Ursula Bruns

German author. Born in 1922. She was something of a riding expert, having set up her own riding school and spent much time travelling around teaching people her riding techniques. She also founded the Pony Post, a magazine aimed at people who rode for pleasure.

Writing was another interest of hers. She penned some non-fictional book about horses and riding, but also turned to writing children's pony novels. As far as I know only one of these - Dick und Dallie und die Ponies -  was translated into English. This book was inspired by a visit she made to Iceland to buy a herd of Icelandic ponies, which she had heard were becoming extinct. The book was entitled The Snow Ponies in English and told of a pair of children who visit their grandma, a breeder of Icelandic ponies. There was also a sequel, although this sadly does not appeared to have been translated. The books were made into a film, which in turn inspired a number of spin off films. There was a lot of interest in the books, film and ponies, and perhaps this interest was instrumental is helping to save the Icelandic breed from extinction.

Most of the information about Ursula Bruns on the internet is in German which is fine if you can read it. Sadly my German is a bit basic!

Pony Books (English language only):

THE SNOW PONIES
aka DICK UND DALLI UND DIE PONIES (Original title)
(1st English language edition UNIV OF LONDON PRESS {UK}1960)
ILLUSTRATED BY PRINCESS MARIE LUISE OF SALM
Fairly rare in English language edition.
SUMMARY: The girls Dikki and Dalli live with their grandmother who breeds Shetlands and Icelandic ponies on her own stud farm. The girls are tomboys and are embarking on a 'toughening up' campaign which involves plenty of fresh air and cold water! When they hear a cousin of theirs is coming to stay, they think because of his name - Ethelbert - he will be a super tough Viking type. But when he arrives he is something of a drip who is a hypochondriac, and worse still he looks down his nose at the shaggy little ponies on the farm, not considering them real horses. It looks like the girls and their cousin will never get on until Ethelbert falls in love with a tiny Shetland foal who desperately needs his help.
PONYMAD VIEW: A quirky story with entertaining characters and plenty of humour. Ethelbert's connection with the foal is heart-warming as he is subject to that good old pony book stand by (which nevertheless doesn't grow old) of a horse transforming a human for the better! The book also has the advantage of an excellent translation job from the original German.
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES

Collectors Info:
The English language translation of the book was published in the UK only. Can be quite hard to find, although there are usually one or two copies around and they are not usually that expensive. The book is more readily available in German language.