Christine Pullein-Thompson (1925-2005) was quite probably the most prolific British
pony book author. She has over 100 books to her name, dwarfing the output of her
sisters, Diana and Josephine. Her first solo book was We Rode to the Sea, and she
followed this by what is probably a unique trilogy, the Chill Valley Hounds series,
in which the heroes and heroines set up their own hunt. The likelihood of a story
like this being published now is incredibly remote: but these stories were amongst
Christine’s best, showing an interaction with the adult world that the pony story
does not always embrace. Probably her other most noteworthy book is The Horse Sale.
Christine was always interested in portraying riders from very different backgrounds,
and this is probably one of her most successful. Like her sister, Josephine’s, Six
Ponies, this book takes a situation and looks at how a very different set of characters
react to it. The Horse Sale shows various teenagers and children coping with loved
ponies being sold, and in some cases looking at, and changing their own behaviour.
It is a satisfying read: without being too overtly fairytale, we see the struggle
some of the characters have with themselves and their situations to achieve their
dreams.
Christine’s later books showed a desire to move away from the portrayal of middle
class children and their ponies (albeit sometimes the impoverished middle classes.)
In books like Riders on the March and its sequel They Rode to Victory, she showed
working class children fighting to save their riding school from development. These
books are not as successful as other books depicting working class children and ponies:
K M Peyton’s brilliant Fly-by-Night and Who Sir? Me Sir?, and Christine Dickenson’s
Dark Horse both produce utterly believable characters: with Christine Pullein-Thompson’s,
you are always just a little aware that it is an effort for the author to move outside
her comfort zone: it’s a valiant effort, but it is an effort nevertheless.
She was on firmer ground writing about difficult emotional situations. In I Rode
a Winner, her heroine, Debbie, comes from a broken home, and pours all her love
onto the mare, Cleo. This is not one of the easiest of her books to read: its ending
is not fairytale, but it is a convincing picture of a girl trying desperately hard
to pick up the pieces of her life.
She moved back, with the Phantom Horse and Black Pony Inn series, to children with
whose backgrounds she was more in tune. During the later part of her writing career,
she wrote pony books for younger children, and series which concentrated on animal
rescue.
In the publishing climate of today; by no means as accepting of the pony book as
it once was, it is unlikely that any British author will ever match her output. Even
worldwide, she has no equal. Yes, the American series by Bonnie Bryant, the Saddle
Club, is enormously long, but it is a single series, but Christine Pullein-Thompson
produced pony stories covering pretty well every aspect of the genre; from tales
of a wild horse, to holiday adventure, to rescue stories and hunting.
Links:
Cavalier Books’ fact sheet (the company is run by Christine’s daughter)
