Old Friends: Visits with My Favorite Thoroughbreds [Hardcover]

Barbara D Livingston (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2002

When famous racehorses retire from the track, some remain in the spotlight while others eventually fade into obscurity. But the fondness that racing fans feel for some of these horses never dies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a must-have for all equine lovers." -- The Florida Horse, October 2002

"If you buy no other horse book this year, make sure this finds a place on your bookshelf." -- Horseman's Yankee Pedlar

"If you love racehorses, you will love this book. It's a real collector's item." -- Teletext, John O'Hara

About the Author

Livingston first began photographing Thoroughbed racing in the early 1970s when she visited Saratoga Race Course and is a graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in fine arts. She has received two Eclipse Awards for her outstanding photography, and her work has been featured in books such as Old Friends, More Old Friends, and Barbara Livingston's Saratoga. Her work has also appeared in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, The Blood-Horse, Newsweek, People, and on the cover of TV Guide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Eclipse Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581500831
• ISBN-13: 978-1581500837
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book About The Forgotten Stars of Horse Racing, October 1, 2002

By 

K. Palmer (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Old Friends: Visits with My Favorite Thoroughbreds (Hardcover)

I'm a frequent visitor to a website which contains a lot of the work of Barbara Livingston. I have to say that her photography of famous race horses, both current and from the past is impressive. When I saw that she was writing a book about older thoroughbreds living out their last years, I was intrigued.

There are horses shown that I hadn't thought of in 20 years included, such as Wajima, who came out of nowhere in the latter part of 1975 to almost beat out the great Forego for Horse of the Year and faded into oblivion almost as quickly. He ended up living a nice long life.

Another fun read was the story of Proud Birdie, who was very popular in Florida, but hit it big with a win over Forego in a big race. The pictures of these horses were spectacular.

Barbara also chronicles the great champions Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid and John Henry as well. A lot has been written about these horses when they were in their primes, but a masterful job has been done about their later years.

I'm still going through the book, but I've looked at enough to let you know that if you love the bauty of horse racing, this would be a great coffee table book for your collection.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-have for any horse fan., January 5, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Old Friends: Visits with My Favorite Thoroughbreds (Hardcover)

Barbara D. Livingston, Old Friends: Visits with My Favorite Thorougbreds (Eclipse Press, 2002)

Reviewing books of photography often makes me feel guilty. As brilliant as someone like Romain Slocombe or Joel-Peter Witkin (for example) is, and as good as his books are, it seems kind of cheating to put a big photography book on one's list of books read for a given year. After all, how long does it really take to get through a book of photography?

Not so with Old Friends. While it is, in fact, packed with the gorgeous photographs of horses for which Barbara Livingston is so deservedly well-known, every horse in here also has a small essay from Ms. Livingston, making this more a trip down memory lane than a photography book. Some of the horses in here are some of the best-known horses on the continent (Spectacular Bid, for example), some are well-known in their region of the States (Zuppardo's Prince, the leading stallion in Louisiana most years), and some even the most hardcore horseplayer has long forgotten, or never heard of in the first place. Livingston treats them all with equal dignity, and by the end of the book, we feel like we know these horses, too.

A number of the horses here, since (and in a few cases before) the book was published, have died, and any of the rest of them are going to succumb to the ravages of old age within the next few years. But while some of their names will live in the lore of horse racing forever, Livingston has here ensured that many of the others will also not be forgotten.

A fantastic book, and well worth having. **** ½

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Moving, September 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Old Friends: Visits with My Favorite Thoroughbreds (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book! The photographs are beautiful and the text is honest and touching. Each vignette makes you feel as if you are at the farm with the author that day. This is a must have for every horse lover. I recommend a full box of tissues every time you read this book. It is not a sad book but very moving and full of love an drespect for the wonderful horses represented here. As many of us horse savvy folks know...these are the lucky ones. I Just love it!