Remembering Gillian Hirst

Gill Hirst, as she was known to us, sadly passed away on 22 March 2025, at the age of 87.

Gill was involved with Chipstead Riding Club for nearly 40 years and was Chairman for many of those years.

Her daughters Chris and Vicki were also strong supporters of the Chipstead.

There was rarely an event when the Hirst family were not present.

A British writer of over 18 children's books, under the name of Gillian Baxter, her books were mainly about horses, many inspired by ponies and horses she had known.

Ponies weren’t always part of her life as none of her family was horsey, but her grandmother used to tell Gillian stories of horses.

Gillian first started riding when she was 12 at the De Vere Stables in Kensington, London. Kensington was as built up then as it is now, and so most of Gillian’s early riding experiences took place in about as urban an environment as you can think of, one very, very far away from the traditional rural idyll of most pony books. 

By the age of 15 she had already had a book published, Horses and Heather (1956).

Gillian was the first UK writer to write a pony book about dressage, and several of her books were unique. She wrote another book which did not appear under her own name: Sue-Elaine Draws a Horse (1970), which she ghost-wrote with Marion Coakes. (For those of you old enough to remember the famous show jumper.

When leaving Surrey Gill and her daughters moved to Wales and for some years ran a riding school and trekking centre, but Chipstead RC never left her blood, she always followed the success of the club through social media.