The Random House Book of Horse Stories

by Elizabeth Lindsay, Felicity Trotman (Editor)

With over 25 stories by the world's best authors, including James Herriot, C.S. Lewis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and James Riordan, this book is a must-have for horse lovers that will be treasured for years to come. Here's an enchanting collection of magical talking horses, mythical flying horses, and loyal farm horses that will have the equine set champing at the bit for more!

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

406 pages, Hardcover

First published June 10, 1997

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood]

This was first published in 1996 in the UK under the title Horse Stories. The cover of this American edition ON THE COVER lists authors like Paul Goble and K. M. Peyton who do not have works in this book. And somebody got paid for that cover, too.

Some of the British stories have had words changed to make them more American, such as changing "torch" to "flashlight." It was downright odd to read of kids in a UK show wanting to win blue ribbons. In the UK, blues are given to second place. The first gets red ribbons.

I've read dozens of horse anthologies, so I was surprised to find selections here that I've never read before. Unfortunately, most of them were bad. The majority of selections are myths or of horse-shaped objects rather than horses. Very few of the stories deal with real horses or ponies. Many of the selections are chapters or excerpts from novels, which can spoil reading the full book.

All in all, a disappointing read, especially if you are a horse lover wanting to read about horses. If you long to anything written before WWI, then have at it, mate.

The clunky and downright ugly illustrations were by Victor Ambrus. He's perhaps my least favorite illustrator of all time.

Selections:

