Hamilton, Esmé

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.

Rainbow and Speedy

Bodley Head, London, 1952, illus Lionel Edwards

Because of copyright restrictions, I don’t show pictures by Lionel Edwards

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.

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.

The Heavenly Carthorse

Bodley Head, London, 1958, illus Margery Gill

Many thanks to Amanda Dolby for the picture.