PBOTD 30th July: Marguerite Henry - Misty of Chincoteague

-
Armada, whose coveres have been getting a bit of a psting from me over the past few days, did do some lovely ones too. I'm particularly fond of the ones they did for the Marguerite Henry titles they published (King of the Wind, Sea Star, Stormy - Misty's Foal, and Misty). The Armada version below is the one I had. I actually prefer the cover illustration to the Wesley Dennis original (heresy), though the Armada version did keep the black and white illustrations of the original.


The main point of the Misty stories is the annual Pony Penning and swim that takes place every year, when the ponies are swum from Assateague Island to the island of Chincoteague. In the few days before the swim, the ponies are gathered into corrals, and then swum over. They are then rested, and the foals go to auction. This is a fundraiser for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company.


Collins, London, 1961

The swim has been going on for nearly ninety years, but it became well known when Marguerite Henry wrote about it in Misty of Chincoteague (1947). 

Endpapers of the hardback edition

The Beebe children, Paul and Maureen long for a pony of their own, and follow the wild mare Phantom, who has a foal, Misty. They rescue Phantom but have to let her go when she cannot settle. Misty, however, becomes the foundation of a line of ponies kept by the Beebes.

~  0  ~

The Pony Penning and Swim
More on Marguerite Henry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more