PBOTD 29th December: Carol Vaughan - Dancing Horse

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Carol Vaughan did write some pony books, but her main literary output was short stories. If you've read a PONY Magazine Annual or a Pony Club Annual from the 1960s or 1970s, you'll almost certainly have read one of her short stories.

She wrote Dancing Horse in 1966. It's the story of the Manorfields Stud, which is invaded by a herd of stray horses and ponies. They have come from a visiting circus, and escaped after the train transporting them derailed. The children who live at the stud dutifully return the horses to the circus, but they are very struck by the beautiful Arab, Roi Soleil. His rider, Fleurette, was injured when the train was derailed, and cannot ride him.



The Manorfields au pair, Monique, provides an element of mystery when she refuses to have anything to do with either horse or rider. In the end, of course, everything works out, and Roi Soleil goes on to have his glory day at the circus.

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