Get Lost in Literature

  American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise   by Joe Drape "The three hardest things to predict the outcome of are a ballgame, a love affair, and a horse race." In 1978, a horse named Affirmed managed to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown of horse racing. It would be a 37-years before the next horse was capable of accomplishing the same feat: American Pharoah in 2015. This isn't a particularly long book, but it took me forever to read. It's not a particularly emotional book (I don't think, anyways) but it kept making me emotional. I've been a horse lover all of my life, even making the financially irresponsible decision to buy one of my own, and a longtime fan of horse racing. I wasn't even born in 1978 when Affirmed won the Triple Crown... and while I'd seen video of Secretariat moving 'like a tremendous machine' it wasn't the same as ex...

  "...the horse is a living organism and a unique individual that can develop only at his own rate. The horse is the clock, and he provides the calendar of progress." Training Strategies for Dressage Riders by Charles de Kunffy I don't know if this book is still in print, but if it is and you are a dressage enthusiast, or even just looking to improve upon your horsemanship skills, this is the book for you. Like many books written by experts in their field, there are some braggy bits in the beginning, but I am awed by how much the author emphasizes having empathy and consideration for the horse. Too many professionals today are viewing the horse as a means to an end, and we need do better by our animals, be better both as riders and as human beings. Some of the information is repetitive, but the best way to learn sometimes is through repetition. Book includes descriptions of basic, but sometimes confused, equestrian terminology like the much sought after "collection....

  “We were so tired of death and destruction. We wanted to do something beautiful.”   The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis , by Eliizabeth Letts   When I was in college, I was asked to write an essay about WW2, but I could write about any aspect of it. I wanted to write about horses. That essay never got written. The statistics on how many horses were gunned down were staggering. No one wants to read that. I don't actually know what subject I chose. It was largely forgettable. I have forgotten it.   Now here's a book about horses in WW2, that is unforgettable. Elizabeth Letts had better luck with her research than I did with mine.  During WW2, Germany was running low on horse power and the Nazis were developing a top secret eugenics program to breed the ultimate military horse. But without native stock, they began stealing the four legged national treasures from countries they were occupying. The gro...

Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost, Hero of A Golden Age by John Eisenberg "Standing in the winner's enclosure, in the shadow of the grandstand, the Dancer was a portrait of power and glory... His moment to make history was at hand." As you may have guessed from the title, this is the story of racing legend Native Dancer, whose name belongs right up with well known thoroughbreds like Secretariat, War Admiral, and Citation... Native Dancer whose DNA courses through the blood of many modern day Kentucky Derby winners... A touch of irony; though Native Dancer won 21 of 22 starts, he's rarely remembered because he never claimed the Triple Crown. The fan favorite lost by a head at Churchill Downs even though he went on to claim the Preakness and the Belmont. Born to Alfred Vanderbilt Jr, Sagamore farm in 1950, Native Dancer arrived during an era of change, accompanied by his favorite groom Les Murray, ridden by jockey Eric Guerin, and trained by Bill Winfrey. The ...

Battleship: A Daring Heiress, a Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse  by Dorothy Ours This story was more like the biography of Marion Dupont -- not that I'm complaining -- with flashes of Bruce Hobbs's terrifying childhood mixed in. Marion duPont, is more than an heiress, although her family never wanted for money because they had the good fortune to invent gunpowder--and no matter how bad a recession is, war never goes out of style. Her father, William Sr. was the black sheep of the du Pont family, cast out of the family and the family business after a scandalous divorce, he chose to retreat with his new wife and growing kids to an estate with show horses. She and her brother William Jr. grew up in the country; Marion duPont learned to ride with both legs on either side of a horse; first riding saddle-seat horses and later hunters until the fateful day she saw legendary Man o'War auctioned off and her dream made itself known. Both Marion and William would come ...

Horse Of A Different Color: A Tale of Breeding Geniuses, Dominant Females, and the Fastest Derby Winner Since Secretariat by Jim Squires Jim Squires, retired journalist, writes his story of low budget "breeding genius" that produced Monarchos, the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner. There were parts of this story I liked. First, getting a look at some dirty statistics. Meaning plenty of horse stories are more than willing to show the thrill of the gamble that is the horse industry, and the pageantry that circles racetracks, but it was nice to see something I didn't necessarily know before; how auctions work, the favoritisms, the scams. The reality of most horses don't race and those that race don't win...The dangers in breeding; the monetary risk should a broodmare not produce, and the heartbreaks and hopes attached to foals... The competitive foreigners trying to win the Derby even if it means spending millions on untested horses... But there were things in t...