Of The Thunder Of Hooves: Ian H. Sabey

This unusual story about a wild horse is written in two parts: Melodie's Son and The Story of Mountain Rogue, the story of a wild Australian horse - unusual because both stories were originally written when Sabey was a prisoner of war in a German prison camp. Later rewritten in more salubrious surroundings, it became the story of a thousand horses which have thundered down valleys and across streams. Mountain Rogue, the son of Melodie, is captured, broken in, harshly introduced to the racing world and finally sold to a humble journalist - the author. The book was first written for a 'reading public' of one: a Digger from Queensland, a bushman who had spent his life with horses. He was suffering from nephritis, and 'seemed to have lost interest in this world and already booked for another'. Yet as the story unfolded daily and the next chapter was discussed, the bushie left his bed and went out into the spring sunshine.