Customer Reviews

Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I bought this book based on a glowing review I'd read in the Los Angeles Times. Having grown up in NYC and, like Mr. Korda, ridden at both Claremont Stables in Central Park and Clove Lake Stables on Staten Island, I thought for sure this book would be chock full of places and experiences I could relate to. Boy, was I wrong. Aside from finding out that someone I dated in the early 70's is a friend of Mr. Korda's and is featured prominently in his book (that was pretty neat), I didn't learn much of anything except how the "other half" lives. A more appropriate title for this book would have been "Rich Horse People - Very Rich Horse People". Being a horse owner myself (with a relatively modest income), I had a hard time relating to the endless descriptions of Mr. Korda's wealthy acquaintances and their acres of horse property. He seems to be more interested in the people he's writing about than the relationship between those people and their horses. And what's with the little phrases en francais he tosses in every few pages and the occasional (dare I say it?) racist and condescending references to those less fortunate (i.e. referring to the employers of stable hands as their "betters")? All in all, a very disappointing book for me - so disappointing, in fact, that I quit after page 175 and sold my copy on Ebay. If you're looking for a great horse book, go read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand or Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley. If you want to learn about rich people and their estates, there's always the A&E channel.

I found this book to be a bore - written by a man who, once he leaves his wife and child for another married woman, spends the entire book knocking every single person he comes into contact with, save for himself and said second wife. Even his "friends" aren't safe from catty remarks, all of which serve to promote his fabulous second wife, who appears thoughout the book in pictures riding her various horses. Anyone who knows how to ride can clearly see she ain't all that she's cracked up to be according to her doting, emascualted husband. In fact, she hasn't even competed in the "high levels" Korda claims - she competes at very low levels, presumably so she can get lots and lots of ribbons and beat the "snooty little girls that only have horses because their parents pay for it." The text is sloppy - he repeats himself so many times I began to compare his differing descriptions of the same activity to see which was more outlandish. The book makes about as much sense as the piture of his wife, in her underwear, in the pasture, with her horses. It's a little weird, though it does explain why she sticks with him - he must foot the horse bills so she can stick with her true loves! I would suggest that anyone reading this book might not want to take lessons from Mr. Korda - his morals, as well as his skills as a horseman, are much exaggerated.

The title of this book should have been: A Horse Person, Scenes from my Wife's Life. It centers around his second wife, Margaret, and her increasing involvement in 3 day eventing. While the eventing world certainly could be a great subject for a book, Korda's approach is basically to heap praise on his wife and her immediate circle of small-time riders and trainers in upstate New York. I can only guess that Korda's position as an editor at Simon & Shuster was the only reason it got published and well-reviewed.

His position may also explain the poor editing choices. His text is incredibly repetitive, with the same phrases about his wife, the cavalry, and statistics about horses found throughout the book.

The structure serves only to lead the reader on, as does the dust-jacket and most reviews I have seen. The first 75 pages or so are funny, with a personal account of fox-hunting and riding in New York city, at once self-deprecating and insightful, that I hoped would set the tone for the remainder of the text. After he met Margaret however, the whole thing goes in a downward-spiral for 200+ pages. It does perk up toward the end with his account of prisoners who take care of horses. Even this however, is short-sighted. While he condemns the owners of feed-lots who slaugter horses for food as "killers" he never proposes alternate solutions for the problems of excess supplies of thoroughbred horses. And who is he to off-handedly dismiss the cultural practices of countries who do choose to eat horse meat.

If you are looking for a book that mingles a personal narrative with the world of horses, I would suggest Elizabeth Mitchell's Three Strides Before the Wire. Horse People is definetly not a book for horse people, who will be annoyed, or those casually interested in the word of equestrian sports, who won't learn much.

Pretentious, boring crap. Here and there an insightful characterization or anecdote will get your hopes up, but for the most part this book is a "Look at me, I'm so rich, my wife looks great in her underpants, we are super" vanity project that made me cranky. I read this book over a year ago and I'm still mad I bought it. There are so many horse books out there that are worth reading: Horse Heaven by Jane Smiley is an excellent place to start. Don't bother with this one, unless you're One of Them.

Well the first half of the book was right on the money about just starting out in the horse world. Taking lessons, the constant buying of riding clothes and the mean spirited trainer-which deep down isn't mean, just looking out for your uneducated rear end while on the horse.

I started to lose interested after the first fox hunt when more often then not the notion of "blacks" and stable hands knowing their place burned me up and left me slack jawed. I've been in the horseworld for over 7 years, riding countless horses, going to countless horse shows, and I've never met a horseperson who was racist. However there are those people who feel that owning a horse makes them better then some others and these are the people I term "horse snobs" and it doesn't matter how much money they have or don't have. Regardless, this book leaves a lot to be desired if you are looking for some insight into the horse "clique". This book does a poor service to the horse community and paints horsepeople as snobby self indulgent and arrogant.

He leaves his wife for no apparent reason other then her lack of affection for horses, which is a poor excuse indeed to break up a family and his new wife just seems to be along for the fact that he pays the horsey bills. Even when his horse breaks his wife's leg, he really doesn't seem to be that concerned about it. Nothing else says "I love you, honey" quite like that.

