Help with old pony book title

[Tiddlypom]

I'm having a bit of a nostalgia fest re reading old pony books .

Can anyone help me with the title of the book about a girl groom who goes to work for a wealthy family. The young son used to be a successful rider, but then had polio and lost the use of his legs. Groom and boy somehow get in cahoots and he starts riding again in secret. He surprises his family when they realise how well he is doing.

This book might be part of a series based on the girl groom? It'll be set in the 50s or so.

Any ideas?

 

[dreamcometrue]

That stirs a memory with me. I’ll have a think x

 

[Snowfilly]

Is it I Can Jump Puddles? I don’t think it matches all the details but the boy in that had polio and learnt to ride again.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Is it I Can Jump Puddles? I don’t think it matches all the details but the boy in that had polio and learnt to ride again.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it's not I Can Jump Puddles, which is autobiographical. But I might well go on to read that anyway, so thanks for the heads up ?.

 

[photo_jo]

Show Jumping Secret has a character with polio

 

[Tiddlypom]

Could well be Show Jumping Secret, thank you, although I don't remember the riding school part. I may well have partly misremembered the plot, though. I'm sure that I've read Show Jumping Secret before. I will have read many of the Pullein-Thompson sisters' books.

I have downloaded it from Kindle and will be getting stuck into the book tonight! Thanks.

 

[Pippity]

Showjumping Secret is a boy who's been told to ride as therapy after having polio, so not quite the same.

There's a possibility it's Jumping Jan by Kathleen Mackenzie? The most detailed blurb I can find is, "Jan takes a job looking after a wealthy family's horses and ends up helping their unhappy children to learn to ride better and have more fun." but it comes up in a search for polio on Jane Badger Books.

 

[Tiddlypom]

That's it - Jumping Jan! Thank you Pippity! The boy is called Irving.

HHO comes up trumps again!

https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/product/jumping-jan/

Publishing history
Evans, London, 1955, illus Violet Morgan, cover art Maurice Tulloch. 182 pp.
Evans, 1960

Janice Maddever wants to work with horses. Her first job is with the rich, unhappy Jervis family. Each of the Jervis children needs help, and Jan is the one who provides it. Irving has been crippled by polio, and thinks he will never ride again. Elaine wants to be a nurse, but dare not tell her snobbish mother this. Gary, a playwright, is the favourite, but he’s having problems writing and isn’t too fussy about where he gets his ideas. The last child, Sarah, is pretty but selfish. In the end Jan impresses more than just the Jervis family, and rides at White City.

Not out on Kindle, but a second hand hardback copy has just been ordered! I shall also enjoy reading Show Jumping Secret anyway!

 

[Pippity]

Ah, fabulous! I'm kind of tempted to pick up a copy myself, but I'm moving house in a month or so, so new books are banned until that's done with!

 

[clinkerbuilt]

While we're talking forgotten titles for pony books with a groom working for a rich family, I'm trying to remember a book where the groom/heroine spends the whole story dreading having to sell her amazing eventer because the family she works for are impoverished, then right at the end the deus ex machina is a gloomy portrait on the stairs they've managed to sell for millions, so the horse is still with her.

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

While we're talking forgotten titles for pony books with a groom working for a rich family, I'm trying to remember a book where the groom/heroine spends the whole story dreading having to sell her amazing eventer because the family she works for are impoverished, then right at the end the deus ex machina is a gloomy portrait on the stairs they've managed to sell for millions, so the horse is still with her.

Caroline Akrills Eventers series?

 

[TPO]

Caroline Akrills Eventers series?

Just finished re-reading the trilogy and the new fourth book, definitely this series

 

[clinkerbuilt]

Just finished re-reading the trilogy and the new fourth book, definitely this series

omg thank you you're both correct, it was a Hoof in the Door - I clearly need to read the other two!

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

omg thank you you're both correct, it was a Hoof in the Door - I clearly need to read the other two!

Three! There has just been a forth book released ?

 

[SashaBabe]

I ordered the four books, read the first on Sunday and am currently half way through A Hoof in the Door. They are hard to put down, once you start reading. Very addictive!

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Can anyone remember a book about a riding school where all the ponies can talk. A beginner is learning to ride and moves through several different ponies as she gets better. The ponies all tell her different things she needs to know about the horse's point of view. I clearly remember a scene where the pony is explaining that horses can't see the point in jumping over obstacles when there is plenty of space either side.

 

[cornbrodolly]

Silver Snaffles by Primrose Cumming?

 

[Ample Prosecco]

YES!!! I'd never have remembered that. Thanks!!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Silver Snaffles is one of my all time favourite pony books . I've still got a hard copy of that.

ETA Is the newly released fourth book in Caroline Akrill's Eventers series up to scratch?

 

[TPO]

Silver Snaffles is one of my all time favourite pony books . I've still got a hard copy of that.

ETA Is the newly released fourth book in Caroline Akrill's Eventers series up to scratch?

IMO Yes ?

 

[Lucky Snowball]

I enjoyed ‘I rode a winner’

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Silver Snaffles is one of my all time favourite pony books

Mine too and I still have mine. Written a long time ago and almost prophetic in some ways.

 

[cauda equina]

These days everywhere is The Land Beyond the Mist

 

[Hackback]

I don't suppose anyone remembers a book about a girl who had an accident showjumping and lost her memory and her nerve. Her father was a dealer I think and brought home a horse that hated everyone but then there was a fire at the stables and the girl rescues the horse and he becomes her best friend. I think he eventually restores her confidence. I'm sure the title had 'fire' in it somewhere but I've searched and searched and can't find it. It would be really old, I'm nearly 60 and I think it was one that my primary school teacher gave me from her childhood collection.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Pony from Fire by Sheila Chapman?

https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/product/pony-from-fire/

Yoland has a bad riding accident, and loses her nerve and her
memory, but after rescuing the difficult pony Wildcat from a fire, she forms a bond with him, and at last, together, they win through.

 

[Pippity]

I don't suppose anyone remembers a book about a girl who had an accident showjumping and lost her memory and her nerve. Her father was a dealer I think and brought home a horse that hated everyone but then there was a fire at the stables and the girl rescues the horse and he becomes her best friend. I think he eventually restores her confidence. I'm sure the title had 'fire' in it somewhere but I've searched and searched and can't find it. It would be really old, I'm nearly 60 and I think it was one that my primary school teacher gave me from her childhood collection.

That sounds very like Pony From Fire by Sheila Chapman, but the dates don't quite line up, unless your primary school teacher was very young.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Pony From Fire available on ebay for £24.99 + postage £4.99.

 

[Pippity]

Pony From Fire available on ebay for £24.99 + postage £4.99.

A hair under £20 on abebooks, including shipping:

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30848576538&searchurl=sortby=17&tn=pony+from+fire&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

Sadly, while it's possible to pick up your Pullein-Thompsons, Monica Edwards, etc. pretty cheaply, the more obscure ones can be pricy. (Yes, I am slowly trying to rebuild my childhood pony book collection! Thankfully, I just want them in readable condition, rather than looking for first editions or anything fancy.)

 

[Hackback]

Thank you, you are so clever. I recognised the cover as soon as I saw it. I remember the girl's name now, but I don't recall the title of the book at all - I thought it was to do with the pony's name.

I would love to read it again, not sure if I want to spend £20 though!