Customer Reviews

The Quotable Equine

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you are a horselover seeking a collection of inspirational horse quotes, then don't bother looking in here.

This is a very slim book, (9-1/2" x 7-3/4", 112 pages) with accompanying text that has absolutely nothing to do with horses!

We get perhaps one quote that is directly related to horses, and that is the frontcover photo (which is perhaps the nicest photo in the entire book), repeated on pages 8-9 with the quote: " A lovely horse is always an experience... It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words." (Beryl Markham)

Indeed.

The rest of the book is filled with rather bland and uninspiring sepia photos: a blond haired girl leaning against a blanketed horse, a little girl sitting on a pony chained to a merry-go-round (the pony wearning a muzzle!), a group photo of Mongolian riders sitting on some very decrepit looking horses, a very unflattering image of a horse yawning, mouth agape, tongue sticking out..and, well.. ho-hum...

I could perhaps pardon the uninspiring sepia photographs in this book, EXCEPT; the accompanying quotes are SO off-target, and SO non-horse related, that it left me wondering: what on earth was the author thinking??

Here we have quotes from Yves St. Laurent "Fashions fade; style is eternal" (shown next to a dressage rider). Yes - Yves St. Laurent, a haute couture fashionista in no way connected to horses. But wait, there's more of these little gems: "Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first" (Ernestine Ulmer); a photo of a jockey on horseback: "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly" (Robert F. Kennedy); a photo of a carriage marathon driver: "The reputation of power is power" (Thomas Hobbes); a pregnant woman and her horse: "At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet" (Plato). Ho-hum *yawn*

Hello? What am I missing here? Is this a book about humans or horses? Or is the author trying to impress us with his literary scope by including quotes from Plato and Hobbes alongside a prima donna fashionista?

How pretentious and overblown can you get. I see very little relevance here, not to mention uninspiring. This one's going straight into the garage sale bin.

There is another book titled "The Quoteable Horse Lover" which seems to offer the hippophile a much better selection of snippets and anecdotes of horse-related quotes. I have not seen this book yet, but I do have one on order. It will be interesting to compare the two.

~appaloosa
02/2006

This book is a very cool book with AWESOME pictures. A great gift for horse lovers. Has some wonderful quotes, and the pictures match perfectly with them. I highly reccomend this book for anyone who is a horse lover like me.

And make up your own mind. The review itself was certainly "dissapointing" (sic).
A nice enough book of its kind.