Post by Claire on Nov 7, 2007 12:46:59 GMT 1
SIX PONIES by JOSEPHINE PULLEIN-THOMPSON
(Please note this review was written by Ree)
The edition reviewed was the Armada 1979 copy
PLOT SUMMARY
Six Ponies by Josephine Pullein-Thompson is the first book in the ever popular Noel and Henry series. The novel introduces the reader to the somewhat unruly members of the West Barsetshire Pony Club, which is run by the well reputed and long suffering Major George Holbrooke.
The Noel and Henry series consist of the following titles:
Six Ponies (1946)
Pony Club Team (1950)
The Radney Riding Club (1951)
One Day Event (1954)
Pony Club Camp (1957)
The story of Six Ponies commences when the Major’s cousin, Colonel Harry Shelbourne, offers to him six unbroken New Forest ponies to break, train and prepare for sale. Major Holbrooke eagerly accepts his cousin’s offer and with permission, decides to lend the ponies to six Pony Club members as a special assignment in breaking and educating ponies. He believes the task will be a valuable learning curve for the children, from which they will all immensely benefit in horsemanship terms.
The Pony Club members who are lucky enough to be granted a pony give the story its main characters, and it is around these children that the story revolves. The author has an immense talent for creating believable characters from all walks of life. All of the members have unique personalities, come from varied backgrounds in life and have a broad range of riding abilities and experience. Most are likeable, others not so! Yet they have one thing in common – to succeed at their task.
With much excitement and anticipation, the breaking and training project begins. The Pony Club members set about their task with great determination, however they soon discover that breaking and schooling a young pony is not as easy as they first imagined. Much to their surprise, they find that patience, plenty of hard work, thrills and spills, joy and frustration are all involved in their special assignment. Throughout the story, the children and ponies regularly attend Major Holbrooke’s Pony Club rallies and instruction days and also organise a fun day amongst themselves. The members are informed that at the end of the project a gymkhana will be run featuring a special class for the best trained pony, which will be judged by the Major’s cousin. Upon hearing this news, each member decides that his/her pony must simply win this event and beat all of the other ponies, fair and square!
During the lengthy schooling task, the Pony Club members face many personal challenges with their ponies which ultimately affects their personal success. One character loses complete interest in the project and totally ignores their pony, and at their parents insistence following a riding accident, a different member has their pony sent back to the Major for keeps! And much to the Major’s horror, he witnesses one of the children losing complete patience with their pony.
Six Ponies concludes with the highly anticipated Pony Club gymkhana, which brings about many surprise results - especially for the winner of the best pony class who is given a wonderful prize. Now that their special assignment is over, the members, their families and the Major realise that not only have the children taught the ponies much, but that perhaps most surprisingly in a role reversal situation, it is the ponies who have been the most wonderful schoolmasters themselves. For each child has gained different values from their task in both horsemanship and personal terms - of which only a pony could teach in its own unique way!
MAIN CHARACTERS...
Major George Holbrooke – Head of the West Barsetshire Pony Club. Wise, patient and an extremely knowledgeable horseman. Long suffering in dealing with noisy, disorganised and often rude children. Manages to bring out the better qualities in most of the children and their riding abilities.
June Creswell – snobby, conceited, self promoting and scornful to all. Has a pushy and extremely Irittating mother who places June on a pedestal. Expects to win all the time. A bad loser. Blames everything on her pony, or others, when things do not turn out as expected. Trainer of Grey Dawn.
Richard Morrison – temperamental, patronising, idle and lazy. Unmotivated in furthering his riding ability. Is resentful towards his family and other Pony Club members. Trainer of Rufus.
The Radcliffe family – Roger, Hilary and Evelyn (twins), Margaret and James. All are redheads with tempers to match. A very noisy bunch of children. Their father is the local doctor and they refer to him as “Doc”. Trainers of Rocket and Romany.
Noel Kettering – quiet and emotional but is kind and has a very pleasant disposition. Vague and forgetful. Is often caught daydreaming. Does not have any faith in her riding abilities. Trainer of Romany.
John Manners – short tempered, impatient, condescending and headstrong. Son of a local farmer. Works long hours with his father attending to their harvests. Trainer of Jet.
Susan Barington-Brown – friendly, level headed and down to earth, her wealthy father pays for whatever she desires. Unaffected by her status. Enjoys socialising with the other members. Usually very chatty and often found giggling about something. Trainer of Sunset.
REVIEW
Six Ponies is written in a light hearted, thoroughly captivating and engaging manner which is a distinct feature of the author’s unique style. Both humorous and serious moments are well balanced throughout the story. A fair amount of horsey instruction appropriate to the novel is also featured. The plot is original and the story flows well, is intriguing and very easy to read. Although a vintage pony novel, the appeal of Six Ponies is timeless and therefore it is easy to understand why the book remains one of the most popular in the history of pony fiction. It is fair to say that the novel would be considered the most highly rated of the author’s many pony fiction books and that her popularity continues to grow in today’s modern times.
The book is illustrated and contains several drawings from the original 1946 publication, and in particular features a few sketches of children riding their ponies without helmets. An interesting fact regarding the later editions published is a note from the author which appears at the beginning of the book endorsing the new Pony Club rule of compulsary use of crash caps at all functions.
Six Ponies is my most treasured and favourite pony novel of all times and holds pride of place on my bookshelf. I first read the book aged about 9 years and even though it had great impact and was firmly etched into my memory, I now find myself as an adult re-reading the book at least once a year purely for total enjoyment. After reading the novel it left me keen to read the further books in the series. Six Ponies is a brilliant and original story which should appeal universally to both young and older horse lovers alike, in fact I do not know of one person who has not enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it to all pony mad folk, and for me this book is absolutely worthy of the most highest rating possible. Rated 5 horseshoes!
