attention and get control. Obviously, something must be done. The Black is bored
and dangerous. Contacting a friend, Alec makes plans to take The Black on a "vacation"
in the West where he can run free for awhile on a ranch. Alec and The Black board
a transport plane they hired to fly them West. During the flight (in pre-jet travel
days), a well-meaning co-pilot gives The Black a long drink of cold water during
the flight while Alec rests and The Black develops colic. There's no way to land
as the fight is over mountainous country but The Black's struggles cause the plane
trouble and it heads for a crash landing. As the flight nears ground level, Alec
opens the compartment door and, in his struggles, The Black jumps out and Alec is
tossed out as well. The two are separated after the accident. Alec comes to with
a case of partial amnesia and The Black thunders off into the wilderness. Through
devious means, both eventually end up in the rangeland of Arizona. Alec has travelled
via hitchhiking a ride with truckers and a ride from a helpful stranger. However,
when the stranger hears a news article on the radio of an escaped teenager who was
involved in a holdup and murder, Alec's battered condition raises his suspicions
and Alec, himself, doesn't know if he's the escapee or not due to his amnesia. (However,
Alec has got to be in his early to mid-twenties by now! He's already gone through
college and he's running a farm! Okay, so he is jockey size.) Anyhow, the stranger
orders him out of the car and Alec wanders off into the Arizona desert only to be
found by a retired professor who spends his time as a hermit looking for gold with
his pet burro. The professor takes Alec into his care and gets him a job with Allen,
a rancher who raises quarter horses. Meanwhile, Alec has been going by the name McGregor
as he doesn't know his own and he just picked a name he saw somewhere. The professor,
Gordon, has noticed how "McGregor" can care for his burro and suspects Alec has worked
with horses somewhere. Gordon feels he should know Alec but can't place him. Gordon
happens to be a racing fan and reads old copies of THOROUGHBRED RECORD. Meanwhile,
Alec as McGregor, rescues an abused horse and makes an enemy of Cruikshank, the cruel
owner, when the sheriff arrests him for horse abuse but his actions gain acceptance
of him by Allen. Alec's skills with horses serve him well on the ranch. Meanwhile,
The Black has been progressing steadily south from the mountains where the plane
crash landed. His efforts cured him of his colic and he has many adventures fighting
wild animals, wild mustangs and surviving in the wild. Maybe his desert heritage
is what draws him south to Arizona. That's as good a guess as any. When he shows
up on Allen's ranch as a wild stallion complete with band of mares, Allen sends his
men out to capture the horse as Allen wants no "scrub" stallions breeding his quarter
mares! However, it's "McGregor" who amazes the cowboys when he can simply walk up
to the black stallion and capture him. Of course, The Black knows Alec even if Alec
doesn't "quite" remember The Black.
Meanwhile, Allen's rival, Ralph Herbert, owns the thoroughbred Night Wind, the current
champion race horse since Satan's retirement, and has been trying to get a match
race with Allen's champion quarter horse, Hotfoot, for a quarter mile dash - and
a considerable purse! Allen would like to have Alec ride Hotfoot but Alec isn't interested.
However, he is riding Range Boss (a.k.a. The Black) and when he and The Black literally
run away from Hotfoot in a trial match, Allen decides to try to match Range Boss
to a mile race with Night Wind. Alec, still somewhat convinced that he's an escaped
criminal, is reluctant to appear where lots of people will see him and where he may
be identified and imprisoned but he agrees to ride as no one else can ride The Black.
Meanwhile, in going through his old THOROUGHBRED RECORD's Gordon, the retired professor,
sees a cover picture of Satan and Alec are realizes who he and "Range Boss" really
are and that there's been a major search for both of them since the plane crash.
Also, the horse abuser, Cruikshank, has seen an article on the missing criminal and
suspects this is a good chance to get back at Alec and alerts the sheriff on the
day of the big race. Alec still has reservations about running and figures he can
always take to the hills on The Black rather than be arrested. Gordon hurries into
town knowing he's going to see the running of "the race of the year" and is the only
one who realizes what is really happening. Range Boss and Night Wind meet up and,
of course, it's The Black all the way. In the midst of the race, Alec's memory returns
and he remembers who he is and that he and The Black are running to win. After the
race, everything eventually gets worked out. Ralph Herbert feels he had a "ringer"
pulled on him, but has to settle up. Cruikshank has his plans ruined. Alec's parents
and Henry are notified of his whereabouts and Gordon is thrilled with the knowledge
the he was able to see the big race. Apparently, The Black's wild rambles have settled
him enough that he is now raceable again so the future is looking up and everything
comes out okay.
THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION
A prequel to THE BLACK STALLION. When "the colt of colts"
is born in Abu Ishak's mountain pasture, the sheik is delighted. His old horse herder
watches the young Shetan, whom he says is not Ziyadah's foal but rather, a colt of
the great black horse of the sky. When Ibn Al Khaldun and his raiders appear and
attempt to steal Abu Ishak's horses, the herder is killed by Rashid, Al Khaldun's
guide, and the young Black attempts to scale a steep cliff to escape and falls. Al
Khaldun assumes the horse has been killed and flees, leaving Rashid to face the wrath
of Abu Ishak when he turns up. The young Black survives but takes to the high mountains.
Rashid follows hoping to escape his certain death. During many dangerous adventures
in the heights, Rashid and the young Black are followed by Abu Ishak's hunting falcon.
When the two finally reach the desert, Abu Ishak finds them but is interrupted after
haltering Shetan by a raid supposedly by Abd-al-Rahman's men (but most likely, Al
Khadun's men in disguise) While engaged in combat, Mansoor, the man who wanted Al
Khaldun to steal the young Black for him, shows up with a large transport truck and
forces the horse into it. Rashid manages to also climb aboard hiding from Mansoor
and his men. Mansoor takes the young Black to the port where he bribes a sea captain
to take the horse aboard The Drake to ship the young Black to England. Rashid appears
and helps load the Black, hoping to follow along but the Black strikes him, knocking
him unconscious and thus missing the fateful journey on the doomed ship. The story
had begun with Alec and The Black resting in the desert after their cataclysmic adventure
with Alec drifting off to sleep and, somehow, "learning" the story of The Black's
early adventure. As Alec awakes at the end, he and The Black prepare to return to
Hopeful Farm. Walt Disney produced a movie, THE YOUNG BLACK STALLION, but except
for an "artsy" beginning showing the great black sky stallion meeting with The Black's
dam, any resemblance between the book and the movie is merely coincidental! It's
more a combination of THE BLACK STALLION and THE BLACK STALLION RETURNS as the young
daughter of Abu Ishak is abandoned in the desert after an attack by raiders, meets
the young Black, who helps her return home. Later, she tames the Black and rides
him in "the big desert race" enabling her father to regain his lost mares.
