The Horse-Tamer (1958)

One interesting side effect of being around horses is having a unique inside look into that vast stretch of human history that came before the internal combustion engine. With all apologies to my childhood self, who bitterly resented the family car for not being a family horse, I have to admit that the horse was a major stumbling block to human ambition. Having your financial world depending on a fragile, flighty animal whose tendency to bolt has inspired more than one doting owner to refer to them as very large bunny rabbits and whose ability to cripple themselves without even trying has caused those same owners to say that horses were born trying to commit suicide... well, hanging your society's health and wealth on this animal was madness.

Even when they weren't running amok spilling humans and cargo off cobblestones and sideswiping pedestrians (for a recent modern equivalent, see the news stories about that 4th of July parade in Iowa where a team spooked and caused mayhem including one death) there was the issue that they could get sick. En masse. And then your economy did too, since you needed the equines to deliver goods and people. The best example came in 1872, when an equine flu swept the United States, sickening thousands of horses and crippling the nation's largest cities. The Great Epizootic brought American trade to a halt, provoked a lot of second-hand scrambling by urban centers to police the health of the cities' horses as a way of policing the health of the cities themselves, and helped create a six-year economic depression.

No wonder people embraced the machine. But until they had the option, we were stuck with the horse. And the horse was stuck with us. For every miserable person cursing his lame transportation, there were dozens of horses suffering from people who had no idea how to train them. Which is where Farley sets his tale.

The Horse-Tamer

Walter Farley

1958, Random House

(1980 paperback edition shown, il. Ruth Sanderson)

When the Black bruises his foot racing overseas, Alec and Henry Dailey set off for home to rest him. Delayed at takeoff, the two horsemen pass the time by talking horses, and Henry recounts his youthful experiences with his older brother Bill, a horse tamer. When Alec asks why they were called tamers, Henry answers:

"Training takes time, Alec, as you know, and these men had no time. They did a job in a matter of hours--a few days at most--and then went on to the next case. Some of the horses, too, were worse than wild animals--vicious, mean horses. Most often, of course, they were the result of bad handling by their owners. But come to think of it, what kind of job would you and I do on that plane outside? We're no mechanics and, as I say, so many owners in the old days weren't horsemen. They just needed a horse to get around. They made mistakes, plenty of 'em--and they suffered for it. So did their horses.

And then the actions goes back in time to 1883, when Henry is a kid sent to spend a summer with his 30-year-old brother Bill, a carriage maker. Bill's more interested in horses than in what they pull, and a chance meeting with an Irish peddler named Finn Caspersen turns him into an itinerant horse tamer. The brothers and Finn begin touring the towns and small cities of the East with Bill taking on every community's worst horse and turning out impressive performances.

Suddenly Wild Bess reached for him, her head as pointed as a snake's. Bill jumped away, pulling her head around and staying close to her hindquarters. Her long tail cut the air and without thinking he grabbed the tail with his free hand and hung on. She spun him around and he barely kept his feet as they made several tight circles.

Finn's happy; they're making money. But what Bill wants to do teach the owners, not give a 'show' and the two clash repeatedly over this difference. When Bill catches Finn selling fake 'cures' like a medicine man, he furiously tells him they're through. Finn, calculating, tells him he's learned plenty from him and is going to do his own show, his way. Bill continues his way, and gains respect and prestige, but begins hearing about Finn's enterprise, which has become wildly successful. The brothers head to New York City, where Finn's show has been enthralling audiences.

Here, hometown boy Farley indulges himself in one of those classic fawning looks at The City:

They found the city itself as forbidding as it was strange, for the streets were crammed with block after block of houses and buildings. Yet they admitted to each other that they felt the strong pull of New York. Here was violent power and excitement! It was a city that would be forever on the rise and constantly changing. They wondered if this in some way was not beauty in itself.

I'm not saying he's wrong, but oh, the inevitability of a New Yorker drifting off to gloat over how spiffy they are.

Back on point. Henry and Bill track Finn down, and the usually gentle Bill resorts to ruthless, dangerous tactics to force the fraud out of his racket.

An unusual book for Farley. His only foray into historical fiction, it was otherwise similar in tone to his later books - a little more mystical, a little less character-driven and more heavily plotted than his earlier work. Henry has almost no character as a kid, Finn is a stock big guy with a little conscience, and only Bill has any depth but he's mostly a stock little guy hero. The horse taming methods aren't exactly going to win Bill any accolades today, but in the context of a short-term "tamer" trying to provide a quick fix in an era filled with horses suffering much worse from ignorant owners, it's not a nightmare. Bill repeatedly says he's trying to teach the owners more than the horses, but the owners resist and we see mostly Bill with the horses. The final scene, where Bill springs a nasty surprise on his former partner, is exciting, as are the other tangles between Bill and dangerous horses. The horses--Wild Bess, Tar Heel, and Panic--actually get more depth than most of the people.

