Someone made a pony-less girl very happy...

E

Epona78

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 July 2012
Messages
73
Location
Posh Cheshire
Visit site
I've not long finished reading "If Wishes Were Horses", and it brought back so many memories of my sad little horse-less childhood living on the 3rd floor of a block of flats in the middle of London! I lived in Camden Town, and rode a piebald gelding once a week at a riding school in Barnet that took 2 buses and a tube train to get to. Very frustrating! I think I got to the age of about 10 when I realised there was no room for a horse on my council estate (or the money either). I snapped and wrote a pretty sarky letter to the Piebald and Skewbald Association (I think it was called), saying I didn't understand why they had a London branch as there are no horses in London anyway.. something along those lines...
A lady (I regret I cannot remember her name) read my letter, somehow feltsorry for me, phoned my mum and said "would Sarah like to come and stay with me for the weekend?". She lived in Surbiton, I think. She had fields and loads of horses - heaven! I couldn't believe it, it was like a little girl's horsey novel come to life! She lent me a horse for the weekend (called Jumbles), which I rode and groomed and fussed over all weekend to my heart's content. She was holding a show on her ground that she allowed me to enter with Jumbles, where I won 8 rosettes (pity rosettes, I think!) and to top it off I had my photo taken and printed in Pony magazine. It was a dream come true for a pony-less little girl, and one of the outstanding highlights of my childhood.
I don't know if anyone on here knows who this woman could be, I know she was in charge of the London branch of the Piebald and Skewbald Association (I think that was what it was called), around 1988 this would have been, she was a foster carer I think (I may be wrong). I wonder if she remembers what she did and how happy it made that little girl. If anyone here knows of her, please let her know how much her kindness meant to me, and I hope life has been good to her.
 
Lovely story! Restores faith in humanity :)

Why not contact the HQ of the society and explain it to them. They may keep back details of clubs and members...
 
lovely story!

I'm a google fiend and it seems that the BSPA was founded in 1988... away to do some digging for you.

you could contact them on
Contact British Skewbald and Piebald Association
TEL: 01354 638226 FAX: 01354 638238

and ask :)

they're also on facebook, which would perhaps be quicker.
 
Last edited:
What a lovely story!

If the organisation still exists maybe write to them and ask them to publish a letter in their newsletter asking if anyone can identify the lady.

If not maybe a letter to the BHS magazine British Horse and to the Surbiton local newspaper.

It would be lovely to be able to thank her as an adult.
 
I have contacted the Piebald and Skewbald Assoc., I just told them the story and my name was Sarah but didn't give them my contact details as I didn't want the lady to think I wanted anything else from her other than to thank her. I also thought I'd post here as someone must know her. I hope this somehow gets back to her one way or another!
Thanks for all your lovely replies BTW!
 
That's a lovely story.

I too was a pony-less child and would have loved someone to have invited me for a weekend to ride.

Hope you find her and can say thanks.

I suppose you have already asked your mum if she recalls who it was? My mum keeps a diary and if that had been us she would have written it down somewhere! She is always able to look back through her diaries and give us dates for things.
 
Boxers said:
That's a lovely story.

I too was a pony-less child and would have loved someone to have invited me for a weekend to ride.

Hope you find her and can say thanks.

I suppose you have already asked your mum if she recalls who it was? My mum keeps a diary and if that had been us she would have written it down somewhere! She is always able to look back through her diaries and give us dates for things.
Click to expand...

My mum's memory is as worse as mine, unfortunately!
She definately lived in Surbiton though. And she worked with children, which is why my mum was happy to let me go and stay with her.
 
Do you remember what the yard was like? My horse is kept near Surbiton but I don't remember a horse called Jumbles, and I was born in 1988 so wouldn't remember any of the horses, but might be able to help with the area.

Lovely story though, did you stay in touch with her at all afterwards?
 
Tash88 said:
Do you remember what the yard was like? My horse is kept near Surbiton but I don't remember a horse called Jumbles, and I was born in 1988 so wouldn't remember any of the horses, but might be able to help with the area.

Lovely story though, did you stay in touch with her at all afterwards?
Click to expand...

She lived in a cul-de-sac and across the road she had fields of her own. She used to hold shows on her land. She had quite a few horses. It's awful that I can remember the name of the horse but not the lady.
I wrote her a thank you letter afterwards. I was about 9 years old at the time. I rode until I was about 14, then I gave it up just out of frustration (I wasn't ever going to have my own horse living in the middle of London so why bother, I thought). I started riding again last July (aged 33) and have fallen back into the horse-mad trap again, I've regressed! I read that "If Wishes Were Horses" book a few weeks ago, and it just brought back so many memories, particularly that desperate longing I had for any kind of horse contact whatsoever, and when she gave me my own horse for the weekend, well it was wish fulfillment.
 
If you don't find anything through the horse soc, try the local archives. Bit of a long shot, I know. But I also know that Gloucestershire archives (I work for the library service and have been on a few visits) have a shed load of obscure records and information so Surbiton or the local authority might have something.
 
Argh, pressed send before if finished! I also wanted to say, what a lovely story. I was in a similar situ when I was a teen and will always be grateful for what others did for me :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top