was born on this date in 1916. The Writer’s Almanac tells us:
From an early age, there was nothing he wanted more in the world than his own horse. Unfortunately, his parents couldn’t afford one, so he spent all his time reading and writing about horses.
Between the ages eleven and fifteen, he wrote dozens of short stories with titles like “The Winged Horse,” “My Black Horse,” “Red Stallion,” and “The Pony.” He later said they were all rough drafts for the novel that he finally finished while he was a student at Columbia University, which he called The Black Stallion (1941). It’s the story of a boy and a wild stallion who survive a shipwreck and become friends on a deserted island.
The book was so popular that Farley went on to write twenty novels about the horse, including The Black Stallion Returns (1945), The Black Stallion Revolts (1953), and The Black Stallion’s Ghost (1969).
NewMexiKen’s favorites were The Island Stallion, The Island Stallion’s Fury and The Island Stallion Races.