Born to Trot
Rand Mcnally, Chicago, 1950, illus Wesley Dennis
Another historical novel, this is the story of Benjamin Franklin White, a Standardbred harness race trainer who won the Hambletonian (THE race for standardbred trotting horses) four times; his son, Gibson White, and the Standardbred race mare, Rosalind. Gibson White wants badly to follow in his father's footsteps as a trainer and driver of racing Standardbreds but unfortunately, ends up in a sanitorium with an illness (I assume, tuberculosis, though the book doesn't state this defintely) due to a run-down health condition. While there, the filly, Rosalind is born (by Scotland, out of Alma Lee). Ben gives the filly to his son in hopes that following her growth and training will help him recover.
Rosalind becomes a great race mare, setting the trotting record of 1:56 3/4 for a mile and 1:58 1/4 in double harness with the champion trotter, Greyhound. She was also a successful brood mare when retired from racing. At the time this book was written, her record had not been broken, though it has probably been surpassed many times now. The races themselves took place in the late 1930s, with the record with Greyhound being set in 1939. Along with the story of Rosalind and her connections, Marguerite Henry works in the story of One Man’s Horse through Gibson White finding an old book while he is in hospital, telling the tale. It is the story of William Rysdyk, the farmer who purchased an unlikely stallion in the 1840's which he named Rysdyk's Hambletonian and which became the foundation sire of the Standardbred breed.
The cover illustration shows Rosalind coming down the stretch at full racing trot.
[Info by Fran Fignar]
Sea Star
Rand Mcnally, Chicago, 1949, illus Wesley Dennis
When Marguerite Henry returned to Chincoteague prior to work on filming the MISTY
movie, she had no intention of writing another story. However, in the process of
purchasing the original Misty and having her shipped to her home, Paul and Maureen
found an orphaned colt and its dead mother on the beach and brought the colt home:
a chestnut with a crooked star which they named Sea Star. This book covers the shipping
of Misty away from Chincoteague and the struggles of Paul and Maureen to raise the
young orphan. Since Sea Star is too young to eat on his own, they work to find a
nurse mare for the baby that will be willing to adopt the youngster and, of course,
they succeed and Sea Star and his new mother join the Beebe family. Later editions
of this book did not have all the full color drawings and some were only in black
& white. Paperback editions were only black & white. The cover illustration was of
the young colt, Sea Star, on the beach with the ocean behind him.
[Info by Fran Fignar]
Album of Horses
Rand Mcnally, Chicago, 1951, illus Wesley Dennis