* "Introduction" by Our Editors. Blahdiddity blah-blah blah.
* "One of Those Funny Little Mishaps" by Elizabeth Lindsey. It's not a good sign when an editor sticks her own story into an anthology. This story, based on real events, is more about people than about horses or ponies.
* "The White Knight" by Lewis Carroll. From Through the Looking-Glass. This isn't about horses, either.
* "The Pony Club Camp" by C. Northcote Parkinson. Excerpt from Ponies Plot. I skipped this, since I may want to read the entire book some day.
* "Gulliver Meets the Houyhnms" by Jonathan Swift. From Gulliver's Travels. This is the first part of Gulliver's misadventures with the super intelligent horses.
* "Munchausen's Mounts" by Rudolphe Eric Raspe. From The Singular Travels, Campaigns and Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The Baron rides in Russia during winter, and gets a great Lithuanian horse.
* "For 'Cow', Read 'Horse'" by Donald Lightwood. A cringe-worthy mash-up of a ghost story ... and Christmas pantos.
* "Bonny's Big Day" by James Herriot. This is the text of the 1987 children's book, which in turn took the text from a chapter in Herriot's 1972 book.
* "Show Time" by Sandy Ransford. Unfortunately, the show scenario presented here doesn't seem quite kosher. I know the author used to show Arabians, but I highly doubt there's any proper class where you could change riders after that class has started.
* "The Splendid Reality" by Patricia Wrightson. From I Own the Racecouse!. Chapter 8 from the Australian classic children's book, where a mentally challenged kid thinks he owns a harness racing track.
* "The Horse and the Colt" by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian. Even in fables from 1792, it's all the fault of those damn kids.
* "Zeus and the Horse" by Gotthold Ephriam Lessing. This is a German Fable from 1759, which tells you to sit down and shut up. Trying to improve your lot? Are you MAD?
* "The Wild White Horses" by Joyce Stranger. A story about Christmas magic -- in Manchester. As befitting the setting, three Gypsy girls kill an old pony. All the makings of a Hallmark movie.
* "The White Horse of Zennor" by Michael Morpurgo. Bittersweet story of a magic horse saving a farm -- but not before all 50 cows and calves are slaughtered.
* "The Chimera" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. From The Wonder Book. This is the short version. Poetic retelling of the Bellerophon and Pegasus myth. How many anthologies does this appear in? 20? 30?
* "Bone of Contention" by Josephine Pullein-Thompson. The new neighbors hate horses, and so block a vital bridle path in the village. Then floods come. This is told in the breathless style of a hyperactive girl, with very little detail given. Our Editor reveals a major spoiler in the introduction.
* "Across the Deserts of Peru" by A. F. Tschiffley. From Tschiffley's Ride. This is a selection that I haven't found in other anthologies that sample Tschiffley's book. It's the second best selection in this book.
* "Fire!" By Anna Sewell. From Black Beauty. Because it's apparently illegal to not publish a horse anthology in the UK without at least one chapter from Black Beauty. Our Editor's introduction was actually interesting.
* "Winding-Up Time" by Jean Ingelow. From Mopsa the Fairy. This book was published in the Victorian era, with terms and customs that are going to puzzle a modern reader. Our Protagonist comes to a purgatory of sorts for horses that died by abuse.
* "The Magician's Horse" retold by Andrew Lang. From The Grey Fairy Book. Rather tiresome folk tale that seems to be a blending of several folk tales. Other horses die left and right, and no one cares.
* "Dapplegrim" retold by Sir George W. Dasent. From Popular Tales From the Norse. There are many versions of this folk tale, but this is the most bloodthirsty. Dapplegrim is an absolute homicidal maniac here, and his master has no qualms carrying out Dapplegrim's horrific plans, such as killing all foals so Dapplegrim can drink all of the milk from the broodmares. No Freudian symbolism here, eh?
* "Black Shadows of Palms" by Elyne Mitchell. From Light Horse to Damascus. This is an excerpt from the book. I'd like to read the book someday, so I skipped this to avoid spoilers.
* "The Fall of Troy" retold by James Reeves. From Heroes and Monsters. This version of the myth of the Trojan Horse can be found in a dozen other horse anthologies.
* "The Tale of the Ebony Horse" retold by Geraldine McCaughrean. From One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. This myth has popped up in several incarnations found in many anthologies, but this version is quite lively, and interweaves the myth of Sheherezade in with the story.
* "Jane, Betsy and Blanche" by Theophile Gautier. From Menagerie Intime. Based on Gautier's own ponies and horses, this is written for children, but is quite sad.
* "A Wayside Adventure" by C. S. Lewis. From A Horse and His Boy. This is near the beginning of the book, soon after Shasta and Bree flee from Shasta's "grandfather". Fortunately, this selection isn't much of a spoiler.
* "A Horse Called Terror" retold by Felicity Trotman. This is the most entertaining of the folk tales presented in this book. This time around, the setting is India, and the search is on for a "hallowed" horse.
* "The Ghost Horse" by Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance. From Long Lance. You can find this supposedly true story in a zillion other anthologies, but it seems a little too fantastic to be non-fiction.
* "Taming the Colt" by Louisa May Alcott. From Little Men. This bit has appeared in a few other anthologies. A hyperactive boy gets to work with horses. A people story, not a horse story.
* "The Seven Foals" retold by Sir George W. Dasent. From Popular Tales From the Norse. After reading all of the myths in this book, I am now thoroughly sick of them. They're all the same ... in triplicate.
* "Sure Magic" by Monica Edwards. This is the best selection in the book. I'm surprised it hasn't shown up in other horse anthologies I've read, since this was first published in 1954. It has all the ingredients of the perfect horsey short story -- it's not an excerpt from a longer work, is believable, has a sympathetic protagonist, isn't too corny, and -- most importantly -- has horses that act like horses.
* "The Perfect Partnership" by Caroline Plaisted. Although a complete short story about a girl and her leased pony, it severely lacks any detail, and reads like a first draft for a much longer book.
* "The Valiant Chattee-Maker" retold by M. Frere. Again -- this is a people story, not a horse story. Although intended to be humorous, the humor falls flat here. There's nothing funny about animal abuse.
* "Beach Ponies" by Linda Jennings. This 1996 story (which may have been written specifically for this anthology) ends this book on a good note. It's a well written and believable story, but this also has appeared in other anthologies.

[Emilie Green]

A good read - definitely a kids book but still a fun read to remember your childhood (especially if you were into horses).

[Chrisanne]

It's a bit of a gamble but this is the book that introduced me to Alcott's other books. And for that it deserves some praise.