Ruby Ferguson: Jill's Gymkhana

These pages list all the different Jill titles, and as many printings of them as I can find. If you have others that aren’t here, please feel free to send them to me.

Jill’s Gymkhana is the first of the Jill books. Published in 1949, it was illustrated by Caney and published by Hodder and Stoughton. Jill Crewe is eleven, and she and her mother have just moved to Pool Cottage, Chatton. Jill’s father has died, and her mother supports them by writing whimsical children’s books (The Little House of Smiles is the first to be mentioned). It is the summer holidays, and having just moved Jill doesn’t have a great deal to do, so makes friends with a pony down the road. This is Black Boy, and after Mrs Crewe sells the serial rights of The Little House of Smiles, Jill buys him.

At first Jill is completely clueless, unlike the initial hero figure of the book, Susan Pyke, but she meets Martin Lowe at a local show, and he sorts her out. Jill learns to groom, and to tack up Black Boy without mangling both the bridle and her pony. At school, Jill meets Anne Derry and at last finds a horsey friend. Susan Pyke rapidly falls off her pedestal, as she is bought vastly expensive ponies with which she cannot cope. Jill stays with the Lowe family, who petrify her (though it later turns out she has them equally scared), goes on a riding weekend, and finishes up by taking 3 firsts, 3 seconds and a third at Chatton Show, and dropping the ebony base of the Challenge Cup at the steward’s feet.

The hardback reprints and the Armada paperback are not abridged. The Knight paperbacks are. The cuts vary from short (the description of Ann’s dressing table) to longer episodes such as Jill’s meeting with the Riding Holiday people. If you want the full text, avoid the Knight editions.

Many thanks to Birte Scheel for the following textual differences in the hardback versions: the Hampton printing has an addition to the original text on page 38 (both versions): to "You see, for ages I haven't been any use at all, since I couldn't walk, and it was getting me down," the Hampton and Armada versions have an extra phrase: "getting me down and making me pretty unbearable to live with." The Armada version is the same as the original. The Hodder and Stoughton original (page 72) says: "Mummy recklessly melted down our whole week's cheese ration ...."; the Hampton (page 70) has "Mummy recklessly melted down our whole week's supply of cheese...." Again, the Armada has the original text.