Post by tintin on Sept 14, 2012 14:51:40 GMT 1
I did enjoy this book, but not for the reasons I thought I would.
A friend of mine, Diane, has two daughters who do a trick riding show and I was intrigued to see more of the trick riding world.
However, there is only one trick riding display in this book, most of which is occupied with the preparation for it.
Basically the plot is that there are two families the Hendersons and the Trelawneys. The Trelawneys are new to the area and novice riders, the Hendersons are well established.
I am not sure if Josephine Pullein-Thompson specialised in awful children, but with the Hendersons she excels herself, they are truly obnoxious. Their patronising of the Trelawneys leads the latter to try to improve their riding utilising an instructional book. This leads them inexorably to trick jumping (from a passage telling them the horse should be exposed to "a wide variety of obstacles" which they take a bit too literally).
Their opportunity comes when the local riding school’s proposed musical ride falls to pieces leaving the local horticultural show with no main event.
The musical ride rehearsals make you both want to laugh and cry. It is a first class example of how not to do it. Both the leaders and the led are truly appalling. They bring in an ex-officer to advise, who is not much better, only illustrating why the Army employs Warrant Officers and NCO’s whose job it is to translate officers wishes into realities. No one even notices that to be performed properly a musical ride must be in multiples of 4 – there are 14 riders! The only difference with the officer is he is more assertively incapable than the previous instructor.
The book is excellent at building suspense/impatience to get to the show and see how it goes.
There is a lengthy interlude with the search for a missing Henderson pony which, sort of, reconciles the two families. The frustration and hard work of this is well conveyed. This gives you a chance to see more of the Henderson’s mother so you can see where they get it from. She is a rude, hectoring, bullying woman – rather like “I had Two Ponies” it is a case of “show me the kitten and I’ll show you the cat”.
I did enjoy this, though it was n’t in my top flight, but Diane got the good idea from it of jumping over a dummy in a bed.
If you want to see some very scarey trick riding (along with some very handsome, and incredibly patient, horses and a rather good musical ride) look for the “Cuadro Verde” on You Tube. These are the display team of the Chilean Police. I do not envy the men who have to stand with water filled balloons in their teeth while their comrades gallop down on them with lances (probably a good thing there was no internet in the fifties - don't try this at home)
A friend of mine, Diane, has two daughters who do a trick riding show and I was intrigued to see more of the trick riding world.
However, there is only one trick riding display in this book, most of which is occupied with the preparation for it.
Basically the plot is that there are two families the Hendersons and the Trelawneys. The Trelawneys are new to the area and novice riders, the Hendersons are well established.
I am not sure if Josephine Pullein-Thompson specialised in awful children, but with the Hendersons she excels herself, they are truly obnoxious. Their patronising of the Trelawneys leads the latter to try to improve their riding utilising an instructional book. This leads them inexorably to trick jumping (from a passage telling them the horse should be exposed to "a wide variety of obstacles" which they take a bit too literally).
Their opportunity comes when the local riding school’s proposed musical ride falls to pieces leaving the local horticultural show with no main event.
The musical ride rehearsals make you both want to laugh and cry. It is a first class example of how not to do it. Both the leaders and the led are truly appalling. They bring in an ex-officer to advise, who is not much better, only illustrating why the Army employs Warrant Officers and NCO’s whose job it is to translate officers wishes into realities. No one even notices that to be performed properly a musical ride must be in multiples of 4 – there are 14 riders! The only difference with the officer is he is more assertively incapable than the previous instructor.
The book is excellent at building suspense/impatience to get to the show and see how it goes.
There is a lengthy interlude with the search for a missing Henderson pony which, sort of, reconciles the two families. The frustration and hard work of this is well conveyed. This gives you a chance to see more of the Henderson’s mother so you can see where they get it from. She is a rude, hectoring, bullying woman – rather like “I had Two Ponies” it is a case of “show me the kitten and I’ll show you the cat”.
I did enjoy this, though it was n’t in my top flight, but Diane got the good idea from it of jumping over a dummy in a bed.
If you want to see some very scarey trick riding (along with some very handsome, and incredibly patient, horses and a rather good musical ride) look for the “Cuadro Verde” on You Tube. These are the display team of the Chilean Police. I do not envy the men who have to stand with water filled balloons in their teeth while their comrades gallop down on them with lances (probably a good thing there was no internet in the fifties - don't try this at home)