•June 22, 2016•

By Jerry Ginther
NP Columnist

When I was in grade school, I was a big fan of Walter Farley, author of The Black Stallion series. I read them all. Anytime a book report was required, one of Mr. Farley’s books was the adventure of choice so I wasn’t at all surprised when I learned recently that he was actually writing to my age group. However, when I was a freshman in high school, my English teacher suggested, after I submitted two of those reports back to back, that my coverage on the topic was sufficient for that year. She further advised that it was in my best interest to read other authors. It was about that time that I realized it wasn’t merely a suggestion.

In the vast majority of his books a young lad named Alec Ramsey was the protagonist leading an exciting life with these amazing racehorses, on and off the track. In any one of those books, I could be Alec riding the famous Black or any of the other horses he rode across the finish line. What an adventurous life! There was even a book about a colt of the Black’s becoming a harness racehorse. Actually, that story was the one that touched my life where I was at the time because I could see harness racehorses training nearly every day.

During my preteen years, and for a few more, I lived close to a training stable for harness racehorses, Roxborough Farms. Saturdays during the school year and many weekdays during the summer would find me at the stable watching the workouts being timed by stopwatches. Based on their times, decisions were made concerning which horses would go to various race tracks and which ones needed more work before going anywhere. I learned what was a fast time for a half-mile and a mile. I knew the names of every horse in the barn and kept up with their training progress. I had learned the “trade language” from being at the training track so often that I could place myself in the excitement of the stories in the books.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.