Golden Prize and Other Stories of Horses (1965)

Golden Prize and Other Stories of Horses
1965, A Whitman Book, Western Publishing
Il. Cliff Schule

“He’s mine! I won him. He’s all mine.”
“Golden Prize” by Erva Loomis Merow

This collection of short horse stories for the younger reader is clearly intended for an audience with very basic reading skills. The plots are simple, the language plain and a little dull. All appear to have been written for this collection.

The cover illustration fits none of the stories. The interior illustrations have that strange, muted muddy tone that Whitman seems to have inflicted on all its books - here it's reddish; two other Whitman books I have (More Than Courage and The Wolf Of Thunder Mountain) have a slightly more clear green. All have different illustrators, so it's not the artists. All, of course, suffer the brittleness that I complained about in my review of More Than Courage, though I have managed to not actually destroy this book just by reading it.

List of stories
Golden Prize by Erva Loomis Merow
Molly Takes A Holiday by Mabel Watts
Runaway Rob by Peg Bottomley
Lefty, The Wrong-Way Pony by Florence Laughlin
Dancer Carries Double by Trella Lamson Dick
The Cow Pony by Bernadine Beatie
Coco, The Circus Horse by Jean Fiedler
A Present For Peanuts by Eva Grant
Clancy’s Last Tour by Jean Lewis
Little Con by Ellen Dolan
Partners by Jean Lewis
Golden Ghost Stallion by Sharon Wagner

Summaries

“Golden Prize” by Erva Loomis Merow
A small boy enters his name in a department store raffle and wins a horse. A pleasantly unlikely tale, complete with happy ending, despite the little snag that Terry and his parents live in an apartment.

Molly Takes A Holiday by Mabel Watts
The seashore would put sparkle in my eyes, thought Molly. It would bring back my appetite. She looked at Mr. Freddy with her big brown eyes. Then she laid her head against his arm.

A fishmonger takes his cart horse down the shore with him, and is richly rewarded when she saves him from drowning. An enchanted public promptly calls for a law decreeing all working horses receive a vacation each year. By far the most entertaining and well written story in the collection.

Runaway Rob by Peg Bottomley
The smallest pony in the circus gets fed up with coming dead last in the parade and runs away to find the respect and love he craves. Polly, meanwhile, sees a chance to get herself a pony and goes in search of the missing equine.

Lefty, The Wrong-Way Pony by Florence Laughlin
A dude ranch pony is afraid to turn to the right, making him very unpopular with the young campers. Then Peter comes along and tries to work Lefty past his fear.

Dancer Carries Double by Trella Lamson Dick
Nancy talks her big brother into taking her along on a ride on Dancer, to climb into the mountains in search of an eagle’s nest. When Gary is hurt, Nancy must ride the big horse down to find help.

The Cow Pony by Bernadine Beatie
A judge of horses would have known he was a quarter horse, prized by cattlemen all over the West. But this was dairy country. Few of the men or boys at the auction knew or cared very much about horses.

When Jodie sees a tired, defeated-looking horse at an auction, he bids on him out of pity. Then, a bull gets loose and Rebel’s instincts and training take over. Well done, though the classic dig at the tameness and dullness of farm country versus The West is a little much.

Coco, The Circus Horse by Jean Fiedler
A rosinback becomes frustrated with never having the chance to show off his tricks, and runs away in search of an appreciative audience.

A Present For Peanuts by Eva Grant
Jimmy and his friends race to save their favorite lesson horse, Peanuts, from being ‘sent away,’ which they realize means he’s to be killed because he’s growing too old to handle regular work. Some anachronisms are that the sympathetic stableman is ready to send Peanuts to an early grave, and 15 is considered too old to work.

Clancy’s Last Tour by Jean Lewis
Skip loves visiting with New York City police horse Clancy every day in Times Square, and is sad that Clancy is set to retire to the force’s farm upstate in just a few days.

Little Con by Ellen Dolan
Danny’s uncle buys him a Connemara from gypsies who promptly cause a fire and cause Danny and Con to race off across the Irish countryside in search of help.

Partners by Jean Lewis
Another New York City setting, as a pair of siblings try to take over their ailing grandfather’s horse and buggy ride through Central Park.

