Liz Jones wrote The Exmoor Files, in which she takes on an ex racehorse, and blames the Pullein-Thompsons for it. They invited her to tea, and you can read about it here.
What a marvelous article. Imagine being asked to tea by your favorite authors! I never heard of the PT sisters and their books as a kid (being in the US) so I still have a lot of catching up to do. I love even just reading the stories of the PT girls growing up--such wonderful anecdotes (swapping out the riding gear at the gymkhanas!).
Yes - it's a world away from the girls in National Velvet and their muslins at the local show, which is the picture strongest in my mind at the moment whenever anyone mentions a show!
I have to admit I was lucky enough to meet both PTs, and it was great!
Anonymous said…
Popescu is an unusual surname! Did Christine marry a Romanian?
I had a book by Charlotte Popescu as a kid, but can't remember the name of it.
Oh, how amazing to meet them. It's a chance to look into a lost world, isn't it? I Wanted a Pony and Three Ponies and Shannan were my favourites. I still love them.
I'm not usually that keen on Liz Jones articles but I have to say that she has found her forte with this. It was very good and I was intrigued by the lives of the sisters and the books, too.
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou...
It's been a shamefully long time since I did a review. My fellow reviewer will not be contributing to this. I made the fatal mistake of buying her the first two Georgia Nicholson books, and so all hope was lost as far as horsey book reviewing went. Added to that, she is now off in Germany on her school trip, wildly excited as this is the first time she has been Abroad. She was so full of whoomph she managed to get up effortlessly at 3.00 am on Wednesday so we could get to Kettering in time for the 4.15 am start. Although I am definitely a lark, and usually wake at 5.00 am at this time of year, 3.00 am was pushing it a little, particularly as I didn't sleep well, being too petrified of oversleeping and missing the off..... despite having own mobile, son's and husband's all set for a 3.00 am alarm call. When son did this trip (though it was France in his case) one of his friends did miss the coach, and so his mother chased it down the M1 before finally catching up at...
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Comments
I have to admit I was lucky enough to meet both PTs, and it was great!
I had a book by Charlotte Popescu as a kid, but can't remember the name of it.
Diana was my favourite P-T.
Liz (sorry, I'm not logged in on this computer)