Breeds in Pony Books

Below is a list of pony books featuring specific breeds. It isn’t exhaustive, by any means, so if you know of more please let me know. Most of the books listed have that breed as its major equine character: in some it’s just a brief appearance, like Dot the Shetland in Ruby Ferguson’s A Stable for Jill.

Two of the pictures below are from the very talented Ruth on the hoof, who specialises in native ponies.

American Saddlebred

Dorothy Lyons: Harlequin Hullaballoo/Bluegrass Champion

American Standardbred

Genevieve Torrey Eames: The Good Luck Colt
Marguerite Henry: Born to Trot

Appaloosa

(Not a breed, I know….)
Judith M Berrisford: Pippa and the Mystery Pony
Jessie Haas: Appaloosa Zebra
Henry V Larom: Ride Like an Indian!
Dorothy Lyons: Bright Wampum
Jenny Oldfield: Navaho Joe
Glen Rounds: Stolen Pony
Glen Rounds: Hunted Pony
Gary Christopher Vezzolli:  Spring Valley’s Spotted Champion
Nancy Springer: Colt
Elizabeth van Steenwyk: Ride to Win
Elizabeth van Steenwyk: The Secret of the Spotted Horse
Jerry West: The Happy Hollisters

Arab/Arabian

Judith M Berrisford: Sue’s Circus Pony
Judith M Berrisford: Ponies All Summer
Judith M Berrisford: Sue’s TV Pony
Joan Dickins: Jill and Prince the Pony
Wendy Douthwaite: Summer Ponies
Wendy Douthwaite: Dream Pony
Wendy Douthwaite: On Location
Wendy Douthwaite: Running Free
Marguerite Henry: King of the Wind
Patricia Leitch: The Jinny series
Joan Penney: Melka, the story of an Arabian Pon
yJoan Penney: Melka in England
Lady Kitty Ritson: Tessa and Some Ponies
Glenda Spooner: The Earth Sings
Carol Vaughan: Dancing Horse

Bhutan Pony

M E Buckingham: Phari

Brumby

Elyne Mitchell: the Silver Brumby series
Mary Elwyn-Patchett: Brumby series
Alison Lester: The Shadow Brumby
Gladys Lister: Leafy and Prince Brumby
Reginald Ottley: Brumbie Dust, Black Sorrow

Camargue

Marlena Frick: The Homecoming
René Guillot: The Wild White Stallion
René Guillot: Riders of the Wind
Pat Smythe: The Three Jays on Holiday

China Pony

Cecilia Knowles: Hua Ma The Flower Pony

Chincoteague and Assateague Pony

Marguerite Henry: Misty series

Connemara

C W Anderson: The Blind Connemara
Esme Hamilton: Speedy
Ann Henning: Connemara Stallion series

Dartmoor

Allen Chaffee: Wandy the Wild Pony, Wandy Wins
Lilias Edwards: The Dancing Pony
Gordon Griffiths: Silver Blue
Marjorie M Oliver: Ponies and Caravans
Marjorie M Oliver: The Ponies of Bunts
Marjorie M Oliver: Riding Days in Hook’s Hollow, Land of Ponies, Horseman’s Island
M E Proctor: The Treasure Riders
Josephine Pullein-Thompson: The Trick Jumpers
Allan Seaby: Dinah the Dartmoor Pony
Vian Smith: Martin Rides the Moor

Donkeys

Mary Gervaise: A Pony of Your Own
Marguerite Henry: Brighty of the Grand Canyon
Patricia Lynch: The Turf Cutter’s Donkey
G O’Connor: Thanks to Dandy
Diana Pullein-Thompson: The Donkey Race
Pamela Rogers: Dan and his Donkey
Jill Stevens: Jane’s Lonely Donkey
Frediswid Sturges: Dowsha – the Story of a Donkey