Golden Ghost Stallion by Sharon Wagner
Two children at a Montana dude ranch go in search of a mysterious palomino stallion, driven by their conviction that he’s trying to communicate. Fanciful, but nicely done.

Authors
Many if not all of the authors were specialists in writing picture books for very young children; several of them have multiple titles for Elf (very small, square picture books which had glorious color-saturated illustrations and which are typically somewhat fragile, having a binding which tends to unravel) and appear to have made a nice living from picture-book versions of popular television series ranging from Lassie to Swiss Family Robinson.

Erva Loomis Merow (b. 1922)

A Wisconsin native who was a teacher and missionary. She also wrote Pony (1965, A Whitman Tell-A-Tale Book), a photo book for beginner readers about a foal playing with a ball.
University of Wisconsin Hall of Fame

Mabel Watts (1906-) Born in London, she eventually became an American citizen. She did many picture books, including Henrietta And The Hat (1962), a charming horse story I’ve been meaning to review here for ages. Other horse books include Read-Aloud Horse Stories, Casey The Clumsy Colt, Little Horseman (1961, Elf picture book), and Helpful Henrietta (1959, Elf picture book)

De Grummond Collection
Little Horseman on eBay

Florence Laughlin
I have to admit an element of malice for this author; one of my other book interests is children’s stories about witches (there are, for the record, quite a few of them, so this isn’t completely insane) and Laughlin wrote one I can’t stand, The Little Leftover Witch. Nearly all these books end with the erstwhile witch child happily becoming a normal kid, so I shouldn’t really hold it against Laughlin, but the illustrations are so attractive and the little witch so bad at first, the ultimate resolution is doubly depressing. Laughlin wrote a seemingly horse-themed book in The Horse From Topolo (1966), but it appears to refer to a Mexican artifact rather than a real animal.

Trella Lamson Dick (1889-1974)
Another teacher, she wrote a popular series about an adventurous boy, Tornado Jones, as well as the equine story Burro On The Beach (1967) (il. Ted Lewin), about siblings who discover donkeys employed on a Pacific Northwest beach to haul cars off the sand.
The Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota

Bernadine Beatie
Evidently a Mormon (based on her presence in a book of short children’s stories in an anthology which states its purpose is to promote Mormon values). The Mormons, as anyone who has ever taken an interest in researching their family tree already knows, have a thing for documentation and some of Beatie’s short stories live online through the main website for the Saints. Her horse-themed story, Josef And The Lippizanners (January 1983, Friend) is here. She also has a horse story, “Danny And The Palomino,” in a horse anthology published by the magazine Highlights For Children - Storm’s Fury: And Other Horse Stories (1992)

Jean Fiedler
She wrote in a variety of genres, including Young Adult novels, mysteries, and picture book versions of 1960’s TV shows like Lassie, Gentle Ben and Daktari.

Jean Lewis
Did picture books for The Flintstones, Tweety, Lassie, Benji, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Scooby Doo and other television shows and movies. Most horsey (and, to my mind, most amusingly), she did books for Rainbow Brite, the 1980’s Hallmark cartoon featuring exceptionally sparkly, candy-colored girls and their pet horses WHO CAN FLY. Please see video below for exceptional levels of giggling and repressed feelings of wanting a sparkly white horse with a rainbow mane.

Sharon Wagner (1936-)
Born in Idaho, raised in Montana and a college student in Colorado. Most well-known by horse fans for her Gypsy series (Gypsy From Nowhere, Gypsy And Nimblefoot, Gypsy And The Moonstone Stallion), Wagner also wrote another horse book, Prairie Lady (aka Prairie Wind), and the somewhat horsey Dude Ranch Mystery, but most of her more than 40 books were Gothic romances. Which makes sense, seeing as how horse stories are essentially Gothic romances minus a man.

Illustrator - Cliff Schule
Also illustrated Saddle Patrol by Carl Henry Rathjen(1970) – odd note, Rathjen was one of several writers who produced a volume in the Trixie Belden series. He also wrote two horse stories which appeared in The Boys’ Life Book Of Horse Stories (1963), “The Curb Bit” and “Sacrifice Spurs.” He also had a horse story in The American Girl Book of Sports Stories (1965), “Trophy For Sheri.”

