SOLVED Juvenile/YA Horse Book / Pony's Surprise Pregnancy [s]

[M—]

I'm looking for a juvenile or YA horse book that I think I read in the early to mid-90s. It was about a girl and her pony and the pony's unexpected foal, which I know is fairly common plot.

Detailed Plot Points
The main character is this girl probably middle school age. (I don't remember her thinking about boys or dating at all.) She lives out a farm and has a pony, but she's pretty lonely until another girl moves in next door and they become friends. The friend isn't very interested in riding, but she wants to run track, and the two girls get in the habit of the one girl riding her pony while the friend jogs alongside her. There is a scene I remember distinctly were the girl thinks that her friend is rather like a thoroughbred horse, all leggy and slender and built to run, and that she herself is more like a sturdy Welsh pony.

The two girls ride a bus to and from school, and the main character didn't have a very good relationship with other classmates (I only recall girl classmates) who ride that bus. Things got a bit better when the girl found her friend, though, and the girl winds up inviting their classmates over to come meet her pony. When the girls come to visit, one thing leads to another and the girl with the biggest mouth starts to ride the pony. As she's riding, she approaches a fence with the intent to jump it, and the main character gets very agitated and called her to get away from the fence and get off the pony. When pressed to explain why she was upset, the mail character says that the pony is going to have a foal.

The friend gets a little irritated at the girl after this, because the girl hadn't priorly told the friend about the pregnancy and that's the sort of secret that friends are supposed to tell each other. I think the girl tries to explain that she's not really sure the pony is going to have a foal, but she didn't want the pony jumped just in case. The friend is still left feeling a little hurt at this, and a rift starts to form between them. The friend starts spending more time at school working with track and becomes more friendly with the classmates on the bus. The atmosphere on the bus gets progressively worse as time goes on and the pony shows no noticeable signs of being pregnant. Everyone, even the friend, is sure that the girl lied about the pregnancy for attention, and the girl herself isn't even sure that foal is definitely coming.

But the pony is indeed pregnant and does have a foal. The girl triumphantly tells her busmates this, but they, of course, need to see the foal for proof. The other scene I remember distinctly is the big reveal of the foal, where he and his dam are out in the field when the bus comes by, but the foal is hiding behind his dam and isn't visible until the mare moves and then the foal's little spindly legs can be seen under the mare's belly on her far side as he moves to keep up with her.

Books I'm Pretty Sure This Isn't
I've done a lot of looking online, but I haven't found a book that matches the plot details I remember. I'm pretty sure, though, that this book was a stand-alone novel and not connected to any series like The Saddle Club or Pony Pals.

For a long time, I thought this was Winter Pony , but I recently reread it and it isn't the book I'm searching for.

I have searched ponydom.com, but the only YA book of obviously similar plot was Java Jive by Dorothy Lyons (not listed in GR catalog), which I don't think is what I'm looking for. The summaries for it I've seen online don't mention the friend element I remember, and the foal's name 'Java Jive' does not ring a bell.

Does this story sound familiar to anyone here? Thanks so much for your help!

[Kate]

Could it be
No Foal Yet by Jessie Haas?
The only description I could find is: Nora and her grandparents wait for their horse Bonnie to have her foal.

I've read a lot of horse books, but this doesn't sound familiar at all!

[M—]

I'm afraid not. :( I don't think the book I read was illustrated. But thanks much for suggesting it! It looks really good, and I think I must go track it down at my library.

[M—]

I just finished reading No Foal Yet, and it's a fabulous book (even though it wasn't the one I'm hunting for). The illustrations are wonderful. Thanks so much for suggesting it!

[Lanica]

Stardust's Foal is the conclusion to a series. It has many of the points you mentioned, and I know that when I read a series many of the elements bleed from one book to another.

It doesn't sound exactly right, but close enough that I thought I'd mention it...

Also, I found this list of horse literature for YA. Perhap you'll see something that looks familiar.

http://www.jessicajahiel.com/resource...

[Jaime]

Do you recall if the foal was a black colt? And is there a scene in the schoolroom when someone rides past the window?

[Caitlín]

I think I know! I wasn't sure until you mentioned girl comparing them to horses. I used to *love* this book when I was much younger. Was it A Pony in the Field by Marion Doren? Cover shown here.

[M—]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all!

Lanica, Stardust's Foal seems to have published in 2003. I would have read the book I'm looking for around ten years before that. I remember reading a lot of the Thoroughbred books, though; I'll give their summaries a close look and see if I'm remembering a plot from an earlier story.

Jaime, I'm sorry; I don't recall the color of the foal. Or of the mare. :( Or even the breed of the mare. And I don't remember the schoolroom scene you mention, either. Which book were you thinking of?

Ink Mage, I remember that cover! But I read so many horse book growing up that remembering the cover doesn't guarantee that cover matches this plot-memory and I can't find a detailed plot summary for it online. I'll track down that book at my library and find out for sure!

[Caitlín]

A few more memorable details about A Pony in the Field:

There was a scene in which the main character's younger brother drills through the ceiling during a sleepover to spy on the girls. One of the girls freaks and they all end up leaving.

The main character's room is painted in red, white, and blue in honor of her July 4th birthday.

At one point the pony somehow gets out of the pasture and is found down the road at a neighbor's eating...crab apples, I think.

The pony is a surprise present for her birthday, and her "Thoroughbred" friend gives her a horse charm necklace.

[M—]

I'm so sorry; those details aren't ringing any bells. My local library doesn't have a copy of this, but I've submitted an Interlibrary-Loan Request (go, Age of Instant Communication!) so fingers-crossed it'll be here soon.

[Ashley]

I immediately thought of A Horse Called Wonder but I think it is part of the same series as Stardust's Foal... The thoroughbred series.

Hope you find what you're looking for. :)

[M—]

I loved the Thoroughbred books growing up and A Horse Called Wonder particularly. It's possible the book I'm trying to find is part of that series, but I don't think it's very likely. Besides that series being mostly about racehorses and the book I'm looking for being about a backyard pony, that series tended to follow the POV of reoccurring main characters and none of those main characters match with my memories.

But I'll keep looking! I'm really hopeful about that A Pony in the Field book.

[M—]

Ink Mage wrote: "Was it A Pony in the Field by Marion Doren?"

It was! It was! This was it!

The library loan arrived today, and I've spent the evening reading it amid such fond memories. Thank you very much for helping me!