The Red Pony

The Red Pony is a short 100-page, four chapter story written by John Steinbeck in 1933. The stories in the book are tales of Steinbeck's childhood recounted by a ten-year-old boy named Jody Tiflin. The book has four different stories about Jody and his life on his father's Californian ranch. Other main characters include Carl Tiflin - Jody's father; Billy Buck - an expert in horses and a worker on the ranch; Mrs. Tiflin - Jody's mother; and Jody's grandfather - Mrs. Tiflin's father and an enthusiastic storyteller. Along with these stories, there is a short story at the end of the book entitled "Junius Maltby."

Lewis Milestone produced and directed a 1949 motion picture of the same name starring Myrna Loy and Robert Mitchum along with child actors Beau Bridges and Nino Tempo.

Chapter 1: The Gift

Carl Tiflin comes home one day and brings back a red pony for Jody. Jody is overjoyed and promises to take care of the pony and train it well. Jody names the pony Gabilan, after the great Gabilan_Range | Gabilan Mountains. Billy Buck helps Jody train the horse and gives him pointers on how to care for it. Although the pony is very young, Carl tells Jody he will be able to ride the pony by Thanksgiving. Before Thanksgiving can come, however, the pony takes ill with "strangles" after being left outside in the rain. Despite Billy Buck's best efforts to heal Gabilan, the pony's condition continues to deteriorate. When the horse escapes through barn door blown open by the wind, Jody follows the horse's tracks up a hill, only to find buzzards circling around the horse. When he realizes Gabilan is dead, he lashes out at one of the buzzards, killing it with misplaced fury.

Chapter 2: The Great Mountains

Jody is wondering about the great western mountains in Monterey County and asks his father what is in the mountains. His father tells him there is more unexplored territory in Monterey County than anywhere in the U.S. Jody is very curious about what is located within those mountains. Jody sees someone coming toward the ranch, and meets the man at the gate. The old paisano man says he is Gitano and he has come back. Jody tells his mother of the man, and when Mrs. Tiflin greets Gitano, he says that he was born on this land and that he has come to die here. The elder lived in an old adobe home at the start of the great western mountains. Jody's father refuses to let the old man stay at the ranch. He says he does not need anymore men to help and that he does want to spend money on another mouth to feed. Gitano says he has family in Monterey and Carl tells him to go over there. Gitano still wants to reside at the place he was born, and so Carl lets him stay for one night but then he says in the morning, Gitano has to leave. Jody is fascinated by the old paisano man and the fact that he has been in the great mountains. The next morning, Easter (Carl Tiflin's old horse) and Gitano are gone. Carl thinks Easter is dead, at first, but Jess Taylor, their neighbour, reports of seeing the old paisano man and the horse walking up the great mountains. Jody searches for the duo and only momentarily thinks he had seen them. In the last line of the chapter, he is left with a feeling "of a nameless sorrow."

Chapter 3: The Promise

Billy and Carl decide that since Jody was so good at training Gablian, he might be ready to raise a colt. But, first he must breed the horse that will later give birth to his future colt. Carl gives Jody 5 dollars to pay Mr. Taylor for allowing a stallion to breed with Nellie. So Jody waited and waited for Nellie to show any sign of pregnancy. Jody asks Billy to tell him when Nellie is giving birth and Billy promises he will. Then one restless night Billy wakes Jody up and tells him Nellie is giving birth. The colt is not lined up properly for delivery, and Billy is forced to euthanize Nellie and to cut the colt out of her. Nellie gives birth to a black foal.