Links

Wikipedia for 1872 horse flu

Long Riders Guilde Academic Foundation - the flu

Wikipedia for Niblo's Garden, the venue where Bill has the showdown with Finn

AskArt on illustrator James Schucker

Random House

Other Covers

2007 paperback from Yearling

1958 hardcover at FantasticFiction - by James Schucker who also illustrated Big Black Horse, Little Black, A Pony, Little Black Goes To The Circus, and The Little Black Pony Races.

Pamela And The Blue Mare (1952)

Pamela And The Blue Mare

Alice C. O'Connell, il. Paul Brown

1952, Little, Brown and Company

The horse behind her, the one with the sleek legs and gentle face, was standing up on his hind legs, his front feet waving over her head.

Pamela is 9 years old and recovering from a bout of scarlet fever. Sent to her father's parents' farm, Paget Hill, for a rest, she has one problem; Grandfather Paget raises and sells horses, and ever since having a horse rear up in fright near her at a horse show, Pam's been afraid of horses. When Gran learns of this, his eyebrows wriggle, something Pam will soon discover means he's up to something. But in this case, fate lends a hand.

"It's a new colt, Pammy. She was born in the night, and her mother's too sick to look after her. We're trying to get her to take some milk."

The old baby bottle works its magic, and Pam bonds with the little blue roan filly she dubs Frosty Morning. Frosty is soon returned to her dam, while Pam swallows the bad news that a) she can't ride Frosty for years, and b) she has to learn to ride on one of those scary big horses.

And before Pam knew what was happening, she was sitting on Charm's back and her legs were hanging down, reaching for stirrups that were much too long. Collier remedied that quickly, and when her feet were comfortably settled James appeared and took hold of Charm's bridle. Collier stayed on one side and Gran on the other. Gran showed her how to hold the reins and James started walking, and so did everyone else. Pam forgot the reins and grabbed at the saddle and held on for dear life.

This was, for me, the best part of the book. Pam's riding education is very slow at the start, and the early emphasis on gradual, positive work for both horses and riders was lovely.

"But Gran, Brendan didn't look as though he liked jumping for Bill. He went so fast and then he got all sort of scared and wild-looking, and when he did try to jump the wall and fell Bill started hitting him. I didn't like it."

"There's my girl." Gran put down his paper and took off his glasses and looked at Pam for the first time that morning. "You're learning something about horses, Pam, when you don't like a performance like that one. And what's more, you know why you don't like it. Now tell me what kind of performance you would like."

"We-e-ll, I don't think a horse should feel as though he had to hurry, he should..." Pam stopped to think.... "He should look as though jumping were easy, no as if it were something to be afraid of."

Pam learns how to stand up for her horse, refusing to let Bill induce her to ride Charm too roughly, and learns how to continue challenging herself by switching horses to the younger and, after Charm, slightly intimidating Murphy for jumping lessons.

After this first vacation at the farm, Pam returns home and time necessarily speeds up so we can get Frosty old enough to start serious schooling on what she needs to become a saddle horse. The blue mare is 4 before Pam rides her for the first time; in the interim, Pam has been increasing her riding education and taking part in her first foxhunt.

For the next few minutes Pam felt nothing but a sensation of speed with the wind whistling through her ears, and the quick lift and drop of panels as Murphy sailed over them, and the consciousness of Gran's back just in front of her. Then things began to come back into focus; she was able to see the pack streaming across a field ahead, looking as though a blanket might have covered them, and to hear the high-pitched voices as they came back to her on the wind.

The action continues steadily from here: Pam schools the blue mare, rides her in hunts, begins the very start of a romance with Bill, who's learned better ways from Gran, and ends up riding in the big class at a big horse show.

This is the first book in a somewhat rare series. It is one of those books which some remember with great fondness, so I don't want to criticize it too severely, but I was disappointed. The writing is adequate but never more, and the characters are flat and predictable. The plot is promising but slow-paced and meandering. And even by conservative, old-fashioned standards, the harping on how Pam's father and grandfather are always right is overwhelming. In this book, all the men in Pam's family are guiding father figures overseeing their girls and women, who are reassured and gently bullied into acting against their instincts and judgement and always learn - surprise - that Daddy was right all along. Not that Pam should have run off and gotten a motorcycle, but couldn't the men in her family ever be wrong? A saving grace is that this perfection is not extended to the boys. Bill repeatedly does the wrong thing and has to learn - partly from Pam but mostly from Gran - the right way. This is a big step, considering how many older children's books feature a twerpy boy acting the little prince with his female playmate.

