Come Down the Mountain

by Vian Smith

Brenda defies the village to rescue a horse.

Genres: Young Adult, Horses

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Vian Smith was an English author and horse trainer. Spanning fiction and nonfiction, his work focuses on the relationship between people and horses and prominently features the Devon moorland Dartmoor. Smith died at 49.

Reviews

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Just from reading the synopsis, one gets the impression that this is mostly just one of those a-girl-and-her-horse stories. But Come Down the Mountain really has much more substance than I had expected. Brenda Carter, a teenager who is constantly teased because of her weight, sees an abandoned horse belonging to the wealthy Bassett family each day on the way to school. The people of her village don't want to become involved because they are afraid of repercussions from the Bassetts. Eventually Brenda can no longer stand seeing the horse so badly neglected, and convinces her parents to help save him. As a result of this effort, Brenda's schoolmates see her in a different light, and her family is brought closer together.

Surprisingly, the horse aspect of the book takes up comparatively little space. Most of the book is devoted to following the everyday trials of Brenda's life, and it is done very well. Sometimes it feels pretty gloomy, but the realism and sincerity of it are very admirable. Brenda is very believable and has a lot of heart, and I love the character arc that was given to Harold Dibbens. I wasn't a fan of Eve and Brian though. Eve was a terrible "friend" to Brenda, and I wish she hadn't still been around at the end of the book, trying to ride the coattails of Brenda's newfound popularity. Brian was okay, I suppose, but he wasn't very nice to Brenda before either, so I found his sudden respect for her rather unconvincing.

The Bassett family angle of the story was actually done very well. It didn't take up too much of the narrative, and the Bassett heir wasn't just turned into a cheap villain stereotype. Come Down the Mountain wasn't perfect, but it was a good character-focused story that deserves more recognition than it seems to get.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My ambivalence re social realism dates back a long way. I didn’t like this novel, a gift from my parents when I was nine and horse mad, a phase that lasted until trail rides got too expensive, during which I OD’d on tales about girls whose lives revolved around riding and caring for their own ponies (e.g., the Jill books), fiction depicting life through equine eyes (e.g., the Silver Brumby series), pocket encyclopaedias of horse and pony breeds, and handbooks on every aspect of horse training and maintenance.

While Come Down the Mountain revolves around a horse, it’s more about the working-class villagers who rescue it, centring on 16-year-old Brenda Carter and her parents, who work hard despite their limited means to meet the neglected thoroughbred’s needs.

On reading this recently, I was stunned by the quality of the writing and surprised to learn that Vian Smith was a man. He portrays the inner lives of girls convincingly (OK, he did have a daughter), falling short only in conveying Brenda’s experience of her weight. Though saddled with the attribute of fatness, she seems less anguished over it than I’d imagine a teenager in the late ’60s might have been.

It’s to Smith’s credit that his characters with names that flag them as clichés – Brian Jackson, the Jock; Harold Dibbens, the Drip; Eve Rickaby, the Vixen – come to life on the page, if not with the poignancy of Grandfather Salter, a former huntsman, and his son-in-law, housepainter George Carter, who risks a great deal to support his daughter. The horse, while no less vividly brought to life, is the device by which a whole village in ’60s Dartmoor is transformed.

If more social realist fiction could compare with this short novel for humour, pathos, empathy, insight and sheer mastery of craft, I mightn’t have grown up on a diet of fantasy. Though I didn’t really like this novel when I first read it, having more time for animals than people, I did keep it, as if I knew what a precious gift it was. And reading it again, I was amazed at how clearly I remembered it – due, at least partly, to Smith’s spare style and heartfelt conviction.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the tale of a girl and a horse, set in England. The horse is, as most of Smith's were, a thoroughbred. Smith grew up with horses all around him and ran his own family training stables until he died at the tragically early age of 49. See Parade of Horses, his last work. He was also a journalist and newspaper editor.

The girl, Brenda, is plump and worrying about her school exams, lonely and bored. She finds that an elderly racehorse has been pretty much abandoned up on a mountain farm and decides to rescue him, as otherwise he won't survive the winter. This is based on the true story of a horse Smith knew, though in real life the attempt to save the horse was unsuccessful. The horse provides her with a friend and when others in her class find out, she suddenly has more friends and her life improves.

Very readable, this tale reflects the isolation of rural communities and the tough times we can experience while growing up.
You may also like Tall and Proud, Martin Rides the Moor, Minstrel Boy, The Horses of Petrock. Be careful as many of Smith's works were published under different titles in America to Britain.

[Stina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found in my local library in the adult fiction section. I think this book can appeal to a variety of ages. Brenda and her classmates are around sixteen, but their relationships and issues are well-written and can probably be related to and sympathized with even if you have long ended your school years. Furthermore, there's Brenda's parents and grandparents and the other adults of the village that finally rally around to help Brenda and the horse. And it should be noted, the story is really more about the people than the horse. I would have loved to read more about Cuthbert! When he is present in the scene it is told well and his actions and manners are believable.

It was an easy read, fairly short, but has more depth and realism than what may be expected out of a "pony book." I definitely felt for the characters and was rooting for them all to the end. They were written with a good balance of admirable traits and vices. And the ending, of course, is a happy one, but not too sentimental or sappy. A very good book overall.