Customer Reviews

The Snow Pony

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first thing I'll say is what I didn't like about the book: how Dusty's father "broke" the horse. Jack tied the Snow Pony to a post and left her there all day, where she pulled and resisted the rope. When doing this Jack said, "She's going to stay there all day, and if she kills herself, so be it. Believe me, you don't want a horse that won't tie up. She's learning a lot more than being tied up, too. She's learning about patience and submission, and not calling the shots." Sure, it teaches patience, but there are much better ways to teach it. I prefer to use the term "gentling", or "training", rather than "breaking". Breaking is forceful, and in my opinion wrong. My family owns a horse that was probably broken the same way, and he had problems for a long time. We have had him for almost a year and he still hates being tied up.

I liked the rest of the book very much. The story line was very good, although I do agree, it was a little slow in the beginning. There were a few unexpected turns in the book, like with Jade. I am not gonna say any more about that, I don't want to spoil anything. The ending was a little more perfect than I would have thought, and with all that goes on in the book, a bit unrealistic, but I liked it overall, and I have read MUCH more unrealistic books. Though a great book, definatly for a more mature group.

If you liked The Snow Pony, I would recommend these books:

the Morgan Horse series, by Ellen F. Feld

The Wild Mare, by Glenn Balch

The Midnight Colt, By Glenn Balch

All of the above are suitable for younger readers as well as teens.

And for the older audience, I would recommend these:

Blind Beauty, by K.M. Peyton

Shadow Horse, By Alison Hart

I agree with Dressage Wanabe. This book is good, but not for very young readers. When Dusty's father begins to become an alcoholic and there are some scenes that I would rather not relive, they would signify that this book shouldn't be read by younger readers. Personally, if I had known one of those parts was in there, I would have skipped over it.

And yes, the beginning was a little slow. However, I liked this book. After a prolonged drought, Dusty and her family are in the pits of financial trouble. When Dusty begins competing on the Snow Pony, however, income begins to come back into the family account. Dusty's best friend Sally goes off to boarding school and they begin to slowly seperate, like two friends just drifting away. As things become worse in Dusty's life, including school, financial problems, her father drinking alcohol, ect., Dusty finds that her consolation is in a beautiful mare that only she can ride. Together, the two battle through tough times and end up overcoming one of the biggest challenges of them all.

I think this a good book. I gave it only four stars for some of the mature content, but besides that, mature readers should be able to enjoy this book. Especially if they like horses or reading about family difficulties. Or both!

A wonderfully written story for anyone who loves horses. My daughter and I read this book together. We had to look up some of the Australian slang words and some of the "scenes" were a bit mature for a pre-teen (family strife involving an alcoholic dad and sexual fondling of a young girl). We picked this book up after reading Alison Lester's other horse book, The Quicksand Pony, which was also very enjoyable - and more appropriate for a younger reader. Although we both enjoyed The Snow Pony, I would recommend it only for the more mature reader.

I thought the book was excellent, I could not put it down! There was an exciting part in every section of the book, I could not believe what happened in the middle of the book. The beginning of the book was kind of slow, but it will pick up, trust me. Anyways, about the book, there is a girl named Dusty, she has a brother, a dad, and a mom. Dusty's mom is in show jumping, she trains horses to show jump at their house. Her dad, Jack is a hard worker on their farm. Dusty, her dad, and her little brother go up to the cabin and see a beautiful horse and her mate. Dusty and her father watched them run in the snow, that's how dusty got the perfect horse. Dusty's mother trained the snow pony to jump and she could jump like no other horses in the world could. Well that's all that I'm going to say. Anyone who likes horses this is the book for you. Have fun reading, I'm sure you won't put this thrilling book down.

I gotta tell you Dusty is an interesting charcter. She's alot like her father but is much stronger than him in ways of the heart and helps comfort her whole family during the tough times that come in the book while being a teenage girl. She is really inspiring how she never gives up on the snow pony and I must tell you if you want a heartwarming story but one where bonds are constantly being pushed then you'll love this book, you have my word on it.

I loved the book it had a few boring bits but it was still exciting.Its a fantastic book and probaly my favourite!!!!!