Glenn Balch

Jane Badger Books

Glenn Balch

Indian Paint, the story of an Indian Pony

Grosset & Dunlap, 1942, illus Nils Hogner, 244 pp.

Comet Books, 1949, pb.

Grosset & Dunlap, undated Famous Horses reprint

McGraw Hill, NY, 1972. Adapted for unconfident readers.

Hutchinson, London, 1944. 224 pp.

Against his father’s wishes, Little Falcon chooses as his horse a foal which is not
yet born, and then has to prove to his father that he has made the right choice.

Winter Horse

Crowell, New York, 1951, 171 pp.

Ben, Dixie and Gaucho set out to try and rescue King and his herd, who are starving in the severe winter.

Christmas Horse

Scholastic Book Services, 1949, illus Pers Crowell, 246 pp.

Tab Books, 1957, pb

Scholastic Book Services, 1962, pb

Ben wants to prove to his father that King’s colts are good horses. He tries to make a good
cow horse out of his Christmas present, the colt Inky, but being in school doesn’t help.

Lost Horse

Crowell, New York, 1950, illus Pers Crowell, 246 pp.
Grosset & Dunlap, undated Famous Horse series

Andy Blair lost a black colt 8 years ago, and it is thought that King might be that colt. Ben and Dixie
are torn between wanting King to stay wild, and having to catch him themselves to keep him safe from
Tom Sample, who is hunting him.

Glenn Balch (1902-1989) was born in Texas. His books were about ranching, horses and outdoor life, all of which he had experienced in his youth. His first ambition was to work outdoors, and he managed to find a job as a fire guard in the Forest Service, this being more secure than being a cowboy. He worked in Garden Valley, Idaho for a season, and then found work as a journalist. In the years that followed, he developed a passion for polo, but found he couldn’t edit the newspaper, work on his own writing and play polo too, so he became a freelance writer.

His first stories were published in the American Boy Magazine, and formed the Hide-Rack series. It was popular, and he carried on writing. While he was taking a writing class at Columbia University, his first novel, Riders of the Rio Grande (1937), was taken up by the publisher Thomas Y Crowell. His second novel, Tiger Roan, caused some discussion at his publishers, who couldn’t decide whether to aim it at the adult or child market. Robert Crowell convinced Balch to make a few alterations to the manuscript, as he was convinced the book would appeal to boys betweeen the ages of 12-15. Crowell was right, and so started a succession of books.

Almost all Balch’s stories involved horses, with a few about dogs. Horses, dogs and reading were part of his earliest memories. He recalled being put on the back of the sorrel mare, Nellie, which sounded like a hugely enjoyable experience, unlike the death of this first dog, Trix, which affected him profoundly. "Perhaps the most potent and absolutely shattering grief I have ever known in my whole life was when my first dog, Trix, died," he said. He preferred to write about the relationships which can develop between man and animals, and his favourite book was the first which explored this theme, Tiger Roan. He was born, he said, “with a love for horses, dogs, and the outdoors which I have never outgrown."

For those who like series, Glen Balch wrote the Ben and Dixie series, about a wild black Stallion, King, and a pair of books about the Indians Pan-Sook and Mots-Kay.

His papers were donated to Boise State University by his children after his death, and include several unpublished full length manuscripts.

Many thanks to Lisa Catz and Alison for all the photographs.

Finding the Books: Five titles were published in the UK by Hutchinson: Tiger Roan, Indian Paint, Wild Horse, Indian Saddle-up, Wild Horse Tamer,. You might have to wait a bit for them to turn up, but they are generally cheap when they do. The other titles will all have to be sourced from the US. Most are easy to find and not expensive, though very good, non library, firsts with dustjackets may well be expensive. Trickier titles include Indian Saddle-up, Keeping Horse, Winter Horse and Horse in Danger.

Sources and Links:

The fullest information is at the Boise University site. The University holds his papers. Theirs is this biographical sketch, as is the Glenn Balch centennial exhibit which includes photographs of the author.

More biographical information

Indian Paint - the film

Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibilography, Scarecrow Press, 1987

Bibliography - horse books only

Tiger Roan

Crowell, New York, 1938, illus Lee Townsend, 236 pp.

