One Day Event

West Barsetshire Series #4

by Josephine Pullein-Thompson

Mrs Van Cutler's opinion is worth having, says the Major to his nephew, Henry. But Mrs Van Cutler did not like Henry's dressage test, not at all. "Oh lord," said Henry. "Have you ever seen so many fours?" Major Holbrooke offers to do a course for Henry and the Pony Club to improve their generally dismal performances, but it will be an eventing course and not just dressage. And at the end, there will be a One Day Event.

The Pony Club members tackle this in their usual fashion. Christopher is convinced he already knows it all; Noel is convinced she knows nothing and never will. June is allergic to any mention of the forward seat. Evelyn charges round at full and lethal speed, sure that a good hunting seat will get her through, and whatever she does, it has to be better than Marion, who is too scared to venture out of a trot.

But at the end of the course, everyone, no matter who, has to do that One Day Event.

Genres: Childrens

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

The Pullein-Thompson sisters — Josephine Pullein-Thompson MBE (3 April 1924-[1]), Diana Pullein-Thompson (born 1 October 1925) [2] and Christine Pullein-Thompson (1 October 1925–2 December 2005[2] — are British writers of several horse and pony books (mostly fictional) aimed at children and mostly popular with girls. They started at a very young age (initially writing collectively) and they were at their peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but their popularity has endured. They have written a collective autobiography Fair Girls and Grey Horses.

All 3 sisters have written at least 1 book under a different name; Josephine wrote 1 under the pseudonym of Josephine Mann, Diana 3 books under her married name of Diana Farr and Christine wrote 2 books under the name of Christine Keir.

Their mother, Joanna Cannan (1898–1961), sister of the poet May Cannan, wrote similar equestrian stories, but is better known for detective mysteries.

Reviews

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aww, this was such a fun read!

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I love this series, it just gets better and better with every book and makes me want to be there, getting cross country schooling from the Major and having a smashing time :D

[Mousie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has its ups and downs

I've always been a big fan of horse stories and normally would never give any of them less than five stars, but this one was disappointing. Some parts were enjoyable, such as the account of the one-day event, but I found the children's personalities and conduct toward their horses objectionable. What especially turned me off was how they would repeatedly hit their horses when they "misbehaved."

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of all time.