Jill and the Perfect Pony

Jill's Ponies #7

by Ruby Ferguson

, 159 pages, black and white illustrations in the text, illustrated endpapers

Genres: Childrens, Horses, Fiction, Animals, Juvenile

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Ruby Constance Annie Ashby Ferguson
aka
Ruby Ferguson and R.C. Ashby

Reviews

[Prudence and the Crow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jill is my forever favourite, my childhood companion, not the nicest person at all times, but so thoroughly herself. The only child of a single mother, she is something of an anomaly in the horsey world, but that is only the vaguest background of most books, and yet if you keep it in mind in this, where Jill finds herself an accidental imposter in a classically horsey family for a fortnight, it makes it all the better. I love all the Jill books, and this is top.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisiting a childhood favourite pony series. Jill has a lovely ironic no nonsense English voice

[Todayiamadaisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poking around in a second-hand bookshop a few weeks ago, I found one of the Jill books I've never read before. Other Jill books are episodic, filled with dilemmas small ("will Jill talk the curmudgeonly land owner into letting her stage a gymkhana on an unused field?") and large ("will the sick horse survive?"). This one has an actual plot, albeit a silly one: Jill goes to stay with a family that needs an extra member for team Pony Club competition, despite the fact they think she's someone else. And mild, pony-related hijinks ensue.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

These Jill books are adorable and I would recommend them to any child who loves horses or any adult with a touch of nostalgia for gobbling up horse stories.

[Daisy May Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Jill series is responsible for many things in my childhood, not in the least the solid belief that ponies should just sort of be given to Earnestly Deserving People like myself. They were everywhere in the countryside. Every family had at least seven. Jill herself had two! And it was all so simple and straightforward! If she needed a new bridle, she got one. If she needed a new saddle, it all worked well in the end. At some point a pony would graze in an orchard. There'd be an orchard in the first place. Oh, the envy, it was real.

Jill and the Perfect Pony is delightful (but also insane in that delicious way that all pony book plots are from this sort of period). The plot is that Amanda has the perfect pony but can't be doing with staying a week with another family to ride in a team gymkhana. So Jill goes instead. Her mum is all COOL BEANS THEY'RE FRIENDS OF SOME FRIENDS WHATEVS. Her guardian is all COOL BEANS I WAS JUST A PLOT DEVICE ANYWAY. And so Jill goes off to stay with these people she's never met and pretends to be Amanda. Or Jillamanda because she immediately tells them to call her Jill instead of Amanda. (Covert skills, not our girl's strength). Anyway, highjinks! enormous teas! gallopy gallopy jumpy jumpy! potential concussion just a tiny one but everything alright by show day!

god, I love it, send me three and four pence, I'm going to buy some soap flakes to wash my pony's tail.

[Emma Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most ridiculous plot in the Jill series yet which is saying something. Jill impersonates a girl called Amanda in order to ride her perfect pony, Plum.
This was bonkers from beginning to end but there's a lot of descriptions of riding here and riding classes which I really enjoyed and gymkhanas are always great fun. Love this series.

[Clare Greenall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing quite like some childhood nostalgia - I read all this series as a child and loved Jill Crewe

[Lainey Grieve Ramsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jill and the perfect pony was first published in 1959 by Hodder and Stoughton

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another summer rolls around (I think Jill has a few too many summers between Gymkhana and Trek to be possible but I've never actually checked!) and Jill is surprised to find herself invited to see the amazing Amanda Applewood's prize pony; Plum.

Amanda is apparently some super show rider with her super show pony Plum, but we've never heard of her before as she is not part of Jill's crowd.
We quickly get to the plot, Amanda has been invited to join a riding team, training for and then competing in a show and she doesn't want to go but is being made to by her parents. Her brilliant idea is that Jill should take Plum and go in her place.

Jill is understandably keen and quickly gets permission and heads off to meet the Lockets. But shock horror, Amanda never actually told them she wasn't coming, so they all think she's awful Amanda and Jill for some reason decides that lying and pretending to be Amanda is the better option than just saying "oh sorry, there's been a mistake, I'm Jill lol".
What follows is Jill making good attempts at being Amanda, i.e making rude and bigheaded comments and making everybody dislike her. She does mellow out throughout the book, finding the Amanda-ness hard going and hoping the Lockets believe they're rubbing their niceness off on her.

I like the Lockets a lot, they're a fun family to be around and the horsey content is excellent. The final few chapters covering the show are a delight and the food descriptions are as mouth watering as ever.

It's a conflicting book for me, I love all of the training and the Lockets but I really struggle with Jill and her Amanda scheme, it's too silly for me!

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Making up for lost time with this book series, because WHERE WAS IT ALL MY CHILDHOOD and how did I miss it??? Do I like horses? No. Have I any interest at all in owning one? Of course not. And yet these books are addictive. Jill is a hilarious narrator and they're a slice of joy in the form of unrealistic plots, realistic and witty observations about life, and beautiful English countryside.

Read in one sitting in the bath on a sunny August day on holiday. Bliss.

[Gillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

happy days! Huge part of my childood spent on this and all the Ruby Ferguson 'Jill' books. Loved this one, loved most of them

[Horror_Reader1973 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was horse man when I was a kid. I loved the Jill series.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much fun! :)