Other editions
Whitman Books went into paperback as Golden Press in the 1970s, and Golden Prize was no exception. The paperback featured on this sale site reeks of the latter era.

And a Rainbow Brite video!!!

The American Girl Book Of Horse Stories (1946)

The American Girl Book Of Horse Stories

selected by the editors of American Girl magazine, il. Sam Savitt

1946, Girl Scouts of the United States

shown: 1971 Scholastic edition

I ask you, what would you do if you woke up to find yourself in a perfectly strange room, with a horse staring in the window at you, with daisies in its mouth?

Palomino Cupid by Frances Priddy

An older collection of short stories which lean toward the romantic teen angle. It was compiled by the editors of American Girl, a magazine published by the Girl Scouts Of America during much of the twentieth century.

Some of the stories stand out - the language of "Sundance" and the humor of "Palomino Cupid" in particular - but most are simply adequate romance stories with an equine slant. I remember this book fondly, but I have to admit the overall writing quality isn't high. The collection does manage to cover most of the most common horsey tropes - flashy palominos, wild black stallions, yearningly horseless girls, and the battle between being an equestrian and being a girl - at the same time it covers so many teen romance points, from rich boy/poor girl to practical girl/dreamy boy. A nice read, but the stories don't quite live up to the usual good Savitt illustrations.

Short stories

"Danger Rides The River Road" by Margaret Leighton

"Beautiful And Free" by Carolyn St. Clair King

"Fiesta Parade" by Eleanor Hoffmann

"A Touch Of Arab" by Vivian Breck

"Sundance" by June Hall Mills

"Palomino Cupid" by Frances Priddy

"Two For The Show" by Ellsworth Newcomb

"A Horse In Her Future" by Margaret Burrage

"Ana Paula And The Golden Horse" by Marian Garthwaite

"Tall As The Stars" by Janet Lambert

"Danger Rides The River Road" by Margaret Leighton

In Revolutionary America, young Lavinia (who prefers to be called Vinnie) is faithfully caring for her brother's young horse, Robin, when the British arrive in search of mounts. Vinnie, desperate to save Robin, pushes the chestnut jumper into the parlor, just as her persnickety aunt Hortense opens the front door to a charming English lieutenant.

Robin's hoofs beat a drumming tattoo on the frozen turf of the meadow. Faster, faster! Vinnie leaned forward, gathering the reins on his neck. "Up, boy!" she cried. The big chestnut cleared the high rail fence superbly, with hardly a break in his stride.

"Beautiful And Free" by Carolyn St. Clair King

15-year-old Gil Bronson, son of a broke rancher, enters a race to catch a wild stallion, hoping to win the reward money to finance his further education. But the violence and intelligence of the horse dubbed the Black Prince makes him hesitate.

Leaping hastily to his feet, Gil gazed upward, and there above him on the rim saw the wide, red nostrils and gleaming eyes of the cornered Prince.

"Fiesta Parade" by Eleanor Hoffmann

Julie is a tomboy who lives for her horse, Topaz, and the wild scenery of her southern California home in the Santa Inez Valley. The course of one parade changes everything, as Julie makes a sacrifice for her polio-crippled cousin, Kate, and catches the eye of the boy next door.

Julie needed every minute of these last three days for grooming her beautiful Topaz and rubbing up the silver conchas on his saddle so that in the whole long fiesta parade of five hundred horses, no animal would glitter like her dazzling young palomino.

"A Touch Of Arab" by Vivian Breck

14-year-old Meggie Mallory and her father are on their annual camping trip in the Sierra Nevada mountains with her horse Cirque - "a Western stock horse with just a touch of Arab" - when he announces she's too insular and he's going to sell Cirque to force her to make friends. In the time remaining, she befriends absent-minded older teen Wakefield, and when a flood hits, she and her horse must go to the rescue.

"Come on, Cirque," I whispered, wishing my bare heels were spurs. In a moment, the current was swirling around his knees. He planted his forefeet on the bottom and refused to budge.

"Sundance" by June Hall Mills

Lissa, heartbroken, watches her beloved horse being loaded roughly into a trailer; her family has sold their bust sheep ranch and is moving to town. The big operation that's bought the place is owned by the father of a childhood friend, Ted, who Lissa is now all too aware of being wealthy and assured.