Hutchison, London, 1945, 200 pp.
Pocket Book Junior Edition, 1950, illus Sam Savitt (right)

Hugh Darnell finds an escaped rodeo horse who has gone to the bad. He manages to tame him, and the horse
will only let Hugh ride him. However, when Hugh is sent to prison, the rodeo owner is determined to get the
horse again.

Indian Saddle-up

Crowell, New York, 1953, illus Robert Frankenberg, 210 pp.

Hutchinson, London, 1955, 190 pp.

“When Twisted Foot and Old Man Crazy are captured by the Utes, they hear that the Ute hunters have shot an
animal that looks just like the animals Old Man Crazy dreams about. When the two escape, they set out to
capture one of the horses.”

The Midnight Colt

Crowell, New York, 1952, illus Pers Crowell

HarperCollins, 2004 pb, 217 pp.

Ben and Dixie buy a nervy racehorse, whom they try to retrain.

Little Hawk and the Free Horses

Crowell, New York, 1957, illus Ezra Jack Keats, 180 pp.

“After his father is captured and injured by the Apaches, Comanche Little Hawk and Shy Girl follow a band of
wild horses determined to capture enough horses to be able to rescue his father.”

Horse in Danger

Crowell, New York, 1960, illus Lee J Ames, 181 pp.

Two missing mares turn up in King’s herd, and he is accused of stealing them. Soon more missing mares
turn up, but Ben and Dixie suspect something is wrong when the mares do not have their colts with them.

The Brave Riders

Crowell, New York, 1959, illus Ezra Jack Keats, 191 pp.

“After his father is killed on a raid, Little Elk is hesitant about going on a long journey and horse raid to the Great
peak riding on an old mare with the other young men of the Pawnee tribe.”

The Stallion King

Crowell, New York, 1960, illus Grace Paul, 118 pp.

Apollo, 1971, pb

NB: this is a shortened version of Wild Horse.

Wild Horse Tamer

Crowell, New York, 1955, illus E B Quigley, 179 pp,

Tab, pb, 1958

Scholastic Book Services, pb, 1964
Hutchinson, London, 1957

King doesn’t return to the ranch with the rest of the herd after the winter. Ben and Dixie are worried when they
see a black horse in a rodeo newsreel who looks like King.

Wild Horse

Crowell, 1947, illus Pers Crowell, 338 pp.

Hutchinson, London, 1954

NB: The Stallion King is a shortened version of this book

Gaucho comes to the Tack Ranch to break colts, but when Ben and Dixie tell him about King,
the wild black stallion, he decides to help them keep the horse from being caught by the horse
runner Tom Sample.

Spotted Horse

Crowell, New York, 1961, illus Lorence Bjorklund, 176 pp.

“Mots-Kay goes on a journey with his tribe hoping to trade goods for horses with the Shoshones, but he and
Pan-sook are captured by the Eutaws and traded to the Spaniards as slaves.

Stallion’s Foe

Crowell, 1963, illus Lee Townsend, 179 pp.

Ben and Dixie can’t find King - he isn’t with his band of mares, so they set out to find him, only to find that
another stallion has challenged King for ownership of the herd and won.

The Runaways

Doubleday, New York, 1963, 192 pp.

“When the young Latvian immigrant Jan unknowlingly breaks the law, he runs away in fear and joins a band of
wild horses that have been harassed by a cougar.”

Keeping Horse

Crowell, New York, 1966, illus Joseph Cellini, 150 pp.

“Brad’s cousin Billie is visiting the ranch for the summer and Brad is dismayed when she wants to ride
Captain Jack, a horse that even he has trouble riding.”

Horse of Two Colors

Crowell, New York, 1969, illus Lorence Bjorklund, 170 pp.

Mots-Kay and Pan-sook have been slaves for the Spaniards for 2 years. They manage to escape, taking
two horses with them, but neither of them can ride.

The Flaxy Mare

Crowell, New York, 1967, illus Lorence Bjorklund, 142 pp.

Flaxy, a wild mare, can vaguely remember her early days, when she lived with a man, Jim Thorne, but
despite this she is still afraid of wild horse hunters.

Buck, Wild

Crowell, New York, 1976, illus Ruth Sanderson, 136 pp.

Buck is a wild buckskin stallion, who faces many modern trials, including being run by wild horse hunters in
aeroplanes.

The Wild Mare

Avon Books, New York, 2004, 153 pp.