Mildred Mastin Pace

A m e r i c a n H o r s e B o o k s H o m e

Ponies, ponies, ponies

Mildred Mastin Pace (? - 1992) was born in St Louis, and moved to Kentucky at the age of 15. She worked her way through college by selling articles to newspapers, and carried on writing once through college. Her works were all (as far as I’m aware) non fiction, and included Clara Barton (1941), a biography, which won the Herald Tribune Spring Festival Prize for most outstanding children’s book for the older age group. Probably her most famous book is Old Bones, the Wonder Horse (1955), the story of Exterminator, a famous race horse nicknamed Old Bones because of his bony ugliness as a foal, but who proved a champion despite his looks.

Finding the book: very easy, though very good firsts with good dustjackets will be pricey. It’s available as an ebook.

Links and sources

Biographical information on the author at Barnes & Noble

More on Exterminator the racehorse

Exterminator at the Racing Hall of Fame

Terri Wear: Horse Stories: An Annotated Bibliography

Thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture

Old Bones, the Wonder Horse

Whittlesey House, New York, 1955, 119 pp, illus Wesley Dennis

Published in Three Great Horse Stories, Whittlesey House, New York, 1955

with Henry V Larom’s Mountain Pony, and The Pinto Colt

Scholastic, New York, 1974, pb

As Kentucky Derby Champion, Jesse Stuart Foundation, pb, 1993

Exterminator was bought as a training horse to race with the famous horse Sun Briar, but Old
Bones (the horse’s nickname) was a wonder horse; he’d race on any track in any weather.

Bibliography - horse books only

Mildred Mastin Pace