Suzanne Wilding

Dream Pony for Robin

St. Martin's Press 1962

illustrated by Sam Savitt

Robin has to sell her pony Snooks because she knows her parents need the money.  She does however
get some satisfaction from helping the pony’s new owner to show him well.

Big Jump for Robin

St. Martin's Press 1965, illus by Sam Savitt

Parents’ Magazine Press, 1974

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture.

Harlequin Horse

D. Van Nostrand Co. 1969

cover by Sam Savitt

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture.

Robin’s sister Wendy leases Harlequin from Muriel.  At first she wonders why Muriel wasn’t riding the horse,
but then she finds out he has heaves, and that Muriel is on the edge of a breakdown.

Suzanne Wilding wrote three horse books:  a trilogy based about Robin and her family.  Wilding is possibly unique in aiming each book at a different reading level.  Dream Pony for Robin is for beginner readers, with short sentences and many illustrations.  Big Jump for Robin is a middle grade reader/late primary level, and Harlequin Horse moves on to teenage territory, being an altogether darker read than the earlier books, with the focus shifted to Robin’s elder sistery, Wendy.

Suzanne Wilding had two daughters; Robin and Wendy, so maybe she wrote the books for the reading level her daughters were at at the time.

Besides the trilogy, she has also written and edited collections of horse stories.  As far as I know, the only book of hers to have been published in the UK was Ups and Downs - a First Guide to Riding and Horse Care.  The books are all easy to find in the US.  The only difficulty, as with so many American books, is finding ones which aren’t ex-library.

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the information and photographs in this section.

Horses, Horses, Horses:  A Collection of Stories

Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1970

Horses in Action

St Martin’s Press, New York, 1972

Bibliography - horse books only

Horse Tales (edited by Suzanne Wilding)

St Martin's Press, New York,1976, illus Sam Savitt