A Day At The LBJ Ranch (1965)

A Day At The LBJ Ranch
Sam Savitt, author and illustrator
1965, Random House

"If we do meet the President, what should I say?"

Jackie and Dennis have been chosen to represent the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts on a visit to President Lyndon Baines Johnson's ranch in Texas. The two are understandably nervous about meeting their famous host, but before that moment arrives, they are taken on a tour of the ranch, riding Quarter Horses and learning about the history of the area and the Johnson family, as well as getting an inside look at the backstage of life at the Texas White House.

When the little calf tried to get back to its mother, the gray spun around almost faster than their eyes could follow. The horse kept facing the calf, quickly flanking it away from the others.

The kids, both enthusiastic riders, are impressed with the Western horses, and Jackie tries her hand at cutting - with mixed results.


Ultimately, a pleasant book and nicely illustrated, but a bit odd. It functions largely as a 'this is our President' tutorial, in a reader-friendly fictional format, with plenty of Texas history and landscape thrown in. The characters are flat and the brief story is not very involving, but the situation is so unique and the art is so Savitt that I think I'll hang onto my copy. Savitt, normally a decent writer, seems unable to maintain that quality in this very short, simpler format, and the style is wooden as a result.


Links
Sam Savitt website
de Grummond Children's Literature Collection - Savitt
Johnson City (presidental hometown) Chamber of Commerce
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park
Life Magazine photo of LBJ on his Tennessee Walking Horse mare, Lady B

The Trouble With Skye (aka A Horse To Love), 2004

The Trouble With Skye (aka A Horse To Love)
Series: Keystone Stables (#1)
Marsha Hubler
2004, Zonderkidz

"God made a horse's mouth very sensitive. It doesn't take much to stop him with that bit in his mouth, so be careful. Did you know it tells us in the Bible that a tiny bit controls a powerful horse like this one? God's Word has wisdom for every facet of life, even how to handle God's creatures."
What is he talking about? Skye asked herself. The Bible? What does that have to do with horses?

13-year-old Skye Nicholson is a jaded foster kid who's been through 13 homes and a long list of tangles with the juvenile court system. Her latest trick, throwing a soda at a classmate and setting fire to her books, has earned her a one-way ticket to the local juvenile lockup, but she's re-routed by Christian foster parents Eileen and Tom Chambers, who also run a special needs camp. Skye is less than impressed with the God talk, but falls head over heels for their Quarter Horse, Champ.

She released her hand from the horn, reaching cautiously toward Champ's neck. Gently, Skye crawled her fingers under his thick, flowing mane and stroked his coat, which was warm from the rays of the sun - as warm as her not-so-nasty heart. She took a deep breath and smiled.

But of course, just learning to love and ride horses - which Skye does with the typical ease of a series heroine - isn't enough. Skye's problems are at school, where she can't resist once again assaulting her unfortunate classmate Hannah, and at the counseling sessions at Maranatha Treatment Center, and at her new foster home. Rules irk her. Hannah irks her. Life irks her. And when things irk Skye, she feels free to flip out and start punching people. She's not a tremendously likeable heroine.

The religious message is consistent and forceful, but well-integrated into the plot. A child could read it simply as a horse story, as the religious tone is not clunky. As an adult, it's hard to avoid seeing the very Christian-of-a-certain-type themes and beliefs in the plot of a black sheep reclaimed, and particularly in the indifference of the main characters to the effects of Skye's actions on others. As long as poor little Skye learned to trust and love, that's the only important thing.

The writing is better than that of most series, though the quality is not consistent. The strong characters and brisk plot make this an appealing series book, which would have benefited from better editing, and tightening up language that is sometimes weak or clumsy.

There isn't much horse in this horse story. Champ is very much background, despite Skye's affection for him and the part he plays in the plot.

The first few books of the series have been reissued with new titles and covers. This installment's new title is A Horse To Love and the cover is of a horse running (see here). An improvement over the sulky teen model on the original cover. According to the author's website, the new editions feature chapters in the back about horses and horse care.


Note:
The first quote references James 3:3
Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body

The whole meghilla:

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. 7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. 13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
Biblegateway


Horses
Champ - chestnut Quarter Horse gelding (5yo)
Pepsi - bay Quarter Horse mare
Diamond - grey Thoroughbred

Dogs
Tippy Canoe - West Highland White Terrier
Tyler Too - West Highland White Terrier

Note: This is a very modern book to have a reference to Tippecanoe and Tyler Too! This old slogan goes back to the 1840 presidential election, and a campaign song celebrating William Henry Harrison and his vice-presidential candidate, John Tyler. The Tippecanoe was a river near the 1811 battle in which Harrison had led the Indiana Territory settlers against a Native American uprising. The settlers won, Tecumseh's forces never recovered, and Harrison used it in his presidential bid 29 years later. He won the election, but 22 days after his inauguration, he came down with a cold. With the limited medicine of the time, the relentless pressures of office and no time to rest, his cold turned into pneumonia. Nine days later, he died, and is still the president with the briefest tenure.

Just had to mention it, as I've seen the Tippy/Tyler duos in older books, ones from the first half of the 20th century, but didn't think I'd see it in a book from 2004.

Other books in series
On The Victory Trail (aka A True Test For Skye)
Southern Belle's Special Gift (aka Trouble Times Two)
Summer Camp Adventure (aka Teamwork At Camp Tioga)
Leading The Way (aka The Winning Summer)
Blue Ribbon Champ
Whispering Hope
The Long Ride Home

Links
Author website
Zonderkidz

A Horse For X.Y.Z.