(Please note this review was written by Ree)
The edition reviewed was the Armada 1979 copy
PLOT SUMMARY
Six Ponies by Josephine Pullein-Thompson is the first book in the ever popular Noel and Henry series. The novel introduces the reader to the somewhat unruly members of the West Barsetshire Pony Club, which is run by the well reputed and long suffering Major George Holbrooke.
The Noel and Henry series consist of the following titles:
Six Ponies (1946)
Pony Club Team (1950)
The Radney Riding Club (1951)
One Day Event (1954)
Pony Club Camp (1957)
The story of Six Ponies commences when the Major’s cousin, Colonel Harry Shelbourne, offers to him six unbroken New Forest ponies to break, train and prepare for sale. Major Holbrooke eagerly accepts his cousin’s offer and with permission, decides to lend the ponies to six Pony Club members as a special assignment in breaking and educating ponies. He believes the task will be a valuable learning curve for the children, from which they will all immensely benefit in horsemanship terms.
The Pony Club members who are lucky enough to be granted a pony give the story its main characters, and it is around these children that the story revolves. The author has an immense talent for creating believable characters from all walks of life. All of the members have unique personalities, come from varied backgrounds in life and have a broad range of riding abilities and experience. Most are likeable, others not so! Yet they have one thing in common – to succeed at their task.
With much excitement and anticipation, the breaking and training project begins. The Pony Club members set about their task with great determination, however they soon discover that breaking and schooling a young pony is not as easy as they first imagined. Much to their surprise, they find that patience, plenty of hard work, thrills and spills, joy and frustration are all involved in their special assignment. Throughout the story, the children and ponies regularly attend Major Holbrooke’s Pony Club rallies and instruction days and also organise a fun day amongst themselves. The members are informed that at the end of the project a gymkhana will be run featuring a special class for the best trained pony, which will be judged by the Major’s cousin. Upon hearing this news, each member decides that his/her pony must simply win this event and beat all of the other ponies, fair and square!
During the lengthy schooling task, the Pony Club members face many personal challenges with their ponies which ultimately affects their personal success. One character loses complete interest in the project and totally ignores their pony, and at their parents insistence following a riding accident, a different member has their pony sent back to the Major for keeps! And much to the Major’s horror, he witnesses one of the children losing complete patience with their pony.
Six Ponies concludes with the highly anticipated Pony Club gymkhana, which brings about many surprise results - especially for the winner of the best pony class who is given a wonderful prize. Now that their special assignment is over, the members, their families and the Major realise that not only have the children taught the ponies much, but that perhaps most surprisingly in a role reversal situation, it is the ponies who have been the most wonderful schoolmasters themselves. For each child has gained different values from their task in both horsemanship and personal terms - of which only a pony could teach in its own unique way!
MAIN CHARACTERS...
Major George Holbrooke – Head of the West Barsetshire Pony Club. Wise, patient and an extremely knowledgeable horseman. Long suffering in dealing with noisy, disorganised and often rude children. Manages to bring out the better qualities in most of the children and their riding abilities.
June Creswell – snobby, conceited, self promoting and scornful to all. Has a pushy and extremely Irittating mother who places June on a pedestal. Expects to win all the time. A bad loser. Blames everything on her pony, or others, when things do not turn out as expected. Trainer of Grey Dawn.
Richard Morrison – temperamental, patronising, idle and lazy. Unmotivated in furthering his riding ability. Is resentful towards his family and other Pony Club members. Trainer of Rufus.
The Radcliffe family – Roger, Hilary and Evelyn (twins), Margaret and James. All are redheads with tempers to match. A very noisy bunch of children. Their father is the local doctor and they refer to him as “Doc”. Trainers of Rocket and Romany.
Noel Kettering – quiet and emotional but is kind and has a very pleasant disposition. Vague and forgetful. Is often caught daydreaming. Does not have any faith in her riding abilities. Trainer of Romany.
John Manners – short tempered, impatient, condescending and headstrong. Son of a local farmer. Works long hours with his father attending to their harvests. Trainer of Jet.
Susan Barington-Brown – friendly, level headed and down to earth, her wealthy father pays for whatever she desires. Unaffected by her status. Enjoys socialising with the other members. Usually very chatty and often found giggling about something. Trainer of Sunset.
REVIEW
Six Ponies is written in a light hearted, thoroughly captivating and engaging manner which is a distinct feature of the author’s unique style. Both humorous and serious moments are well balanced throughout the story. A fair amount of horsey instruction appropriate to the novel is also featured. The plot is original and the story flows well, is intriguing and very easy to read. Although a vintage pony novel, the appeal of Six Ponies is timeless and therefore it is easy to understand why the book remains one of the most popular in the history of pony fiction. It is fair to say that the novel would be considered the most highly rated of the author’s many pony fiction books and that her popularity continues to grow in today’s modern times.
The book is illustrated and contains several drawings from the original 1946 publication, and in particular features a few sketches of children riding their ponies without helmets. An interesting fact regarding the later editions published is a note from the author which appears at the beginning of the book endorsing the new Pony Club rule of compulsary use of crash caps at all functions.
Six Ponies is my most treasured and favourite pony novel of all times and holds pride of place on my bookshelf. I first read the book aged about 9 years and even though it had great impact and was firmly etched into my memory, I now find myself as an adult re-reading the book at least once a year purely for total enjoyment. After reading the novel it left me keen to read the further books in the series. Six Ponies is a brilliant and original story which should appeal universally to both young and older horse lovers alike, in fact I do not know of one person who has not enjoyed reading this book. I highly recommend it to all pony mad folk, and for me this book is absolutely worthy of the most highest rating possible. Rated 5 horseshoes!