A Sunday Horse: Inside the Grand Prix Show Jumping Circuit (Capital Lifestyles) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "It's Tommy Bahama week in Welly World..." (more)
Key Phrases: grand prix ring, horse show mother, horse show world, New York, Palm Beach, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'A Sunday Horse' gives a no holds bared insight to the behind the scenes of the humans and the horses." -- Snowden Clarke, trainer and rider, The Plains, Virginia

"'A Sunday Horse' is a book you will not want to miss." -- Leonard Wechsler, Florida Horseman, February/ March 2004, Wellington Magazine – March 2004

"'A Sunday Horse' takes readers behind the scenes in the fascinating world of life on the jumper circuit." -- Lauren Giannini, In & Around Horse Country, April/ May 2004

"...reveals the world of the riders, trainers, owners, horses, judges and personalities of the horse show circuit." -- Publisher’s Weekly, January 26, 2004

"Moon describes this intricate dance of horse competitions, swanky charity fundraisers and celebrities." -- Town-Crier, February 15, 2004

"The book is a must-read." -- Sharon Robb, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, February 22, 2004

Product Description

In the "Best in Show" tradition, tales of the horses and personalities, the riders and trainers, owners and judges, the big names and big money that make up the national horse show circuit

14,580,000 Americans over 12 ride horses regularly
88 million Americans attended sanctioned horse-related events last year
70,000 members of the American Horse Shows Association

Everyone is looking for that somewhat elusive special mount that will bring them fame and fortune in the Grand Prix ring - a horse for Sunday afternoon, a horse that can be found at the bargain rate of $1500 or more than $1 million. Following the US national horse show and Grand Prix jumping circuit, Vicky Moon starts in Palm Beach with the Wellington Winter Equestrian Festival, moves on to America’s oldest shows in Upperville, Virginia, and Devon, Pennsylvania, then to the Indio Circuit in California, to Long Island for the classy Hampton Classic, down to the prestigious Washington Horse Show, and finishing at the National Horse Show. Just like "Best in Show," you’ll meet the riders, trainers, owners, judges, and the personalities such as "The Carrot Man," "The Masseuse," and the other fascinating characters who follow the horse show circuit. Big names and big money are all part of this intriguing world.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Capital Books; 1 edition (March 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931868417
• ISBN-13: 978-1931868419
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #995,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not many horses, Sunday or otherwise..., August 2, 2004

By	L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For a book entitled "The Sunday Horse", one would expect it to have at least SOME horses discussed in the text; "The Sunday Horse OWNER" would really be a more apropos title for this lightweight tome.When I picked this book up, I was hoping that it would follow one particular rider or trainer or barn for their entire Grand Prix campaign. How interesting this could have been, getting to know one or two people in depth, learning about the horses they work with, the strengths & weaknesses, caring about their wins, losses, injuries...instead, I found 200 pages of 3 paragraph profiles of people who are either super-rich, or super-marginal.

The author, Vicky Moon, lists "People" magazine amongst her credits. It shows. Her writing is very much in "People"'s style, being rather breathless puff-pieces that spend considerable time dwelling on the "Lifestyles of the Rich & Horsey" aspects of her subjects. At each horse show covered in her book, the list of local socials & celebrities attending is given more attention than the International caliber horses competing!

Each chapter of this book covers one particular horse show & it's habitues, from the chairperson through the lady running a sweater shop. She opens at "Welly World" (Wellington FL, near Palm Beach) & closes at the Washington DC horse show. You may find out about the guy who directs traffic for the event, but you definitely won't know much about the Grand Prix competition itself!

As a long-time horsey person who has always dreamed of competing at Grand Prix level, I found one aspect of her book continually frustrating: she does not identify the horses in her photographs! You'll see pictures of great riders past (Rodney Jenkins, Anthony d'Ambrosio) & present (Marjorie Goldstein-Engle) but if you want to know the name of their mount, you won't find it either in either the text or the photo caption. With all the discussion of multi-million dollar equine talent in the book, one would think the horses would get an acknowledgement too; after all, these are HORSE shows, not RIDER shows!

Another annoying lack is one of either index or sources. Ms. Moon must have consulted literature other than show press releases; why not list them? Why make a reader page through the book looking for a mention of their particular favorites, when an index could make it so easy?

Typos, mis-spellings, and confusing sentences abound as well; this is a book in need of a good proof-reader!

If the only thing you know about Grand Prix show jumping is having seen it once or twice on television, you may enjoy "The Sunday Horse". If, however, you are a horse-lover who has stood at the In-Gate yourself, you won't find much here that you couldn't read in a People magazine article. What a shame.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars sure could've used a red pen, March 17, 2007

By	Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Sunday Horse: Inside The Grand Prix Show Jumping Circuit (Capital Lifestyles) (Paperback)

A Sunday Horse suffers from a lack of editing. The first chapter is terrible and the second is boring. Vicky Moon is a charming writer but somebody should've convinced her to either cut these two chapters or combine them into one. The book doesn't get fun until chapter three when she tells the story of a bizarre horse kidnapping. After that the book takes off with stories of grooms, writers, vets, carrot sellers, braiders, riders, and all the people who make the grand prix circuit run. One thing I really liked about the book is how Moon makes it clear that a person may not be a great rider and may never win the big shows but with talent, detrmination and flexibility they can still have a career that keeps them "in" horses.

I almost gave up during the first chapter but decided to keep reading because hey, I'd already spent my money, and I'm glad I kept going. Hopefully Vicky Moon will come out with a new edition that is packaged better..

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An absolute mess, May 27, 2008

By	Kerry Bailey (Wentzville, MO, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Sunday Horse: Inside The Grand Prix Show Jumping Circuit (Capital Lifestyles) (Paperback)

In the hands of a talented writer backed by good content and copy editors, this book really could have been something. Instead, it's a disjointed mishmash of name-dropping (an earlier reviewer's assessment of Moon's style as breathless is right on the money) and rambling attempts at folksy storytelling, riddled with grammar problems, non sequiturs, and typos. Let's just say I'm glad I bought it used.