Patricia Leitch

The Jinny Books

1 For Love of a Horse (1976)
2 A Devil to Ride (1976)
3 The Summer Riders (1977)
4 Night of the Red Horse (1978)
5 Gallop to the Hills (1979)
6 Horse in a Million (1980)
7 The Magic Pony (1982)
8 Ride Like The Wind (1983)
9 Chestnut Gold (1984)
10 Jump for the Moon (1985)
11 Horse of Fire (1986)
12 Running Wild (1988)

Kestrels
The Special Pony 1992 (USA: The Perfect Horse)
A Pony to Jump 1992 (USA: Jumping Lessons)
Cross-Country Gallop 1993
Pony Club Rider 1993
The Stolen Pony 1994 (USA: Mystery Horse)
Pony Puzzle 1994 (USA: Show Jumper Wanted)

Riding Course Summer
Collins, 1963
Reissued in 1968 Children’s Press

Ann and Angy know they are both hopeless riders. Mr Winton, who owned the local
riding school, wasn’t actually interested in teaching children to ride himself, so the girls,
after being spoken to bracingly by Ann’s father, decide to start a riding club.

A Rosette For Royal
Blackie 1963, illus Anne Linton

Cassandra Leigh sees Royal Flame, a chestnut mare, and wants her. She buys her, but then after an accident,
Cassandra’a aunt and uncle send Flame back to the person she was bought from. Cassandra swears that she
will buy Flame back.

The Black Loch
Collins 1963, illus Janet Duchesne
Reprinted in pb Armada 1979
as The Horse From Black Loch, cover photo Chris
Yates

USA edn, far right:
1st US edn 1968
Publisher Funk & Wagnalls
Cover illus Carolyn Cather
Internal illus Janet Duchesne

Kay, and her cousins Sara and Edgar are visiting their Scottish cousins at Deersmalen. The Deersmalen family have a mysterious secret:
The One in the Black Loch. Kay discovers this is a horse, but unfortunately the treacherous Edgar discovers it too, and tries to make money out of it. Kay and her Deersmalen cousins fight to save the horse from captivity.

A Pony Of Our Own
Blackie & Son 1960, illus Constance Marshall
Reprinted by Blackie in their “orange” edition
Reprinted in pb Knight Books 1971, 1979

Jean and Stuart Donaldson slowly and painfully earn
the pony to buy their own pony: Kirsty, a Highland
mare.

To Save a Pony
Hutchinson, 1960, illus Sheila Rose

The Dallas family moved to Scotland and took over Feyton Mill Farm, and started a riding school. All of them had
to work very hard, even Jane, who was writing a book until she found the grey pony and saving her became the
most important thing in her life.

First Pony
Originally published under the name Jane Eliot in 1967, Spitfire pb
Collins Pony Library, 1973

Sandy moves to the country, and the new house has a paddock, a stable, and even
some jumps: now Sandy can fulfil her dream of having a pony. However, the expensive
ponies she sees just don’t seem right, and then she meets Karen, who tells her about
Tarka, skin and bone after a cold winter out. Sandy buys Tarka, but then there is a
struggle before she is fit.

Cross-Country Pony
Blackie 1965
Knight pb 1978

The Morton children, an enterprising lot though short of money, start up a business - a
Pets’ Holiday Home. However, their canine guests cause chaos, and Harold the pony has
wicked little eyes and a nature to match. Harold, however, has one great talent.

Highland Pony Trek
Collins, 1964
Reprinted as Collins Seagull

Fiona, Morag and Neil McKean think they will have to sell their Highland house, until they hit on the idea
of turning it into a pony trekking centre. Even then, everything is not plain sailing, particularly when the
ponies escape one day. They run riot over Colonel Gray’s land, and he forbids them from using his
estate for their treks: and without it their venture looks doomed.

Janet Young Rider (1963)
Constable, 1963. Many thanks to Amanda Dolby for the picture
Reprinted in USA as Last Summer To Ride, 1963
Reprinted in pb by Armada as A Horse for the Holidays

Far right: USA edition
1st US 1965
Publisher Funk & Wagnalls
Cover Joseph Cellini. Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture.

Janet has promised her parents she will go for a steady job (ie something
not horse-related) at the end of the summer holidays. During the holidays she helps out at a riding school, but after a horrible accident to the owner, she has to take on much more responsibility than she bargained for. Jim’s stay in hospital means Janet also gets to ride Meridian, even though at first this doesn’t go well. In the end, riding Meridian means Janet’s career takes a new direction.

