Rainbow and Speedy

Bodley Head, London, 1952, illus Lionel Edwards

Many thanks to Sarah for the photo

Speedy, the Story of an Irish Pony

John Lane, London, 1940, illus Barbara Moray Williams

Knight, pb, 1974

The story of an irish pony from the days when she was a wild foal in Connemara. Speedy finds happiness in
her first home where Terry breaks her in and thinks she shows promise for hunting and racing.  But she is sold
and has to pull a van for her new owner, yet Dan is convinced that she should be given a chance and in the
point to point Speedy runs the race of her life.

 

Starlight

Bodley Head, London, 1956, illus Lilian Buchanan

Starlight is a rather odd book.  It is the story of a pony from Iceland, who comes to work on an Irish farm, and
of Johnnie, a young boy.  There is lovely, lyrical description of the Irish countryside, and the illustrations are
charming, but the story itself hasn’t quite worked out where it’s going.  At first it seems as if it’s going to be
a rather better than usual biography of a pony, but after the pony is mistreated by Johnnie’s elder brother and
turned out on Hennessy’s Bog, the book finishes off with four chapters of reminiscences from animals grazing
on the bog.

Many thanks to Amanda Dolby for the picture.

Esmé Hamilton lived in Ireland, where all her stories are set, and worked with horses all her life.   Three of her books at least are about Speedy and her foals, Rainbow, Seafire and Goldfinch.   Finding the books: most of the books are easy to find:  Starlight is easy to find as a US edition, but difficult as the British first.   

The Speedy Series

Speedy

Rainbow  and Speedy

Children at Moyinish

Right - Esmé Hamilton’s horse Samphire and her four day old foal, Carrighire.

The Heavenly Carthorse

Bodley Head, London, 1958, illus Margery Gill

Many thanks to Amanda Dolby for the picture.

Children at Moyinish

Bodley Head, London, 1957, illus Margery Gill

This is about one of Speedy’s foals, Seafire, who had an accident as a two year old and then could not

be sold.  He turns out to have a talent for steeplechasing.  All is not well at the house:  there are financial
difficulties, and the house might have to be sold.