A horse story about show jumping. The young girl who narrates it has a scruffy pony she keeps in her backyard. She needs to buy her pony a new winter blanket, so takes a job at a nearby stable where more well-to-do kids have riding lessons. The stable owner is so impressed, she's allowed to bring her pony to work, and goes along to horse shows as an assistant. Where she ogles the beautiful, famous horses owned by wealthy folks, listens in on gossip, and finds out about a scandal revolving around some rich stable owner who discards horses by dishonest means, to collect insurance money. The girl inadvertently gets way too involved, and results are devastating for her. Honestly I was shocked when the tragic event occurred only two-thirds through the book. I wondered what could transpire afterward, but it had a tidy ending. A tad predictable, but overall I was impressed how the author dropped hints, subtly allowing the reader to figure out what really happened. Nice story. And very horsey. I don't know how accurate the details are about training methods, show conditions, shady means used to improve a horse's performance, etc- but it felt very realistic. Grimy underside to a world full of girls who love horses, and wealthy folks who want to show off with them.

from the Dogear Diary ( )

A small subset of pony books is made of stories about "the seedy underbelly" of the horse world. It usually involves horse racing, but occasionally - like this one - takes place in the horse show world. In children's books there is usually a case of mistaken identity where the wrong horse is injured for insurance money. (In adult books, the horse usually dies and there is human murder and/or gambling addiction involved as well.) You can often tell whodunit in the first chapter by noticing which character jerks the reins or yanks on a lead rope.

The Crumb takes the cake in this genre. A girl and her backyard pony are swept into horse show scandal. How did that needle end up in an empty barn? Why does that man look so shifty? These compelling questions are the background of the story about a girl trying to work to make money to buy her pony a blanket.

Snark aside, I am addicted to pony books!

Really though, I was a bit surprised by a plot point in The Crumb. The 70s were perhaps a harsher time for young girls than now; I know I would have been hysterical if it had happened to me. The book's extra half point rating was simply due to the shock and awe of deviating from the standard formula. ( )