1. A novel by Mary O'Hara, the first sequel to My Friend Flicka, published in 1943 by Lippincott of Philadelphia and illustrated by John Steuart Curry.

This book continues the story of the McLaughlin family on their Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming. Flicka gives birth to an ugly white colt late in the season, who turns out to be a son of Charley Sargent's racehorse, Appalachian. Ken has high hopes for this colt. He plans to train it for the race track and he has vast dreams of what he will do with the prize money, including new fences for the ranch and something to cheer up his mother. The beginning of the story is far from promising--the colt is first named Goblin because of his appearance and his strange "scrabbling" run. Later, they rename him Thunderhead and he lives up to the name, growing into a large, powerful stallion who really is fast.

Thunderhead luckily avoids being gelded when he wanders away from the ranch into the mountains. He discovers a hidden valley populated by a group of wild horses lead by his legendary great-grandsire, the Albino. He is still too young to pose a threat to the Albino and so he begins to visit the wild horses often. Whenever he is back on the ranch, Ken is training him to race, but progress is slow. Thunderhead fights the training and has to be beaten into submission before he will run. As a three-year-old, it is finally time for Thunderhead to enter Mr. Beaver Greenway's ten thousand dollar race at Saginaw Falls in Idaho, but just before the race, Thunderhead escapes from the ranch again and this time he fights and kills the Albino to take over the band of mares in the Valley of the Eagles. To Ken, this is the worst thing that could possibly happen. All his dreams are destroyed. But, showing how far he has come since the opening pages of My Friend Flicka, Ken swallows the bitter pill and travels to Idaho with fortitude to race Flicka's second foal, the sorrel filly Touch And Go.

Meanwhile Nell and Rob are suffering a crisis in their marriage. The quality polo horses that Rob dreamed of raising still do not sell for the price he wants and needs. Every year they sink deeper and deeper in debt. They plan to send their elder son, Howard, to prep school in the east, but where will the tuition money come from? They have been renting some grazing land to a local sheep breeder, but now that man buys land of his own. Finally, Nell tells Rob she thinks he should give up on the horse operation and try something else. He believes she has lost confidence in him and in his ability to support the family. His anger with her and her own frustration is so great that she falls into a deep depression.

This book is much more complex than its predecessor because of the two intertwined subplots. About half of the book focuses on Nell and her problems with Rob, over a period of almost three years while Thunderhead is growing up. The other half of the book details Ken's relationship with Thunderhead and the boy's maturation as he learns that he cannot always get exactly what he wants just by wishing very hard. In addition, this book has some graphic scenes, such as the description of Thunderhead killing the Albino. Mary O'Hara also does not avoid discussing sexual relations between horses (and humans), although it is done tastefully. Found on the children's shelves at the library, this book would be enjoyable on different levels by readers of many ages.

2. A movie, "Thunderhead, Son of Flicka," (1943) was made based on the book with almost the same cast as "My Friend Flicka." Filmed at Remount Ranch, Wyoming1 by 20th Century Fox, the nonrated picture is in Technicolor and runs 78 minutes. Although I have not yet been able to watch this film, several reviewers have given hints that the screenplay did not closely follow the novel. Apparently, Thunderhead sustains a leg injury in his first race, which ends his career and keeps him confined to the ranch. Instead of the colt wandering into the mountains, the Albino comes down to steal mares from the Goose Bar herd. On one of these excursions, the Albino attacks Ken who is rescued by Thunderhead. In the ensuing fight, the Albino is killed and his mares are repatriated. As a reward, Thunderhead is allowed to take the wild mares into the mountains. Howard, Ken's older brother, is again replaced by Hildy, the young daughter of the hired hand.

The credits include:2

Notes:
1. http://members.tripod.com/~horsefame/Flicka1.html
2. http://www.tvguide.com
Also, information about the book and its plot comes from my own reading of the novel.