Exmoor

Ruth Clarke: Bonny the Pony
Mary de la Mahotière: Round-up on Exmoor
Victoria Eveleigh: Katy series
Jane Munro Gaymer: Brownie
Golden Gorse: Moorland Mousie, Older Mousie
Golden Gorse: Janet and Felicity: The Young Horsebreakers
Elinore Havers: A Pony to Catch
Elinore Havers: Pony Watch
Eleanor Helme: Shank’s Pony, Suitable Owners, White Winter
Eleanor Helme & Nance Paul: Jerry, the story of an Exmoor Pony, The Joker & Jerry Again
Joyce Mary Lennon: Misty the Grey Pony
Pamela McGregor Morris: Exmoor Ben
Hermione Ratliffe: Golden Knight and Other Stories
Allen Seaby: Exmoor Lass and Other Pony Stories
Eunice Young Smith: Shoon, Wild Pony of the Moors
May Wynne: The Story of Heather

Fell

Sue Garnett: Ponies of Swallowdale Farm
Patricia Leitch: Afraid to Ride
Susan Millard: One Fell Swoop
K M Peyton: Stealaway
Fiona Satow: My Friend Krow
Margery Sharp: Second Best Pony
Joyce Stranger: Casey

Hackney

Daphne Machin Goodall: Silver Spring

Heavy Horses

Gillian Baxter: Save the Ponies
Emma Brock: Plug Horse Derb
yCatherine Cookson: Joe and the Gladiator
Jessie Haas: Uncle Daney’s Way
James Herriott: Bonny’s Big Day
Primrose Cumming: Ben
Monica Edwards: No Mistaking Corker
Monica Edwards: Cargo of Horses
Marguerite Henry: Five O’Clock Charlie
Christine Pullein-Thompson: The Empty Field

Clydesdale

Lois Castellain: Adolphus series

Percheron

Chris Platt: Stargazer
Edward Tracy: King of the Stallions
Carol Vaughan: Missing Matilda, Two Foals for Matilda, Trekkers’ Trail

Shire

Primrose Cumming: The Great Horses
Pippa Funnell: Goliath, the Rescue Horse
Joyce Stranger: Breed of Giants
Joyce Stranger: January Queen
Simon Weston: Nelson series

Suffolk Punch

Primrose Cumming: Trouble at Trimbles
Michael Morpurgo: Not Bad for a Bad Lad

Highland

Gillian Baxter: Horses in the Glen
Judith M Berrisford: Jackie and the Pony Rivals
Joanna Cannan: We Met Our Cousins
Patricia Leitch: The Jinny series
Patricia Leitch: A Pony of Our Own
Patricia Leitch: The Horse from Black Loch
Patricia Leitch: Pony Surprise
Patricia Leitch: Highland Pony Trek
Jane McIlwaine: Pony Trekking Summer
Margaret MacPherson: Ponies for Hire
Frances Murray: Horses in the Heather

Hungarian Horse

Margaret Ruthin: The White Horse of Hungary

Lipizzaner

Gillian Baxter: The Stables at Hampton
Page Cooper: Amigo
Marguerite Henry: White Stallion of Lipizza
Vernon Bowen: The Emperor’s White Horses
Anne Colver: Pluto – Brave Lipizzaner Stallion
Felix Salten: Florian
Mary Stewart: Airs above the Ground
Mary Treadgold: The Heron Ride
Lee Wyndham: Susie and the Ballet Horse

Lundy Pony

Victoria Eveleigh: Midnight on Lundy

Morgan

Doris Gates: A Morgan for Melinda
Doris Gates: A Filly for Melinda
Marguerite Henry: Justin Morgan
K M Peyton: Stealaway

Mule

Samantha Alexander: The Mission
Patricia Beatty: Eight Mules from Monterrey
Fairfax Downey: Army Mule
Howard W Felton: Sergeant O’Keefe and his Mule Balaam
Bruce Grant: Cyclone
Marguerite Henry: Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
Inez Hogan: Mule Twins
Miska Miles: Kickapoo
Virginia H Ormsby: The Right-Handed Horse

