Patrick's Pony

The only thing Patrick has to love is his pony, Taffy.

Patrick's grandfather is too ill to look after him, and so Patrick has been sent to a children's home. He's been allowed to take Taffy, but no one at the home really understands ponies, and Patrick becomes a target for bullies.

It seems as if a miracle has happened when a farming family offer to take Patrick to stay with them to see if they would like to adopt him. A farm would be the best thing in the world for Taffy, thinks Patrick, but Mr Forrester doesn't like Taffy. He likes smart, clever, well-bred ponies, not scruffy thin ones like Taffy. And so Taffy is left behind at the home, and Patrick misses him terribly.

He is torn between the Forresters, whom he likes, particularly Carol, their daughter, and his misery at leaving Taffy behind. And then he overhears something he shouldn't have about Taffy ... and a whole world of misunderstanding results.

Josephine Pullein-Thompson wrote Patrick's Pony for a rather younger audience than her usual, and it's a real tear-jerker, though in a happy way. It's definitely a lesser-known JPT title, but it's still one of those stories where you can enjoy a really good wallow in the world as it was. And ponies, of course, plenty of ponies.