About the author
Herman Hoffman Birney (1891–1958) was born in Philadelphia, and educated at Dickinson College, Penn. He served in the American Army, and after he left, became Deputy Chief of Reports and Publications in the Ballistics Department of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Under the name David Kent he wrote Westerns. He wrote horse and ranch stories under his own name, of which Steeldust and The Pinto Pony are two. It is quite possible more of his titles were horse books. Please let me know if you can identify any.
Finding the books
Both are reasonably easy to find in the USA. Neither were printed in the UK.
Links and sources
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Arlington National Cemetery website
Many thanks to Lisa Catz for the photographs and summary.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Steeldust, the Story of a Horse
The Penn Publishing Co, Philadelphia, 1928, 264 pp.
Grossett & Dunlap, 1928
Ted Hoyt rescues the blue roan Steeldust from a beating by the Van Harts. They want to bankrupt Ted and his father’s ranch, so give Steeldust to Ted, hoping that she will injure him.
The Pinto Pony
The Penn Publishing Co, Philadelphia, 1930, 266 pp, illus M de V Lee
Tex, a wild horse is first captured by an American Indian, and then becomes the property of a young rancher. Tex figures prominently in the capture of a gang of bandits, and helps his owner to win a homestead when Indian lands are thrown open for settlement.
