The Blind Connemara

by C.W. Anderson

A young girl is determined that her pony's blindness is not going to keep him from earning the blue ribbon in a horse show.

Genres: Animals, Horses, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Young Adult

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

C.W. Anderson - aka Clarence William Anderson
From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence...

Clarence William Anderson (1891–1971) was an author and illustrator of children's books. Known professionally as C.W. Anderson, Anderson had an interest in horses and drawing.

Anderson started his career by illustrating for other authors, but eventually began developing texts to accompany his realistic and lively black and white drawings. He is best known for his "Billy and Blaze" book series.

The adventures of Billy and Blaze would revolve around proper care of the horse, while teaching a lesson. Anderson would go to great lengths to give accurate information. He would even go on to write Heads Up, Heels Down as a training tool for young horse lovers. All of the stories Anderson wrote would be based on true stories or people that Anderson knew, only the plots were fiction.

By the end of Anderson's life, he had written and illustrated over thirty-five horse books, and also had created covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

Reviews

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Onvan : The Blind Connemara - Nevisande : C.W. Anderson - ISBN : 0020414706 - ISBN13 : 9780020414704 - Dar 80 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1971

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

C. W. Anderson's gentle swan song. He was working on the illustrations when he went into that good night. Although there are some detailed illustrations, the uncompleted almost sketchbook type illustrations with next to no background give the book a twilight feel -- like what you see when you're just about to fall asleep. Also has one of the best names for a pony ever in English literature -- Pony. I wonder if Anderson was going to go back and change the name before he died, but now we'll never know.



By the way, a Connemara is a breed of pony that originated in Ireland. Many of them are light grey but they do come in many different colors.

[Shawnee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sure wish we knew his actual name.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great - a unique plot, done clean, and the main character is hard working, kind to people and animals, and gentle. It wasn’t a deep character dive or anything - really just a good read for a horse lover child needing a longer chapter book, or an animal-loving kid. I would say good for 2nd to 5th grade? It wasn’t a bit long for my first grader and she wasn’t feeling great so we read it together.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Rhonda Wallis takes over the grooming and care of a white pony, she soon discovers that he is going blind. Rhonda is determined to help the pony as much as possible. She becomes the pony's eyes and helps him compete in 4H horse shows that requires that the ponies make jumps. Together Rhonda and pony beat the odds.

[Ejayen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this story is so cute. And may I say it is more helpful in answering my question of horse speed than the internet.
The title really says all that you need to know, there is a blind horse and this is the book about him.

[Amy Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated story--girl meets horse and lives happily ever after. (Same review as for A Filly for Joan)

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

C.W. Anderson is a great horse story writer. He had the plot down--nice girl helps horse become the winner she always knew he could be, plus great illustrations. This book involved a lot of her walking the blind pony around and getting him to trust her, but any horse lover will love it.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't get enough of these as a child. I really loved horse stories like these where the girl and the horse work together to get better and win a show. This was a very quick read. Wonderful illustration.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the trust that built up between the rider and the blind pony. I read this book several times during my grade school years. It was one of my favorite horse stories.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

read as a child, faintest memory

[Paula Newbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good blast from the past!!

[Paula Greenfield]

I love this book. It's about a girl who really wants a pony. The Connemara is a beautiful pony who ends up going blind. This is their story of how they can get beyond his blindness. It's a super book and I love reading again and again.