Horse and Pony Stories

Christine Pullein-Thompson story collections

by Christine Pullein-Thompson (Editor), Mary O'Hara, C.S. Lewis

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Horses, Fiction, Animals, Short Stories, Childrens, Anthologies

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

The Pullein-Thompson sisters — Josephine Pullein-Thompson MBE (3 April 1924-[1]), Diana Pullein-Thompson (born 1 October 1925) [2] and Christine Pullein-Thompson (1 October 1925–2 December 2005[2] — are British writers of several horse and pony books (mostly fictional) aimed at children and mostly popular with girls. They started at a very young age (initially writing collectively) and they were at their peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but their popularity has endured. They have written a collective autobiography Fair Girls and Grey Horses.

All 3 sisters have written at least 1 book under a different name; Josephine wrote 1 under the pseudonym of Josephine Mann, Diana 3 books under her married name of Diana Farr and Christine wrote 2 books under the name of Christine Keir.

Their mother, Joanna Cannan (1898–1961), sister of the poet May Cannan, wrote similar equestrian stories, but is better known for detective mysteries.

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

WONDERFUL book. Had it since I was 8 years old

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little book of short stories. Some interesting ones I've never heard, and of course, some chapter cuts out of a few of the more common horse books.

[Ashwise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different stories about horses and ponies.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst horse story anthologies I've ever read -- and I've read quite a lot of stinkers. Most of these selections are chapters from novels. Pullein-Thompson was long dead before this was published, so the real author is Anthony Horowitz -- who is a decent writer but does not know much about horses. Why this is subtitled "thoroughbred horse stories" is a real head-scratcher since only a few horses featured were thoroughbreds. And why do editors of these anthologies always think kids (or adults) want to read about dying horses and ponies? It gets on one's nerves. One almost wants to scream.



So, in short: skip this and read just about anything else instead.

Stories include:

* "My Friend Flicka" by Mary O'Hara. A chapter from the novel. Ends on a bit if a cliffhanger.
* "The Wild Heart" by Helen Griffiths. The concluding chapter of the celebrated novel.
* "Breed of Giants" by Joyce Stranger. Another chapter from a book, this time about Shires.
* "Silver Blaze" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is the complete Sherlock Holmes short story, which you can find in a zillion anthologies. One of the only stories about a Thoroughbred.
* "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell. A chapter from the novel when he was called Black Auster. One if the more depressing chapters. BB is usually considered a Thoroughbred.
* "Bellerophon" by L. S. Hyde. I think this has also been published under the title, "The Chimera." It's a retelling of the Greek myth of Bellerphon riding Pegasus to fight the three-headed monster.
* "Horse in the House" by William Corbin. This is one if the last chapters in the book.
* "Banks and Morocco" by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Short story set in Elizabethan England.
* "The Ghost in the Top Meadow" by Christine Pullein-Thompson. Trust the first editor to choose one of her own crap stories. This one was presumably about eventing with a horse named Flicka. So, we have TWO Flickas in this anthology.
* "Strider: The Story of a Horse" by Leo Tolstoy. Oh, for fuck's sake ...
* "A Wayside Adventure" by C. S. Lewis. This is a chapter from A Horse and His Boy
* "Rescue" by Walter Farley. A chapter from The Black Stallion.
* "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence. This is only part of the short story.
* "Behold, the Palio!" By Marguerite Henry. This is a chapter from Gaudienza, Pride of the Palio.
* "A Man Justly Popular" by R. D. Blackmore. This is yet another extract from a novel, this time from Lorna Doone.
* "Follyfoot" by Monica Dickens. This is yet another extract from the book of the same name.
* "Oh, Cobweb, How Could You?" By Josephine Pullein-Thompson, Christine's sister. Antics at a local English horse show. I think this might have been a complete short story.
* "Red Morning" by Joanne Cannon. A chapter from More Ponies for Jean.
* "Warhorse" by Michael Morpurgo. A chapter from the novel of the same name.
* "The Brogue" by Saki. Complete short story. Not one of Saki's best.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of short stories from famous authors or larger pieces of work. Some I remember from when I was a child, like 'The Ghost in the top Meadow' and 'Bellerophon', while others are from some of my favourite books, like My Friend Flicka, Warhorse, The Horse and his Boy and Black Beauty. Some though, I had never come across before and really enjoyed, such as the Sherlock Holmes mystery, 'Silver Blaze' and 'The Rocking Horse Winner' by DH Lawrence. Something for everyone and not necessarily just for childre, as I got a lot from reading these stories.

[Amy Dale · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wretched, miserable tales of abused horses,not enjoyable at all. Some chapters taken from classics I've already read. Would not recommend for kids even though it's likely aimed at them,too sad and cruel.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, there were many short stories about thoroughbred horses. I read one called 'Oh, Cobweb, How Could You?' by Josephine Pullein-Thompson.
There was a horse that used to be a show jumper but he suddenly stopped jumping! He wasn't sick or anything and the vets couldn't figure out what was wrong. In the end, the horse was actually pregnant and no one knew!
I enjoyed reading this and I liked how the plot of the story changed at the end. It was very unpredictable and exciting. I would recommend this book to children, ages 10 to 13. This is a great book for horse lovers!

[Lauren White · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can’t beat a selection of horse stories. I love the way the extracts are carefully laid out to make them a mini story in themselves. They were such fantastic classics to warm the heart.