Customer Reviews

Horses

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"...The Mongols have more than five hundred terms to describe their horses' coats." Just wait until you see Yann Arthus-Bertrand's photographs of the metallic gold, silken-coated Akhal-Teke stallion, Murgi. If Rembrandt had painted horses, they would resemble Arthus-Bertrand's photographs. When I first came upon the picture of the Russian Heavy Draft stallion Jar, I thought it WAS an oil painting. Admirers of Stubbs will very much enjoy the portraits in this book.

But "Horses" is not just another beautiful picture book. It also has a very dense, satisfying text, in the manner of a French natural history: opinionated; filled with wonderfully obscure facts; and most elegantly written (and translated). The author does ignore most North American horse breeds such as the Saddlebred and the Tennessee Walker, in a rather snooty Gallic fashion. Instead, he showcases many African, South American, and French breeds that were completely unknown to me. To someone who is used to leafing through English and American encyclopedias of horse breeds, this book will be a real eye-opener. For instance how many readers will have heard of the Augeron, the Kabardin, the Nivernais, the Trait du Maine, or the Auxois? Would they realize that the oldest horse race in France features the Auxois, which is a Burgundian draft horse?

"Horses" has over 225 color equine portraits taken over the course of fifteen years. A dark brownish-black backdrop allows the reader to focus on the horse in all of its majesty, and on the relationship between horse and human. It is truly the most beautiful book in my library.

As of last year it was reported that acclaimed French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand worked in a tree house at his home near Paris. One imagines that he does so in order to be closer to the world of nature that he loves so much.

With an aesthete's eye and top photographer's skill he produced a landmark work - The Earth From Above in which he captures our Earth in a series of aerial photographs. That volume has been the subject of several print exhibits as well as universal praise.

More than skilled with a camera, Arthus-Bertrand is one who respects the natural world. He brings this quality to his latest work, Horses, a splendid coffee table volume in which his lens captures the magnificence, grace, beauty, and playfulness of one of man's best friends.

Containing more than 200 photographs the reader is treated to views of horses at rest, at work and at play. Moreover, we see American jockeys, Mongolian herders, Spanish matadors, and other horse owners in their native dress and environment. Each photo underscores the serendipitous, interdependent relationship between horse and man.

An informative text by Jean-Louis Gouraud adds depth to this keepsake volume sure to be treasured by equine enthusiasts, photography aficionados, and lovers of the natural world.

- Gail Cooke

I have loved horses since I was a child, especially American Quarterhorses. The pictures in this book are beautiful. I like the variety of shots showing horses in motion and even the people in the pictures were OK, though I like horses by themselves better. This book is a great resource for writing about horses because it gives lots of information about the different breeds included in the book. If I were a photographer I would take pictures of horses, too.

This is my FAV book of all time. I am a horse lover and a colector of coffee table books and this is the best in the collection of well over 50.
I love the way it is not just the horses but also the people. You get an insite into the way the horses live not just your typical photo of a horse galloping or grazing in a field.
This book is well worth the money and apeals to not only horsey people but all who look at it.
If you are happy with the boring "Calander" photos then this book isn't for you, but if you wish to see horses in a different light then this book is amazing!

This book has some of the most beautiful photographs of horses I have EVER seen. I've seen a lot of horse books too! Arthus-Bertrand's photos have amazing detail - they look like old paintings. I have never seen horses photographed in this style. He also features some of the lesser known breeds of horses. Each of the breeds presented has a small paragraph of little known facts about the horses. I got this book as a gift and loved it so much I bought one for my mother as well. Amazon has the best deals on it too-mine cost over $85 new from Borders. I highly recommend this book to anyone who admires beauty and even more so for the horse lover.

A friend of mine had this book and when I saw it I knew I had to have one. What I liked best was the size, a fairly decent coffee table size book. When I received my copy I was really disappointed because it had been shrunk down to what looked like some kids book. It lost all of its richness and appeal. Even though it says there are more pictures than the larger book every pic looked dwarfed and out of balance. I gave it as a gift to a horse lover friend but would not buy this size again. I almost sent it back, but too much trouble. If it was in the original size I first saw it in I would have rated it a 5 for sure.

I set out to purchase a book full of photos of horses for my grandchild who is just learning to ride. I found this book. Somehow, each photograph in the book seems more beautiful than the last. I bought my first copy at Borders for $60.00. I bought the next two copies---one for me and one for a friend--- for less than $40.00 each from Amazon. Even if you don't care at all for horses, the photography and artistry in this book will make it a pleasure for anyone to own.

I bought this as a gift for my niece who loves horses. She loves the book. Some of the essays were a little hard for her(she's in third grade), but the pictures are great.

This is big, bold, and beautiful hardcover coffee table book - it's HUGE and it's heavy!

From Australia to the steppes of Russia, to Mongolia to Montana, and points between, a variety of different horse breeds are showcased: noble Arabians, Thoroughbreds, workhorse heavy draft breeds, to the exotic and in a lot of obscure breeds, rarely showcased. Accompanying text offers a brief history and role of each breed.

My only dissapointment comes from the photographs in this book being somewhat dark, poorly lit, and at times staged and contrived (hence my rating of 4 stars), but the book is remarkable for its portrayal of some of the more obscure and not often mentioned breeds which are quite often overlooked (and in some cases, hardly photographed) in most other generic all-encompassing breed books.

This book is an amazing celebration of the horse and their people. It really takes hours to appreciate this book in one sitting before wanting to do it again! I love this book and recommend it to anyone who appreciates the beauty and intelligence of this incredible animal.