Fifteen, freckled and wind-blown, she had known contentment. Riding Sundance, the world was hers. Hers the bitter taste of alkali dust and the harsh glitter of the sun in a parched land; a fleeting glimpse of a wildcat, green eyes elequent with hate; the lonely, stirring cry of coyotes; the blessed smell of rain, foretelling the brief glory of rose and ivory cactus blooming in careless rapture; the pungent tang of pine needles, chewed in contemplation; and the sweet, sad cooing of mourning doves.

"Palomino Cupid" by Frances Priddy

A smart teenager discovers that the way to a standoffish boy's heart lies through his adored horse, Golden Boy. But other girls have already tried that, and boy and horse can all too easily see through the usual ploys.

"Two For The Show" by Ellsworth Newcomb

Millie wants to show her horse, the aged former Army mount Mr. Bones, at the big show, but fears humiliation and agrees to borrow a friend's talented young jumper, particularly since a malicious classmate takes every chance to heckle her about Bones.

"Don't look now," she said loudly, "but that's an exhibitor's tag Millie's wearing along with those priceless dungarees. Friends, I do believe she's entered that Army nag of hers in the junior-miss class. We'd better watch our steps."

"A Horse In Her Future" by Margaret Burrage

15-year-old Darlene is poor but hopeful about someday getting her own horse instead of just working around the local riding academy. Her usual annoyance at wealthy, bratty Michele turns to sympathy when she realizes the other girl's also lonely amidst the horsey crowd at the barn.

Darlene Manners leaned one shoulder against the wide doors of Barn One and watched wistfully as Hank Cenno, riding master of the 7-Hills Riding Academy, led his pupils on another ride.

"Ana Paula And The Golden Horse" by Marian Garthwaite

In early California, a Spanish girl who loves to ride is aware of the disapproval of her grandmother but can't seem to be the traditional lady the old woman expects.

The animal's golden coat was shining in the sun, his silvery mane and tail blowing in the wind. He was tossing his head, stepping high with pride of breeding. This was an Ysabella - a true palomino - the favorite horse of the dons.

"Tall As The Stars" by Janet Lambert

Army brats Judy and Cynthia are sisters, but while Judy's a forthright tomboy, Cynthia's a cunning flirt. When it comes to the big horse show on their Army post home, Cynthia manages to talk her sister into swapping her well-trained horse, Jack Snipe, for Cynthia's neglected Charlemagne.

Judy knew how clear the notes of reveillle sounded, floating across the early morning air; with what precision the soldiers drilled on the parade ground, marching proudly under the watchful folds of Old Glory. She loved the sunset gun that stopped the girls and boys on bicycles, the roller skaters, the people in their cars, and held them at attention while the great flag slid slowly down into waiting arms. She loved it all, especially the peaceful sound of taps proclaiming that all was well.

Authors

Margaret Leighton

Leighton wrote at least 17 books, mostly juvenile bios and children's adventures, but only one was horse-related. Comanche Of The Seventh (1957) - the story of the horse who survived Little Big Horn. She also wrote two other books centering on Custer: a juvenile bio of the man himself The Story Of General Custer, and a juvenile biography of his wife Bride Of Glory: The Story Of Elizabeth Bacon Custer.

Carolyn St. Clair King

King apparently wrote romances under the name Sally Lockhart.

Eleanor Hoffmann

I couldn't find anything reliable about her.

Vivian Breck was a psuedonym for Vivian Gurney Breckenfeld (1895-1992). She seems to have written mostly adventure and romance novels for teens. Titles include Maggie (1954), High Trail (1955), and White Water (1958); Hoofbeats On The Trail (1950) appears to be her sole horse book. San Francisco born, she was a 1915 Vassar grad who became a teacher and a mother. She lived in California all her life, and was a passionate hiker who loved the High Sierras, which is reflected in her work.

June Hall Mills

I couldn't find anything reliable about her.

Frances Priddy

She seems to have written two horse books, The Grand Rogue (1958) and Barbie (1960).

Ellsworth Newcomb (1909-1971)

Newcomb was married to another writer, Hugh Kenny, who wrote science articles. They lived in Connecticut, and Ellsworth appeared to write mainly teen novels.

Margaret Burrage

I couldn't find anything reliable about her.