New Forest

Joan Begbie: Freelance the Pony
Judith M Berrisford: Jackie and the Pony Thieves
Mary Buckland: Trusty, our New Forest Pony
Ruby Ferguson: Pony Jobs for Jill
Irene Makin: Ponies in the Attic
Jean Medcalfe: Friskey the New Forest Pony
Stephen Mogridge: New Forest series
E H Parsons: The Twins in the New Forest, Quest for a Pony, Family in the Saddle
K M Peyton: Fly-by-Night, The Team
Josephine Pullein-Thompson: Six Ponies
Lady Kitty Ritson: Molly the New Forest Pony
Jean Rowan: Rufus the New Forest Pony
Allan Seaby: Skewbald, Sons of Skewbald

Norfolk Trotter

K M Peyton: Small Gains and Greater Gains

Pit Ponies

Hans Baumann: Andy’s Pit Pony
Leila Berg: Andy’s Pit Pony
Hilda Boden:  Little Grey Pony
Sheila Lavelle: The Strawberry Jam Pony
Nina Lloyd-Banning: Pit Pony
Rosemary Sisson: Escape from the Dark

Pony of the Americas

Lynn Hall: Dragon series

Quarter Horse

Mary Elwyn-Patchett: Quarter Horse Boy

Sable Island Pony

Margaret S. Johnson and Helen Lossing Johnson: Dixie Dobie – A Sable Island Pony

Shetland

Gillian Baxter: Pantomime Ponies
Judith M Berrisford: Jackie and Pony Island
Paul Brown: Piper’s Pony, the Story of Patchwork
Ursula Bruns: Snow Ponies
Joanna Cannan: Hamish
Lois Castellain: Adolphus series
Mary Colville: Plain Jane, the Story of a Shetland
Pony Peter Clover: the Sheltie series
Jenny Dale: Lottie the Little Pony
Lucy Daniels: Shetland in the Shed
Marion Doren: A Pony in the Field
Brian Fairfax-Lucy: Horses in the Valley
Frances Frost: Windyfoot series
Kathleen Fidler: Haki the Shetland Pony
Ruby Ferguson: A Stable for Jill
Martin Gale: A Pony Named Nubbin
Daphne Machin-Goodall: Silver Spring
Anne Bosworth Greene: Greylight, The White Pony in the Hills
Clarence Hawkes: Dapples of the Circus: the Story of a Shetland Pony and a Boy
Elizabeth Harrover Johnson: The Pony That Didn’t Grow
Nils Hogner: Tanny
Margaret S. Johnson: Kelpie – A Shetland Pony
Jeanne Mellin: Pidgy’s Surprise
Jenny Oldfield: Home Farm Friends
Jenny Oldfield: Scott the Braveheart
K M Peyton: Pony in the Dark
Frances Priddy: Barbie
Allan Seaby: Sheltie the Shetland Pon
yAnna Sellberg: Anna and the Crying Clown

Tennessee Walking Horse

Eleanor F Brown: A Horse for Peter
Marguerite Henry: Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
Marsha Hubler: Rickie Rides to the Rescue

Tibetan Pony

M E Buckingham: Phari

Welsh

Judith M Berrisford: The Jackie series
Judith M Berrisford: Five Foals and Philippa
Hilda Boden: Pony Trek
Hilda Boden: Pony Boy
Paul Brown: Silver Heels
Paul Brown: Daffy Taffy
Amanda Gavin: To Find a Golden Pony
D Glyn-Forest: Gipsy’s Way
Cecilia Knowles: Hippo, a Welsh Cob
Pamela MacGregor Morris: Topper
K M Peyton: Fly-by-Night, The Team
Lucy Rees: Horse of Air
Lucy Rees: Wild Pony
Allan Seaby: Mona the Welsh Pony
Alan Smith: Snowy
Linell Nash Smith: Auction Pony

Western Isles Pony

Joanna Cannan: I Wrote a Pony Book
Christine Pullein-Thompson: Ride by Night

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the late Fran Fignar, and to Birte Scheel, and the members of my old forum, for their help with this page.