A young boy, Tom Tiflin, is given a small pony by his father. Tom asks the stable helper, Billy Buck, to help him raise and train it so that it can be ridden. During a rain storm the pony gets out of the stable and, having been soaked, becomes fevered. Despite Buck's best efforts to nurse the pony it develops strangles and requires a tracheotomy. Shortly after the procedure, the pony escapes from the farm. Tom follows the pony's hoof prints to a gully where it has died and is being eaten by vultures. He blames Buck for not saving its life. Buck, feeling remorse, prepares to kill his own pregnant mare in order to give Tom a colt, believing the unborn may not have turned. Tom grows angry at Buck's willingness to sacrifice a horse and steals his knife. When they return to the stable the foal has been born naturally, with both mother and colt surviving.
Adaptation
In adapting his novella into a screenplay, Steinbeck focused mainly on the chapters "The Gift" and "The Promise". Characters' names were changed from those in the book: Jody Tiflin became "Tom", and his parents Carl and Ruth became "Fred" and "Alice". The film also features a much happier ending than the novella: in the book, Billy Buck cannot deliver the foal naturally and so has to kill the mare in order to perform a cesarean section so as to save her unborn foal. Other violent scenes, such as Jody beating a vulture to death, were also toned down or omitted entirely for the film adaptation.
In Central California many small ranches sit in the hollows of the skirts of the Coast Range Mountains — some the remnants of old and gradually disintegrating homesteads... some the remains of Spanish grants... to one of them in the foothills to the west of Salinas Valley... the dawn comes as it comes to a thousand others... in trailer for The Red Pony
Film criticBosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review, writing, "But, unfortunately, the story does ramble, and its several interlaced strands are often permitted to dangle or get lost in the leisurely account. An extraneous family situation involving the youngster's Ma and Pa, wherein the father has trouble with his ego, likewise confuses the plot. In directing the picture, Mr. Milestone has adopted a frankly casual style which further invests the proceedings with a languid quality."