Please do not use this book as a window into the horse world where most people are down-to-earth and willing to help.

Korda Stewart has written a book that is certainly interesting in spots, especially when he describes his wild ride in hunt country.

But overall I consider it a bland and a not too interesting autobiography of two self-indulgent horse enthusiasts who forsake spouses for each other and a life of riding around. For example, he builds up the rationale for why he and his new significant other chucked all to build a new life. But after building up their growing enthusiam for each other all he can write is that they pulled off each other's boots when passion finally overtook them.

A publishing guru such as Stewart should certainly know that better-selling books will tell more and give readers more insight into the characters, not just descriptive narratives. He has fun describing a fellow rider who ignores his long-suffering wife while he rides horses in the park and consorts with a secret mistress who keeps duplicate copies of his favorite horse magazines at her place. But Stewart never clearly explains why he ignored and then abandoned his own wife and subjected his child to presumed trauma of joint custody while he set out to win his fashion-model and trophy wife to be.

I think it would be interesting to know why his previous marriage was so empty that he sought solace in horses in the first place. Even Frank McCourt somewhat revealed his failings with his higher-social-class Episcopalian wife in 'Tis. Otherwise we have a book about people indulging in horses but that reduces them to a somewhat "Seinfeld" characterization of shallow egocentricity, which the Kordas are not. Korda and his wife clearly care about their horse family. And the book does indicate a couple can apparently build a stable relationship through a strong mutual interest. (Though some horsey circles are somewhat known for infidelities and swapping mates to try and improve their social position or better fund their horse habit.) And horses are an addiction, as Korda reveals whether intentionally or not.

Also important is that Korda's book is certainly an original work but it seems hauntingly familiar to anyone who has read the earlier "There's a Fox in the Spinney: Memories of fox-hunting, racing and publishing" by Stuart Rose. Published in 1967, this book also tells of horse adventures experienced by Rose. If Rose abandoned a wife to pursue it, we never know, but he does talk about a daughter being allowed to ride a horse at an older age than Korda's son because Rose believes horses can be a danger. Like Korda, Rose is somewhat discreet about his personal life, but then that was almost 40 years ago when the culture was different. And Korda's industry has been a factor in changing the innocence of those earlier days.

Between the two, I enjoyed Rose's work more.

Korda is to be commended for being an accomplished writer with several works published. This indicates he has a following and certainly his book is not a bad work.

In my opinion, Horse People lacks a transcending quality one finds in biographies written by James Squire, Lauren Hillenbrand and Monty Roberts. But those books are aimed at a more mature and discriminating audience. If Korda deliberately wrote a book for, say juvenile girls, then he has succeeded. But I am not motivated to join his followers and seek out other titles he has written. If they are like this one, I feel I would be disappointed again.

As a lover of horses and non-rich person, this book gave me a rotten feeling in the pit of my stomach throughout the reading it. Every time I tried to relax into it, it unfailingly reminded me of all the things I-- as the kid of a cop and a homemaker-- could never afford, of all the snubs from all the snobs who ever looked down on me from astride their bright and shiny sixteen-plus hand birthday presents. It reads a lot more like a documentary of the lives of the rich and horsey than the penetrating look into relationships between horses and people I was hoping for. As a perpetually cash-strapped owner of two western horses, and a lifetime lover of all the rest of them, this book left me as flat as day old soda.
Excellent reading however, for the neuveau riche who want to pretend they're old money.

After starting a book, I try to give it a chance. After 200 pages, I gave this one away to a thrift store. Korda's elitist attitude (even in light of his down-home, conversationalist style of writing) as well as some glaring inaccuracies about horses put me off.

I wonder what his past friends and acquaintances thought about his outright gossip about their personal homelife? I was appalled by his racist comments about stable employees, as well as his puffed-up attitude about himself.

As a member of the "elite" riding community that Mr. Korda writes of in his book, I can say that this book is nothing more than a tale of a self-impressed little man who seeths at the reality that he is an outsider in the horse world. His biggest mistake, and what really gets my goat, is that he seems to think that he's an outsider because of his background when, in fact, he remains an outsider because he's an annoying, whining, sanctimonious little poser who can't ride his way out of a paper bag. This only serves to perpetuate the myth that those of us who ride horses and have money are all snobby, racist bores. Nothing could be further from the truth - rich people who ride aren't any less fallible than anyone else, yet this book does nothing to disspell a hurtful myth. It's a good thing he's so impressed with himself - no one else seems to be. On the somewhat positive side, he does insert some interesting tidbits about the history of riding, and while many of these tidbits are inaccurate they are entertaining.

I agree with the reviewer who said not to recommend this book to foxhunters -- the picture he presents is archaic, racist, and is more suited to his native England, I guess. If so, no wonder they banned it. I foxhunt in Kentucky, and the picture he paints is totally off-base. We are a group of normal people who happen to like to spend our money and time on horses, not golf. We revel in the chase, not the kill -- we have not killed a fox in over 20 years. We have Jewish and black members. I take care of my own horses and open my gates myself. This book sets the sport back 50 years. My copy is now in the trash.