The Black Stallion

Walter Farley was only 26 years old when he published The Black Stallion, the fictional adventure story of the friendship between a boy and a majestic, powerful horse. Farley’s book, first available in 1941, was an instant bestseller. The Black Stallion and its 20 sequels have sold more than 12 million copies. The novel won the 1944 Young Reader’s Choice Award and inspired three Black Stallion movies and a TV series. At the heart of the book is the mutually protective relationship between New York school boy Alec Ramsay and a mysterious, untamed black stallion. They bond while saving each other during a shipwreck.

Traditionally, the novel has been regarded as a middle-grade novel. The author was raised around horses and kept them throughout his life. He began writing the book while still in high school and finished it while in college several years before it was published. Though Farley describes danger, physical injury, and the loss of human life, the narrative does not contain graphic material and is suitable for middle-grade readers.

Farley wrote more than 20 Black Stallion and directly derivative titles, greatly expanding the Black’s backstory as well as the stories of his offspring. Nearing the end of his life, Farley included his son, Stephen, as co-author of his last Black Stallion sequel. This guide refers to the 2002 Random House paperback edition.

Plot Summary

Alec Ramsay boards a ship called the Drake in Bombay, India, after spending the summer with his uncle. The Drake is bound for England, from where Alec will travel to his home in New York City. While stopping at an Arabian port, the Drake takes on a very large black stallion that is wild and dangerous. Alec is intrigued by the horse, visiting his on-deck stable and leaving him sugar cubes each night.

Off the coast of Portugal, the Drake is beset by a violent thunderstorm and loses power. It begins to sink in heavy waves. While waiting for a lifeboat, Alec remembers the Black, trapped in a reinforced pen. He opens the horse’s stall and the Black flashes past him and leaps into the ocean, knocking Alec overboard. Rising to the surface, Alec sees the Drake sink with no survivors. The Black swims by him, and Alec grabs a rope trailing from his halter. The Black swims for hours, eventually finding safety on a small, uninhabited island.

The island is uninhabited and mostly free of foliage, and Alec and the Black quickly consume every edible form of vegetation. Alec uses the survival skills he has learned to build a fire for warmth and cooking and to build a shelter from wood washed ashore off the sunken Drake. The boy and horse gradually come to trust one another to the point that the Black allows the boy onto his back. They often run the length of the island, as they become companions.

The loud whinnying of the horse wakes Alec one night. He finds that strong breezes kindled his campfire and caught his shelter on fire. In the morning, Alec discovers an Irish cargo ship anchored off the shore. Crewmembers in a lifeboat come to investigate the previous night’s fire. Seeing only Alec at first, the men think he is delirious when he tells them there is a great, black stallion who saved his life on the island. When the horse appears, they argue with Alec about whether to take the Black aboard. Alec coaxes the horse to swim with the lifeboat to the ship. He dives under the Black and the horse injures Alec’s leg in its anxiety as he secures a cinch under the horse to lift him aboard. Days later, the ship docks in Rio de Janeiro.

Upon finding out Alec survived, his parents wire money to him for passage aboard another ship. Alec books passage for himself and the Black. Upon arriving at night in New York City, Alec experiences problems unloading the Black, who retreats into the hold of the ship to escape the brash noises of the city. Alec’s parents, who knew nothing about the horse until Alec arrived, tentatively decide they will let Alec keep the stallion. Keeping the Black entails Alec asking the Ramsays’ new neighbors, the Daileys, if they will allow Alec to board the horse in their barn. Alec approaches them at night to ask permission. After Alec secures a berth for the Black, he discovers Henry Daily was a championship jockey. Henry is extremely cooperative with Alec from the outset, telling him how to care for the Black.

In the stall next to the Black is a 15-year-old gelding named Napoleon, who belongs to a street merchant named Tony. The Black senses Napoleon is no threat to his dominance, and the horses bond quickly. Tony arrives late that night to attend to Napoleon, unaware the Black is present. The Black’s whistles and screams awaken the neighborhood, and a police officer visits the stable to investigate. Henry, Alec, and Tony chuckle over the mutual surprise between the Black and Tony, while the police officer asks Alec if he can look at the Black. Before Alec heads back to bed, the Black nudges his head towards Tony and Napoleon, and Alec realizes that the stallion likes his new company.

Allowed to stay home from school one extra day, Alec becomes acquainted with Henry, and they work together to plan the Black’s care. Alec devotes himself completely to grooming and caring for the Black. Henry tells Alec he is sure the Black would be a great racehorse. Alec and Henry agree to be partners in training and racing the stallion. With patience, Alec and Henry teach the Black to accept a saddle on his back and a bit in his mouth. Alec begins a series of late-night training runs.

Alec hears that the country’s two fastest racehorses, Cyclone and Sun Raider, will hold a match race in a few weeks in Chicago. Reporter Joe Russo turns up at Dailey’s barn. Russo contacts Jim Neville, the sportswriter who spurred the owners of Cyclone and Sun Raider to conduct their match race. Jim shows up to time the Black at a Belmont training run. Afterward, Jim writes a newspaper column saying he knows of a Mystery Horse that can outrun the other two champions. The article prompts a national controversy that ends when the owners of Cyclone and Sun Raider invite the mystery horse to be a third party in the match race. Henry convinces Mr. Ramsay to allow Alec to ride the Black in the match race.

Jim arranges for Alec, Henry, and the Black to travel to Chicago in a train car. They convince Tony to allow them to take Napoleon as well, since the Black will not leave the barn without him. They arrive on the morning of the race, encountering many curious, skeptical people who want to see the Mystery Horse.

As they line up for the race, Sun Raider challenges the Black, and the horses clash. The result is a deep cut on the Black’s leg. As the race starts, Alec sees the cut and tries to keep the Black from running. The Black pulls the reins from Alec and chases the other horses as Alec tries to recover his upright position. Though far behind, the Black catches up to and passes Cyclone after the final turn. With only a few yards to go, the Black catches up to Sun Raider. The Black bares his teeth to attack, but Alec slaps him with his hand, urging the horse to take the lead and win the race, which he does.

Alec stops the horse to examine his cut leg. The track veterinarian bandages the cut, pronouncing the wound superficial. Alec rides the Black to the winner’s circle, where his parents, the governor of Illinois, and the owners of the other horses congratulate him. Alec learns that Black has broken the world record in the race.