The Stables at Hampton was based on the time I spent as a working pupil in Robert Hall’s Fulmer School of Equitation. Robert was the ambassador for dressage as it has now developed. He had studied at the Spanish Riding School, and brought Lipizzaners over to the UK.
Working for him was hard. He had two distinct yards: one was a riding school, and his other yard had his Lipizzaners and dressage horses and it was absolutely perfect. I had to groom the dressage horses, and when I did, I had to knock out the curry comb on the floor outside so he could check how much grease I was getting out!
In those days, dressage was only known as High School, as practised by the Spanish Riding School. Basic field dressage as a competition discipline was just starting to creep in.
Besides dressage, Tamara keeps herself going by film work and performing as a variety act. The palomino dancing horse who appears in the variety act was inspired by one which stayed at the De Vere stables when it was appearing locally. He danced and acted just as he does in the book.
Another London stable nearby regularly supplied horses for film work. All of these came together for The Stables at Hampton and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, crushed by Soviet Russia, supplied my hero, Andras.
Ginny and Tamara were two of those rare characters who came to life in my imagination as almost fully formed.
I am grateful to Jane Badger for giving this book a second chance as it never quite fitted into the pony book image of the sixties when it was written.
Gillian Baxter, 2024