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Post by Claire on Feb 13, 2018 12:56:21 GMT 1
Hi all our late winter read is A Job With Horses by JPT. This is quite an unusual story as it features modern jousting! Discussion starts in approx 2 weeks time. Happy reading!
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Post by Claire on Feb 28, 2018 22:06:24 GMT 1
Hi all sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm still on my travels! Has anyone read this yet? I'm half way thru. It's a re-read but I can't remember much about it. Enjoying it so far but I'll reserve comments til I've finished it.
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Post by brumby on Feb 28, 2018 22:15:29 GMT 1
Will get started now, I was waiting for someone else to start reading
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Post by susanb on Mar 1, 2018 1:52:33 GMT 1
LOL....thank goodness I'm not the only one late with this! I'm behind for a reason this time (other than my usual, you know, sloth ). I just found out my long-time framer is retiring (eek!). I managed to finish off two pieces of needlework (of the three I had in progress), but I've got till March 16th to get the last one to her. And it's only half done And I'm really sloooooooowwwwwww!
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Post by trixiepony on Mar 1, 2018 10:28:06 GMT 1
My copy still has not got to me, but I don’t mind as so flat out with doctors appointments would be struggling to find time to read.
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Post by ginslinger on Mar 1, 2018 12:22:22 GMT 1
I got this on Monday and read it in a couple of sittings ( good sign) .But will go back and make a few notes now I am not so eager to find out what happens.
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Post by cascade on Mar 2, 2018 15:39:04 GMT 1
I gave it another quick read through last night and still think it is one of the best modern ones I've read - although I suppose having looked at the printing date some folk would say it wasn't modern LOL.
No animals killed, none even injured and no blood sports - I really like this PT book. I do remember that jousting seemed to go through a phase a few years back of becoming a popular tourist attraction but it occurs to me that I have not really seen it mentioned much anywhere recently. Does anyone have it still going on near them?
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Post by trixiepony on Mar 3, 2018 0:30:45 GMT 1
I gave it another quick read through last night and still think it is one of the best modern ones I've read - although I suppose having looked at the printing date some folk would say it wasn't modern LOL. No animals killed, none even injured and no blood sports - I really like this PT book. I do remember that jousting seemed to go through a phase a few years back of becoming a popular tourist attraction but it occurs to me that I have not really seen it mentioned much anywhere recently. Does anyone have it still going on near them? Yes we have one just out side Balingup thay have a medieval fare there, my friend go every year and do horse artchary, you know shooting with bow and arrow.
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Post by trixiepony on Mar 3, 2018 0:32:30 GMT 1
Hear is a bit more about it.
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Post by susanb on Mar 3, 2018 15:02:08 GMT 1
I still haven't been, but King Richard's Faire in Massachusetts does jousting every year. (Of course, I don't know how authentic a Renaissance Fair that offers gluten-free, lactose-free and vegetarian fare could be ) kingrichardsfaire.net/
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Post by trixiepony on Mar 6, 2018 1:00:06 GMT 1
My copy just came, so I can read it.
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Post by Claire on Mar 8, 2018 14:10:51 GMT 1
Sorry I haven't been around for a while. Have been away in Spain with only my iphone for communication and then the stupid battery konked out. So sans internet for almost a week!!! Don't know how I managed!
We do have quite a lot of jousting in the UK going on at various castles.
Back to the book. SPOILERS - DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED BOOK!
Not quite an enthusiastic about it as others seem to be. I thought it was well-written as you'd expect from JPT and the jousting and instructional parts were interesting. I liked Kate and the kids as characters and most of the horses were given their own characters and quirks. But I felt it rather 'bitty' as if too much had been crammed in and it didn't really have a central plot or narrative. The robbery and kidnapping in particular seemed rather extraneous and a bit over-melodramatic, but then I have never been one for that sort of thing. I also found it ended rather abruptly. I felt it fell slightly short of very good so gave it a good.
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Post by brumby on Mar 12, 2018 0:44:43 GMT 1
Claire wrote
Funny Claire I really liked the intrigue that was added leading up to the robbery, girls listening for sounds at night, padlocking the gates etc. Agree the the ending seemed a little rushed and the ending was a bit abrupt, but I have found this quite a few times in the pony books I have read. The only slight criticism I have, I didn't really take note as I was reading the story but was reminded at the end that Kate had only been there for 3 weeks and seem to have made miraculous changes to horses and people! Perhaps a longer time frame would have been more realistic!