The grand finale class at the end of the book is a Corinthian class. I'd vaguely heard of this before, but wanted to clarify it for myself before this review, so went looking for a definition. This and the Appointments class are apparently largely exhibition classes which have gone out of style today, but were very popular back when more horse shows had the big outside courses. All competitors had to be members of a recognized hunt and wore hunt livery; they were judged on genuine adherence to both the practical and traditional demands of foxhunting, and on sheer style. A very interesting choice of contests. The Super Important Competition is a classic ending for horse stories - the big race, the big jumping class, etc. Having the big class be about perfection of style in a competition which by its very nature goes no further - ie, no Olympic trials, no national championship, just the very finite goal of being the best foxhunter at this show - meshes perfectly with the insular, country gentleman tone of the book. Pamela wins glory for her way of life and her background, not particularly for herself.

A thread on the discussion forum for the redoubtable American horse sports (particularly foxhunting) magazine, The Chronicle Of The Horse, on the Appointments and Corinthian classes.

Horses

Gentian

Frosty Morning - 16h blue roan mare

June Dawn - bay mare

Charm - bay gelding

Brendan - chestnut gelding ruined by Bill's family

Trevadin

Gallant Patrick

Dogs

Toby - Sealyham Terrier

About the author

Alice Louise O'Connell was born in Minneapolis and spent most of her life in Minnesota. In 1948, she obtained a Masters in education from her undergrad alma mater, the University of Minnesota, then worked as the Head of Aquatics and Instructor of Physical Education at Winthrop College in South Carolina. She also bred, showed and judged AKC Norwegian Elkhounds.

All the above was gleaned from the dust jacket of The Blue Mare In The Olympic Trials. O'Connell is extremely elusive online. The search is more distracting because of an actress and (apparently) an Australian author of the same name. This O'Connell seems to exist only as the author of the two blue mare books.

Eager Star

Eager Star
Series: Winnie The Horse Gentler (2)
Dandi Daley Mackall
2002, Tyndale House

"I'll bridle him," Grant said, studying the lighter bit. He grabbed Star's ear, then thrust the bit at him. Star jerked his head up. Before I could stop him, Grant slapped his horse on the cheek.

"Quit it!" I cried, jerking the bridle out of Grant's hands. "You can't punish Star because you don't know how to put on a bridle!" My heart pounded. God? Take my anger...again! Please!

Series info - Winnie Willis tackles her second and third project horses after turning Wild Thing into Nickers in the first book in series.

Winnie's family settled in Ohio after her widowed father moved them around for a few years. She wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a gentle horse trainer, and has had one success with a wild Arabian mare. Now she's set on training her friend's Appaloosa and a classmate's barrel racing gelding. But can her gentle methods overcome the demanding, rough ways of Eager Star's owner?

This Christian novel balances the heroine's religious beliefs with the secular plots, and the heroine's attempts to apply equine behaviorism to the other kids in her new school are endearing. The author does a credible job of putting training and handling information into the plot in a natural way, although I'm sure others might debate her information. There is a glossary of horse terms, a guide to horse body language and a conformation chart at the end of the book, all very useful and interesting. It's a better series book, but it's still clearly a series book. The writing is competent but not strong, the plot involving but never urgent, and secondary characters are stock - the wacky pal, the hot ethnic pal, the distant father.

Horses
Nickers - grey Arabian mare
Towaco - Appaloosa mare
Bad Boy/Eager Star - bay gelding with star

Other books in Winnie series
Wild Thing
Bold Beauty
Midnight Mystery
Unhappy Appy
Gift Horse
Friendly Foal
Buckskin Bandit

Other horse books - the Horsefeathers! series
Horsefeathers!
Horse Cents!
Horse Whispers In The Air
A Horse Of A Different Color
All The King's Horses
Horse Angel
Home Is Where Your Horse Is
A Horsefeather's Mystery

Starlight Animal Rescue series
Runaway
Mad Dog
Wild Cat
Dark Horse

Other Books - nonfiction
Horse Files: A Horse Lover's Guide

Author information
A prolific professional writer who lives in Ohio, Daley Mackall has written fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults. Horsefeathers! is another equine series, while Starlight Animal Rescue features characters from the Winnie series.

Author Website

Also
For another view of the Winnie series, see the blog Books, Mud and Compost