SOLVED. Older MG book about a boy running away with a horse [Solved] [s]

[Kate (Feathered Turtle Press Reviews)]

I'm looking for the title of an older book about a boy who takes one of the horses his father bought to slaughter and, believing the horse is a quality show horse of some kind, takes the horse and runs off to try and find her real owner. I read the book ten years ago and it looked a little worn then. It might've been my mom's, but she doesn't remember it, and I haven't got any results through google or horse book lists on this site. It was a chapter book, pretty sure it was a middle grade book. I'm not sure of the age, but at some point either the protagonist or a younger sibling is watching older cartoons in the morning on the weekending--possibly something like Bugs Bunny. I don't remember if there was a dust jacket, but the book itself was hardcover, white and had a rough, sorta of fabric feel, to it. There may have been a horse's head peaking out over a stable or fence, in brown or black lines, on the front or back cover.

The book starts off with the boy and father at an auction for farm animals. They live in a rural area. I believe the boy's father bought older / weaker /scrawny horses for cheap and then fattened them up and resold them to companies that would use them for meat, possibly for pet food. He ends up successfully bidding on a really nice horse, but the boy believes that she's some kind of show horse or something like that, and I believe she had some kind of tattoo, maybe in her ear.

When the boy tries to convince his father of it, his father just believes he's gotten attached to the horse, which he'd done before, with another horse who had to stay longer than usual to put on more weight or something.

The boy checks in a magazine or newspaper or something similar and gets the address of some kind of place that either stables or trains fancy / quality horses. He leaves his family's ranch / farm with the horse to take her to the horse place he looked up so they can check the tattoo or whatever kind of identification the boy found on the horse. I remember something about the horse being displeased with the taste of the rusty bit and the boy might've warmed it up in his hands first.

On their journey, they occasionally have to hide, they get bitten or stung by flies or mosquitoes, drink and wash river or stream and possibly sleep in someone's field of crops, maybe even steal / eat some.

In the end (view spoiler)[the boy and horse arrive safely, although pretty dirty and tired, and someone there confirms that the horse is a fancy show horse or whatever, and possibly shows the boy pictures of the horse in a magazine or brochure or something like that. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry for any sketchy details--I don't really know much about horses. Please ask if you need any more details / details clarified.

[bookel]

The Something-Special Horse by
Lynn Hall

[Kate (Feathered Turtle Press Reviews)]

That was quick!

That's the right book, thank you!