Bylur The Icelandic Horse

by Evy Purinton
Illustrated by Shea Ryan

Evy Purinton Beneda owned the Icelandic horse Bylur (pronounced Bay-lure), and rode her horse all around Washington Island, her home.  As a high school student, she wrote her childhood story as a class exercise.   In 1996, with wonderful illustrations added to an edited version of her story, Connie Essig published this heartwarming story of a girl and her horse as a children's book, and it's been a favorite of many children ever since, often the best-seller in the children's book category of books sold in Door County, Wisconsin.  Now 38 and with a family of her own, Evy is once again living on Washington Island, in the house with the barn on Main Road where she grew up with Bylur.  Evy remains a horse owner, and her current stable includes the white Icelandic horse named Blitzen.  She occasionally competes in equestrian competitions. This is a timeless, classic story based on Evy's childhood love affair with her horse, where growing up in a nurturing, safe and supportive island community meant so much in her development.
     Richard Purinton (Evy's father)