More biographical information from Hilary Clare; plot summaries and more from a site specialising in pony books. She then moved to Manchester and took a job as a secretary, supplementing her income by writing a regular column for the British Weekly.

The plot is that Jill wants a pony, because Jill is an 11-year-old girl, and Jill gets a pony, because Jill is an incredibly lucky 11-year-old girl. Looking at the changes that were made, it’s interesting to see that Jill was allowed to wear make up in the 1940s, but not in the 1960s, a supposedly freer time for children.I personally am looking forward to reading the remaining 5 books in the series, I may even go so far as to read under the quilt with a torch to really go back to my childhood! The Hodder and Stoughton original (page 72) says: ‘Mummy recklessly melted down our whole week’s cheese ration …. I've been a hands-on horse person most of my life and I'm pretty selective about the books and movies I deem worthy of my time. This makes Ferguson's writing outstanding not only in the pony stories genre, but in children's literature generally.

Seven paragraphs (37 lines) detailing Ann’s bulgy saddlebags and the hiding of the vests under a hedge have been deleted.

Written in 1949, read by me around 1972 and rediscovered thanks to Lucy Mangan’s wonderful Bookworm. Anyway my mum had many of these books when she was a kid, and I read them over and over in my teens. Susan makes it very clear just how little she thinks of Jill, and Jill's chances in the local gymkhana.