Antonia Forest fans

But I didn't ever say she shouldn't have bought the horse, did I? I said I was conflicted over it, or words to that effect. I posed it as a question for debate. I don't see how you get from a question like "Perhaps I should have reworded that to say 'Was it reasonable...?'" to a statement of "New party clothes for all is more important than Mrs. Marlow!", even if "... seems pretty frivolous" is en route.

I think you're mistaking questions and thoughts for statement of intent. Perhaps I should have made it clearer that I wasn't sure how I stood on this (clearer, that is, than saying "On one hand it's fair enough, on the other hand it seems ...etc" and "I'm conflicted about this" "I'm not saying she shouldn't have bought it, just that it doesn't seem sensible" and "I'm not actually bothered about hand-me-downs per se, more by the difference between them and a new pony" and actually asking "Was it reasonable... etc?" ).

It does seem that questions raised for debate and issues aired are seen as actual statements of belief by you. I think my comments were clearly those of someone undecided and thinking things over, and trying to put a finger on what exactly was troubling about the situation (as excellently pinpointed by ajhalluk) rather than a manifesto consisting of anti-woman and anti-mother attitudes.