Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

Welcome to the latest episode of Desert Island Pony Books, where my guest is author Kate Cuthbert . As the series goes on, I am finding it fascinating to see why people like the books they've chosen, and if anything it's even more fascinating to find out about the ones they'd leave behind. Kate is the author of the excellent Hatters series, which is set in a school where riding is on the curriculum. The series is full of sparky and believable characters, and if you're looking for a new series to get your teeth into, I can highly recommend this one. The first book is For the Love of Fly , and it's had (deservedly) excellent reviews on Amazon. The second book will be out soon, and there are three more in the pipeline. You can follow Kate on Twitter  and Instagram . So, welcome Kate – please tell us about your books. National Velvet: Enid Bagnold National Velvet had to be on my list. It is such a triumphant story about chasing your dreams with passio...

I'm delighted to welcome John Rees to the blog to talk about his desert island book choices. John is a man of many talents: he's an expert on vintage antiques, and is starring in the S4C programme Trysorau’r Teulu that started this week (for those who don't speak Welsh, subtitles are available!) He is co-founder of Cow and Ghost Vintage , and organises vintage fairs across Wales. John's also the founder of the very popular Ruby Ferguson Facebook grou p celebrating all things Jill. So will John choose a Jill book? I think we know the answer ... *** Jill's Pony Trek  by Ruby Ferguson I've adored Jill for over 35 years and she has never lost her charm. I read them out of order after discovering the fourth in Granny's attic. Hard to chose a favourite. This is perhaps slightly different from the format of the rest: less gymkhana and school and set in a shorter time period. I like the road trip style of it and how the events flow into each other in s...

A very warm welcome to my first guest on Desert Island Pony Books: Cressida Ellen Schofield. Cressida, like me, keeps body and soul together by proofreading and editing. But unlike me, she gets out there and writes. She's the author of the very funny Magpie Chronicles, and has just released part two of the series,  Lindian Summer .  I can't do better than Cressida at telling you what it's about, so here you are:  Ten holidaymakers. Ten days. One small villa. One hot mess. There are details for Cressida's website and her books at the bottom of this blog.  *** So, take it away Cress ... what pony books would you make a shelf for on your desert island? Phantom Horse – Christine Pullein-Thompson For me, there was always something so romantic and exotic about the rather brash and gauche Jean – our heroine – and her family being flown out to live in West Virginia due to her father’s job relocation, Early on Jean learns about the ‘wild horse’ – the eponymo...

Welcome to the start of a new series in which I ask people which five horse or pony books they'd take away with them on a desert island. (This is all based on Desert Island Discs , a very long running radio programme here in the UK where the great and the good choose which music tracks they'd take with them were they to be cast away on a desert island). We'll assume, for the sake of argument, that the five books are suitably packed in a waterproof container and make it to shore unscathed. And that there are no beasties who would fancy a nibble on the books .… But moving on, I thought I'd start off by giving you my own choice of books. I did toss up whether the lure of the book loved in childhood would be enough to overcome the fact that, reading with a grownup eye, the book didn't work its old magic, and so the books I've gone for are ones I still pick up. Ruby Ferguson: Jill's Gymkhana I had to start with Jill, who still has the same magnetic ch...

The Forward Seat, by Henry Baron (December 1940) The next topic in Riding Magazine’s series on controversial subjects of the day ( here's the first ) was one that would have generated pages of choleric spleen had it been written 30 years earlier. By 1940, using the forward seat while jumping, and while riding cross-country, was already pretty much accepted, but the very fact the subject made it into this series suggests that those who commissioned articles for Riding were aware of a small, but presumably persistent, group still using the backward seat. If we look forward a decade, there is evidence for this, as it appears this group was still alive and well in the 1950s. Josephine Pullein-Thompson, in Show Jumping Secret , which appeared in 1955, tells the story of polio-stricken Charles, whose cousins all ride. They attempt to teach him to ride – sitting well back, feet well forward so he can see them, and hands in his lap. It does not go well. Charles goes to have riding...

On my Facebook page a few weeks back, I posted a cover of Riding Magazine from 1941, really because it was the Pullein-Thompsons’ first appearance in print (Cocktail Capitulates – a piece written by all three on the schooling of a difficult pony). The whole point of a front cover is to encourage people to dive into the delights contained within, and as the magical pull of this edition had not faded over the 70 plus years since it was published, people wanted to know what was the controversy mentioned on the front cover? Riding, January 1941 The controversial horse was a series of articles appearing each month on a topical controversy. I’ve found three so far, and when I’ve found the rest of my 1941 copies, I shall be able to tell you if they continued beyond that. The series kicked off a couple of months before the issue above, with an article on how best to control the horse. (i) Using physical or mental methods to control the horse (November 1940) If you fought o...

I’m taking a slightly different tack here to my usual interviews-with-authors, and interviewing a photographer, Deanne Ward, who specialises in horses and dogs. I happen to know this particular photographer, and have done since we were horse-mad girls at school together, made felt ponies together, had model pony gymkhanas, rode real ponies …. and now, after detours for both of us, we’re both working with horses, although Deanne gets closer up than me. You’ll see just how close in a bit. And so, one sunny May morning, Deanne came to visit, armed with her photography equipment. I provided tea, an elderly Labrador who made sure Deanne spilled that tea over her lap, and who then, having been virtually comatose up to the point of having her photo done, decided she was going to prove just how good Deanne is at working with animals who, well, are just not feeling it. JB: Welcome to my blog Deanne – so, how did you get started – have you always been keen on photography? DW: Well,...