SIRE UNKNOWN

Sire Unknown is by Virtues is Its Own Reward out of Money is the Root of All Evil--actually he's a patchy horse which is all Jim Evans' parents can afford after his pony Boots is shot by a hunter. On the other hand his old enemy, disagreeable and disgustingly fat Tubby, gets the beautiful, pedigreed Barbary. While sometimes Jim dreams of being the son of the wealthy Fitzgeralds who live in a castle (and his mother is reprovingly hurt) most of the time he is riding and training Warrior and together they outclass Tubby. At the end the revelation that the Fitzgeralds' son was the hunter who had killed his Boots really takes the glitter off the gold.... Clippety clop claptrap to be sure, but just as surely, younger kids will like it.