Anyway I really enjoyed it and gave it very good, I'm off to search the shelves for some more JPT to read...
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Post by ginslinger on Mar 13, 2018 1:34:18 GMT 1
Am I right in thinking that this is the series that was developed by Caroline Akrill in her publishing role but which was stopped because too expensive? I did wonder if JPT had left scope for further stories that were never commissioned.
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Post by Claire on Mar 14, 2018 22:04:37 GMT 1
Am I right in thinking that this is the series that was developed by Caroline Akrill in her publishing role but which was stopped because too expensive? I did wonder if JPT had left scope for further stories that were never commissioned. Well Caroline Akrill had a hand in the publishing company itself and the Allen (Junior) Equestrian Fiction imprint was discontinued due to it not being profitable enough. I wouldn't have been surprised if JPT had been comissioned or at least sounded out to write sequels to A Job With Horses, but I don't know anything for sure. Shame the books were axed as there were some pretty good titles amongst them. However the mid 1990s were a bad time for pony books, especially those aimed at young adults rather than the very young.
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Post by cascade on Mar 15, 2018 20:27:10 GMT 1
I never knew that was why there were so few of those Allen books, it is indeed a shame as there were good ones - much better than the current stuff.
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Post by Claire on Mar 22, 2018 17:01:10 GMT 1
Hi folks, bumping this - is there anyone else who would like to add comments. Any more votes?
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Post by fluttermoth on Mar 22, 2018 17:57:36 GMT 1
Hi! I've only just found the forum, but I have a copy on order now. Luckily I'm a fast reader so, once it arrives, it shouldn't take me too long to get through. It's not a book I've read before, so I'm looking forward to it (and avoiding spoilers; thanks to everyone for mentioning that in your posts, much appreciated )
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Post by Claire on Mar 22, 2018 19:23:34 GMT 1
Great to welcome a new member to the fold. Hope you enjoy the book and taking part in the group read.
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Post by darkhorse on Mar 25, 2018 22:05:25 GMT 1
Late to this! I've got a copy and am going to start now.
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Post by fluttermoth on Mar 26, 2018 15:15:44 GMT 1
Grr, my copy still hasn't turned up!
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Post by ginslinger on Mar 27, 2018 12:45:25 GMT 1
I reread this last week and it stood up to a second reading. I enjoyed it a lot more than the other later JPT I read for the reading challenge before last (Ghost Horse of the Moore), It isn’t that I think that she became a worse writer, I just think that she was a bit limited by the requirements of modern formats - shorter, simpler plots and language while in the early books where she is writing for children who didn’t have so many alternatives to reading as amusement and they are a bit more descriptive and have more complex structures such as multiple viewpoints - and more humour. On the other hand, this does have rather more plot than some of the earlier more instructional books, and her experience as a murder mystery writer also stood her in good stead. She plays fair with the reader and creates a genuinely dramatic moment without prolonging it to the point that it might be too distressing for younger readers.
I think she handles Kate quite well. As Akrill does with the Eventer’s dream trilogy, I think she manages well to get a bit of romance in to suit the young adult market, without again getting inappropriate for younger readers
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Post by ha ffyfan on Apr 3, 2018 19:15:45 GMT 1
I've just finished re-reading this, although i didn't remember anything about it from first read. Not sure what that really says. I actually quite enjoyed it, a bit different from the normal gymkhana/PC theme although she does like to rehash the re schooling star gazers doesn't she. I feel she must have had a significant horse in her life who star gazed? Not as instructional as some of her stuff but it does creep in in so many of her works.
I thought the plot started well but agree it was a bit rushed with rather an abrupt ending and the 3 week time scale seemed a bit short considering all the events and reschooling that took place. Until it reminded us i would have just assumed we were a few months down the line from the starting point.
Overall i did enjoy it, gave it a 3 but not sure if it will let me officially vote or not as a guest just yet...
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Post by ginslinger on Apr 3, 2018 21:40:31 GMT 1
I haven’t voted yet as a bit undecided. It is a perfectly decent book and compares well to other relatively recent pony books I have read, but not to her best works. And of course I am just slightly over the target age range....