Marian Garthwaite

Prolific writer who wrote historical fiction for children and teens. Books include: Coarse Gold Gulch (1956), The Locked Crowns (1963), The Twelth Night Santons (1965), Shaken Days (1952), Bright Particular Star, Holdup On Bootjack Hill (1967), Tomas And The Red-Headed Angel (1950), The Mystery Of Skull Cap Island, You Just Never Know (1955), Mario,

Janet Lambert

An Indiana native who wrote many teen novels, including one horse series. The Dria Meredith trilogy includes Star Dream (1951), Summer For Seven (1952), and High Hurdles (1955). She drew heavily on her own experiences on stage and as an Army wife, and her various series are among the most fondly remembered of the many mid-20th century teen romance novels. They have been re-released by Image Cascade.

Links

The University of Southern Mississippi -- de Grummond Children's Literature Collection - Margaret Leighton

Jane Badger Books on Margaret Leighton

Denver Library collection - Carolyn St. Clair King

The University of Southern Mississippi -- de Grummond Children's Literature Collection - Vivian Breck

Open Library on Frances Priddy

Jane Badger Books on Frances Priddy

Janet Lambert at Jane Badger Books

School Girl Shamus on Janet Lambert
Janet Lambert at The Malt Shop
Janet Lambert at Image Cascade

Girl Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America

Wikipedia on the Girl Scouts

Related Note

There is a very similar horse anthology, The Boys' Life Book Of Horse Stories. The contents differ, but it uses Savitt as an illustrator and the covers are virtual twins. It was also identical to this book in that it was put out by the Boy Scouts of America, from their magazine, Boys' Life.

Its ten stories include: Wild Bronc by Kerry Wood, Tale of Two Horses by B J Chute, The Black Outlaw by Stephen Payne, Wild Horse Roundup by Glenn Balch, Ride the Rough String by D.S. Halacy, Jr., The Curb Bit by Carl Henry Rathjen, The Mudhen, V S by Merritt P. Allen, Horse With Cow Savvy by Joseph Stocker, Sacrifice Spurs by Carl Henry Rathjen, and Boss Of The Cross-O by Stephen Payne.

The Big Book of Horse Stories (1946) aka Great Horse Stories

In a personal best, I manage to respond within 24 hours to a request for a review of one of those wonderful old horse story anthologies from the mid-20th century.



The Big Book of Horse Stories
originally published as Great Horse Stories
ed. Page Cooper, il. C.W. Anderson (cover)
1946, Berkley Books

Stories
Florian by Felix Salten, from the 1934 novel
Break-Neck Hill by Esther Forbes, originally published in The Grinnell Review in 1915
The Begats by Phil Stong, from the 1946 book Horses and Americans
The Seeing Eye by Will James, from the 1940 book Horses I Have Known
The Maltese Cat by Rudyard Kipling, from the 1894 collection The Day's Work
Cristiano: A Horse by W.H. Hudson, from the 1919 book The Book of a Naturalist
Highboy Rings Down The Curtain by George Agnew Chamberlain
Strider: The Story of a Horse by Leo Tolstoi, begun 1863, finished 1886


Florian by Felix Salten
"Do you remember, Elizabeth whispered to her husband, what our boy once said about Florian? He sings - only ones does not hear it."

Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, attends a performance at the Spanish Riding School, and is entranced by the star, Florian.

Break-Neck Hill by Esther Forbes
"But Mr. Geth he's just been standing in his box or the paddock for four weeks now. We've been waiting for you to say when he was to be shot. He's in a sweet temper and d' y'er know, I think, I do..." "What do you think?" Willet blushed purple. "I think Cuddy's got something in his head, some plan if he gets out. I think he wants to kill some one before he dies. Yes, sir, kill him. And you know, if he gets the start of you there is no stopping the dirty devil."

A young man heads to his father's racing stable one Sunday morning to take an aged and vicious former racehorse for a final ride, one which he plans to culminate in a bullet. Cuddy, who's earned the hatred of grooms and horses alike, seems to have been waiting for this opportunity through the boredom of retirement, leading to the groom's uneasy warning that the canny rogue is plotting something.

