Just idle curiosity - how much would a pony like Jill's 'Black Boy' cost today?

[RustyBear]

I was sorting out some old books from the school classrooms and found a copy of 'Jill's Gymkhana' dated 1993, and Black Boy cost £500. If I remember correctly, when I read it in the 60's, he cost £30. So how much would a pony like that cost today?

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

He was £28 originally!
Given the current climate, I'd say £28 is probably about righ for an unwanted pony standing in a farmers field! He's more likely to have been given away! I've only ever paid for one pony! And I have 5!

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

P.s. Jill's Gymnkhana was my first ever pony book. Ruby Ferguson has a lot to answer for!

[BobbiFleckman]

Rapide is the more interesting one - a trained jumping pony who'd won so many prizes for the girl whose mother Jill's mother met on her cruise... £60 and he came with his own tack so no need to clean out Martin's stables to earn cast offs.

[SaggyOldClothCatPuss]

Oh no! Rapide the face pulling rocking horse fly? I'd take Black Boy any day! A proper little forever pony!

[RustyBear]

I also found 'Jill and the Runaway' which, when I first read it was called 'Jill Enjoys her Ponies' . In that one Jill is offered a job at Captain Cholly-Sawcutt's stables when she leaves school, but by the end of the series she takes a variety of pony jobs as a fill-in before starting to train for a 'proper career' as a secretary - so what happened to the Captain's promise?

[BobbiFleckman]

yes but he had been beaten round the head by the previous beastly owner, and was real competition for Susan Pyke's latest.

[BobbiFleckman]

I think she decided by the end after working for the flaky captain and organising the musical ride that she & Ann were better off going to learn shorthand and German
(i wish I could remember useful stuff as well as all this...)

[PetiteRaleuse]

I bought these off ebay a few months ago in a fit of nostalgia and re-read them and was really disappointed she decided not to work with horses. Excellent books though - loved re-reading them.

[Mirage2012Olympics]

I've not read the books,but my 1st pony cost £250 inc tack in 1978.She was a 10 year old spotted pony,v.good at games not so fond of jumping.My mum used to fetch the cows in on her.

[Abbicob]

And originally Black boy was called Danny boy

[RustyBear]

It was the other way round, wasn't it? He was originally called Black Boy, then that got changed to Danny Boy because it was supposed to be more PC, but later editions went back to Black Boy. It was definitely Black Boy when I read it in about 1964.