A Horse For X.Y.Z.
Louise Moeri; Gail Owens, illustrator
1977, E.P. Dutton

After a week at camp, Solveig Nilsson is standing obediently if sullenly in line awaiting the bus to take her back to her boarding school when she impulsively decides to throw caution to the wind and break a few rules. Solveig's been yearning to ride the chestnut Quarter Horse Snake Dancer all week, but he's only been trusted to a few older campers. Her plan now is to slide off the bus, hide until it leaves, then take a quick ride before the bus driver realizes she's missing and returns for her. A few minor flaws in her plan - there's a reason Snake Dancer was ridden only by the more advanced riders, an emergency on her bus causes so much confusion that Solveig isn't missed, and men with guns turn up at the isolated camp to reclaim their stolen property - Snake Dancer.


Solveig isn't tremendously likeable, the horse is essentially a minor figure in what is really an adventure story, and the writing falls just on the wrong side of the line separating the distinct if sometimes irksome 1970's style of prosaic realism from the timeless flaw of pedestrian dullness. On the plus side, Solveig is very believable, the horse does show some personality and isn't just a plot mechanism, and the adventure is very thrilling for a child reader, particularly the terrifying ride at the beginning. And her struggles, both physically with Snake Dancer and mentally with her own fear, are compelling.



Horses
Snake Dancer - chestnut Quarter Horse

Paperback edition - Scholastic, 1980



Other
This book seems to have had a number of covers. Apart from the above hardcover and the Scholastic paperback, I've seen at least two others online. The most attractive can be seen here, at Jane Badger Books.

Other books by Author
The Devil In Ol' Rosie (another horse story)
Star Mother's Youngest Child
First The Egg
Downwind
Journey To The Treasure
The Girl Who Lived On The Ferris Wheel
Save Queen Of Sheba
The Forty-Third War
The Unicorn And The Plow
How The Rabbit Stole The Moon


About the Illustrator
Gail Owens was born in 1939, and has illustrated far too many books to be mentioned here. Another that feature horses is Stall Buddies by Penny Pollock.

du Grummond collection

Sun Dust Devil Horse (originally Sun Dust)

Sun Dust Devil Horse (originally Sun Dust)

Eva Zumwalt, il. Zenowij Onyshkewych

1976, Xerox Education Publications

This ranch would be her refuge; she would be safe from that kind of hurt here. Dad would call it running away, she knew, and he wouldn't be proud of her attitude. But maybe there are times when everyone had to run and hide.

16-year-old Laurie Campbell permanently damaged her right leg in a car accident, and now wants nothing more than to hide away from the awkwardness of her classmates and old life. Luckily, her parents decide to relocate from Washington D.C. to the New Mexico ranch where her dad grew up. Dad's a journalist who's away on assignment to a war zone, but Laurie and her mother head to Tierra Encantada (Enchanted Land) in early June. She finds it welcoming -

This was a beautiful house for all its informal sprawl. It was plastered and stuccoed white, and the tile roof was a soft, warm red. The heavy beams across the ceilings of the rooms were old and very strong, and looked as if they might withstand any possible storm. It was a sheltering kind of house.

- and her grandparents are thrilled to see them, but Laurie quickly realizes that she's not going to be allowed to hide away. Grandpa raises Quarter Horses and is intent on making a rider out of her, and enlists 17-year-old hired hand Dave Elliot to teach her. It helps that Dave is cute. It doesn't help that he seems to be best friends with good-looking Randa Meredith, or that Randa's got a bit of an overbearing personality. The two girls quickly tangle, and become de facto enemies.

About a half-dozen horses were approaching at a hard run. They swept nearer, led by a dark-gold filly with with black mane and tail who held her slender head flung high as if in challenge... The dun had no white markings at all to break the shining gold of her skin, which darkened to bronze at the knees and then to black on all four slender legs. Her head was small and well-shaped, the eyes intelligent and wide apart.

Meanwhile, Laurie's attempts to resist her granddad's plans to make her a rider lead her into ownership of the wild filly Sun Dust. The dun 2-year-old is the daughter of a mare so aggressive she had to be put down, and her behavior is wild enough to make everyone doubt she's going to be much of an improvement. As Dave works to break the filly, he also teaches Laurie to ride on a quiet, mature horse.

Laurie is a convincingly reluctant heroine; her family and friends push her out of the shadows where she's trying to hide, and her own conscience forces her to complete the tasks they set her. She's a little too forbearing, sometimes, to be real, as when she regrets arguing with Randa. But she learns to ride quickly (possibly too quickly), and makes a very credible bid for Rodeo Queen and as a contestant in a barrel race.

There is just a hint of the 'oh, you're such a natural' in this story, but it's far overshadowed by the emphasis on Laurie's hard work. I'm not sure how others will regard the training aspects of Dave's breaking in of Sun Dust, but I'm not really equipped to critique it.

Horses (all Quarter Horses)

Count's Holly - roan mare

Count Me In - black colt with 4 socks; foal to above

Sun Dust - 2yo dun filly

Sunburst - dam of above

Dark Knight - black gelding, barrel racer, Randa's

Mirage - young sorrel gelding with blaze

In Depth - stallion

Dust Devil - golden dun stallion

Cricket - 28yo broodmare

Capitan - black gelding

Blue Boy - gelding

About the Author

Zumwalt was born in Eunice, New Mexico, and raised in Artesia. She appears to have been a writer of Gothic romances.

Other books (romances)

Briarlea

The Elusive Heart

Love's Sweet Charity

Mansion of Dark Mists

Masquerade of Evil

The Unforgiving

When the Heart Remembers

Wayward Lady

Yearning Years

Links

Artesia Chamber of Commerce