I did enjoy the setting - it isn’t an actual Dorset place but I know the area quite well having lived most of my life in the New Forest and by coincidence I worked as a Prep school matron in Dorset for a little while about the time the book was written and although I was older than Kate having graduated, I could relate to the situation of working with very confident privileged youngsters and those who were struggling with the pressures that privilege sometimes brings. Also having random housemates. Felicity rang very true to me.
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Post by trixiepony on Apr 4, 2018 11:50:38 GMT 1
Soory Im takeling my time, I have read it once and liked it, like others have said the last bit seems rushed, and the ponies get well schooled faster than I would think posable, after all It building mussels can take sum time not just days as in this book. I was going to read it again before voting.
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Post by ginslinger on Apr 4, 2018 22:56:47 GMT 1
It is quick but I got the impression that the ponies were reasonably fit and had previously been well schooled but the children couldn’t and wouldn’t ride properly and they take shortcuts by changing the bit and so on with Chris’ horse. Also three weeks of daily one on one lessons is six months at least of an hour a week lessons - like you can go and have an intensive course if you need to learn to drive quickly. I don’t think the children are meant to be amazing riders by the end, just humble enough to take instruction and more motivated. But I am away from home and don’t have the book with me. Josephine does seem to give those who do things properly quick results - in six ponies Noel wins having only had Romany for less than half the time of the others and without having been given a great foundation from Evelyn’s earlier training. I wonder if Jpt did have a little skewbald Romany sometime or if the Romany in this book was a nod to the earlier one.
However there isn’t a particular reason I can think of that the time frame couldn’t have been extended to something a bit more plausible she wouldn’t have had to describe them in detail just said that the next few weeks settled in to a pattern, children still resistant but horses beginning to improve from her schooling, days off spent exploring places etc..
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Post by trixiepony on Apr 5, 2018 3:05:39 GMT 1
It is quick but I got the impression that the ponies were reasonably fit and had previously been well schooled but the children couldn’t and wouldn’t ride properly and they take shortcuts by changing the bit and so on with Chris’ horse. Also three weeks of daily one on one lessons is six months at least of an hour a week lessons - like you can go and have an intensive course if you need to learn to drive quickly. I don’t think the children are meant to be amazing riders by the end, just humble enough to take instruction and more motivated. But I am away from home and don’t have the book with me. Josephine does seem to give those who do things properly quick results - in six ponies Noel wins having only had Romany for less than half the time of the others and without having been given a great foundation from Evelyn’s earlier training. I wonder if Jpt did have a little skewbald Romany sometime or if the Romany in this book was a nod to the earlier one. However there isn’t a particular reason I can think of that the time frame couldn’t have been extended to something a bit more plausible she wouldn’t have had to describe them in detail just said that the next few weeks settled in to a pattern, children still resistant but horses beginning to improve from her schooling, days off spent exploring places etc.. Are yes that makes sense if a pony was well schooled be for it would not take much to get it good again.
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Post by Claire on Apr 9, 2018 12:43:20 GMT 1
Kate seems a bit of a miracle worker for her age, slightly unrealistic to me, but possibly modelled on one of the PTs as they were running riding schools and teaching kids whilst in their teens!
Ginslinger - that's interesting about your life in Dorset.
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Post by ginslinger on Apr 11, 2018 19:53:51 GMT 1
It is a beautiful area but quite rural and quiet for teenagers. I was lucky, I had a little old banger which struggled up hills but did mean I could get away on my day off and when I had a few free hours. Joanna Cannan died at Blandford so I imagine Josephine knew the area too. I suppose quick results are just one of those pony book things. I have been reading the Peyton Maybridge series again and Peter McNair is the real miracle worker - he gets Fly to do stuff that he can never have been taught before after he wins the bet for Ruth, instantly. Getting previously schooled ponies to behave again is a doddle in comparison .
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Post by Claire on Apr 14, 2018 21:27:22 GMT 1
Yes, so many pony book characters are miracle workers or have a 'special way' with horses, etc. I never questioned this as a child but a touch of cynicism does tend to creep in when you re-read the stories as an adult. Also as a completely average rider myself, who had no special abilities whatso-ever, except for that of sticking on cantankerous and difficult horses (due to having the worst behaved pony in the world on loan for 2 years - I could sit a buck like nobody's business!), I always felt more empathy for the hopeless riders. For instance, in JPT's Pony Club series, I liked Noel best when she was a bit of a dud and getting her right mixed up with her left (yup I used to do that in the school too haha).
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