Mountain Pony

Mountain Pony #1

by Henry V. Larom

Andy buys a mistreated sorrel horse from Randy Garland, not realising that Garland is a sworn enemy of Andy’s Uncle Wes, the local game warden.

Genres: Animals, Horses

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1946

About the author

Henry V Larom (1903-1975) was a Wyoming based author, who wrote the Mountain Pony series about Andy and his horse Sunny. The series was set on a dude ranch in Wyoming. It was reprinted in its entirety as part of Grosset & Dunlap’s Famous Horse series.


There is a Henry V Larom Award for outstanding fiction and poetry which appears to be given by SUNY Rockland Community College.

Reviews

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book as a kid but it wasn't one I re-read into my teens and twenties like some others. Pretty much straight-up adventure; although they do end up capturing the bad guys and all, it's more about the day-to-day dealings of the ranch and Andy learning to work with his horse and what not. The sequels involve considerably more detective work and mysteries to be solved, where the suspense builds through the book.

Enjoyable read, for all it lacks subtlety. The author clearly loves horses and the mountainous Wyoming landscape and the people who work there.

[Frances · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have liked it better if I was horse crazy or a younger male teenager. The hero is daring, too much so for someone who is a grandmother but he and his pony save the day. Excellent reading for the target audience.

[Sarah TheAromaofBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a lot of fun. The characters were quite likable, and while the adventure was a bit over-the-top, I still could go with it. I'm interested to read the second book and see what kinds of things Andy and Sunny get into next summer!

[Mars G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly captivating! It was a good old fashioned "the heroes win" kind of story, and don't we need those every now and again?

[Stephanie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Scholastic cover makes it look very much like a standard Western, but it's much more horse focused than that, a fantastic boys adventure story about a city kid spending the summer on his uncle's ranch. After rescuing a half wild bronc from a savage owner, he and the pony soon bond, and soon after that they're mixed up on a wilderness trek, with his uncle the game warden, tracking a gang of dangerous poachers. High stakes, high thrills, and highly loyal equine antics.

[Carolyn Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's an entire series of these children's books. Perfect for learning to read.