The Begats by Phil Stong
Messenger was remarkable for much more than a splendid get of colts. He stood at stud in the United States in 1788, by uncontestable evidence, four years before he is supposed, by some reports, to have landed here. His breeder testified to his lineage at the time and his testimony cannot be questioned or doubted since the breeder had been an angel in Heaven for two or three years at the time he uttered his certificate.

A tongue-in-cheek look at the various influences on the American horse, and on American horses themselves.

The Seeing Eye by Will James
A cowboy recounts the story of his boss, blind rancher Dane Gruger, and his two 'seeing eye horses' Little Eagle and Ferret.

The Maltese Cat by Rudyard Kipling
‘Let’s see,’ said a soft, golden-coloured Arab, who had been playing very badly the day before, to the Maltese Cat, ‘didn’t we meet in Abdul Rahman’s stable in Bombay four seasons ago? I won the Paikpattan Cup next season, you may remember.’ ‘Not me,’ said the Maltese Cat politely. ‘I was at Malta then, pulling a vegetable cart. I don’t race. I play the game.’ ‘O-oh! ‘said the Arab, cocking his tail and swaggering off.

Cristiano: A Horse by W.H. Hudson
A more restless horse I had never seen. His head was always raised as high as he could raise it - like an ostrich, the gauchos would say - his gaze fixed excitedly on some far object; then, presently, he would wheel round and stare in another direction, pointing his ears forward to listen intently to some faint far sound, which had touched his senses.

A naturalist tells the story of a gaucho's favorite horse, whose hyper-alertness initially strikes the naturalist as a sign of playfulness.

Highboy Rings Down The Curtain by George Agnew Chamberlain
When the driving horse Helen of Troy dies in a pasture accident, her owner's interest in driving seems to die with her. His misery stirs his trainer to the unthinkable - he brings out the long-ignored rebel Highboy, a great grey whose reaction to being harnessed with a team was to bite the hell out of his unlucky partners, thus earning himself a cozy early retirement.

Strider: The Story of a Horse by Leo Tolstoi
Of all the horses in the enclosure (there were about a hundred of them), a piebald gelding, standing by himself in a corner under the penthouse and licking an oak post with half-closed eyes, displayed least impatience. It is impossible to say what flavour the piebald gelding found in the post, but his expression was serious and thoughtful while he licked.

An old horse tells his life story to an unruly herd.


Links
Cristiano (and the rest of The Book of a Naturalist) can be read online at Google Books
Strider can be read online here and here
The Maltese Cat can be read online here
Break-Neck Hill can be read at Google Books

The Will James Art Company
NYT review of Home In Indianna (1944)
Internet Broadway Database - George Agnew Chamberlain


Authors

Page Cooper, editor
Also wrote several horse books, and served as editor for a dog anthology.
Other Books: Famous Dog Stories; Man O'War; Amigo, Circus Horse; Red Tartar; Pat's Harmony; Thunder; Silver Spurs To Monterey

Felix Salten
(1869-1945)
Hungarian-born Austrian whose real name was Siegmund Salzmann, and who fled to Switzerland in 1938 as being Jewish in Vienna was becoming unhealthy. Most famous for the 1923 novel Bambi.

Esther Forbes
(1891-1967)
Most famous for her award-winning 1943 children's novel Johnny Tremain.

Phil Stong
(1899-1957)
Native Iowan whose most famous work was State Fair, which became a famous Hollywood musical.

Will James
(1892-1942)
A Canadian-born writer and artist whose tales of the cowboy West became classics. Most famous for Smoky, he also wrote various books about the cowboy life as well as several others focused on particular horses, including Sand, Scorpion, and The Dark Horse.

W.H. Hudson
(1841-1922)
Born in Argentina to American-born parents, he ended up in England; he was a naturalist and ornithologist whose many books on nature were influential in his day, but he is best remembered for his 1904 novel Green Mansions.

George Agnew Chamberlain
1878-1966
The New Jersey native wrote many thrillers, often set in the rural half of his home state, which were very popular in the early 20th century. Two books were made into films in the 1950s. One of these about a horse, The Phantom Filly, was adapted twice for the big screen - 1944's Home In Indiana and 1957's April Love. He wrote at least one Broadway play, Lost, which was produced in 1927.

Leo Tolstoi
1828-1910
Russian author most famous for War And Peace and Anna Karenina. Strider is also known as as Kholstomer.