Rosettes
Very soon in The Difficult Summer, you read that Shelta has won two firsts, for which she has two blue rosettes. Which colour was given for a first place did seem a bit of a moveable feast in the UK, certainly in the 1950s. Nowadays, most first place rosettes are red, but in the 1950s it was rather inconsistent, and so you have Pamela MacGregor’s Blue Rosette, published in 1950 and Geoffrey LaPage’s Red Rosette, published in 1957, both delighted that their equines have won first place. Jill’s Gymkhana, published in 1949, and written by Ruby Ferguson, has Jill winning red rosettes for first, and blue for second.
It is rather more straightforward in the United States and Australia, where a first place is a blue rosette and that’s it. New Zealand and Canada, like the UK, have red rosettes for first place.
Currency and cheques
In 1959, when The Difficult Summer was first published, the pounds, shillings and pence system of money was what everyone in Britain used until decimalisation in 1971. There were twenty shillings in a pound and twelve pennies in a shilling. Five shillings made a crown, which was a coin only released on special occasions, such as the Queen’s coronation in 1953; half a crown was therefore two shillings and sixpence.
A pound in 1959 would have bought two children’s hardback books, with enough money left over for some sweets.
The Bracken people use cheques to pay their bills. In the days before direct debit and direct bank transfer, you would use a book of cheques from your bank to pay your bills. On the cheque, you wrote the date, name of the person you were paying, and the amount in figures and again in words, and signed it. And then you would give the cheque to them or send it off in the post. The person you were paying would then have to take the cheque into their own bank and pay it in.
Eventing
Eventing was run under different rules. It was possible to fall, remount and continue (although at the expense of a hefty fault burden). Now if you or your horse fall, you’re eliminated.
Professional versus amateur riders
Bobby can’t ride for the British show jumping team because she earns her living from horses, and therefore counts as a professional. Selection for national teams was open only to those who counted as amateurs: those whose main source of income was not riding.
This was influenced by the Olympic Games. The Olympics were originally set up to glorify the amateur; professionals were regarded as having an unfair advantage over the noble amateur who did not do their sport full time. This meant that, technically, those who earned their living from riding were not eligible for the Olympic Games, and by extension, not for national teams either.
By the time Bobby was riding, in 1957, the Olympics had relaxed its grip a little on who it allowed to ride. Until 1952, only commissioned military officers and “gentlemen” were allowed to take part in the equestrian elements of the Olympics: in other words, those who did not earn their living from riding. Then in 1952 men of whatever social status could compete, and women were allowed to compete in dressage, but they all still had to be amateur.
National equestrian federations had their own ways of getting professionals through to international team status. Britain was the first country to break ranks over this ‘shamateurism’ with Colonel Sir Michael Ansell introducing a new policy that riders had to declare themselves as professionals or amateurs. In 1973, any rider taking part in an international horse show had to produce either an amateur permit or a professional licence. The British Show Jumping Association, determined to set an example, encouraged those whose main income came from riding and dealing to change their status to professional.
Harvey Smith was the first to sign up, followed by David Broome and Ted Edgar—all huge show jumping names. And did the other equestrian nations follow Britain’s lead?
They did not. The expectation had been, in the words of Colonel Harry Llewellyn, reported in The Times in 1972, that “in Britain we are going to make it quite clear who is amateur and who is professional, and we may be on our own for a year, but then others will follow.”
There were good reasons why the other nations hung back; in Germany, for example, taxes were considerably higher if you were a professional rider. It took years before riders competed on a level playing field. Equestrianism was by no means alone: it was not until 1991 that it was decided to remove the last vestiges of amateurism from the entry regulations across all Olympic sports.
The text
Circingle is used throughout the text, rather than the more common surcingle. The Oxford English Dictionary has circingle as a variant of surcingle, so we’ve kept it. Some spellings have been made consistent over the trilogy, but there are no other changes.