This book comes under the heading of a childhood favourite and a comfort read and I’ve re-read it so many times. It’s the story of Jill Crewe who moves to the country with her widowed mother and desperately wants to learn to ride. How she manages to learn and how she acquires her first pony finally achieving her goal of riding in her first gymkhana is the meat of the book but it’s told in a humourous first person narrative that never talks down to the reader. I love it still and it’s also amazing how many ‘Jill-isms’ have made it into my life – to this day I’m wary of swinging a bucket in case I hurt my wrist [see a later book in the series] and I share her view of chickens as being rather soulless creatures.
