What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Fire Pony
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. YA fiction - Orphan boys find work on a ranch, older brother is a blacksmith with an obsession with fire, younger boy gets to race a mustang horse, screams GERONIMO to get her started, read early '90s. [s]
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Yes that's it, thank you!
The older brother is a blacksmith/farrier, can do wonders with any horse's feet. Is also a bit of a horse whisperer when working on their feet. He also has a strange obsession with fire. "them's angels in that fire!"
The younger boy helps muck stalls and does random chores around the ranch. He ends up being able to work with a young mostly wild mustang mare, he gets to help train her and he learns with her. Eventually they realize how fast she is and they start racing her - western horse racing.
The mare doesn't readily leave the starting line so the boy's trainer suggests the boy yell something crazy at her to get her going. The boy ends up screaming 'GERONIMO!' and it works great. They do well for a few races. One race the boy gets distracted and forgets to prompt her and they're just standing at the starting line while all the other horses are thundering off. Someone in the crowd yells "Look'it the kid on the pony!" And the kid remembers to yell and they take off, they either win that race or come very close to winning, even with all the other horses having a head start.
They do a few more races and competition starts to get wind of them. A rider tries to knock the kid off the mare during one of the races, he stays on but is riding half-fallen-off.
The night after that race, a neighboring ranch belonging to the man who tried to knock the boy off the mare experiences a fire. We are led to believe the older brother caused it but it's never said out-right. The winds change and the fire spreads to their ranch and they struggle to get all the horses to safety. The older boy ends up saving his brother, but loses his life in the fire.