6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice collection of horse tales with a wide variety of themes, March 18, 2004
This review is from: Wild About Horses: Our Timeless Passion for the Horse (Hardcover)
The author, Lawrence Scanlan, is something of a 'born-again' horse lover, by his own proclamation. He admits that for much of his life he failed to see the overwhelming appeal that many people find in horses. But as an adult, in preparation for his job as co-author of "Riding High" with show jumping champion Ian Millar, Scanlan started to take riding lessons. Soon he was hooked. Although he still does not have horses of his own, he now loves riding and spending time in the company of our equine companions. As he read more and more about the equine creature, he became fascinated with the intertwined histories of humans and horses. This is what led him to write "Wild About Horses," a collection of [mostly true, some fictional] stories celebrating this inter-species bond.
Scanlan does not really have a central thesis, but rather explores the numerous ways in which horses have participated in and impacted humans throughout history and into the present day. His writing is fluid and to the point. The book is divided into ten chapters, each with a slightly different theme, covering such stories as the following (these are not the only stories he addresses, but just a sampling to give you an idea):
Horses in rituals and sacrifices through history; Pegasus; the Trojan Horse; Scanlan's own horseback trip in Wyoming; the history of mustangs; Wild Horse Annie; the evolution of the horse; the domestication of horses; horses as a food source; Xenophon; Native American horsemanship; trainer John Solomon Raney in the 1850s; trainers Monty Roberts and Tom Dorrance; Alexander the Great and Bucephalus; the history of warhorses; the Huns and Mongols; Medieval knights; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Comanche and the Battle of Little Bighorn; Napoleon and Marengo; Wellington and Copenhagen; Roy Rogers and Trigger; Eadweard Muybridge's motion photography; the Lone Ranger and Silver; the books "Black Beauty," "Misty of Chincoteague," "My Friend Flicka," and "Smoky the Cow Horse"; the movie "National Velvet"; author and former jockey Dick Francis; equine athletes Ruffian, Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Phar Lap, Man O'War, Big Ben, Halla, and Arkle; cattle drives; Scanlan's own stay at a working ranch; A.E. Tschiffley's 10,000 mile ride across the Americas; Barbara Whittome's 2,500 mile ride across Russia; Welsh Pony breeders Dick & Adele Rockwell; the Pony Express, and Buffalo Bill Cody; Snow Man, a horse rescued from slaughter that went on to become a champion jumper; Marocco the 'dancing horse'; Clever Hans; horse psychic Fred Kimball; and the bonds horses form with other animals.
While I did enjoy reading this book, I have a few criticisms. First and foremost, Scanlan seems to have borrowed heavily from the book "The Man Who Listens to Horses" by Monty Roberts (for which Scanlan wrote the introduction and afterword). He has used material both from his own contributions to the book, as well as Roberts's own writing, often using identical phrasing. This parroting was especially evident since I have only just finished reading Roberts's book, and was somewhat disappointing. The sense of repetition is also furthered by the fact that most of these stories are very common ones, and I've heard about 75% of them before. They're not bad stories, but I do wish Scanlan had dug a little deeper for some less commonly heard-of accounts to include.
Furthermore, Scanlan's coverage is not balanced. He leaves out vast areas of the horse world. The book has plenty of material on riding horses and ponies, but almost nothing on draft horses. The "Sport Horse Legends" chapter focuses almost entirely on Thoroughbred racehorses. There are a few jumpers thrown in, but no Western horses at all. When he talks of horse trainers, he talks a great deal about Monty Roberts, and a little bit about a couple others, but does not even mention many of the most influencial trainers of the last few decades. At times I also questioned the author's analytical skills, particularly when he dismissed a story as false on the basis that the horse involved, reported to be a palomino, had a Spanish name that translated to Cinnamon (which he said was too dark a color for palomino). However, this does not seem so far-fetched to me, as my father once owned a small black dog named Big Red...
And finally, his writing is not completely focused on the supposed subject of the book - why humans love horses. He has included an overwhelming number of stories about horse abuse, and most don't even lead into more uplifting stories. In the "Epic Rides" chapter, he even commends several long-distance riders known for riding horses to death. Even more strange to me was the fact that, although much of the first chapter talks mildly and even respectfully about the ways horse skins and heads were used to adorn ancient holy spots, Scanlan later launches into a tirade against equine taxidermy and condemns horsemen such as Roy Rogers, who chose to have Trigger preserved and mounted.
However, despite its faults, I did like the book. It was not perfect, but it was enjoyable. I did find some of the stories to be new and quite interesting, and Scanlan's extensive list of recommended further reading has lengthened the list of books I plan to read. If you're a connoisseur of horse lore, "Wild About Horses" may not hold any surprises for you, but it is nevertheless a nice collection. It's easy reading, and the text is interspersed with many black-and-white photographs. This would be nice for a personal treat or a gift for a friend.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent, excellent book for the horse fanatic., August 17, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Wild About Horses: Our Timeless Passion for the Horse (Hardcover)
I always knew that there were others of us out there...those horse crazed people who can't get enough of our equine friend. This book tries to unlock the secrets of our obession with horses through wonderful tales of people and their horses. It helps to explain why it is that we must stop our car and just look out at a pasture filled with horses silently grazing. What an excellent, excellent book. When you're, done, you'll want to read it again.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A deeply moving account of man's inextricable link to horses, January 15, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Wild About Horses: Our Timeless Passion for the Horse (Hardcover)
Scanlan's love of this noble beast is evident on every page. Powerfully written, this chronology of mankinds eternal facination with horses both enthralled and angered me and sometimes made me laugh out loud. Great photographs and interveiws, I loved this book. Wonderfully moving accounts' of the fastest horses on earth to the only living thing left at Custer's Last Stand. A enthralling, heart warming book: read some of these story's to your kids, you will both be richer for it.
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