Jacky Jumps to the Top
Initially printed as Collins Spitfire pb, 1967, under the name Jane Eliot
Collins Pony Library, 1973
Reprinted in pb by Armada as Jump To The Top, 1973

Jacky has been promised that she can jump the black mare Flicka, but
then Miss Henderson has to sell up the riding school, and Flicka goes to
auction. Unfortunately Celia Grunter, who is certain to ruin Flicka, wants
her too. Even when she overcomes that hurdle, there’s Flicka’s habit of
charging off to be cured.

Pony Club Camp
Collins Spitfire,pb, 1967
under the name Jane Eliot

This is another Pony Club in need of a bit of help. Dr Brogan can see it needs a bit more life, so he
organises a Pony Club Camp, with the usual series of ups and downs.

Afraid to Ride
Originally published under the name Jane Eliot
Spitfire, pb 1967
Collins Pony Library, 1974

Jill has been put off riding by an accident at a bad riding school, but when she goes to
stay with her cousins and their Aunt Jo, she is faced with ponies everywhere after Aunt
Jo has an accident and the cousins decide to run the stables. She won’t go near the
ponies, but then she discovers the Fell Digory in a field. He has been condemned as
dangerous, but Jill likes him.

Dream of Fair Horses
Collins 1975
Reprinted as Dream Of Fair Horses, Armada 1980
The Fields of Praise: USA Edn: 1st US 1975 Publisher Lippincott

Gill Caridia and her family move to the country after her father’s book
sells well. There she sees Perdita, a grey show pony, and through the
Pony Club, she meets Mr Ramsay, Perdita’s owner. Gill learns to ride
Perdita, and together they go to the top, but there is no wonderful end
to the story for Gill.

Pony Surprise
Collins Pony Library, 1974

Rebel Pony
Collins Pony Library, 1973

Patricia Leitch (1933- ) had a varied career, working as a teacher, librarian, riding instructor and maid before she settled down to writing. She is, thanks to her Jinny series a must-read author if you want to do a serious study of how the pony book genre developed. Before she wrote about Jinny, Patricia Leitch had produced a solid range of good pony stories. Patricia didn’t feel she had to follow pony book conventions: Riding Course Summer has the heroine starting off without a pony, but still without one at the end: Dream of Fair Horses doesn’t see the show pony Perdita ending up with the rider who loves her, by some neat plot trick. Its heroine, Gill Caridia, is moving away from the seemingly idyllic country life by the end of the book.

Jinny, the heroine of the twelve book long series, is in many ways not a conventional pony book heroine. Jill Crewe, heroine of Ruby Ferguson’s Jill series, and an equally popular figure in pony fiction, is remarkably free of teenage sturm und drang, but Jinny has all those insecurities and temperamental fits in spades. Jinny and her Arab mare, Shantih are well matched. They are both temperamental: neither of them like listening to anyone other than themselves. Jinny’s early history with Shantih is one of hopeless longing. She longs to be able to ride the mare, but cannot. To make her hopelessness as a rider even more obvious, Ken, who lives with them, can handle Shantih effortlessly.

The series succeeds because Jinny is a very recognisable teenager, and her longings and desires are ones most pony mad children will have had. Jinny succeeds in combining wish fulfilment (her Arab mare) with being a completely identifiable figure, often making mistakes, and sometimes blundering through life until she is confronted with her prejudices.

The Kestrels series, for younger readers were Patricia’s last books, and a much tamer affair than the Jinnies.

Acknowledgments: thank you to Hannah, Claire, Susan, Fiona and Cheryl for all their help with the pictures, and to Helen McKinnon for the information about the German translations.

Sources:
Biographical information in the Jinny books
Patricia Leitch - an interview

Finding the books: Rosette for Royal, the Collins Pony Library Jacky Jumps to the Top, and Janet Young Rider are the hardest books to find. None of them are impossible, but they can be expensive. The other Collins Pony Library titles: Rebel Pony, First Pony, Pony Surprise and Afraid to Ride are all becoming more scarce now, and becoming more expensive. The Jane Eliot titles can be expensive. The other non-series titles are all reasonably easy to find and not generally expensive. Titles published in paperback are plentiful and cheap.

The Jinny series: all usually widely available, though the hardback editions are very scarce and now getting pricey.

The Kestrels series: all usually widely available, and reasonably priced.